4 ms·

Since I seem to have ruffled some feathers with my statement: compared to how dominant Microsoft used to be, they're now just one of the companies offering a ce

by aerique 10y ago

Since I seem to have ruffled some feathers with my statement: compared to how dominant Microsoft used to be, they're now just one of the companies offering a certain product in many markets. This is a good thing. "Irrelevance" was perhaps hyperbole but if you compare it to their past, well... I'd say the only product they have left where one doesn't have much of a choice (in business mostly) but to use it is the Office line and even that is debatable nowadays. So while many businesses would trade with Microsoft's position in a blink, they are not the unavoidable powerhouse they used to be.

elorant 10y ago
The difference with the past is that the landscape expanded. We now have web and mobile, two areas where MS failed miserably and the companies that emerged are equal or larger in size than Microsoft. Other than that they're still the behemoth they used to be. Given that most of us here make our living from the web we think that Microsoft is irrelevant, which is far from true.
spdustin 10y ago
If you engage with corporate America at all, you'll find that Microsoft is not only relevant, but immutably ingrained into the DNA of the company. Office, SharePoint and SQL Server are not to be trifled with in corporate America - do not make the mistake of discounting their relevance or significance in how work gets done in the VAST majority of companies with >1,000 employees here.
- rbanffy 10y ago
  > Microsoft is not only relevant, but immutably ingrained into the DNA of the company. For the current generation, perhaps. There was a time Microsoft reigned pretty much alone, where there were no other viable options. During that time, Microsoft defined what a PC was and dictated what everything around one looked like. That's not the case anymore, and it hasn't been for quite some time. Where you find Microsoft is much like where you expected IBM mainframes to be in the 90's - in high-inertia systems. It's too difficult (and, frankly, not that cost-effective) to convert your documents to other formats or to cloud-based office apps. What you gain from it is not enough. It's too difficult to move your AD users. It's too difficult to port your apps to use other databases after you fell for writing stored procedures in TSQL for everything. Mainframes are not dead yet and will stay around for a while. Microsoft will stay around for some time too, but it will never again dictate what a computer is. After all, if you look at a chicken really close, you'll realize dinosaurs are still around too.

by aerique 10y ago

elorant 10y ago

The difference with the past is that the landscape expanded. We now have web and mobile, two areas where MS failed miserably and the companies that emerged are equal or larger in size than Microsoft. Other than that they're still the behemoth they used to be. Given that most of us here make our living from the web we think that Microsoft is irrelevant, which is far from true.

spdustin 10y ago

If you engage with corporate America at all, you'll find that Microsoft is not only relevant, but immutably ingrained into the DNA of the company. Office, SharePoint and SQL Server are not to be trifled with in corporate America - do not make the mistake of discounting their relevance or significance in how work gets done in the VAST majority of companies with >1,000 employees here.

rbanffy 10y ago
> Microsoft is not only relevant, but immutably ingrained into the DNA of the company. For the current generation, perhaps. There was a time Microsoft reigned pretty much alone, where there were no other viable options. During that time, Microsoft defined what a PC was and dictated what everything around one looked like. That's not the case anymore, and it hasn't been for quite some time. Where you find Microsoft is much like where you expected IBM mainframes to be in the 90's - in high-inertia systems. It's too difficult (and, frankly, not that cost-effective) to convert your documents to other formats or to cloud-based office apps. What you gain from it is not enough. It's too difficult to move your AD users. It's too difficult to port your apps to use other databases after you fell for writing stored procedures in TSQL for everything. Mainframes are not dead yet and will stay around for a while. Microsoft will stay around for some time too, but it will never again dictate what a computer is. After all, if you look at a chicken really close, you'll realize dinosaurs are still around too.