11.16.09
GNU/Linux, Google, and Apple Transform Microsoft; Seattle Mayor’s Office May Ditch Windows
Summary: How Microsoft is trying to reinvent itself in the face of new reality; losses persist regardless
YESTERDAY we wrote about Microsoft's Vista 7 advertisements, which are embedded in the operating system. This is probably an attempt to fight the zero-cost proposition of GNU/Linux by subsidising Windows.
As Microsoft is killing "Works", there is an attempt to apply the same (as above) business model to office suites and Google takes advantage of this transformation.
All of Girouard’s hopes and predictions rest on the simple fact that, for a long time coming now, cloud computing has been on the rise. Users, year by year, are getting quite comfortable with the ability to have their files with them wherever they are, in the cloud. While Microsoft does offer SaaS options, Google believes it will better fill that space.
It is interesting to see this news covered by David Worthington, whose article appears in a Microsoft-gifted Web site. It seems like a good fit [1, 2].
“But criminal activity in particular is why Microsoft receives so much attention; it wasn’t Apple, for example, that gave money to SCO.”Google’s growth is proving to be very problematic to Microsoft and Google has managed not to resort to criminal activity as Microsoft did around the same age as Google. A lot of articles are now being published also about the fact that Apple’s value is approaching that of Microsoft’s. As much as we criticise Apple, the degree of illegal activity inside their company is nowhere near that of Microsoft. Here at Boycott Novell we do warn a lot about Apple; this site is not just about Novell and Microsoft, so proprietary software as a whole is considered threatening. But criminal activity in particular is why Microsoft receives so much attention; it wasn’t Apple, for example, that gave money to SCO.
As a side note from the Microsoft-sponsored news site, Seattle’s office of the mayor might be dumping Windows.
Staffers for Mike McGinn, Seattle’s mayor-elect, have asked the city’s technology department to explore the possibility of switching the mayor’s office from Windows PCs to Macs to let them stick with the technology they’ve been using, according to a post by Eli Sanders of the Stranger.
Seattle ditching Windows would be akin to Torvalds switching to Windows. Perhaps Seattle is aware of the reality behind Vista 7, so it is looking away at other options. █
“Seek simplicity, and distrust it.”
–Alfred North Whitehead
