At the outset, let me say I am neither slamming Microsoft, nor am I a fanboy. I am simply questioning the company’s direction, now that Mr. Gates is on to other activities.
Microsoft, whether you love it or hate it, is where it is because of good ideas. The ideas were not always software related, but then it is clear to anyone who has followed the travails of the Redmond giant that Mr. Gates is an impresario, an extraordinary entrepreneur, and a deal maker that puts ‘The Donald’ to shame.
He also, until lately, happened to be a man driven to not only succeed, but to also innovate. The innovation may have been in recognizing the efforts of others and putting the Microsoft stamp on it, but it was always something different and useful.
In the past four to five years, the company has been resting on its laurels, happily knowing that an insanely ridiculous percentage of the computers in the world are made useful because of Microsoft code.
The start of this was the release of Windows XP Service Pack 2, which was almost as much of a change to XP as Windows 98 was to Windows 95. It was an effort to be commended, as it brought the last of the holdouts into the XP fold. After that effort, the gas gauge was on ‘E,’ and there was not a station in sight.
The Longhorn program was not going well, with the major changes to the way work got done dropped from the development. No answers why, just dropped. The industry pundits knew that the most reasonable assumption was that the behemoth Microsoft had become needed a quick infusion of cash to keep it going.
Since the cash would only be coming from a major change – the company needed that much – it became imperative to release Vista early. There was probably much wailing and gnashing of teeth in the offices late at night ‘on campus’. Those who had a global view knew the parts of this new operating system were not jelling properly. Anyone who doubts this must not have known that the call for Service Pack 1 was out before the general public had seen the ‘gold’ code.
It has now been almost a full 6 months since Vista hit the store shelves, with various entities making claims to the knowledge of the release date of the service pack to make the operating system whole. Microsoft makes no firm commitments, and so we must continue with FUD.
Microsoft now has entered into the advertising game, trying to expand and claim the cash it is not getting with the sales of Vista. The Xbox fiasco can’t be helping things much.
The idea of concentrating on, and finishing, one thing before attempting another seems foreign to those who are at the helm now, as does the idea that, sticking to what the company used to do well, is a sound path.
For me, the best news I could ever hear goes something like this:
Reuters – Microsoft – Shakeup in Redmond Today
Today, Chairman Bill Gates announced the leaving of several top executives at Microsoft. Chief among them is the leaving of Steve Ballmer, who will soon be joining Tom Cruise for a shouting and couch jumping tour to a city near you soon. Mr. Gates noted that the position of industry blowhard was no longer useful, and that Microsoft will be attempting to walk softly and let the code do the talking from now on. Also, of note, the position of chief technology strategist was being implemented, a part time position, for now, and appointed Apple CEO, Steve Jobs as the first holder. Mr. Gates further commented that Mr. Jobs has been doing a ‘hell of a job’ at Apple, and we were sure he could help us out, in our time of need.
In his first conference, Mr. Jobs announced work on re-integrating the Windows FS technology with the Windows code base, assuring the public that it will work, and be all that was promised, before the next version of Windows is unveiled. Projected timeframe was 2011, and so Mr. Jobs left the conference saying “We have a lot to accomplish, I’ve got to get back to work”.
Could it happen? No… the egos involved are just too large. But we can dream, can’t we?
[tags]Microsoft, innovation, Windows, Vista, Win FS, Steve Jobs, Bill Gates, Steve Ballmer, Apple Computer, FUD[/tags]