Stopofeger Posted February 22, 2007 Share Posted February 22, 2007 Hi there guys, Im basically a big microsoft fan. Very unusual in this forum probably but i like them and their products. This year is probably the most imp year in ms's life. As they launched vista, office 2007 and some more services. Where do u see microsoft, specifically windows (as it is the base of everything they do) after 10 years maybe. Will they reign the soft world as they now? Or we shall see other companies (Google?) taking over their position. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zq29 Posted February 22, 2007 Share Posted February 22, 2007 As far as the OS side of the business goes - In the next ten years, I can see them very slowly loosing a relatively small percentage of their market share, but will continue to be the market leader by far. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AXiSS Posted February 22, 2007 Share Posted February 22, 2007 I see Microsoft leading their industry by far, considering that now they are investing into internet based software, and they probably won't budge. Mac will still be Mac, doign their Mac-like things, but the majority of people will still use Windows, by a lot. Microsoft will just be cool. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
obsidian Posted February 22, 2007 Share Posted February 22, 2007 I agree that Microsoft will lose some ground, especially with the major thrust of open source applications and even OS's. However, like SA pointed out, I doubt they will lose a high percentage of their shares in the next 10 years. I agree that Vista and Office 2007 are some of the nicer things I've seen come from the MS studios, but I still stand behind my initial estimation of the software: once it's released, wait a year to upgrade. MS, without fail releases before the product is entirely ready (which can be argued is good business marketing), and I'm just not one that's excited about dealing with all the problems for the first year. Besides that, though, I'm definitely not a MS hater. I appreciate MS, and I do enjoy their products. Besides, Dungeon Siege II is just such a cool game! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
steelmanronald06 Posted February 22, 2007 Share Posted February 22, 2007 I see M$ losing a lot of ground due to the fact that there are a numerous amount of open source softwares out there. Take linux, for example. It is pretty hard to install, but the GUI are so easy to use! So, it is possible that you will start being able to get linux boxes from places like Dell (if you already can't) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
obsidian Posted February 22, 2007 Share Posted February 22, 2007 So, it is possible that you will start being able to get linux boxes from places like Dell (if you already can't) Actually, from some manufacturers, you have been able to order Linux pre-installed on boxes for a while now, and you see how much impact it's had on MS so far ... While I think that it's great, and I'm all for open source stuff, I really can't see it impacting the market that severely. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
joder Posted February 22, 2007 Share Posted February 22, 2007 I use a Microsoft laptop at work because it's company supplied. At home, I use Linux. I don't do computer games that were just created for Windows so I have no problems whatsoever. I think some people will not like Vistas DRM and switch to an Open Source OS, especially outside the US. But mostly I think people will stay with Windows because they want entertainment and that's what Windows wants to deliver. As far as Office, I haven't seen anything that is thrown at me that I can't use Open Office for. I dont' need bells and whistles. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Daniel0 Posted February 22, 2007 Share Posted February 22, 2007 I use a Microsoft laptop at work because it's company supplied. A Microsoft laptop? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
joder Posted February 22, 2007 Share Posted February 22, 2007 A Microsoft laptop? You know what I meant. ;-) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Daniel0 Posted February 22, 2007 Share Posted February 22, 2007 Yes. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cmgmyr Posted February 23, 2007 Share Posted February 23, 2007 Well I think the bottom line is that MS isn't going anywhere or is even really going to hurt from anything else out there. Microsoft, Windows, Office, ect. are house hold names and they will never go away. As far as free open source stuff goes...yeah most of it is pretty good BUT people aren't familiar with it and don't feel comfortable with it being free. For example whenever anyone asks me about a good anti-virus for their computer I always tell them Avast. I also mention that it is free, but it does a lot better job then Norton or McAfee. It's lighter but more powerful, plus I get virus updates like 2-3 times a day! But people are a little stand-offish about it because it is free and not a house hold name (like norton). So anyways I don't think the open source is even going to be making a dent in MS's business...atleast anytime in the near future. ...you should try that anti virus though it's great! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Balmung-San Posted February 23, 2007 Share Posted February 23, 2007 Honestly, I think that while they've put a lot of money and time into securing Vista, the fact that you have a prompt for most of it will annoy people to the point where they won't want to upgrade. As well, many countries are moving to a purely Open Source (and free) solution. Not only are they using Linux within the government, but they're developing their own flavors for citizen use. As well, there are so many free alternatives out there to Microsoft's products, that most of your average user base are starting to see them, try them, and stick with them (hey, they're free, why wouldn't they?). I think Microsoft will start to lose some of its market share, and indeed actually feel the blow of the Open Source movement. I think they can already feel it coming though, as they have partnered up with Novell. Though I still don't think Microsoft will really topple for some time, I believe they are starting to slowly decay. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dustinnoe Posted February 23, 2007 Share Posted February 23, 2007 But people are a little stand-offish about it because it is free and not a house hold name (like norton) I agree, people want the name and they are willing to pay for it. Besides, who would offer good software for free, that just sounds to good to be true. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jessica Posted February 23, 2007 Share Posted February 23, 2007 You can certainly buy CDs with Linux, it doesn't HAVE to be free Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dustinnoe Posted February 23, 2007 Share Posted February 23, 2007 You can certainly buy CDs with Linux, it doesn't HAVE to be free I should start a business selling a linux distro in a fancy box for like half the cost of vista. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
joder Posted February 23, 2007 Share Posted February 23, 2007 I should start a business selling a linux distro in a fancy box for like half the cost of vista. That's one beauty of Linux. You can do that. Mandrake, SuSE and Red Hat have done(do) that. But there are plenty out there to choose from. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
neylitalo Posted February 23, 2007 Share Posted February 23, 2007 I, myself, hate Microsoft and everything it stands for. Enough that I was four paragraphs into "why I hate Microsoft" before I realized that it wasn't the point. Even at the rate open source is gaining popularity, there's no way that it'll pass up Microsoft in the near future. They've got too strong of a foothold. I just hope that Microsoft isn't successful in their never-ending attempt to derail the idea of free software. And, technically, you can't sell open source software and prohibit people from sharing it. You can, however, charge for support, or package up your own proprietary tools in a Linux distro. That's what Red Hat and Novell have been doing. You can still share the GPL'd parts of Red Hat, but not the proprietary stuff developed at Red Hat and licensed under their own terms. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
joder Posted February 23, 2007 Share Posted February 23, 2007 And, technically, you can't sell open source software and prohibit people from sharing it. You can, however, charge for support, or package up your own proprietary tools in a Linux distro. That's what Red Hat and Novell have been doing. You can still share the GPL'd parts of Red Hat, but not the proprietary stuff developed at Red Hat and licensed under their own terms. As far as I know, unless they just very recently changed something, Red Hat does not have proprietary software in their distribution. All that is copyrighted and can't be redistributed is the Red Hat name and images. Somewhere on their site they even have info. CentOS removes the copyrighted material and redistributes what is the Red Hat distro. Novell, on the other hand, is a washed out company who is just trying to stay alive. They recently jumped in bed with Microsoft. Some companies may be fooled into buying their product. But in the free software community, they are basically done. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
joder Posted February 23, 2007 Share Posted February 23, 2007 Now something on a positive note: http://www.itwire.com.au/index2.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=9865&pop=1&page=0&Itemid=1054 Kevin Gough, product manager, Google Enterprise, told iTWire that prior to its official launch today businesses have already moved off their desktop systems to Google Apps, which includes wordprocessing, spreadsheet, calendaring, email and instant messaging capabilities. Gough also said that a number of large enterprises have also commenced deployment and pilots of the online system that is looming as a threat to Microsoft's desktop-based office productivity dominance. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
obsidian Posted February 23, 2007 Share Posted February 23, 2007 I absolutely love the whole Google Apps suite so far. I've been using the word processor since it was the early stages of Writely, and my wife and I both use the spreadsheets and calendar for our invoicing and personal business communication. Very, very nice stuff. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
weknowtheworld Posted February 23, 2007 Share Posted February 23, 2007 I came across an article here... It says much more. Nice to read. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
neylitalo Posted February 23, 2007 Share Posted February 23, 2007 As far as I know, unless they just very recently changed something, Red Hat does not have proprietary software in their distribution. I thought there was some stuff in the RHEL distribution that isn't under a free-to-share license - I'm not sure, though, as I've never used it. And maybe, as you said, it's the Red Hat name and logo that you're paying for - along with the tech support provided. And in response to the Novell comment: Novell will be the death of us all. They gave Microsoft a leg to stand on in their argument that the open source community was/is stealing IP, and for that, I hope that they'll be more-or-less boycotted. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
joder Posted February 23, 2007 Share Posted February 23, 2007 Red Hat is open source and the source code is available. Just can't use the Red Hat trademark. http://www.redhat.com/rhel/details/faq/#4 http://www.redhat.com/f/pdf/corp/trademark1.pdf http://www.centos.org/modules/tinycontent/index.php?id=2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
neylitalo Posted February 24, 2007 Share Posted February 24, 2007 Excellent links, thanks much. I never pass up a chance to get educated. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stopofeger Posted February 25, 2007 Author Share Posted February 25, 2007 Well, about the google apps. I think i heard something called office live to be provided by ms using live.com. Is it just like google ones? Although i have doubts about these app's as Its just clean monopoly of data. As all the stuffs are stored by google, if we see a masive popularity surge, google can actually control or atleast persuade enterprises as they have all the Important data right under their sleeve. I dont think companies dont want that. Yes online office is good. But only when its available as a download say, phpbb. So people can setup their own server and dont have to worry about their data in someone else's hand Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.