In an interesting turn of events Massachusetts has decided to use open formats for all of their documents. As expected, Microsoft responded, but in a very angry tone. Which I don't get, they are making millions a year, and they're angry? It seems that their sales and PR groups aren't helping the situation, no one wants to be around someone who is angry all the time.
What they should be doing is selling Windows on the benefits that it does provide users. In case they need help, I'm going to list some here.
- Hardware compatibility -- Do you know what hardware you're going to need in the future? Neither does anyone else. But, I can tell you that in the foreseeable future there is very likely to be a Windows driver written for it.
- Applications -- The applications that you use, your customer uses, and your family uses all run on Windows. In fact, most applications produced today run on Windows.
- Local help -- Chances are that your neighbor runs Windows, your kid's school runs Windows, and your work buddies run Windows. When you need help, or want to see what solutions other people have used for common problems, Windows provides a common means of talking with almost everyone in your world.
These are all very real issues for businesses and users alike. Talking about the details are important, but getting angry about what people choose is ridiculous.
I think that what will probably change in the application world is that Microsoft will switch to a model more like games are developed today. For additional money and benefits a program will be an 'exclusive' for a particular platform. This is somewhere that Linux would have trouble competing. The benefits of choice would be turned on their side, as much as end users can choose a particular distribution to meet their needs, there is no one place to focus the Linux efforts. Novell is unlikely to push hard for Linux exclusive, and neither is Redhat. They'd want exclusives for their distros.
Is it too late though? Adobe and Oracle already make Linux software. Neither is likely to switch to an exclusive licensing model. Application developers seem to have Linux on their road maps, are they willing to shut down the possibility of making a Linux version of their application?
It will be interesting to see what Microsoft does. The chances are that they have enough of a war chest to make changes in order to compete without the company being destroyed, but how is anyone's guess. IBM had to change to a new business model, Microsoft might have to do the same. Being angry about it doesn't help you get there.
posted Sep 7, 2005 | permanent link
