“Bob Frankston is one of the smartest people I speak to. If you don’t recognize his name, Bob is best known as the programmer who wrote VisiCalc, the first spreadsheet, realizing the design of his partner, Dan Bricklin,” Robert X. Cringely writes for PBS.
“In a sense Microsoft is a lot like the Roman Empire. The Roman Empire’s growth and economy was driven by conquering and plundering neighboring regions. Within the Empire they created a sort of safe economic zone where commerce could work and technology could be developed. However, that came at a price, as they tended to destroy everything outside the empire as it grew,” Cringely writes.
“Same for Microsoft, whose leaders were greedy and made a number of good, shrewd business decisions. They were also ruthless. Over time they managed to destroy the surrounding software industry. Within Microsoft’s world was a sort of safe economic zone. If you were not a threat to Microsoft or if you did something Microsoft didn’t want to do (like make PCs) you were able to grow under the shadow of Redmond. When the emperor spoke, you listened,” Cringely writes.
“It is too early to predict the fall of the Microsoft Empire. Does Microsoft have the leaders and generals who can lead the company into the future? Who knows? In the software world there is nothing else to conquer or plunder. In other markets it will be hard, if not impossible, for Microsoft to dominate whole industries as it has in the past. Microsoft now needs to act like a responsible company, work well with others, and grow through cooperation and teamwork. This will be hard for Microsoft,” Cringely writes. “The Romans couldn’t do it. The Romans neglected one of their ‘partners’ and eventually that partner did them in.”
Cringely writes, “Today’s Microsoft is a great generator of cash. With some good product refreshes, this cash generation can continue for years to come. The BIG decision is what to do with the cash. Microsoft needs to develop new businesses. Microsoft could have a great future doing things that have nothing to do with computers. They could be making a great electric car, or great new medications, or any number of other things. Microsoft could create new industries that could have a huge benefit to the economy. Microsoft could change the world, again. Ten years from now Microsoft could be a huge holding company of which PC software is but one part. They don’t have to gut the software unit, which is viable enough to be a great moneymaker for another 25 years if Microsoft manages it well.”
Cringely writes, “Right now Microsoft is like a deer in the headlights. They are stuck on software and computer stuff. They can’t move. There are much more interesting growth opportunities out there.”
Full article, including much about Net Neutrality and the idea that “making almost any regulation specifically to hinder OR HELP the Internet can only make things worse,” here.
MacDailyNews Take: Microsoft has never been a maker of great, inspired, elegant, innovative, original software. The best Microsoft products have been bought or copied/stolen. Ideas generated inside of the Redmond behemoth are… well, two words: Microsoft Bob. Maybe Microsoft should take their billions and do something else with it; something more useful, at which they might prove to be more adept?
For example — forget Cringely’s electric cars: electric, schlmetric — GM has so far invested “hundreds of millions of dollars” in hydrogen fuel cell research. Imagine what Microsoft could do in that field with their many billions? Gather the best scientists and engineers in the field, pay them extremely well, and let them get to work. Certainly, leading the world into a hydrogen economy and a truly sustainable future is a better use of their big sweaty piles of cash than slipping and then finally shipping another bloated, ugly, counterintuitive, inelegant Windows operating system along with an equally affected office suite and other software products?
Although, it would take a good bit of PR to reconcile “Microsoft+Hydrogen” (see: Hindenburg), such an endeavor might even be more profitable than floundering around in software trying desperately to cling to “backwards compatibility” to maintain their market position. One thng: just focus on the fuel cell technology, Microsoft, and let Apple handle the vehicle control software and the user interface, okay?
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Related MacDailyNews articles:
What Microsoft has chopped from Windows Vista, and when – June 27, 2006
Windows Vista rips-off Mac OS X at great hardware cost (and Apple gains in the end) – June 13, 2006
Computerworld: Microsoft Windows Vista a distant second-best to Apple Mac OS X – June 02, 2006
How to delete a shortcut in Windows Vista in just 7 steps – June 01, 2006
Microsoft botches another copy job: Windows Vista Flip3D vs. Apple Mac OS X Exposé – June 26, 2006
Thurrott: Microsoft collapsing under its own weight, Gates has driven Windows Vista into the ground – April 20, 2006
Windows Vista to be Microsoft’s last operating system? – April 21, 2006
What’s the difference between Mac OS X and Vista? Microsoft employees are excited about Mac OS X – March 22, 2006
Thurrott: Microsoft going to get eaten alive over Windows Vista’s resemblance to Apple’s Mac OS X – March 09, 2006
Pure “biodiesel” is simply vegetable oil with an additive so it doesn’t solidify at low temperatures.
Really?
In MN last winter (2005/2006 season), production of biodiesel was temporarily halted because it was jelling at higher temps than regular “arctic blend” diesel. And not at brutal -40 F either; problems were reported at -10 F, which is both a common & comparatively mild temp (and not a problem for regular winter blend).
So the biodiesel formula still needs needs some perfecting.
From the Straight Dope:
http://www.straightdope.com/columns/021101.html
While there was something called a vomitorium (from the Latin vomitus, past participle of vomere, to vomit), it wasn’t a room set aside to vomit in. Rather a vomitorium was a passageway in an amphitheater or theater that opened into a tier of seats from below or behind.
Biodiesel and ethanol seem on the surface to have potential, and maybe they do, but what about the water needed to grow the biomass to produce them?
People talk a lot about prairie grass for ethanol, too, but does it actual contain enough energy per pound to make it worth extraction?
We are already facing large shortages of water in many areas.
Maybe the most concentrated (per gallon) form of practical energy that we have (gasoline) is not so bad after all.
Beware of simple answers to complex problems, and complex answers to simple problems.
kenh writes: “Biodiesel and ethanol seem on the surface to have potential, and maybe they do, but what about the water needed to grow the biomass to produce them?”
A good question. There are a variety of crops which can be used for biodiesel. In North America, rapeseed is considered one of the best overall. It can be grown as a dryland crop.
One of the most water wasteful “crops” is beef production. It takes something like 5000 gallons of water for each pound of beef. This is in part due to the irrigation which goes into cattle feed. No single plant crop even approaches the water usage of beef per pound of yield.
gel up: Biodiesel has a higher gelling point than does petroleum diesel. In the winter in cooler climates, it is recommended to blend biodiesel with petroleum diesel for this reason. In extreme climates, biodiesel may not be practical unless fuel tank heating is used.
Big Oil wants to CONTROL energy sources, distribution and consumption… keep it CENTRALIZED. This is why solar and alternative energies are NOT compatible with the current financial and energy delivery infrastructures. This is why Oil companies bought out the majority of alternative energy technology companies back in the ’70s to RETAIN total control on energy sources and distribution.
Solar/alternative energies empower individuals and communities. The government and big business do NOT want that… they WANT an anesthetized populace that doesn’t CARE what goes on as long as they’ve got a steady stream of gasoline, sugar, fried food, bad TV, bad music and pro sports to keep them passified. Since what we have now IS essentially a ONE party system, Dems and the GOP are basically the same.
Microsoft could use their world-class RUTHLESSNESS as leverage to step around Big Oil, Corporate America and the Gummint to develop and deploy alternative energies. Microsoft could threaten to make Windows WORSE and use threats and extortion to get the government and their business lackeys to get out of their way and put the MS timetable to deploy alternative energies… They’re got a vast army of undercover IT agents to spread FUD to their enemies…
Oh, wait, there’s Vista on the horizon, maybe the Microsoft Master Plan IS in motion already!
“While there was something called a vomitorium (from the Latin vomitus, past participle of vomere, to vomit), it wasn’t a room set aside to vomit in. Rather a vomitorium was a passageway in an amphitheater or theater that opened into a tier of seats from below or behind.”
Thank you for ruining a funny Saturday Night Live skit. We don’t always need to know.
Microsoft should be limited to desiging and producing mission-critical products and services for the military, banking, finance and insurance industries, emergency response teams, and all other healthcare related businesses. They should be granted exclusive contracts from the private and public sector so that our nation and the world is dependent on one trusted source for all of their needs especially in times of crisis.
Ampar, you’re wit is getting very cryptic. It was hard even reading your last post, the idea you present is downright scary.
Because you base your education, knowledge of history and the state of the world upon Saturday Night Live skits, you should be informed that Charlton Heston isn’t and wasn’t Moses, and it isn’t and wasn’t a floor wax and a dessert topping.
“We don’t always need to know.”
I detect the beginnings of the Stockholm syndrome within your hitherto sensible psyche. You have, no doubt, been watching too much Fox news.
“Ampar, you’re wit is getting very cryptic.”
Thanks, davida! Of course it was extreme sarcasm. But is it that far from Bill’s biggest wet dream? A respirator with a Microsoft logo? <shudder>
Warren Buffett thinks Bill can do no wrong. And $60 billion isn’t money. It’s power. A LOT of power.
“I detect the beginnings of the Stockholm syndrome within your hitherto sensible psyche. You have, no doubt, been watching too much Fox news.”
You’re funny. <tickle>
” . . . knowledge of history and the state of the world upon Saturday Night Live skits”
You may be right. I searched eBay for a Bass-O-Matic and came up empty.
Dang!
BTW, if you’re 118 years old and you are dating an 80 year old, is that still considered robbing the cradle? How long is this “cradle statute”?
I think that if microsoft change their market, they will begin to slump, theyre ok for computers(ish) but nothing else
However they should also maybe go into the electric car industry
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Electric Schlmetric:
“Electric vehicles are typical liberal Ed Begley, Jr. bullshit. Feel good, knee jerk stupidity. As they plug in their cars, the morons conveniently ignore that the electric power with which they are “saving the environment” was produced at the electric plant that burns tons of dirty coal and emits the remains into the atmosphere.”
“Solar doesn’t fscking work, so give it a rest.”
You might look into this before making such a rediculous statement. Many people are successfully using solar.
Ed Begley Jr charges his car at home on his solar powered house. He’s been solar for years, and he’s leading by example.
Correction: As they plug in their cars…
Then M$ will just make the next model wireless! See, it’s all in the plan.
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