Roy Schestowitz wrote:
> The Way of All Flesh, erm, Software
>
> ,----[ Quote ]
> | In case you haven't heard, Prime Minister Tony Blair has set a timetable
> | for his leaving office. Well, OK, it?s highly unofficial and the Sun
> | newspaper reported it...
> |
> | [...]
> |
> |At a certain level, apparently Bill Gates understands the "way of all flesh"
> | too. According to the Economist, he is obsessed with the fate of Digital
> | Equipment Corporation, a giant that was reduced to nothing, and is very
> | concerned that Microsoft doesn't suffer a similar fate; that apparently was
> | a reason why he appointed Ray Ozzie. A good choice, but probably too late.
He should also look at Control Data's implosion.
> | Item: consider how Microsoft has been trying to diversify into everything
> | from MP3 players into video games consoles. This is indicative of a
> | company which is trying to find an additional revenue stream on top of a
> | core business which could become dangerously vulnerable.
All the wintrolls and linux nuts (and I mean that in the best possible
way) say that Microsoft's billions will keep them in the game for
decades. True at some level, but what game? Some portion of Control
Data is still with us, as is Penn Central. Anyone remember that name?
The Pennsylvania Railroad was the Standard Railroad of the USA. They
gave the world timezones. Whatever these two companies are doing
today, it has nothing to do with where they came from.
Microsoft has billions in cash, the company will be around for several
generations. If things get too bad, the board will dump the software
divisions and do something else. May it stop polluting the computer
industry and move on to other things.
> | Item: consider how that core business, operating systems, has reached a
> | point of absurdity. I find new ones every single day. Yesterday, for
> | example, I found out Internet Information Server 6 comes with a feature
> | that limits the size of a download. Some fiddling can make it right, but
> | for those who say, have to import a huge list of addresses for a mass
> | mailing campaign, it is absolutely absurd. Microsoft apparently never
> | thought of this. They also never realised that the cycle of making their
> | operating system ever larger and building in more functionality was
> | going to make it ever more difficult to debug and deploy.
> |
> | Item: consider how Windows users are being bombarded with viruses and
> | trojans, to the point that "zombie" PCs are a genuine internet menace.
> | Yet we have little visibility on how Vista is going to be less vulnerable
> | to this problem, on the contrary, it may be even worse.
> |
> | All these factors in isolation would not be fatal; they only become so
> | because Microsoft does not realise that they are problems at the heart
> | of their business model, and they are not willing to face up to the
> | truth. They lack the introspection to realise their hour of total
> | dominance has passed. They want to keep hold of the days when they set
> | the pace of the IT market, and the idea Mac OS challenging them was
> | laughable and Linux on the desktop was the preserve of a few enthusiasts.
> `----
>
> http://www.linuxextremist.com/?p=103
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