Ironically, the fact that Microsoft apologists didn't even understand pg's explicitly clear article in the first place is yet another HUGE indicator of why they're dead:
They just don't GET IT. ;)
Microsoft is Dead: The Cliffs Notes
11–20 of 26 posts
Re: Microsoft is Dead: The Cliffs Notes
#12It was a running joke on Slashdot for years to say "FreeBSD is dead".
Re: Microsoft is Dead: The Cliffs Notes
#13Paul says he wanted to be the first to call MS's decline.
I think John Walker did this more than 10 years ago: http://www.fourmilab.ch/documents/msapogee.html
Re: Microsoft is Dead: The Cliffs Notes
#14I was a bit surprised at so many people jumping up in arms over the declaration of Microsoft's death. The article was quite clear in what it was getting at -- I could only guess that people are inferring the wrong things because they didn't actually read it. And even then, when I first read the article title, I thought: Yep, sounds about right.
Re: Microsoft is Dead: The Cliffs Notes
#15Someone saying 8 years ago that web apps would take the majority of desktop applications out of the picture people would say she is crazy.
If today you accept that fact, then possibly u accept that Microsoft has at least been minimized as a potential threat.
But, if someone even today haven't seen the move away desktop apps, then they will never understand what PG meant.
If you compare the 17 acquisitons Vs the 9 that Google did in 2006, the conclusions are obvious...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_companies_acquired_by_Microsoft_Corporation#2006
Re: Microsoft is Dead: The Cliffs Notes
#16(Submitted under comment in Don's blog. Hopefully it will be approved.)
Don,
I believe Microsoft's demise is more closely related to Apple and Google than you have thought.
Google - easy one, GMail and Google Doc basically replaced the MS office suite I purchased in '98
Apple - based on Paul Kedrosky's observations, Vista sales is highly correlated to PC sales and once those numbers are normalized, "it looks like Vista sales are tracking on par with XP, and no better than that" (http://paul.kedrosky.com/archives/2007/03/26/playing_parse_t.html).
So from the indications of recent AAPL stock price - what if Apple continues to gain shares in the PC market? Upon purchasing a new iMac, my dad (retired) have found out that switching to Os X is easy as long as solitaire is installed.
Re: Microsoft is Dead: The Cliffs Notes
#17I can't understand why you Mr. Graham must again explain you thoughts. If someone don't want to understand, he won't understand even after ten explanations.
Re: Microsoft is Dead: The Cliffs Notes
#18I think the most interesting thing about article is that people who fall into the "old news" camp probably didn't need the Cliffs Notes to understand what Paul meant. Once I understood what the original essay was about, I wasn't reminded of Microsoft's balance sheet, nor did I think they would be going out of business. The fact that they aren't non-existent but are no longer relevant just seems... intuitive.
I completely agree with this sentiment, because I feel the same way. This means that the Cliffs Notes response was "old old news" :)
Re: Microsoft is Dead: The Cliffs Notes
#19
The problem with the net is that the hordes of people who do not and may never understand metaphors or the rhetorical history of phrases such as "X is dead" will swamp you every time with their literalism. At some point you have to filter them out and trust that the people who are able to understand have understood and move on.
Re: Microsoft is Dead: The Cliffs Notes
#20'In fact "Microsoft is Dead" was what we in the trade call a metaphor.' It kind of saddens me that this clarification was necessary, but at least I got a good laugh out of it :)
The Cliff Notes probably aren't the whole story: the "Microsoft is Dead" and "Cliff Notes" essays were released in the midst of the selection process for Y Combinator's 2007 summer funding program. Interesting timing...