Slashdot Mirror
Microsoft Moves in on the Graphics Market
Ian Lamont writes "Microsoft has quietly been building up graphics-related R&D, reports Computerworld, noting that Microsoft employees will be presenting one out of every eight papers at SIGGRAPH 2007. And it's not a fluke — other recent Microsoft graphics-related developments include Photosynth, which has been discussed on Slashdot several times, as well as the Silverlight/Expression Studio graphics suite, which will compete with Adobe's Flash/Illustrator/Lightroom/Dreamweaver offerings. At SIGGRAPH, Microsoft will supposedly have demos of some new software including image deblurring tools and Soft Scissors, which 'solves the vexing problem of how to cut and paste an image from one background to another if the image's edges — hair blowing in the wind, blades of grass — are very complex.' Microsoft's competitors aren't sitting down. Adobe's CEO, calling Microsoft a '$50 billion monopolist,' has questioned whether Silverlight will be compatible with non-Windows operating systems, and Google has also been building up its own graphics-related software products, such as the 3D modeling tool SketchUp, and Google Earth."
Sorry but I don't buy it, This will be a competition for Adobe the way Frontpage is competition for Dreamweaver....people just know better and if you don't well I pity the company that you work for.
CS: It is all sink or swim...oh and did I mention there are sharks in that water?
The real problem is that competing with a company that controls a monopoly operating system and is willing to use it to illegally extend its market share in other software sectors is like being in bed with an elephant. The elephant only need twitch and you are crushed.
We can't trust Microsoft not to illegally use their monopolies in either the OS sector or the office productivity suite sector to seize control over other areas and lock out competition from Open Source.
They are already buying their way to a victory over ODF so that customer lock-in will continue far into the foreseeable future. They're trying to fill the intranet with proprietary "standards" that they control and use their monopolies as a vehicle to push them. Again in an effort to control and ultimately destroy Linux.
Let face it. Microsoft is a corporate thug that needs to be busted up into at least three separate companies so that true innovation in the software industry can occur.
The race isn't always to the swift... but that's the way to bet!
Maybe. At least Adobe is just slow and/or lazy. MS has a vested interest in crippling OSes other than Windows.
And what is the market share for iWork (relative to the entire software market, not just the Macintosh island)?