Forum Moderators: phranque
All in all, Windows XP is the best operating system Microsoft has ever produced. But the company's ferocious drive to dominate the digital world mars its masterpiece.WSJ [public.wsj.com]
"The company has also turned Windows XP into a sort of Trojan horse. It has built in a bunch of "features," such as instant messaging, online photo printing and a "passport" to the Web, that are just blatant efforts to lure consumers into using a set of new Web-based services Microsoft is launching, while ignoring alternative services that may be better. The goal seems to be to trap users in a sort of Microsoft company store."
Why did nobody warn us of this? This is Plug and Pay with a vengeance. It's horrible. How on earth could they get away with it?
It's the tip of the coming iceberg PageCount. Power is accumulated in bad economic times by those strong enough to weather the storm. To me, that means that while the rest of the computer sector goes through it's shakeout, Microsoft will move more aggressively than ever before. Throw in the fact that within a short time frame the MS vs DOJ will be settled with MS getting a slap on the wrist at most, and I expect MS to be bolder than ever.
Although XP will be a 'push' in that it will be slow to take off, I expect it to slowly be adapted as the standard OS. There are enough things proprietary about it, that hardware and software will evolve to become 'xp only' propositions.
I have to give Mosberg credit though, comparing XP to a trojan horse is accurate and a welcome description.
I just don't know how long I can wait for the bonfire of their vanities :).
"Microsoft knows that focusing your energies on beating your enemy can be short sighted and self-defeating. To not lose sight of the long-term goal, Microsoft has looked at and analyzed the broader picture.Its vision is to be the world’s largest and most innovative IT company. If e-commerce does not get off the ground, the PC will remain little more than a glorified play station and word processor with Web access.
By taking ownership of the processes that kick start e-commerce, Microsoft achieves two things.
Most satisfying to the money mogul lurking in our entrepreneurial folk hero will be the beating given AOL. Second to that, Microsoft will control e-commerce facilitation through hardware and software dominance.
Bill Gates and his legions of lawyers are going to drag us into high-revenue generating e-commerce and the twenty first century whether we like it or not.
In doing so, he will further entrench his domination of operating systems and browsers. By claiming the Net, he will move the platform on which his OS works onto the Web. He will, in a sense, have his way with all of us."
12 June 2001
Yes, I agree with you. When I think of the huge chunk of text, the inordinate bandwidth, and the patience of all those I've tried in these forums as I've ranted and raged through what has, at times, been a personal crusade against Microsoft, I smile.
The outcome was beyond doubt from the start. Love 'em or loathe 'em, they're damned good at whatever it is they do.
And now that XP is on us, the average end user will wake up to realize it. The upside is that, sooner or later, the 'Beast of Redmond' will have to take on the market.
And, as we all know, in the end, the market always wins :).
I think IBM made a smart move in supporting Linux.
Why did nobody warn us of this?
I have been reading about the battle with Kodak for a few months prior to release. I want to say it was on zdnet I believe.
Brian
Linux could win big time if they toned down the geek talk. When a marketer comes up with some decent language to use in describing Linux that the average user can understand it will have a good shot.
Right now it all reads like greek, "this distribution can be configured with the KDE or Gnome on complilation, X windows..blah, blah.." Who in the world even understands this stuff?
How about an AOL type distribution? Just dump the CDs everywhere you can think of with packaging that says. "FREE COMPUTER UPGRADE! Just run this CD on any any windoze machine to greatly improve its performance!"
As previously reported by CNET News.com, Microsoft on Oct. 1 will dramatically change how it licenses software to its largest customers. That change will drive up what they pay for products such as Office XP or Windows 2000 between 33 percent and 107 percent, according to market researcher Gartner.Microsoft customers balk at license changes [news.cnet.com]
Many customers also are finding they have to buy new versions of Office even to qualify for the new licensing program.
