Rick Hodgin at Geek.com (http://www.geek.com/users/RickGeek/) writes an article asking if Microsoft days as a predominant player are over (full article at http://www.geek.com/articles/linux/opinion-microsofts-days-as-king-are-ending-2009079/).
No they aren’t for the following reasons:
- Transition to new OSes is not so easy for the average user and installed base is big.
- Companies are the largest Microsoft users and Open Source is percieved oftenly as no so reliable
- Other Micrososft products (like office) are a “de facto” standard and cannot be changed so easily
This article also as a comment at http://www.geek.com/articles/linux/opinion-microsofts-days-as-king-are-ending-2009079/comment-page-1/#comment-1667921
How I see the world 
July 18th, 2009 at 5:36 PM
After looking at your profile, to be fair theres a good chance your IT consultancy revolves around Microsoft products so is fair to believe that you make a living from them.
“Other Micrososft products (like office) are a “de facto” standard and cannot be changed so easily”
Rubbish. The French Police have moved to FOSS and last time I checked Police Officers did not have to be IT experts to get their job.
I challenge anyone (for example) to take a look at Openoffice compared to MS Office and tell me that it is so different and so “standard” they are unable to use it.
IMO the cashcow MS office is easily replaced by OpenOffice and thats why there is an increase in its use.
“Open Source is percieved oftenly as no so reliable”
LOL. London Stock Exchange? What about the Windows security issues? Linux is “not so reliable”? Stability? Doesn’t the famous BSOD still get a photograph and chuckle to this day? What about the numerous exploits and the fact that 3rd parties can make money from securing products which (IMO) Microsoft should be doing themselves?
Whilst I am a developer and use Microsoft products, I am not as dismissive as you because my personal (home experience) of FOSS is extensive and balances out the experience of proprietary at work.
It is my opinion, being a user of both that if the consumer can get over the stereotypical remarks that somehow Microsoft is the God of all software, they may actually find the functionality they desire within the realm of FOSS (or indeed alternative proprietary solutions)
http://www.openbytes.wordpress.com
July 19th, 2009 at 1:16 PM
You’re quite correct on my job (I work for a consulting company, not only involved in IT).
You’re wrong on the fact that my work revolves around Microsoft products (if you exclude Office Suite, of course).
You’re completely wrong of the fact I’m dismissive on Microsoft predominancy.
What I’m trying to say is that I don’t care where the standard comes from, neither I care if Microsoft is the god of all softwares (just to be clear: I like open office and I use it at home, but if for my work someon passes me a file and I need to work 20 minutes to fix all the misformatiing, this is not a good point. It happens more times than you think).
On the other side, I’m talking about the installed base, that for the majority is Microsoft led.
But at the end, I really appreciate a standard. And I appreciate this standard better if it’s free. But should be fully compatible with everything used since then.
July 19th, 2009 at 2:32 PM
The “standards” issue that I believe you are referring to, which is the formatting point, is, in my opinion more an issue with Microsoft anti-compliance with open standards. Of course OO and Abiword offer a compat layer for the .doc format, but I would expect with an overly complex document, issues will be found. (and hasn’t there been allegations of problems with Microsofts implimentation of Openstandards in its products?)
The majority user base is not such an issue anymore and here is why I think its the case:
Windows 7 is trying to address the reluctance from users to part with their beloved XP, IMO we can mostly factor out Vista at this point and I believe even Microsoft would like to distance themselves from the whole saga in order to promote the “brave new world” of Windows 7.
XPM has been “given” to Enterprise albeit via the more expensive versions of 7, which to me shows that even Microsoft customers are suffering with this alleged fear of the new. Thats where Linux comes in. For a new user or even an advanced technician, I don’t think it can be argued that Linux (e.g Ubuntu/Mandriva/Fedora) is far more stable and secure natively than Windows, in terms of difference in Linux V XP – very little and certainly no more so than XP v 7 IMO.
The point that this is getting at is that when talking “standards” (especially with Vista/7 – xp compat) Linux has had the WINE project running for years (a replacement Windows API), which by reports (and personal experience) runs Windows binaries faster than Windows does. In addition WINE (unlike XPM) does offer compat for DX software.
Open Office is a great package, but in my opinion even though its MS with the majority (and I think we will see a migration like we are with IE – FF) its MS with standards issues not FOSS. Maybe this will be the next topic the EU and anti-trust tackles?
In the world of IT and those familiar with it, always will and always have very good reasons for choosing the packages we do. For the average user they are usually majority led, which is something I’ve noticed changing over the last few years. Who would have thought that with a majority OS base (and their own browser bundled with it) Microsoft could loose a massive chunk to Firefox.
The “God of all software” was not aimed directly at you (sorry for not making that clear) but was more of a general view that the “public” have. In my experience of knowing “average users” it appears to me they dislike Microsoft but dont know why and conversely Microsoft knows its name is unpopular but can’t work out why either.
We have seen standards before and maybe history will repeat itself. For me the good example was DIVX (proprietary) which became hugely popular until XVID came along, now we are starting to see the same with MP3 v OGG. Many years ago .GIF learned its lesson didnt it?
As you say “But should be fully compatible with everything used since then.” and I totally agree, past allegations though against Microsoft (and common business sense) would say Redmond is not too hot on the idea. (IMO)
In future, why not consider reporting the misformatting experiences to the dev’s of OO and help with its development? It would certainly help towards a free standard…
Regards.
http://www.openbytes.wordpress.com
July 18th, 2009 at 9:19 PM
Long live Linux and open source! 😎
July 19th, 2009 at 1:17 PM
Yes.
Long live to every OS and software that helps to work better. 🙂
July 20th, 2009 at 1:30 AM
I agree 100%! I don’t love Microsoft, but I don’t hate them either. Bill Gates had a lot of good ideas and I basically read all his books to get a insight into the digital future.
Sure, web apps will rise. MS Office Online will probably kill the Google Office. Companies have to spend money on IT anyway. Even if it is just for tax cutting. Doing an up-sell for an advanced office online license won’t be hard to make. All the private users use a “free” copy anyway.
What I am missing right now is a good online graphic suit (adobe) as well a other web development tools.
I went to an Apple store, ready to buy one of those shiny ProBooks. In the end I would have ended up with a computer for only $1300CAD but a software suit for $2500CAD because one web development software company don’t want to change my license to another platform without me buying their crappy useless upgrades the come out with every 6 month.
The END of the story: I will probably buy Windows 7 and maybe a netbook using the Google OS or Linux!
July 20th, 2009 at 8:39 PM
Quote “I agree 100%! I don’t love Microsoft, but I don’t hate them either. Bill Gates had a lot of good ideas and I basically read all his books to get a insight into the digital future.”
Yes Bill Gates had many good ideas, but I think the point is, regardless of your OS/choices we all agree that innovation and variety is good. I don’t hate MS, but I think having one company “ruling the roost” is harmful. Look at the market (in this case the home) whats the one thing that sells a product? Customization…..we see it on mobiles et al. The whole issue with proprietary is that there are restrictions on what you can do, either because it requires further investments or because of licensing issues. There are no such issues with Linux (for example)
I’m not quite sure how/why you believe MS apps online will beat Google, because nobody knows that. I’d suggest the general opinion is that it won’t since Google shares seem to be doing well. If thats not enough for you think on this, has Bing made a dent on Google? Does anyone think Bing has the ability to bring down Google? Again I’d suggest even Microsoft know that it requires further purchases to make a significant dent in Google, hence the Yahoo deal in discussion.
What about Zune? Has that made a dent in Ipod sales? – The list goes on and I don’t see how you make predictions without at the very least justifying them. If we look at past history then Nintendo (IMO) would never have been expected to have success with WII, look at the previous releases: Gamecube, N64 – they were hardly the sellouts to inspire confidence in the WII being as big as it is.
Quote “advanced office online license won’t be hard to make. All the private users use a “free” copy anyway.”
Take a look at what IT pro’s are saying about Open Office and then figure that in with competition from Google apps…..I’d suggest it’s not as easy battle as you suggest and whilst we are still hit in recession, I wonder how that will effect MS? I expect we will see when its quarterly figures are released on thursday.
http://www.openbytes.wordpress.com