tl;dr PG thinks the web/startup scene == the world. 7 years proved he's wrong.
It's almost as if he had a stake in the web/startup scene or something.
Microsoft is Dead (2007)
51–60 of 195 posts
Re: Microsoft is Dead (2007)
#522007 - $51.12 billion
2013 - $77.85 billion
I'd love to die like that.
Re: Microsoft is Dead (2007)
#53It's really interesting how in 2007, I believed (as did pg, seemingly) that the web would eventually overtake desktop software. Fast forward seven years, and some of the biggest names in software (Instagram, Lyft) have completely abandoned the web for "desktop" (really, native) software. That so much code ships directly to mobile devices says a lot about the power of centralized app stores and truly sandboxed install…
It is not surprising at all. "The Cloud" is really "the mainframe" and "native software" is really "client-server".
The cycle takes 10 years or so but once you've seen a few you'll realize that the same things come round again and again. The only progress is through better hardware. Software guys, with their (our) fascination for the new and shiny and disdain for "legacy code" means we just reinvent the wheel over and over again.
Re: Microsoft is Dead (2007)
#54I predicted Apple's death some months after Steve Jobs died. Why? Two things (both of them decisions of the CEO): Plastic iPhones and the iPad mini (both products Jobs had resisted) and the more damning fact that for the first time a dividend of a serious size was paid ( http://investor.apple.com/dividends.cfm ). Jobs was adamant about growing the warchest. His assumption was that if a stockholder thought his/her inv…
If you've read Steve Jobs bio and know enough about him, you could surmise that he is "full of shit". He changes his mind, absorbs other people's ideas as his own and doesn't give them credit.
The iPad Mini actually sells really well, and Steve was around to ship the hundred iterations of iPod (nano, shuffle, etc.)
Re: Microsoft is Dead (2007)
#55The most common form of Microsoft-hate usually centers around how a company of such gargantuan size makes such gargantuan fuck-ups. But this is to be expected of companies of gargantuan size, and is certainly not limited to Microsoft alone (although recently they've had more than their fair share). My qualm with Microsoft is all the little things that they let slip through. Little things like having a control panel w…
In terms of UI (flat content based UI) at least, they did not copy Apple, it was the other way around. Apple just did it better.
It seems like you're referring to the visual style, but I think the comment you were replying to was about the structure and behavior more than mere skinning, and about differences that far predate iOS 7. There's a reason the term is "look and feel", not just "look"; that second half is where Apple so often distinguishes itself.
Re: Microsoft is Dead (2007)
#56The most common form of Microsoft-hate usually centers around how a company of such gargantuan size makes such gargantuan fuck-ups. But this is to be expected of companies of gargantuan size, and is certainly not limited to Microsoft alone (although recently they've had more than their fair share). My qualm with Microsoft is all the little things that they let slip through. Little things like having a control panel w…
System Configuration (msconfig) for me was a huge, huge disappointment product after product by Microsoft. Sure it's for "power" users, but I think a lot of people want to make certain applications not start up at boot, and not all software makes it easy to do in application. For more than a decade I have waited for them to allow resizing the damn window so I can read something more than the first few letters of an application name, path, etc. Nothing!!!
Re: Microsoft is Dead (2007)
#57It would not be optimal for Microsoft to die. And it is kinda sad that DEC and Sun are no more. I liked that http://altavista.digital.com . It was good.
That is not the definition of death that the article uses. He argues that Microsoft died as a monopolist, as the bully of the schoolyard. DEC and Sun never had that position to lose. IBM did, but now I keep paraphrasing the article. Read it :)
Re: Microsoft is Dead (2007)
#58The most common form of Microsoft-hate usually centers around how a company of such gargantuan size makes such gargantuan fuck-ups. But this is to be expected of companies of gargantuan size, and is certainly not limited to Microsoft alone (although recently they've had more than their fair share). My qualm with Microsoft is all the little things that they let slip through. Little things like having a control panel w…
In terms of UI (flat content based UI) at least, they did not copy Apple, it was the other way around. Apple just did it better.
That's just graphic design. UI is about how it's designed to work, what controls are where, what labels, what feedback it gives, etc.
The same UI can have different themes easily.
Re: Microsoft is Dead (2007)
#59[deleted]
"I already know what the reaction to this essay will be. Half the readers will say that Microsoft is still an enormously profitable company..." Looks like he hit right on the spot.
"The Eart is flat. I already know what the reaction to this eassay will be. Half the readers will say that the Earth is round".
Might not exactly be the case here (since he's talking for relevanece vs profits) but one can argue that continued and even increased profits must also show some kind of relevance.
But, most importantly, I wanted to show that foretelling what your critics might say doesn't make what you said any more correct.
Re: Microsoft is Dead (2007)
#60The most common form of Microsoft-hate usually centers around how a company of such gargantuan size makes such gargantuan fuck-ups. But this is to be expected of companies of gargantuan size, and is certainly not limited to Microsoft alone (although recently they've had more than their fair share). My qualm with Microsoft is all the little things that they let slip through. Little things like having a control panel w…
I thought all the microsoft hate came from the anti competitive behaviour like - embrace, extend and extinguish http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Embrace,_extend_and_extinguish , along with documented anti competitive behavior http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Criticism_of_Microsoft and similar patent trolling against linux and most recent android.