School's out to shun IE

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Some good points there

"We've tried, but the crackers are too persistent."

That would be an interesting development, but I agree that it's not very likely. It would be a blow to their corporate pride to admit OSS bested them.

MSFT two profit leaders are Windows and Office, both of which are under assault. Because the company is so big the assualt doesn't appear to be having much overall impact. What I've noticed over the years is that collapse is rarely a quiet linear slide into obscurity. Everything is hinky dinky, then one day there's a giant sucking sound from the bottom of the soda cup. Like Enron. How many people outside the company saw that coming? Why was it such a surprise? They were an energy giant one day and a giant sucking sound the next.

Same with WorldCom and a host of others. I remember an upscale department store where I used to live. They were an icon, in business for 38 years. Clerks would make you feel like they were doing you a favor to ring something up for you. Then Nordstrom's moved in. Couple years later, giant sucking sound.

My point is disaster can strike hard and fast and it's usually a surprise. Are you right about MSFT? Probably. Doubt they're going away any time soon. Still, the potential is there.

The more customers adopt other products, the more pricing pressure MSFT has to put on their remaining customer base. I see that every day. Users get used to using Firefox, maybe they try OpenOffice too. If you're using Firefox and OpenOffice you suddenly have an option about the underlying OS. You can change the OS and still have a familiar application interface. Increased pricing pressure coupled with an easy transition away from their products...do the math.

The only think that makes me wonder is Ballmer threatening Asian countries. That smacked of desperation and near panic. A little early to be playing that card, isn't it? And Ballmer personally flying out to try and keep government agencies from switching in Germany and the UK? That seems a little extreme given their billions in quarterly revenues.

Maybe there's a surprise gurgle in there, maybe not. Either way I really enjoy not using their crappy, insecure products at home. Computing life is better without MSFT in the picture.

Posted by: Chad_z   Posted on: 12/09/04 You are currently: a Guest | Members login | Terms of Use

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