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Microsoft is Dead

paulgraham.com

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Re: Microsoft is Dead

#251

Post by rinconj »

reality2345 wrote: post #176

Need a Dose of Reality From TFA: "Their victory is so complete that I'm now surprised when I come across a computer running Windows. Nearly all the people we fund at Y Combinator use Apple laptops. It was the same in the audience at startup school. All the computer people use Macs or Linux now. Windows is for grandmas, like Macs used to be in the 90s. So not only does the desktop no longer matter, no one who cares ab…

I work for one of the $100B+ market cap companies that officially is windows only, but internally 20% of people have already replaced their windows with Linux or Mac for superior performance. The OP of this is all about the new breed of startups not the grandma companies you see or work for.

Re: Microsoft is Dead

#252

Post by jonhendry »

Paul,

I think Apple's resurgence required that Jobs be pushed out. I feel that his time in the wilderness helped him grow in ways that would not have been possible if he had stayed safely ensconced at Apple.

Instead of being at a hugely successful company like Apple, he spent 12 years focused on the challenges at NeXT and Pixar. And the challenges at NeXT were significant. Both companies brought him into contact with very different customer bases. For example, NeXT had a number of major investment banks as big clients. (Granted, Jobs would have had contact with them as CEO of Apple, but as their customer, which is rather different.)

Re: Microsoft is Dead

#253

Post by jonhendry »

Also... I don't know why any company would use Windows for important machines. Requiring the use of Windows is like requiring that all key staff be recruited from drug rehabs.

Re: Microsoft is Dead

#254

Post by microsoftx »

BrandonM wrote: post #89
hello_moto wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

May I know whom attacking MS Office? Last time I checked, none of the online web two point ooh software can open big documents. These web-apps only match probably 20% of MS Office features and it's simply not enough these days when people are more tech-savvy than in the past.

If you haven't heard about a free program that does everything that Microsoft Office does and more, then you should really be looking at OpenOffice. 1. It's free 2. It can read all Microsoft and open formats 3. It can export as PDF 4. It runs on Windows, Mac, Linux, ... (written in Java I believe) 5. It's open source 6. Various other features have been added which MS now adds to MS Office in order to catch up (like a…

It's buggy

Re: Microsoft is Dead

#255

Post by Tweeker »

If you want to play games your still stuck with Microsoft. They have been fairly effective at marginalizing OpenGL. However, requiring Vista for DX10 will push many to looking for alternatives. Alas, the alternative seems to be the console currently. While games is may "fun", its still the main driver of PC hardware development. 3D cards for games have long since subsumed CAD cards.

Re: Microsoft is Dead

#256

Post by alive88 »

Why have you chosen Death as your metaphor?

We should pay some credence to what Microsoft has done to computing. I think they have built industry leading applications and provided (in some cases) some vision for development. Hands down they once owned computing.

Certainly the business model allowed them to become very rich and powerful. Knowing what we know now - maybe we shouldn't have let it happen.

Does your article simply state, the industry has changed? Why is Google more important now than Microsoft?

Collaborative documents and its respective monetization - who are the leaders? Monetization and sustainability seem to me to be king.

What is important about your article? Doesn't Microsoft continue to be profitable, sustainable, and offer value to its customers? Is there something important about a loss of their lock (except the obvious)? Is there a social statement there?

How does this translate to me as a user, a developer, a business person?

Re: Microsoft is Dead

#257

Post by microsoftx »

tetley wrote: post #243

I find this unnecessary and to refer to Microsoft as being for Grandmas, I hope all the Grandmas land on this guys head and trample him. Such an unfortunate phrase for him to use. I sure hope Microsoft rises up and pounds h... out of such superegos.

what he actually means is that windows is Intuitive enough for even a grandma to use. That in my opinion is a tremendous compliment.

Ask yourself this : Can a grandma install Debian? Is a grandma interested in setting herself apart from the masses with a trendy powerbook? No and No. A grandma only wants something that works well. Like 99.999% of the world's population.

People want what is easy and intuitive. Geeks, hackers and trendy insecure people revel in the obscure and fashionable (Linux and Macs).

Re: Microsoft is Dead

#258

Post by alive88 »

weblivz wrote: post #142
BobG wrote: post #32

Being nearly 50years old, what frightens me about MS is that they think they can sell an OS which they can remotely turn off without out a court warrant and then its up to you if your business hasn't gone bankrupt to sue them . This just shows complete and utter contempt for their customers.Which will do for them in the long run.My next box will be linux. Maybe the apple setup etc looks attractive to the younger gene…

They're are easy target and i had this discussion over drinks with some friend last night. I actually think their software in the last few years and what is coming through is getting great respect from hackers. Also, a few things to remember. 1. Search in only 10% done. 2. Pervasive devices are taking over as the key interface to systems. 3. Collaboration is the big wave on the web. 4. Privacy/Trust - things like goo…

important post with some meat to follow up.

Next Gen Search is exciting to think about. Pervasive - I personally want to degadgetize and surround myself with inexpensive, pervasive technology. (Why isn't bluetooth inexpensive?) Collaboration - If you listen to MS talk, they are significantly ahead in collaborative technologies. I can't speak to that, but would personally like a movement toward open document formats. OpenID - why are they important? I should do more reading, I might not understand the scope of that project. web 2.0 is bubblific. good luck to those hoping to make a quick buck. I wish better luck to those that aspire to create value, change computing and create sustainable business models.

Re: Microsoft is Dead

#259

Post by jonhendry »

randallsquared wrote: post #9

Microsoft is still an enormously profitable and powerful company in the real world, and you should be more careful about drawing conclusions based on what a few people think in your insular little "Web 2.0" bubble. More seriously, I mostly do business right now with small businesses (2-8 people), and some stupidly high proportion of these businesses run totally on Windows. When they go to buy the computer(s) they nee…

"Word, Excel, Internet Explorer, Outlook, and Exchange are the core software apps of 90+% of small businesses."

You forgot the CPU-sucking antivirus apps they need to run that still can't guarantee that the business won't be brought to a standstill by a worm.

Re: Microsoft is Dead

#260

Post by nuke »

IBM died in exactly the same way. They became a niche player in the market they had a hand in creating... all the way down to the actual hardware (desktop then laptop). They finally sold their interest in the personal computer market that they said would go nowhere. Now, Microsoft, with the same attitude towards open source and open standards is suffering the same climb towards obscurity. Google embraced open standards (POP, SMTP, HTTP, AJAX, Jabber, etc) and actually extended such to amazing utility (check out their stock market tools) and somehow free... the concept that undoes Microsoft. Microsoft crushed the browser market with "Free" IE and Google is crushing Microsoft with free computing. Do you need MS Vista? Heck no, just XP with a decent browser (Firefox) and most people are good to go. Microsoft creates the new terminals of the millennia and Google is the new mainframe. The king is dead, long live the king.
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