[There's a reason that Yoda is the unofficial mascot of SBS. Size indeed matters not.] Is Microsoft irrelevant? - THE OFFICIAL BLOG OF THE SBS DIVA
Sun, Dec 28 2008 21:43 bradley

Is Microsoft irrelevant?

Apple Just Killed Microsoft:
http://www.fool.com/investing/general/2008/12/23/apple-just-killed-microsoft.aspx
The World's Most Influential Companies - BusinessWeek:
http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/08_51/b4113043336126.htm
The World's Most Influential Companies: The Influencers - BusinessWeek:
http://images.businessweek.com/ss/08/12/1211_most_influential/index.htm

Seriously.  Is Microsoft so irrelevant to the world?  I'm going to bet that about 90% of you are reading this blog from a Windows platform.  And I'm going to bet that regardless of whether you use Chrome, Safari, or Firefox it's installed on a Windows machines.  And I'm going to guess that it will take a while for this promise of cloud computing where it doesn't matter what platform one uses will come to pass.  Google's chrome in fact is trying to ensure that you use their Chrome browser for their gmail apps.  But in all of this irrelvant talk one needs to ensure that we're not in an echo chamber of our own making. 

I challenge us all not to get wrapped up the the hype.  Don't get caught up in the hype that Windows 7 will solve all the problems of Windows Vista.  Don't get caught up in the hype of cloud computing without doing due diligence.  Don't get caught up in the hype that your clients will magically trust the cloud for housing all of their data. 

Make decisions that make sense for business reasons, not for hype.

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# Is Google trustworthy, and other bits of rhetoric....

Monday, December 29, 2008 7:04 AM by Joe Raby

"Google's chrome in fact is trying to ensure that you use their Chrome browser for their gmail apps."

No, Google's Chrome is trying to ensure that you are bombarded with Google's advertising without ad-blocking, and that Google has free roam to anything you do in the browser.  The apps are just bait.

# re: Is Microsoft irrelevant?

Monday, December 29, 2008 8:52 AM by Aaron Booker

What do your stats say?  I used to be a Mac bigot - and work with webdesigners (for joint clients) that were also Mac bigots.  Then I started looking at the stats...  I learned that IE on Windows ruled the planet.  (this was 5 years ago)

What do your stats say today?  I'm writing this from a Mac running Firefox, but I also check your blog using IE7 on a Lenovo Thinkpad running Vista Enterprise...

Thanks for the blog!  Best blog in SBS land.

Aaron

# re: Is Microsoft irrelevant?

Monday, December 29, 2008 10:26 AM by Anonymous

It wasn't Apple that killed Microsoft. It was Ballmer. Microsoft under his leadership has become a sluggish behemoth that rarely does anything that people in the industry as a whole want to emulate any longer.

Yes, Microsoft is irrelevant as a trend setter. Nothing new, interesting, and cool, is coming out of Redmond these days. Nothing that influences the industry in new ways is coming out of Redmond these days. Sure, the products run on many computers, and Microsoft can still force change in the industry, but that's just it. Microsoft _forces_ change. Apple causes it because their products are good enough, interesting enough, and, yes, cool enough to make it happen.

# re: Is Microsoft irrelevant?

Monday, December 29, 2008 11:58 AM by indy

"Don't get caught up in the hype that Windows 7 will solve all the problems of Windows Vista"

Windows XP solved all the problems of Vista.  :)

# re: Is Microsoft irrelevant?

Monday, December 29, 2008 1:14 PM by Joe Raby

"Windows XP solved all the problems of Vista."

If better security, more out-of-the-box multimedia support, and a longer remaining lifecycle is a problem, then I guess it did.

# re: Is Microsoft irrelevant?

Wednesday, December 31, 2008 3:16 PM by Indy

"Security" isn't a software package.  As the latest zero-day showed us, Vista hasn't improved all that much over XP.

"more out-of-the-box multimedia support,"

Like I care for my inteded uses?  There isn't a single media file Vista can play that XP can't.

"a longer remaining lifecycle is a problem,"

XP keeps having its lifecycle pushed back.  We don't expect to be running XP in 2014, but we can easily skip Vista in the meantime.  And will.