Microsoft's last moves?
A science-fiction/cyberpunk writer of the name Neal Stephenson happened to have written a very small book called "In the beginning...was the command line" that I found rather illuminating on the world of Computers, software, and where it might be heading. One of the thing's Neal brought up very early on in his brain dump is the peril Microsoft has put itself in, one that Apple Corp. continues to experience. He argued that in reality, Microsoft is more an Application firm that just happens to write Operating systems as a platform for it's products. I am going to try and avoid bashing the architectural choices MS has made with it's line of operating systems because at this point even non-computer people know that something ain't right with Windows.
Instead what struck me as reassuring is that because Microsoft continues to build its applications to run well only on it's OS, every time someone converts to Linux it not only takes away a potential Windows OS customer, but also a Microsoft Application buyer. I've realized all this to an extent on my own, but it's just sunking in with this book because of the double loss Microsoft feels every time someone makes the effort to try FreeBSD, or the veritable rainbow of distro's out there. Granted MS is still pretty far away from showing a Fiscal year loss, but with small gains for the linux crowd cropping up everywhere now... how long does it take for an institution to collapse or atleast be humbled like IBM experienced in the late 70's & 80's.
Realizing this also gave me a better of understanding of the stampede for software patents on pretty much everything, that's not already patented, right now. From a CEO's standpoint, damn the infrastructure... if MS can plant enough flags down in the software patent landscape, it might survive on as a licensing company (Kind of like US Steel converting to being an Oil company). It also explains the seemingly suicidal Risk MS initally took in jumping into the console wars. AS for the FUD statements that Microsoft is sending out on a daily basis, it seems more like the Corporation is trying its best to buy itself more time to think ( counter-attack, withdrawal, repeat until you're out of ammo )
The only thing I could think of that could save Microsoft would be if it did something goofy like retuning it's applications (Microsoft Word, Exchange, MsSQL, etc) to run natively on linux. You got to admit that would be a pretty scary experience... watching the kernel bootstrap, then have the "Evil empire" flag flash up as the Microsoft X windows manager took over the console.
Google Books - "In the beginning...was the command line" Neal Stephanson
http://books.google.com/books?id=OmnF5MGRNn8C&dq=Neal+Stephenson&prev=http://www.google.com/search?q=neal+stephenson&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&client=firefox-a&sa=X&oi=print&ct=result&cd=1&cad=author-navigational&hl=enhttp://books.google.com/books?id=OmnF5MGRNn8C&printsec=frontcover&dq=Neal+Stephenson&ei=ZF1nR8nhNobosQPijcCrAw&ie=ISO-8859-1&sig=VyuCkwBO3CCcrGvdwzEO9X03Fjs#PPA2,M1http://books.google.com/books?id=OmnF5MGRNn8C&printsec=frontcover&dq=In+the+Beginning...was+the+Command+Line&sig=VyuCkwBO3CCcrGvdwzEO9X03Fjs
Note, another thing Neal did was try to analogize Operating systems to automobiles (page 5):
Microsoft: Station wagons
BSD: Batmobiles
GNU/Linux: Tanks w/ 100MPG fuel efficieny
Apple Corp: Stylish european sports cars.
Disclaimer: I know the majority of linux posts are "how do I..."'s and "That's funny, if I douse my mother board in cooking oil it run's faster" kind of deal, but I figure this book and it's idea's might be interesting to someone else on here.
Instead what struck me as reassuring is that because Microsoft continues to build its applications to run well only on it's OS, every time someone converts to Linux it not only takes away a potential Windows OS customer, but also a Microsoft Application buyer. I've realized all this to an extent on my own, but it's just sunking in with this book because of the double loss Microsoft feels every time someone makes the effort to try FreeBSD, or the veritable rainbow of distro's out there. Granted MS is still pretty far away from showing a Fiscal year loss, but with small gains for the linux crowd cropping up everywhere now... how long does it take for an institution to collapse or atleast be humbled like IBM experienced in the late 70's & 80's.
Realizing this also gave me a better of understanding of the stampede for software patents on pretty much everything, that's not already patented, right now. From a CEO's standpoint, damn the infrastructure... if MS can plant enough flags down in the software patent landscape, it might survive on as a licensing company (Kind of like US Steel converting to being an Oil company). It also explains the seemingly suicidal Risk MS initally took in jumping into the console wars. AS for the FUD statements that Microsoft is sending out on a daily basis, it seems more like the Corporation is trying its best to buy itself more time to think ( counter-attack, withdrawal, repeat until you're out of ammo )
The only thing I could think of that could save Microsoft would be if it did something goofy like retuning it's applications (Microsoft Word, Exchange, MsSQL, etc) to run natively on linux. You got to admit that would be a pretty scary experience... watching the kernel bootstrap, then have the "Evil empire" flag flash up as the Microsoft X windows manager took over the console.
Google Books - "In the beginning...was the command line" Neal Stephanson
http://books.google.com/books?id=OmnF5MGRNn8C&dq=Neal+Stephenson&prev=http://www.google.com/search?q=neal+stephenson&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&client=firefox-a&sa=X&oi=print&ct=result&cd=1&cad=author-navigational&hl=enhttp://books.google.com/books?id=OmnF5MGRNn8C&printsec=frontcover&dq=Neal+Stephenson&ei=ZF1nR8nhNobosQPijcCrAw&ie=ISO-8859-1&sig=VyuCkwBO3CCcrGvdwzEO9X03Fjs#PPA2,M1http://books.google.com/books?id=OmnF5MGRNn8C&printsec=frontcover&dq=In+the+Beginning...was+the+Command+Line&sig=VyuCkwBO3CCcrGvdwzEO9X03Fjs
Note, another thing Neal did was try to analogize Operating systems to automobiles (page 5):
Microsoft: Station wagons
BSD: Batmobiles
GNU/Linux: Tanks w/ 100MPG fuel efficieny
Apple Corp: Stylish european sports cars.
Disclaimer: I know the majority of linux posts are "how do I..."'s and "That's funny, if I douse my mother board in cooking oil it run's faster" kind of deal, but I figure this book and it's idea's might be interesting to someone else on here.
