Microsoft failing to catch up
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| Author | Content |
|---|---|
| hkwint Jan 26, 2008 2:30 AM EDT |
From the article: '"Our goals first and foremost were looking for (Windows ed.) performance parity with Linux for PHP workloads," Ramji said. "This is putting our best efforts into PHP.' So Windows doesn't run on the OLPC yet, Microsoft Market Place miserably failed to provide a packet manager community for Windows, Microsoft came with MSH as a kind of bash-copy, Microsoft is trying too cut the bloat of Vista by making a more modular approach, and now they are trying to catch up with Linux performance. Nice! |
| techiem2 Jan 26, 2008 8:38 AM EDT |
Yeah, I laughed when I read that. |
| Abe Jan 26, 2008 10:36 AM EDT |
Quoting:Yeah, I laughed when I read that.This is pretty serious stuff. Let's not under estimate Microsoft's efforts trying to derail or control FOSS. They tried discrediting it, they failed. They tried attacks, they didn't succeed and instead, it helped FOSS. They tried IP infringement scare tactics, so far they have stayed quiet after they were challenged to disclose them. They tried alliances with money hungry distros, it didn't get them much. What they are trying now, and they were successful using this approach to acquire VMS technology, is hiring some of the very developers of FOSS. The good old Embrace - Extend - Extinguish tactics that served them well before. Is it going to serve them well this time too? I doubt it. But time will tell. |
| Bob_Robertson Jan 26, 2008 12:11 PM EDT |
I don't think Microsoft is willing to admit they were wrong. What I mean is, "we" all know that what they "should" have done for Vista is a complete rewrite. "Take it down to metal", as it were, have their thousands of developers do modular elements. But no. Nothing of the sort occurred. The old software was rehashed, repatched, then when it wasn't working Bill himself came down and said "Do It!" and they tried, oh how they tried, and kind-a sort-a got Vista working but only after dumping most of the neato features it was supposed to have. During this time, F/OSS has been building modular pieces, with well documented interactions and APIs, each evolving and growing as they each needed to. But Bill and friends have been saying for decades that they are intimately involved in the process, Bill decides feature sets, they have the last word. Will egos like that ever give up? Ever say that they were wrong, and they should have done it another way? Can you imagine what would happen to the MSFT stock price if Bill and Steve came out and said, "We were wrong"? |
| tracyanne Jan 26, 2008 10:26 PM EDT |
Quoting:Can you imagine what would happen to the MSFT stock price if Bill and Steve came out and said, "We were wrong"? That's what marketing is for. Only saying it in such a way that the punters think thye just got something for nothing, but then again, it MS did, they would. |
| techiem2 Jan 27, 2008 5:07 AM EDT |
"Due to current market forces we are currently engaging in a top down restructuring of our business practices. This will allow us to better serve our valued customers and provide you with even better quality software at competitive prices." |
| gus3 Jan 27, 2008 7:27 PM EDT |
Any marketing droid could have written that. Which is probably what happened, anyway. |
| tuxchick Jan 27, 2008 8:14 PM EDT |
"...better quality software at competitive prices." Talk about low aspirations, when you have nowhere to go but up in quality, and down in prices. |
| techiem2 Jan 27, 2008 9:00 PM EDT |
True...but at least it sounds good to the masses... lol |
| hkwint Jan 28, 2008 9:10 AM EDT |
Quoting:Can you imagine what would happen to the MSFT stock price if Bill and Steve came out and said, "We were wrong"? Today there was a French guy of Societe Generale who said just that, and it wasn't bad for the stock price I believe. BTW I really have my doubts about stock markets anyway, both Microsoft and the US economy are not really 'growing' or 'progressing', but that's not reflected on the stock markets. |
| Steven_Rosenber Jan 28, 2008 9:53 AM EDT |
MSFT, the stock, is already pretty low in price. And considering the revenue Bill 'n' Ballmer are still taking in, it's a pretty good buy. Sun Microsystems (JAVA, I believe, is the symbol) is also priced pretty low. In contrast, Apple (AAPL) and Google (can't remember the symbol) are still artificially high, despite recent drops in price. Also, I think (don't know for sure) that MSFT pays a dividend -- important to some investors. I'm not much of an investor -- you need money (or "money") for that. But for you guys out there who do buy stocks, do you have trouble buying, lets say, Microsoft, when the fundamentals of the stock look pretty good? Microsoft might be in trouble 10 years from now, but they're not likely to come crashing down for a very long time. ... On the other hand, Sun's business model has undergone radical changes since 2000, with commodity servers running Linux eating a big portion of their lunch. Or do you just stay out of tech stocks altogether? |
| jdixon Jan 28, 2008 7:11 PM EDT |
> MSFT, the stock, is already pretty low in price. In comparison to their split adjusted all time high of something like $60/share in 2000, yes. In comparison to their recent lows of less than $25 in late 2006, no. They currently trade at $32.72, which is over a 30% gain from those 2006 lows. Their dividend is 1.38%, which is not insignificant, but is not enough to attract a pure dividend investor. Their are a number of S&P 500 stocks trading with dividends of over 3% and some as high as 9% (General Electric, AT&T, Verizon, Dow Chemical, Pfizer, and Bank of America, to name a few). The 9% rates are probably not sustainable, as they are mostly banks which are believed to have heavy exposure to the sub-prime lending losses. |
| Steven_Rosenber Jan 29, 2008 11:06 AM EDT |
Re: "taking it down to the metal" ... Apple did it with OS X, and it really paid off. I don't see why Microsoft doesn't do the same thing. |
| Bob_Robertson Jan 29, 2008 12:03 PM EDT |
> Apple did it with OS X, and it really paid off. Exactly. Microsoft has the time, the money and the programmer skill to build a _working_ Windows. > I don't see why Microsoft doesn't do the same thing. My opinion: Pure ego. Someone cannot admit to themselves that they have created a crappy product that can't just be patched. |
| tuxchick Jan 29, 2008 12:38 PM EDT |
OMG I agree with Bob. And the sky is falling! Oh, never mind, it's just birds. |
| Bob_Robertson Jan 29, 2008 1:08 PM EDT |
I read an interesting article today, an old one, from back when MS had announced their anti-virus product. If they can produce an anti-virus product, they therefore could make Windows immune. They know how to fix it, and they don't. ...because if they did, they couldn't _sell_ an anti-virus product. Paying for a deliberately shoddy product. Yuck. |
| Sander_Marechal Jan 29, 2008 4:41 PM EDT |
Quoting:My opinion: Pure ego. Someone cannot admit to themselves that they have created a crappy product that can't just be patched. IMHO more a case of NIH syndrome: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Not_Invented_Here |
| NoDough Jan 29, 2008 6:13 PM EDT |
>> If they can produce an anti-virus product, they therefore could make Windows immune. They know how to fix it, and they don't. They didn't produce it. They bought it. IIRC, the company that produced it specialized in AV for Linux. |
| herzeleid Jan 29, 2008 9:30 PM EDT |
> the company that produced it specialized in AV for Linux. LOL talk about a tiny little obscure niche... sort of like selling "tinted contact lens cleaner for 3rd world feminist IT managers"... |
| Bob_Robertson Jan 30, 2008 5:28 AM EDT |
> > the company that produced it specialized in AV for Linux.
>
> LOL talk about a tiny little obscure niche... Unless the product is a virus/malware _scanner_, to be run on a Linux web proxy or mail server, in which case it's the reliable servant cleaning everything up for the vulnerable, frail Windows users. Not a bad idea, but why so much effort just to prolong the agony? |
| NoDough Jan 30, 2008 5:38 AM EDT |
>> Not a bad idea, but why so much effort just to prolong the agony? Heh. I often worry that the virus and/or malware that cannot be stopped will cost me my job. On the bright side, if it does I can rightfully shout "I told you so!" on the way out. |
| rijelkentaurus Jan 30, 2008 12:11 PM EDT |
Quoting: On the bright side, if it does I can rightfully shout "I told you so!" on the way out. Okay, that brought a nice laugh. I'd be saying the same thing, probably laughing on the way to the unemployment office. |
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