I spent the middle part of last week at Microsoft headquarters. For the first time in a long while, I saw an energy that few firms I’ve covered or worked for have been able to match. It struck me that most of the folks who disagree with my perspective about Microsoft are thinking of the company the way it was about five years ago, which isn’t accurate. A five-year-old viewpoint wouldn’t accurately characterize Apple, HP, Dell or SCO either. So what if Microsoft changed for the better? Would you care?
I was just over at viewsonic's site checking out the airpanel. I would like one. In fact, I found your article by googling for "linux airpanel". There is a serious problem though. I do not want to install (much less buy) any microsoft OS just to get a feature, especially if that feature does not work well. I consider an airpanel a feature. From online reviews I understand it does not work well. Here's the real cost of M$ thumbing their nose at open standards: The same hardware that runs the airpanel (400mhz xscale) could easily run linux. If I could get myself a linux airpanel, I could run VNC on it. Then I could run an open source VNC server on ANY windows box to get this feature, oh I could also use my airpanel to control my mac or any of my linux boxes. All I would have to pay for is the hardware. And guess what? I would be willing to pay more than M$ is asking for xp pro if I could get a high performance, genuinely useful product out of the deal. Let this sink in a minute. M$ refuses to let users have roving access to their system because they refuse to support open standards for remote desktop access. Airpanel access locks you out of your desktop while you are using the airpanel and vice versa. Airpanel peformance absolutely sucks, vnc achieves decent performance. I sincerely hope M$ is changing. I will be among the first to applaud them when they do. But the very fact you mention that they showed you an airpanel in your article shows that M$ are still carrying along one of their most grevious flaws.
Wow, you are mellow today - Linux "advocates" and not Linux "terrorists"? Yes, I would notice. The key thing is, I would not care. I'll give you an example why. Imagine you are a prisoner, and the head of the prison beats you everyday for 10 years. Then, suddenly, he treats you very nicely. Would you suddenly warm up to this fellow and think of him as your friend? No way, that history of 10 years of beating will always weigh you down. Microsoft has been convicted of being a monopoly and of stealing IP. They have treated their customers like prisoners, always taking advantage of their position as the head of the prison, always beating their customers. Screw 'em. I couldn't possibly care less.
Changing? Sure, they are dedicated people and I'm sure they want to provide a good product. Here's the rub. The biggest "change" they need to make is to adopt open standards for communication protocols and file formats, whenever they exist. But, particularly in the case of the Office file formats, doing so would be contrary to the interests of the shareholders. I'm an Apple "advocate, but I don't hate Microsoft. If anything, I think it's just an unfortunate situation where, what's good for Microsoft's shareholders (perpetuation of proprietary file formats for Office, for example) is very bad for consumers (witness almost zero innovation in this space for years and years now, and high prices that yield Microsoft 80 percent profit margins after expenses). I think we tolerate this in the U.S. because Microsoft is bringing home lots of dollars to the U.S., but I think overseas it's reaching a breaking point - on things I just don't see Microsoft "changing"
Loading ...
If Microsoft Changed, Would Anyone Notice?
Posted by: Rob Enderle December 15, 2003 09:36 AMI spent the middle part of last week at Microsoft headquarters. For the first time in a long while, I saw an energy that few firms I’ve covered or worked for have been able to match. It struck me that most of the folks who disagree with my perspective about Microsoft are thinking of the company the way it was about five years ago, which isn’t accurate. A five-year-old viewpoint wouldn’t accurately characterize Apple, HP, Dell or SCO either. So what if Microsoft changed for the better? Would you care?
There is a serious problem though. I do not want to install (much less buy) any microsoft OS just to get a feature, especially if that feature does not work well. I consider an airpanel a feature. From online reviews I understand it does not work well.
Here's the real cost of M$ thumbing their nose at open standards: The same hardware that runs the airpanel (400mhz xscale) could easily run linux. If I could get myself a linux airpanel, I could run VNC on it. Then I could run an open source VNC server on ANY windows box to get this feature, oh I could also use my airpanel to control my mac or any of my linux boxes. All I would have to pay for is the hardware. And guess what? I would be willing to pay more than M$ is asking for xp pro if I could get a high performance, genuinely useful product out of the deal.
Let this sink in a minute. M$ refuses to let users have roving access to their system because they refuse to support open standards for remote desktop access. Airpanel access locks you out of your desktop while you are using the airpanel and vice versa. Airpanel peformance absolutely sucks, vnc achieves decent performance. I sincerely hope M$ is changing. I will be among the first to applaud them when they do. But the very fact you mention that they showed you an airpanel in your article shows that M$ are still carrying along one of their most grevious flaws.
Yes, I would notice. The key thing is, I would not care. I'll give you an example why. Imagine you are a prisoner, and the head of the prison beats you everyday for 10 years. Then, suddenly, he treats you very nicely. Would you suddenly warm up to this fellow and think of him as your friend? No way, that history of 10 years of beating will always weigh you down.
Microsoft has been convicted of being a monopoly and of stealing IP. They have treated their customers like prisoners, always taking advantage of their position as the head of the prison, always beating their customers.
Screw 'em. I couldn't possibly care less.
I'm an Apple "advocate, but I don't hate Microsoft. If anything, I think it's just an unfortunate situation where, what's good for Microsoft's shareholders (perpetuation of proprietary file formats for Office, for example) is very bad for consumers (witness almost zero innovation in this space for years and years now, and high prices that yield Microsoft 80 percent profit margins after expenses).
I think we tolerate this in the U.S. because Microsoft is bringing home lots of dollars to the U.S., but I think overseas it's reaching a breaking point - on things I just don't see Microsoft "changing"