Sal, to bring up another historical parallel, the support thing was a big deal with IBM (and other computer companies) when plug-compatible peripherals hit the scene (many years ago, mainframe era). Originally, the attitude was, you plug something else in, you're on your own. Legally, that didn't wash, I think. It also goes back to the original Carterphone decision with AT&T, which was sort of the beginning of the end for that cozy little monopoly.
The Novell thing is curious on 2 fronts. First, there's the timing, a week after the kinder, gentler offensive and right on the heals of the courtroom ironic counterpoint. Like I said originally, Damn the Torpedoes. Second, it's, uh, pretty inconsistent with the ever popular line about what a great developer's platform Windows is. Microsoft declares, Thou shalt not run NDS; thou shalt wait till our currently vaporous product is ready to ship. Standard Microsoft business practice, I guess.
It all seems fairly consistent to me, of course, I'd assume it seems the same to you, if perhaps not totally wise. We agree about how Microsoft plays the game. Is that just the way it's going to be? Who knows, I hope not. From my perspective, Microsoft's current strategy is just fine, I think everyone should understand how Microsoft works. Particularly those CIOs.
Cheers, Dan. |
