If you don’t know what I am referring to then take a look at this article from Paul Graham that claimed Microsoft was Dead and caused a major ruckus in the BlogSphere a while back, with most blogger agreeing blindly. Right after which we had Surface, Vista, Silverlight, .NET 3.0 3.5, WPF, ZUNE and the list goes on and all within a span of 1 year.
lets start with this quote from radiowalker
it’s a metaphor. Microsoft is not going out of business anytime soon, but it is ceasing to matter in terms of the future of software.
I suggest you read this excellent article from Joe Wilcox Titled The Great Double Standard I have posted a few selected quotes.
This week, a number of tech journalists gave glowing reviews of Leopard. They received the software on Mac Book Pro laptops provided by Apple. Nowhere have I seen anyone gripe about conflicts of interest. But when Microsoft’s PR agency sent bloggers preloaded Vista notebooks ahead of the operating system’s launch, there were ridiculous accusations of attempted bribery. The accusations made it difficult for those receiving the Vista units to say anything positive about the operating system.
The blogosphere will praise Leopard as the next best thing ever and use it as more proof why Vista sucks (It doesn’t). Meanwhile, there will be little good said about Microsoft’s colossal 2008 fiscal first quarter results. Those people acknowledging the earnings results will blame Microsoft for trying to kill Linux and babies in Africa as reasons for its success. The perception: When Microsoft competes, it cheats.
Between Google, Apple and Microsoft who would you choose? I wouldn’t choose any of them because they are businesses and that what they will remain till the end.
Thanks to Joe Stagner for the link to the Microsoft Watch article.
microsoft is doing exciting things. the whole flap over the vista laptops was pretty ridiculous. But as you’ve said, choosing to follow a business is a bad idea. Operating Systems are just tools for doing a job.