I think this perfectly shows the change Microsoft has been going thru in recent years. In early 2000's they seemed to be stuck with 90's thinking, but now they are back to the game again. That is bad news for Google,
which has been heavily investing in developing online versions of similar applications that Microsoft offers. But the truth is, none of those come even close what MS Office offers. And after 20 years, there still
isn't anything that comes even close to Visual Studio as a development environment.
Recently our company looked at upgrading all our computers and applications and the truth is, there is no competition for Microsoft. It would be great to see Open Source versions for such online tools, but there are none. Even the Google's products are proprietary and storing company data "in the cloud" is not a good idea. I made the decision to upgrade all computers with Windows 7 and the newest Office tools and Visual Studios. Frankly, they all work great.
Microsoft has been having a slow change, but the huge investment in new technologies like Xbox360, the huge support for developers, Windows Mobile 7, online versions of their one-of-a-kind Office tools and Bing show this. We even saw their prototype Courier tablet, which was the first product in a long time that made me horny over a computer equipment. It really was that great, and it was a sad day when it didn't finish as a product. I do, however, hope that Microsoft will use its ideas in future tablets they release.
I think government, cities and companies all see it the same way - Microsoft makes finished enterprise quality software and services that work. Their support for corporations is great and they usually work out good deals on bulk buys. If you're one of those that appreciate quality, you go with Microsoft.
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I think this perfectly shows the change Microsoft has been going thru in recent years. In early 2000's they seemed to be stuck with 90's thinking, but now they are back to the game again. That is bad news for Google, which has been heavily investing in developing online versions of similar applications that Microsoft offers. But the truth is, none of those come even close what MS Office offers. And after 20 years, there still isn't anything that comes even close to Visual Studio as a development environment.
Recently our company looked at upgrading all our computers and applications and the truth is, there is no competition for Microsoft. It would be great to see Open Source versions for such online tools, but there are none. Even the Google's products are proprietary and storing company data "in the cloud" is not a good idea. I made the decision to upgrade all computers with Windows 7 and the newest Office tools and Visual Studios. Frankly, they all work great.
Microsoft has been having a slow change, but the huge investment in new technologies like Xbox360, the huge support for developers, Windows Mobile 7, online versions of their one-of-a-kind Office tools and Bing show this. We even saw their prototype Courier tablet, which was the first product in a long time that made me horny over a computer equipment. It really was that great, and it was a sad day when it didn't finish as a product. I do, however, hope that Microsoft will use its ideas in future tablets they release.
I think government, cities and companies all see it the same way - Microsoft makes finished enterprise quality software and services that work. Their support for corporations is great and they usually work out good deals on bulk buys. If you're one of those that appreciate quality, you go with Microsoft.