Comment Re:Rumers..demise..exaggerated. (Score 2) 289
You make a compelling argument, and I find it hard to disagree with you.
I would only point out two broad areas where Microsoft seems to be a little weaker than some of its big competitors: innovation and quality control.
And I'm finding it hard to make a case for innovation. I could argue that they don't come up with new ideas, they borrow ideas that already work for someone else, but that's not really a sin in my book. Who was it that said "good artists borrow from other artists, great artists steal?" I could argue that they won't jump ahead of the curve--won't release new products until they're assured of success, but witness the Zune and Metro. So let's grant them innovation.
The quality control thing is embarrassing. The culture at MS seems to be that the general public is their beta test group. I think they released Vista so that all their other releases would shine by comparison (not really; it was an unintended benefit). I work around half a dozen bugs in MS products on a daily basis. Using their software has trained me not to trust software.
I'm not really sure how many epic fails a great software company gets before we have to call it mediocre. If they didn't have a strangle hold on OEMs and enterprise movers and shakers, I doubt they would have more than a 10% share of the desktop. On the other hand, if they didn't have that strangle hold, they wouldn't have such license to release buggy code. They are victims of their own success.
I would only point out two broad areas where Microsoft seems to be a little weaker than some of its big competitors: innovation and quality control.
And I'm finding it hard to make a case for innovation. I could argue that they don't come up with new ideas, they borrow ideas that already work for someone else, but that's not really a sin in my book. Who was it that said "good artists borrow from other artists, great artists steal?" I could argue that they won't jump ahead of the curve--won't release new products until they're assured of success, but witness the Zune and Metro. So let's grant them innovation.
The quality control thing is embarrassing. The culture at MS seems to be that the general public is their beta test group. I think they released Vista so that all their other releases would shine by comparison (not really; it was an unintended benefit). I work around half a dozen bugs in MS products on a daily basis. Using their software has trained me not to trust software.
I'm not really sure how many epic fails a great software company gets before we have to call it mediocre. If they didn't have a strangle hold on OEMs and enterprise movers and shakers, I doubt they would have more than a 10% share of the desktop. On the other hand, if they didn't have that strangle hold, they wouldn't have such license to release buggy code. They are victims of their own success.
