5 ms·

For those of you who continue to predict the demise of MS, it might be worth mentioning that Microsoft has a quite broad range of products and they primarily se

by paul_f 13y ago

For those of you who continue to predict the demise of MS, it might be worth mentioning that Microsoft has a quite broad range of products and they primarily sell to enterprise customers who are notoriously non-fickle.

mikelat 13y ago
Microsoft's ventures are very much dependent on their operating system though, making the entire company like a house of cards. If their operating system monopoly ever goes, the entire company would collapse with it since they're so dependent on it. The only other successful product they have that isn't dependent on windows right now is xbox, and that's a very volatile market. Google is similar in the fact that a lot of what they do depends on internet ad revenue.
- twoodfin 13y ago
  I don't think that's right. My guess is that the vast majority of iPads and iPhones used in the workplace are sync'ing mail via Exchange. While that could change, it won't be because Windows is no longer the dominant client OS.
- PhrosTT 13y ago
  Yes but Apple (or any the OS developer) is 10+ years behind MS in the enterprise architecture department; a market they'll probably never enter since they want margins on hardware.... not corporate bulk discount contracts. I don't see how anybody can assail their stranglehold on the cubicle market.
- deleted 13y ago
  [deleted]
- jacal 13y ago
  Xbox is not a success. It's consumer-popular. http://www.neowin.net/news/report-microsofts-xbox-division-has-lost-nearly-3-billion-in-10-years http://www.neowin.net/news/report-microsofts-xbox-division-h... They don't have one operating system like Apple. They blew up on cloud recently. Most consumer-people don't seem to grasp the nature and scale of the 'house of houses.' They have multiple billion dollar products and to try to FUD that it only takes one photon blast down a tube to destabilize anything or the whole thing hints at some naive notions on your part. It's a fully functional death star.
- clavalle 13y ago
  What? First, they have enough cash to weather quite a lot of financial upsets. But to say they are dependent on their OS for revenue is silly. SQL Server income is not dependent on the OS -- anything can talk to it. Their cloud solution is not dependent on their OS. Search. Even Lync and Office can be used with other operating systems.
  - heartbreak 13y ago
    Does MSSQL run on Wine?
    - marcosdumay 13y ago
      I don't know, and one can't even try. (Really. Read the EULA.) And if you decide to ignore everything and try it, you can't discover if it's faster than native Windows either, nor compare it with Postgres.
    - clavalle 13y ago
      I am hesitant to put any unnecessary software layers between my databases and the hardware so I wouldn't know. But it doesn't matter. Even if everyone stopped buying and using Windows tomorrow /Microsoft/ could still use it. MSSQL is not dependent on a thriving market for Windows. Anyone that needed to administer the machine could just RDP into it.
  - mikelat 13y ago
    Maybe I wasn't clear, my point was that the major breadwinners still depend on their high operating system marketshare. I have no doubt that things like sql server would be the last to go, but if they ever lost their operating system monopoly a lot of products they depend upon would collapse, and they would mostly definitely feel it.
Mikeb85 13y ago
I don't think anyone is seriously predicting their outright demise, only their loss of power to dictate the computing landscape. While I have no doubt they'll survive another 20 or 30 years, they no longer have the power and mind-share they once had.
- tonyplee 13y ago
  Microsoft have been under government/competitors' anti-trust watches for the past 10 years. Now with google/apple catching up, they probably can move a bit faster without consult lawyers in every single move. On the other hand, with so much cash/profit, the employees/managers have no hurry to move too fast anyway. The share holders might not be too happy.

by paul_f 13y ago

mikelat 13y ago

Microsoft's ventures are very much dependent on their operating system though, making the entire company like a house of cards. If their operating system monopoly ever goes, the entire company would collapse with it since they're so dependent on it. The only other successful product they have that isn't dependent on windows right now is xbox, and that's a very volatile market. Google is similar in the fact that a lot of what they do depends on internet ad revenue.

twoodfin 13y ago
I don't think that's right. My guess is that the vast majority of iPads and iPhones used in the workplace are sync'ing mail via Exchange. While that could change, it won't be because Windows is no longer the dominant client OS.
PhrosTT 13y ago
Yes but Apple (or any the OS developer) is 10+ years behind MS in the enterprise architecture department; a market they'll probably never enter since they want margins on hardware.... not corporate bulk discount contracts. I don't see how anybody can assail their stranglehold on the cubicle market.
deleted 13y ago
[deleted]
jacal 13y ago
Xbox is not a success. It's consumer-popular. http://www.neowin.net/news/report-microsofts-xbox-division-has-lost-nearly-3-billion-in-10-years http://www.neowin.net/news/report-microsofts-xbox-division-h... They don't have one operating system like Apple. They blew up on cloud recently. Most consumer-people don't seem to grasp the nature and scale of the 'house of houses.' They have multiple billion dollar products and to try to FUD that it only takes one photon blast down a tube to destabilize anything or the whole thing hints at some naive notions on your part. It's a fully functional death star.
clavalle 13y ago
What? First, they have enough cash to weather quite a lot of financial upsets. But to say they are dependent on their OS for revenue is silly. SQL Server income is not dependent on the OS -- anything can talk to it. Their cloud solution is not dependent on their OS. Search. Even Lync and Office can be used with other operating systems.
- heartbreak 13y ago
  Does MSSQL run on Wine?
  - marcosdumay 13y ago
    I don't know, and one can't even try. (Really. Read the EULA.) And if you decide to ignore everything and try it, you can't discover if it's faster than native Windows either, nor compare it with Postgres.
  - clavalle 13y ago
    I am hesitant to put any unnecessary software layers between my databases and the hardware so I wouldn't know. But it doesn't matter. Even if everyone stopped buying and using Windows tomorrow /Microsoft/ could still use it. MSSQL is not dependent on a thriving market for Windows. Anyone that needed to administer the machine could just RDP into it.
- mikelat 13y ago
  Maybe I wasn't clear, my point was that the major breadwinners still depend on their high operating system marketshare. I have no doubt that things like sql server would be the last to go, but if they ever lost their operating system monopoly a lot of products they depend upon would collapse, and they would mostly definitely feel it.

Mikeb85 13y ago

I don't think anyone is seriously predicting their outright demise, only their loss of power to dictate the computing landscape. While I have no doubt they'll survive another 20 or 30 years, they no longer have the power and mind-share they once had.

tonyplee 13y ago
Microsoft have been under government/competitors' anti-trust watches for the past 10 years. Now with google/apple catching up, they probably can move a bit faster without consult lawyers in every single move. On the other hand, with so much cash/profit, the employees/managers have no hurry to move too fast anyway. The share holders might not be too happy.