In his blog post, “How to Turn Microsoft Around,” Thomas Hawk writes, “More than all of this though is the informal anecdotal evidence I’ve been seeing of a shift from the Windows operating system to the Mac. I wrote about my own conversion last year. In the past few months I’ve been completely surprised at some of the names of people that have privately emailed me saying that they were switching as well. And then earlier this week over coffee with one of the top technology journalists in the world (no, not Walt Mossberg, but close up there) what did he pull out of his bag? A brand spanking new sleek black MacBook Pro less than a week old.”
“Now the numbers are not necessarily going to reflect this yet, but when your key influencers, bloggers, journalists, etc. begin abandoning Windows and moving to the Mac it’s like a wave and over time this wave can actually threaten Microsoft’s monopoly on the operating system. Look for Apple’s numbers to continue advancing here in the months ahead,” Hawk writes. “So the question becomes how should Microsoft turn this around?”
Hawk looks at the Windows user experience, “It’s not good. Especially when compared to a Mac… Apple has the luxury of being able to test limited and known configurations on their products. Combine this with an almost manic commitment to user experience and you get a better product… Microsoft of course can’t just reverse course and piss off all of their OEMs and start building their own PC, but what they can do is create a Microsoft certification whereby thoroughly tested systems receive a special Microsoft seal of approval.”
Hawk looks at Microsoft’s Live.com, “Now it is pretty much dead.” Hawk writes about Microsoft’s big pile of dirty cash and how they need to buy “cool” companies, starting up a San Francisco-based “think tank of sorts,” and getting “their evangelism back on track. Scoble was a big loss for Microsoft. Gartenberg would have been an interesting choice to try and fill his shoes but now he’s gone as well.”
Full article here.
All very interesting, but it begs the question: why bother? Why spend all the time, capital, and effort needed to make Microsoft like Apple, when Apple already exists? Microsoft has always been a follower; one can only image what absolute garbage would flow forth from a Microsoft think tank when they have decades now of looking to 1 Infinite Loop for their R&D. Even if you could turn the Titanic around, get it into dry-dock, and attempt to retrofit the thing, it’ll still be the Titanic. All of that effort isn’t worth it when the Queen Mary 2 is already berthed in Cupertino.
And, puleeze, a Microsoft seal of approval? Is Hawk nuts? A seal of approval only works when offered by a respected entity. Microsoft is known for badly-hewn fake Macs, a bloated office suite, a fecal-colored non-selling fake iPod, unexplained and incomprehensible crashes, shoddy security software that doesn’t secure their insecure OS, the worst browser on earth, executives blinded by hubris, layer upon layer upon layer of bureaucracy, being Google’s minor league, a game console they’ve never sold for a profit, failed initiatives like watches and ultra-portable PCs, patches, viruses, overbearing DRMs, monopoly abuse, an idiotic dancing CEO/buffoon, and pure frustration. A Microsoft seal of approval would be a product’s kiss of death. Plus, we don’t think there’s even room left for any more stickers on most ugly-ass PCs. As we’re fond of saying, “The first time Microsoft produces something that doesn’t suck will be when they start making vacuum cleaners.”
Related articles:
Analyst: Windows Vista UI is step back in Microsoft’s pursuit of Apple’s Mac OS X – February 27, 2007
Gates: ‘Windows Vista’s had incredible reception’ – February 21, 2007
The Register reviews Microsoft’s Windows Vista: ‘Don’t buy it’ – February 20, 2007
Forbes: ‘Windows Vista utterly unimaginative, internally discordant and woefully out of tune’ – February 09, 2007
Digit: Don’t buy Vista; Microsoft may be driving millions to stick with XP or move to Apple Mac – February 05, 2007
TIME Magazine: Microsoft’s Windows Vista ‘an embarassment to the good name of American innovation’ – February 02, 2007
Microsoft’s Windows Vista: Five years for a chrome-plated turd – January 30, 2007
Digit: ‘Microsoft’s Windows Vista may be the best reason yet to buy an Apple Mac’ – January 29, 2007
Pioneer Press: Windows Vista shows ‘Apple is an innovation engine; Microsoft, not so much’ – January 29, 2007
Windows Vista disappoints, so get a Mac – January 29, 2007
CNET Reviews Windows Vista: Is that all? Clunky and not very intuitive vs. Mac OS X; warmed-over XP – January 24, 2007
Mossberg: Microsoft’s Windows Vista offers lesser imitations of Apple’s Mac OS X features – January 18, 2007
Windows Vista disappointment drives longtime ‘Microsoft apologist’ to Apple’s Mac OS X – January 17, 2007
InformationWeek Review: Apple’s Mac OS X shines in comparison with Microsoft’s Windows Vista – January 06, 2007
NY Times’ Pogue reviews Microsoft’s Windows Vista: ‘Looks, Locks, Lacks’ – December 14, 2006
Dave Winer: ‘Microsoft isn’t an innovator, and never was – they are always playing catch-up’ – December 01, 2006
Apple’s Mac OS X Leopard is 64-bit done right, unlike Microsoft’s Windows Vista kludge – August 14, 2006
Microsoft Windows Vista: If you can’t innovate… try to impersonate Apple’s Mac OS X – August 10, 2006
Analyst: Apple’s new Mac OS X Leopard sets new bar, leaves Microsoft’s Vista in the dust – August 08, 2006
Microsoft botches another copy job: Windows Vista Flip3D vs. Apple Mac OS X Exposé – June 26, 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
Hey Bobby Skinner:
Poor choice of words on my part, let me try again:
1. Java is close enough to C/C++ in performance that any performance differences are so minor as to not be a concern, in general (phone Java excepted, but that is getting better also), assuming a modern machine (i.e. not memory starved).
2. Should you experience a performance problem with Java, you should first check your code, not assume it is a Java issue. Also, remember the first rule of optimization: optimize as narrowly as possible.
3. Please check out the link I posted, it includes other references. This is a serious performance comparision, with rebuttals included – we’re not talking about some language bigot ranting in a bar.
In a nutshell, the guy implemented C benchmarks in Java and compared them back to C. In a couple of cases C was faster but most of the time Java was, and this is including startup time.
I call this “in the ballpark”. Maybe I should have said “in the infield”, or “usually faster” – that would have been more accurate. I was trying to not overstate the case, however – I don’t like hype.
Or write the same program in Java and C to prove it to yourself.
The major Java IDEs are written in pure Java, by the way (MASSIVE applications) – Netbeans, Intellij, Eclipse (altho Eclipse uses a non standard GUI toolkit). You can download them for free (Intellij has a trial version). Compare to Visual Studio, say (including startup time).
Ever use Tomcat? Written in Java, again.
4. I am talking about Java the language, and Java the runtime, not the libraries per. se. Altho the libraries are getting pretty decent now, also.
And String manipulation is not a problem – the runtime will do amazing optimizations based on actual usage, like, for example, inlining a method call because in your current usage, it is static (and un-inlining it when your usage changes). This offsets the other things that Java does that costs performance, so that the net effect is a wash.
You can use StringBuffer if you want, instead of String, but I haven’t found it makes enough of a difference to bother, altho I did it once on a large application.
@ ChanM
“Spark: – “As hot as the MB Pro gets, I could use it to cook on.”
You are perpetuating a myth. My MacBook Pro never gets hotter than mildly warm.”
Myth hell!! I’ve got a burn scar on thigh to prove it. Don’t get me wrong, I wouldn’t swap my MB Pro for anything else available right now…but…
When playing WOW on my MB Pro it gets so hot that it will shut itself down. I got a Targus Chill pad a couple of weeks ago and that makes a huge improvement in temp control. I recommend it for anyone with Macbook.
When using the machine for simple internet work, wordprocessing or database development, it is not so bad, but World of Warcraft has all components working at peak power and the laptop gets HOT HOT HOT.
“… but what they can do is create a Microsoft certification whereby thoroughly tested systems receive a special Microsoft seal of approval.”
It’s the OS stupid!
Windows will NEVER be secure- it wasn’t built for security- security for Windows was an afterthought and done very poorly- Unix on the other hand was designed, conceived and built with security as the forethought. Anybody heard of the Department of Defense- the beginnings of the “Internet”.
Try changing user settings on a Mac and then do the same on Windows- We all know what happens- with the Mac- you need the Administrator password- with Windows- hey- no problem dude. Change system settings?… again- with Windows- it’s easy- easy for malware too.
How to turn Microsoft around?
tfosorciM
There, that was easy! So what good does it do to turn Microsoft around?
…around the corner where the garbage dump is…
Here’s how you turn Microsoft around: You walk up behind it and tap it on the shoulder. Presto! Microsoft turns around.
But I really agree with MDN: Why bother. The world doesn’t need Microsoft any more than it needs General Motors. Times change. Good riddance.
Here’s how you turn Microsoft around: You sneak up on it from behind and tap it on the shoulder. Presto! Microsoft turns around.
But I agree with MDN: Why bother? The world doesn’t need Microsoft any more than it needs General Motors. Times change. Good riddance.
Microsoft, as evil as it is, is not going anywhere. IT departments will not let that happen. Too many jobs and too much power is on the line. IT weenies will not go down without a fight.
“1. Microsoft is a reverse engineering shop”
agreed – but not illegal, if they actually copied someone’s code then convict them.
“2. Unfortunately, Microsoft chronically supplements their reverse engineering with piracy and intellectual property theft. Check out the Stacker conviction, for example (long before Netscape).”
I am not familiar with this case, but I am with the Java one and the court resolved it because Sun sued and won. They violated the terms of their license and they were forced to adhere to it. They still have not won this battle
“3. In fairness, they buy a lot of companies (not a problem; Apple does this too), however, when coupled with a chronic lack of innovation is a severe long term problem for Microsoft – is unsustainable.”
No problem. As for the lack of innovation any “fix” of MS would have to bring innovation to the table
“4. Name just one significant technological innovation that Microsoft has made”
Again, I am not saying that they should continue as is. But they have a huge stockpile of cash and a lot of useful assets that could be used if they did bring in some innovators
“5. They also have a flagrant disregard for the law”
Again, I was talking about what could be done to fix MS, not sustaining them as is. If you look at my original post, it was what I would do if I ran the company, not what they would do. I end it bay saying they will not do any of it because they are committed to their current philosophy.
“6. Unfortunately, they have so terrorized the press (especially the technical press) that, until recently (the Vista launch), the press went along. But watch out, now that the press has suddenly got a bit of spine and is sensing weakness – Microsoft is due for some serious comeuppance.”
I think the press is just largely made up of people that know nothing beyond the press releases they read. I do not think MS has to terrorize them, and as we can see with vista, they occasionally do notice a pile of crap when they read it.
As for Vista, it is the proof that the Microsoft Emperor has no clothes. This the reason the question of fixing MS. My post was how i would fix it, not an attempt to prove MS to be workable as is”
“7. They grossly disrespect their customers and are focused on killing the competition, instead of making the customer happy. “
Though I agree they try to kill the competition, I disagree about their desire to keep the customer happy. I have been forced to call their support staff on several occasions and was pleasantly surprised in their desire to be helpful. The problem is that Windows is crap. I personally like Word (though I have switched to pages).
As for a split up, they are very rare and generally are done to split a monopoly and provide competition. Though MS has often acted in a monopolistic manner, they have never achieved a monopoly. There have always been alternatives. In 1990 there was Apple, NeXT, Commedore, AT&T, Sun and Apollo (the last 3 all ran UNIX). In 1995 the computer manufacturers had dropped. But you could still chose MacOS, BeOS, AmigaOS, OS/2, BSD and a fledgling Linux. It 2001 Apple Made OS X the pinnacle of OS’s, you still had Linux and BSD. Now you have those, plus a new AmigaOS clone and a whole ocean of Linux, Be and amiga spin offs. The federal government had no need to break up MS, the most we could have hoped for were some big fines. MS managed to even use the fines to grow their share.
I wish I could have come up with a legit reason to split MS, because I would have loved to see it knocked down a notch, but that desire does not make it happen.
@Bobby et al
Good to see some well reasoned discussion on here.
Companies are split up more often than you think – actually what happens is that when a company’s cash runs low they sell off the valuable assets. Sometimes when profits are under pressure they sell off loss making assets…
Microsoft make their money from Servers & Tools, Windows, and Office.
Online Services losses continued, with an operating revenue loss of $136 million compared to a profit of $68 million a year earlier. Revenue fell 4 percent to $539 million from $564 million, year over year.
Client revenue was $3.303 billion and operating income $2.637 billion for the fourth quarter.
Server and Tools revenue grew 17 percent to $2.499 billion compared to $2.127 billion a year earlier, with operating income increasing 36 percent to $827 million from $608 million.
Entertainment and Devices revenue rocketed 70 percent to $1.03 billion with an operational loss of $96 million, compared to $606 million and a loss of $3 million a year earlier.
Their problems are fivefold:
1. Windows sales have stalled
2. Nothing comes close to the 75% gross margins delivered by Windows
3. Microsoft is a high cost operation
4. Office and server business is to some degree (perhaps a high degree) dependent on the continued dominance of Windows.
5. There is no market which will allow the growth rate of Microsoft to continue.
They are pumping money into loss-making ventures and failing. They can only do this for so long. IE, Zune, Vista, Windows Live, Windows Search… It all costs money and produces no profit.
Sooner or later the market will demand change.
The first “How to turn around microsoft” have appeared. These will soon be reflected in Wall Street analysts comments.
Then there will be a huge departure from Microsoft. The market will demand cost cutting, loss making ventures will be sold off.
You will know the end is nigh when Microsoft sell either the Server and Tools division or Microsoft Office.
But the end of this era has begun…