4 ms·

Microsoft might not be the leader that it once was but they've done a very good job of reinventing themselves. It's a little unfair to call them dead.

Supermancho 6y ago
> It's a little unfair to call them dead. At least start to read the article. > They still make a lot of money—so does IBM, for that matter. But they're not dangerous It's not "unfair" to not match your definition. The author is making the case about a particular definition of a predatory force in software, at large. There's perhaps an argument that they are dangerous in a way we haven't yet seen, due to their involvement with the US military and the corruption inherent in that terrible choice.
- dtrizzle 6y ago
  They still have a tremendous amount of power and other companies should still fear them. For example, Microsoft Teams versus Slack.
- bumby 6y ago
  >involvement with the US military and the corruption inherent in that terrible choice. Can you elaborate?
  - vishnugupta 6y ago
    Perhaps they meant this https://www.theverge.com/2019/10/25/20700698/microsoft-pentagon-contract-jedi-cloud-amazon-details https://www.theverge.com/2019/10/25/20700698/microsoft-penta... ?
- chadash 6y ago
  In a sense, they aren't dangerous because you wouldn't dare to compete with them in some areas. Most notably, every freakin business in the world uses their Office Suite and there's no serious competitor. Think about that... software that everyone from college students to accountants to lawyers to investment bankers uses and there's only a single vendor. In some of their other businesses, I'd argue that they are very scary. If you work at AWS they are a formidable competitor. If you are in the video game industry, they are a behemoth. But very few startups can really compete in this space, other than for the niches.
wffurr 6y ago
Microsoft isn't dead, but Windows is. They've allowed the web, and more specifically Chrome, to take over for desktop apps. On the other hand, Azure is the closest thing to an actual competitor to AWS, and in that sense Microsoft is very much not dead in the sense that pg means it.
- bnt 6y ago
  How is Windows dead? How else does over a billion people access tools like Chrome and Google Docs, if not through Windows? iPads? Android Tables? Windows don’t have to be the dominant force, they just have to exist as the glue (or foundation) for everything else to work.
  - rbanffy 6y ago
    Mobile is getting increasingly important. I'm writing this from an Android tablet.
- underdeserver 6y ago
  "They've allowed the web [...] to take over for desktop apps." Nope. Once the net became fast and mobile devices became prevalent, it was inevitable. True, they were late to the game, but they still had enormous piles of cash, existing relationships with virtually all corporations, and a strong brand. Nadella finally stopped leaving all the money on the table by pushing to embrace open source, web-based apps (Office 365), and Azure, and now Microsoft is back to being the third-largest company by market cap.
- FpUser 6y ago
  >"Microsoft isn't dead, but Windows is. They've allowed the web, and more specifically Chrome, to take over for desktop apps" Frankly while I do use some web apps / services like Netflix, Amazon store etc. for which web app model is a natural the rest of my the software I use on Windows or Linux is native. The sheer amount of high grade consumer and pro level native applications for Windows is insane. I do not think Windows is even remotely close to being dead.
jug 6y ago
The article is from 2007, right in the middle of Ballmer's lead when I think the writing on the wall seemed much different from today. :) Hell, didn't the Microsoft stock take a jump when Ballmer left before investors even knew who'd succeed him? I think Nadella took Microsoft for a turn no one had expected, especially tackling open source software so differently that they now drive the leading open source hub on the web. Given this, I'd say this article is an interesting historical document that bears little relevance today. It's one that would probably hold true if Microsoft had never reacted and still tried to drive their company mostly through Windows and Office sales. The one point that I think still stands though is that "No one is afraid of Microsoft anymore" -- this is true especially because they couldn't enter the mobile market like they intended and that's where computing is radiating from today in so many respects (and especially those of which where Microsoft has traditionally often operated in). But they're absolutely alive and kicking!
- jokethrowaway 6y ago
  I don't think their contributions to OSS, or them buying GitHub or NPM, says much about them. Sure, developer's perception of m$ improved, but the what I find surprising is then buiding Azure / Teams.
fortran77 6y ago
They are the second most valuable company in the world, right behind Apple.
joseph_grobbles 6y ago
A lot of people here are too young to remember the overwhelming influence Microsoft had on the industry. As such they can't grok the intention of the essay. If Microsoft introduces a new product today, a new browser, a new toolset, a new standard -- even a new OS -- it Just Doesn't Matter to most people. You can be perfectly content ignoring them entirely and if it eventually rises through the market naturally, maybe then give it a bit of attention. In Microsoft's halcyon -- smaller revenues but exponentially more influence -- Microsoft's every move shifted industries. You'd sign up to every beta program and read every tea leave to know what they'd do before it kills your product or renders your work futile. That Microsoft is very much dead and buried.

Supermancho 6y ago

> It's a little unfair to call them dead. At least start to read the article. > They still make a lot of money—so does IBM, for that matter. But they're not dangerous It's not "unfair" to not match your definition. The author is making the case about a particular definition of a predatory force in software, at large. There's perhaps an argument that they are dangerous in a way we haven't yet seen, due to their involvement with the US military and the corruption inherent in that terrible choice.

dtrizzle 6y ago
They still have a tremendous amount of power and other companies should still fear them. For example, Microsoft Teams versus Slack.
bumby 6y ago
>involvement with the US military and the corruption inherent in that terrible choice. Can you elaborate?
- vishnugupta 6y ago
  Perhaps they meant this https://www.theverge.com/2019/10/25/20700698/microsoft-pentagon-contract-jedi-cloud-amazon-details https://www.theverge.com/2019/10/25/20700698/microsoft-penta... ?
chadash 6y ago
In a sense, they aren't dangerous because you wouldn't dare to compete with them in some areas. Most notably, every freakin business in the world uses their Office Suite and there's no serious competitor. Think about that... software that everyone from college students to accountants to lawyers to investment bankers uses and there's only a single vendor. In some of their other businesses, I'd argue that they are very scary. If you work at AWS they are a formidable competitor. If you are in the video game industry, they are a behemoth. But very few startups can really compete in this space, other than for the niches.

wffurr 6y ago

Microsoft isn't dead, but Windows is. They've allowed the web, and more specifically Chrome, to take over for desktop apps. On the other hand, Azure is the closest thing to an actual competitor to AWS, and in that sense Microsoft is very much not dead in the sense that pg means it.

bnt 6y ago
How is Windows dead? How else does over a billion people access tools like Chrome and Google Docs, if not through Windows? iPads? Android Tables? Windows don’t have to be the dominant force, they just have to exist as the glue (or foundation) for everything else to work.
- rbanffy 6y ago
  Mobile is getting increasingly important. I'm writing this from an Android tablet.
underdeserver 6y ago
"They've allowed the web [...] to take over for desktop apps." Nope. Once the net became fast and mobile devices became prevalent, it was inevitable. True, they were late to the game, but they still had enormous piles of cash, existing relationships with virtually all corporations, and a strong brand. Nadella finally stopped leaving all the money on the table by pushing to embrace open source, web-based apps (Office 365), and Azure, and now Microsoft is back to being the third-largest company by market cap.
FpUser 6y ago
>"Microsoft isn't dead, but Windows is. They've allowed the web, and more specifically Chrome, to take over for desktop apps" Frankly while I do use some web apps / services like Netflix, Amazon store etc. for which web app model is a natural the rest of my the software I use on Windows or Linux is native. The sheer amount of high grade consumer and pro level native applications for Windows is insane. I do not think Windows is even remotely close to being dead.

jug 6y ago

The article is from 2007, right in the middle of Ballmer's lead when I think the writing on the wall seemed much different from today. :) Hell, didn't the Microsoft stock take a jump when Ballmer left before investors even knew who'd succeed him? I think Nadella took Microsoft for a turn no one had expected, especially tackling open source software so differently that they now drive the leading open source hub on the web. Given this, I'd say this article is an interesting historical document that bears little relevance today. It's one that would probably hold true if Microsoft had never reacted and still tried to drive their company mostly through Windows and Office sales. The one point that I think still stands though is that "No one is afraid of Microsoft anymore" -- this is true especially because they couldn't enter the mobile market like they intended and that's where computing is radiating from today in so many respects (and especially those of which where Microsoft has traditionally often operated in). But they're absolutely alive and kicking!

jokethrowaway 6y ago
I don't think their contributions to OSS, or them buying GitHub or NPM, says much about them. Sure, developer's perception of m$ improved, but the what I find surprising is then buiding Azure / Teams.

fortran77 6y ago

They are the second most valuable company in the world, right behind Apple.

joseph_grobbles 6y ago

A lot of people here are too young to remember the overwhelming influence Microsoft had on the industry. As such they can't grok the intention of the essay. If Microsoft introduces a new product today, a new browser, a new toolset, a new standard -- even a new OS -- it Just Doesn't Matter to most people. You can be perfectly content ignoring them entirely and if it eventually rises through the market naturally, maybe then give it a bit of attention. In Microsoft's halcyon -- smaller revenues but exponentially more influence -- Microsoft's every move shifted industries. You'd sign up to every beta program and read every tea leave to know what they'd do before it kills your product or renders your work futile. That Microsoft is very much dead and buried.