Dylan Hardison wrote:
>On Sat, 12 Feb 2005 20:55:20 -0500, Ken Elliott
><kelliott4@tampabay.rr.com> wrote:
>
>
>>http://abcnews.go.com/Business/SiliconInsider/story?id=88655&page=1
>>
>>The business world is beginning to take notice.
>>
>>
>
><faulty-logic>
>BSD is dying. Microsoft is dying. Therefore Microsoft is BSD.
></faulty-logic>
>
I don't think that's where this article goes at all. What the author's
pointing at is that like all things, Microsoft's dominance of the market
may be headed to the low point of the cycle. With the excitement other
technologies and companies are creating, how is MS being affected? Or
rather, how is MS affecting these changes? It's in that second question
that the answer really lies -- and where they key to this story lies. It
wasn't too long ago that "the standard certification" meant "MCSE."
Likewise, before then, "computer guru" was a synonym for "Unix hacker."
The author (Malone) has it right in this case: MS is going down, but it
won't simply crash. Likely, it'll die slowly, then re-invent itself; go
down, change its ways, start working with the rest of the world --
probably even open source a few things -- and eventually become a cool
company again, kinda like that "Linux company," Novell, or that other
"open source company," Apple. But before that happens, key figures --
and key paradigms -- within MS will have to change, starting with Mr.
Ballmer.
This looks like the pattern, at least in the computer world. Remember
that MS is also moving to other formats, though it hasn't been too
profitable yet on those fronts. (Not just XBox, but interactive home
digital entertainment.) As much as MS might want to compete with SONY,
it's still a long ways from that. Look for them to buy out a major
consumer electronics maker in the future, someone that will help them
make the transition from a "desktop software" company to an "Internet
services/Entertainment" company. MS isn't looking at the computer
desktop as its pot of gold anymore.
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