Mitch:
You are making a strong run at Allen and Dave for the title of most informed, well-reasoned posts.
As for the Microsoft argument, I have to agree. While everyone shudders at the mere mention of Microsoft competition, it is important to note that Microsoft has not won every battle they have fought. As Allen has pointed out, Gates tried to battle Oracle for supremacy of the Database market, for many years, and ultimately threw in the towel. At least for the time being. We have also seen evidence that CE does not appear ready for prime time, at least as far as mission critical applications.
However, here is my question. If indeed Gates is as much of a visionary as Richard suggests, and is in fact targeting embedded systems, why hasn't he acquired the necessary functionality? Gates must know that his CE can not be used in mission critical applications, at least until memory and storage become significantly cheaper. Why hasn't he started to put together a toolset, open platform, similar to Tornado?
Better still, why race in an old car when you can buy a brand new one? Why spend your hard earned cash, fighting a war that he may not win, when all of WIND can be acquired for under 1 billion? I'm not suggesting that the shareholders would sell out. Long term shareholders such as ourselves know the true value of WIND. But if indeed embedded systems is his ultimate goal, why not just buy the best and be done with it?
Food for thought.
Regards,
Jason Cogan |
