http://jeremy.linuxquestions.org/2005/11/09/gatesozzie-challenge-microsoft-to-%c2%93alter-its-business%c2%94-birthday-memo/ Open Source > Linux > LQ Fri, 24 Jul 2009 01:02:52 -0700 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.8.6 hourly 1 http://jeremy.linuxquestions.org/2005/11/09/gatesozzie-challenge-microsoft-to-%c2%93alter-its-business%c2%94-birthday-memo/comment-page-1/#comment-200 Anonymous Thu, 10 Nov 2005 02:52:00 +0000 http://jeremy.linuxquestions.org/2005/11/09/gatesozzie-challenge-microsoft-to-%c2%93alter-its-business%c2%94-birthday-memo/#comment-200 So it would seem like Microsoft has realized they are not the cutting edge. That is a big admission. The way I see it Microsoft has two choices: they can continue to turn out well-polished "seamless" software that appeals to the masses, or they can abandon trying to be all things to all people and head down that lonely path looking for the next "killer app", in whatever form it takes. To do both would be very difficult. Microsoft is a very big company, and they aren't as nimble as the little start-ups from whence all this Google trouble has arrisen. So what are they asking their employees to do? Stop innovation from happening elsewhere? Those poor Microsoft employees! Not only are they fighting on two fronts, but they are shooting at moving targets as well. Not only do they have to keep their eyes on the horizon for every new technology that comes into being, but they have to keep their products simple and "seemless". Am I wrong, or is there a hint of desperation in it? I cannot help but detect a little pressure being put on them by their chiefs. If I were an enterpreneur (which I'm not), why would I be interested in creating or inventing something with an operating system that has been dumbed down to make it appeal to the masses? Windows is for ordinary folks, not rocket scientists! As Jeremy said, there is a price to be paid for acceptance, and Microsoft has paid that price. The price is being paid with all these delays to their new OS. So it would seem like Microsoft has realized they are not the cutting edge. That is a big admission. The way I see it Microsoft has two choices: they can continue to turn out well-polished “seamless” software that appeals to the masses, or they can abandon trying to be all things to all people and head down that lonely path looking for the next “killer app”, in whatever form it takes. To do both would be very difficult.
Microsoft is a very big company, and they aren't as nimble as the little start-ups from whence all this Google trouble has arrisen. So what are they asking their employees to do? Stop innovation from happening elsewhere? Those poor Microsoft employees! Not only are they fighting on two fronts, but they are shooting at moving targets as well. Not only do they have to keep their eyes on the horizon for every new technology that comes into being, but they have to keep their products simple and “seemless”. Am I wrong, or is there a hint of desperation in it? I cannot help but detect a little pressure being put on them by their chiefs.
If I were an enterpreneur (which I'm not), why would I be interested in creating or inventing something with an operating system that has been dumbed down to make it appeal to the masses? Windows is for ordinary folks, not rocket scientists! As Jeremy said, there is a price to be paid for acceptance, and Microsoft has paid that price. The price is being paid with all these delays to their new OS.

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