[normaldude]

1) Take stuff from Seattle Computer, Apple and Xerox Parc.

2) Use monopoly power to squeeze out competitors.

[normaldude]

1) Take stuff from Seattle Computer, Apple and Xerox Parc.

2) Use monopoly power to squeeze out competitors.

[rlobrecht]

Originally Posted by Janak Parekh

The question remains how it will reflect on their business offerings. .NET Server, for example, has Product Activation! I don't want to have to worry when I'm reinstalling a server, or to have to set up an internet connection immediately so I can activate the darn thing.

Product Activation is only an issue for Consumer Purchases. If you have any type of Corporate License Agreement with MS, the version you get doesn't have to be activated (or at least that's the case today with Windows XP Pro.)

[Daniel]

Originally Posted by Foo Fighter

This is one reason why I have toyed with the notion of switching to a Mac as my primary workstation.

I have "switched", It is the promised land, and yea they... what a load.

I really like the mac, Apple make fine computers. OSX is an excellent OS it just needs more time to mature. I seem to have a lot lower stress levels running a mac than I do a PC. Just spend more time doing things as opposed to doing things in order to do things. I enjoy being able to run Microsoft software while running classic *nix software at the same time. PostgreSQL, PHP, JBoss, I could go on but won't. I also like having a GUI that doesn't look like a drunken teenager thought it up (so that rules most other nixes out). I will say that I'm not entierly happy with the Aqua UI, some of it is just plain silly.

I am running Rotor which is kind of amusing, it's a shame they don't have ASP.Net running on the Rotor platform. I guess I'll just have to get that from go-mono.com.

I would buy a PC again though, I would certainly buy another PPC which leads me to the next dilemma which is that there just isn't the support on the Mac platform for PPC. Imagine writing software on a platform for your competitors products but not your own! That's just weird. Microsoft make great software, I would like to be able to run more of it without having to get a Windows PC.

Daniel

[Jonathan1]

How did/does MS stay on top? With their Windows/Office monopoly of course. Guys get real. If Microsoft didn't own the desktop (What was it? 97% of the market?) They would be out of business in a heartbeat. Notice that nothing from MS really works with any other OS.
Pocket PC = No Activestink for any other OS.
Most if not all games = Only runs on Windows.
MS Office = Yes there is a MAC version but time and again I hear rumors of MS ditching it. They don't simply because there are so many MAC users and that if push comes to shove and they get in a scuffle over monopolies they can claim that they are supporting MAC.
Internet Explorer = There is a MAC version but it sucks so badly why bother. Heck I have the QT movie of Jobs showing off OSX and IE crashing the OS. That is a priceless video.
MapPoint = Windows only.
.NET = They are claiming support across the board but come one. MS has a vested interest in making things work BETTER on Windows. So where do you think .NET is going to work best?

Now I’ve had this discussion with others. Their point being that why should MS cater to other companies? My response has always been that if Microsoft didn’t have their hands in multiple cookie jars they would cater to multiple platforms. As it stands why in the world would MS make a product as good on the MAC as on a Windows PC??!?!!? They have a vested interest to push their own platform so screw Linux, screw MAC. Then my discussions generally lead into breaking up MS but that’s a different topic for a different day.

Sorry if this comes off as just another MS bashing post but lets be brutally honest. Without Windows and Office MS would be dead. The only way Microsoft keeps their market share and the status quo is through embrace and extend, FUD campaigns against their competition (I know this is the case because during the negations with MS for our new software lease for Windows/Office/Servers our CIO had a nice discussion with the MS rep about Linux. She made sure to bullet point some of MS points and generally speaking of the stuff Microsoft was pushing was FUD.), and hidden API’s and techniques to keep programs such as WINE from running MS software.

I’m not saying Windows isn’t a good OS. It really is. But the way Microsoft stays on top is not the methods of a benevolent software company. They are underhanded, tricky, manipulative. Generally methods you’d expect to see from a company scared pissless of losing their only grip (Windows is one hand, Office is the other) they have before falling off of the cliff. Witness X-Box. Do you guys really think Microsoft wanted to get into the video game market?!?! Microsoft sees that there is a good possibility that in the future the home theater will be the center of the digital experience. So they are rushing to cut off Sony from taking that spear head of this revolution. Maybe it’s just me but I get this impression EVERYTHING scares MS. That is why they are in just about every market short of the automotive industry. They are scared of that cliff I spoke of above and are doing ANYTHING they can to have alternative streams of revenue. God forbid the desktop monopoly crumbles in which case the Office monopoly wouldn't be far behind.

*shrugs* Just my 2 cents.

[numo]

Originally Posted by Jason Dunn

Their take: Microsoft actually wins through effective management of its intellectual property and an ability to spot and react to important trends before they take hold.

Yup. Others call it "embrace and extend" CP/M and DOS, Mac GUI and Windows, Netscape and IE, CORBA and COM, Java and .NET, Palm and Windows CE... With a large development team (read money) it surely works...

[Janak Parekh]

Originally Posted by rlobrecht

Product Activation is only an issue for Consumer Purchases. If you have any type of Corporate License Agreement with MS, the version you get doesn't have to be activated (or at least that's the case today with Windows XP Pro.)

It's not that simple. We have the .NET Server RC2 installed here, and it really requires activation. While there may be a corporate version of .NET Server, I'd suspect it's not going to be cheap. At least for XP, to purchase the corporate version, you must buy an Open License with at least 5 copies. For a server, that wouldn't be nearly so nice for small businesses, since those copies must belong to one company.

We'll see how it evolves... competition from Linux and company is a good thing, as it forces MS to stay competitive.

--janak

[Foo Fighter]

Originally Posted by Daniel

I have "switched", It is the promised land, and yea they... what a load.

Yeah, I'm a big Mac fan..but I am a much bigger fan of THE TRUTH. So I have little tolerance for the lies and FUD spread by the "Switcher" ads.

My PC caught fire and exploded, killing my whole family. That never happens with my Mac."

"My Mac never crashes, but my PC crashes whenever the cat walks by."

"There I was writing War and Peace on my PC when suddenly it went...BLEEP BLEEEEEEP and everything was gone. - My name is Leo Tolstoy, and I'm a switcher."

"My PC turned me into a wife-beating alcoholic. But since I switched to a Mac, I become a warm, loving person...promoting world peace."

Yada yada yada. :roll:

[peterawest]

Originally Posted by Robotbeat

Windows is why they won the market.

Why did Windows win? Because it is cheaper than Apple and Unix and is open to different types of hardware, unlike Apple.

I don't know. If you go back to the days before Windows, MS still had a larger installed base then any other OS provider.

Windows surely helped them to grow, but the dominance has been there from the early days.

Face it, they are good at what they do, and they always have been. Bill Gates didn't invent the OS, but he certainly knew how to take it to a new audience. That's what they always do.

Remeber when MS tried to buy Quicken? They were going to sell MS Money to another company so that they would be permitted to buy Quicken. The sale was never approved, so instead, they threw their energy into making their product equal or better than Quicken. Now they have a successful product that goes head-to-head with Quicken.

When they aren't experts at something that they want to do, they don't waste their time trying to reinvent the wheel. Instead, they go out and buy or hire the experts. You've seen this with their move into the gaming world with XBox. Over the last few years they've bought up some of the successful smaller companies that had the best skills. Then they flush them with cash and let them do their job. The result? Now they have a successful product with games that people want.

It just goes on and on. They have a good ability to see what the consumer wants and to make it happen. Not every company can do that.

Microsoft is going to be around for some time to come.

[Perry Reed]

Originally Posted by Jonathan1

Maybe it’s just me but I get this impression EVERYTHING scares MS. That is why they are in just about every market short of the automotive industry. They are scared of that cliff I spoke of above and are doing ANYTHING they can to have alternative streams of revenue. God forbid the desktop monopoly crumbles in which case the Office monopoly wouldn't be far behind.

But that's a good thing! As a shareholder, I want any company I own to act like they're scared of losing any business.

A company that acts complacent will very soon be out of business.

[Perry Reed]

Originally Posted by Foo Fighter

Yeah, I'm a big Mac fan..but I am a much bigger fan of THE TRUTH. So I have little tolerance for the lies and FUD spread by the "Switcher" ads.

Ha! Those were classic. Thanks!