Well Tom, I suppose there had to be something we disagree about huh? :)
Microsoft has simply created products which give better value to consumers. That's why they've dominated the software industry. They are smart, and they understand the customer better than their competitors.
Linux I'm sure is a fine operating system, just as the OS from Apple is. But in the end, it's not the best product that always wins in the marketplace. It's the one that gives consumers the best *value*. When modelling value, it sits in the middle of a triangle surrouded by price, delivery and quality.
Microsoft's OS has provided the engine for America's technological leadership. By setting the standard, having the capital to invest and re-invest, and by working with Intel, they have ignited the computer industry worldwide.
No doubt others will continue to struggle in an effort to unseat Microsoft. And perhaps they will succeed one day. But not today. And not for the past 15 years!
All businesses attempt to use competitive advantages in order to capture market share and grab more customers from their competitors. ALL businesses. Microsoft was just more successful at it then almost everyone else.
Love him or hate him, Bill Gates is an amazing businessman. He understood that to be the best, you had to continuously hire and promote the best. And he's led a camilion like organizations which has shifted and changed in order to stay on top.
Speaking of the internet... I remember in late 93 (I believe it was), Microsoft was well behind in accepting the internet, and especially in developing a competitive browser. For nearly a year, a few people within Microsoft had been peppering Bill Gates with emails about the internet and its threat. Finally, Bill Gates realized his mistake, and in one fell swoop marshaled the forces of Microsoft into action. He rented the entire Kingdom and asked every employee to attend the rally. Then he got up on stage and said, when we leave here today, EVERYTHING we do with every software will be somehow tailored to using the internet. In a moment of leadership brilliance, he changed an already successful company of 28K employees practically overnight.
That kind of leadership is rarely seen in business today. And it's the main reason Microsoft has remained on top one of the most competitive industries in the world.
Bill Clinton's attack on Microsoft and threatened takeover by a bunch of Washington bureaucrats was an affront to our values as a nation. Microsoft is no monopoly. An oligopoly yes, but certainly not a monopoly. If they stumble, or if someone else excites the consumer enough, they will be unseated.
A monopoly is our cable television companies, water, sewage and in many places our electrical companies, as well as our public education system. Those are monopolies. You can always recognize a monopoly by the poor service, and lack of creativity they bring to the consumer.
Linux's open source operating system is a real threat to Microsoft. And Microsoft will have to respond to this new challenge. How can they be such an insurmountable monopoly and have a product threaten them like this? |
