[LINK] How can Microsoft stop us hating them?

Bernard Robertson-Dunn brd at iimetro.com.au
Thu Dec 13 21:37:24 AEDT 2007


Stilgherrian wrote:

> Folks, I just posted the following on my personal website, seeking comments
> before I have dinner with a relevant, senior Microsoft chap tomorrow night.
> 
> Any comments that aren't just slagging-off platform-wars childishness or
> boring technical rants much appreciated! ;)

...

> What do you think about Microsoft, and how would you like to see them
> change? Can you think they can do it?

I have four observations re Microsoft and its products

1. Windows is not an operating system, it is mishmash of desktop and 
server functionality. It should be modularised and layered according to 
good system architecture practices. Windows is not the operating system 
for all occasions. Different requirements lead to different solutions. 
Windows does not suit all devices from hand-held to enterprise server. 
Stop pretending it does and stop trying to make it fit.

2. Microsoft's products should evolve and improve, much like automotive 
products have over the years. There should be a process of 
standardisation, specialisation and optimisation. Currently, the changes 
in Microsoft products seem to reflect a desire to take over or shut out 
competition, not to improve. That's why Vista is slow in taking hold. 
Vista is not seen as an evolutionary product, it is perceived as a 
different product that has as many disadvantages as advantages.

3. Bill Gates was driven to beat the competition into the ground and 
destroy them. That was his style and his psychological make-up. 
Microsoft should not reflect Bill Gates any more. Microsoft needs to 
become a good corporate citizen or the competition will eventually 
destroy it. It needs to become an essential part of the IT industry, not 
the only player on its field of choice. Or, as Glen Turner puts it, 
"play nicely with others".

4. Microsoft is not the new IBM. IBM could deliver everything that a 
client needed. Nobody ever beat IBM at what IBM did best. The IT 
industry grew beyond what IBM did. Microsoft only develops software. 
Microsoft needs the rest of the IT industry far more than IBM ever did 
or does.

-- 

Regards
brd

Bernard Robertson-Dunn
Sydney Australia
brd at iimetro.com.au




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