http://brennan.offwhite.net/blog/2006/08/24/microsoft-on-the-verge/ My Experiences with Software Development Tue, 07 Oct 2008 19:41:04 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.5.1 http://brennan.offwhite.net/blog/2006/08/24/microsoft-on-the-verge/#comment-5321 brennan Tue, 19 Sep 2006 16:38:23 +0000 http://brennan.offwhite.net/blog/2006/08/24/microsoft-on-the-verge/#comment-5321 Overall, open source has not prevented Microsoft from surviving the last several years. The promise of Linux taking over the desktop has not happened for the majority of households. And Linux on Dell systems has been selected by a limited few. MacOS X may have prevented Linux from taking hold by filling the need by some to have a Unix-like desktop. Other open source projects like PHP and the Apache web server have done extremely well on their own. I would attribute the Apache web server project with providing us all with many years of a fairly stable web platform. (Firefox now also gets some credit) But as IIS7 comes out later this year things could change by making it easier and safer to deploy ASP.NET applications to Windows. And it still hinges on the success of Vista. The only major force which can change Microsoft is Microsoft itself. Sun, IBM and the many open source projects like OpenOffice.org do not seem to have touched Microsoft's bottom line. There is potential that web-based alternatives to Office from Google may present a real threat, but it has yet to take off. That fight is still only in the early stages. Overall, open source has not prevented Microsoft from surviving the last several years. The promise of Linux taking over the desktop has not happened for the majority of households. And Linux on Dell systems has been selected by a limited few. MacOS X may have prevented Linux from taking hold by filling the need by some to have a Unix-like desktop. Other open source projects like PHP and the Apache web server have done extremely well on their own. I would attribute the Apache web server project with providing us all with many years of a fairly stable web platform. (Firefox now also gets some credit) But as IIS7 comes out later this year things could change by making it easier and safer to deploy ASP.NET applications to Windows. And it still hinges on the success of Vista. The only major force which can change Microsoft is Microsoft itself. Sun, IBM and the many open source projects like OpenOffice.org do not seem to have touched Microsoft's bottom line. There is potential that web-based alternatives to Office from Google may present a real threat, but it has yet to take off. That fight is still only in the early stages.

]]> http://brennan.offwhite.net/blog/2006/08/24/microsoft-on-the-verge/#comment-4501 Brennan’s Blog » Blog Archive » Innovation from Netscape Thu, 07 Sep 2006 02:13:34 +0000 http://brennan.offwhite.net/blog/2006/08/24/microsoft-on-the-verge/#comment-4501 [...] It seems that Stephen Forte has a short memory. I wrote recently that I feel that Microsoft is on the verge, torn between becoming a great company deserving of respect and a brutal company guilty of destroying the innovative companies. I think it is important to remember that while Microsoft has great potential to do good, they must also be mindful of their destructive past so they do not repeat it. [...] [...] It seems that Stephen Forte has a short memory. I wrote recently that I feel that Microsoft is on the verge, torn between becoming a great company deserving of respect and a brutal company guilty of destroying the innovative companies. I think it is important to remember that while Microsoft has great potential to do good, they must also be mindful of their destructive past so they do not repeat it. [...]

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