begin oe_protect.scr
Roy Schestowitz <newsgroups@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> espoused:
> Why Has Microsoft Abandoned the Power User?
>
> ,----[ Quote ]
>| I don't know about you, but I'm feeling abandoned these
>| days, as Windows Vista and Internet Explorer are
>| increasingly closed off.
>|
>| How about you -- do you see any evidence of this
>| disturbing trend?
> `----
>
> http://www.oreillynet.com/windows/blog/2006/10/why_has_microsoft_abandoned_th.html
>
>
> Related:
>
> Microsoft Power Users, Part II
>
> ,----[ Quote ]
>| There's no Microsoft Power User "WinHEC" out there. Microsoft
>| is all about the developer, and seldom seems to cater to the
>| true enthusiasts. There's a loosely-constructed MVP program
>| (of which I am a member, with the Windows Digital Media
>| distinction), but no real company mission to listen to what's
>| going on in the world outside the Microsoft (to use their word)e
>| cosystem. And because of that, we end up with sloppy,
>| "just good enough" experiences. My earlier post on the
>| pre-beta of Longhorn illustrates my point ENTIRELY.
>|
>| [...]
>|
> `----
>
> http://chris.pirillo.com/2005/04/27/microsoft-power-users-part-i/
>
Microsoft have decided to take on free-software head-on. They want to
put the proprietary model up against the open one. The do not want to
let go of their lock-in model, and they see that as predicated on the
proprietary software model (they're probably right about this).
The net result is that they will increasingly lock-down anything which
isn't already, indeed, they're likely to show more and more vertical
integration, less and less open interfaces, and the kind of dance of
death we're currently seeing the anti-virus companies go through
(they'll collapse once there aren't enough legacy windows computers out
there to keep them going), we'll see other vendors suffer as well.
If the EU manages to avoid the political flack which MS will continue to
fire at it, it might be able to put an end to this behaviour, and MS
must have to accept that vertical integration cannot, in the long-run,
compete effectively against free software. Their problem is, at what
point do the move to open? The OSDL chaps indicated recently that MS
Office on Linux is inevitable - I agree; it's when, not if.
--
| Mark Kent -- mark at ellandroad dot demon dot co dot uk |
I'll show you MY telex number if you show me YOURS ...
|
|
