If MS holds true to form, their [Microsoft's] graphics product will have a bug or two. Corel's is mature.
It's unfortunate that people have to be reminded how many times this same sort of defense has been raised to deflect the onslaught of MS. I'm no fan of Microsoft's "technology" which isn't designed to help anybody but Microsoft write applications. Microsoft's primary goal is the promotion and preservation of their own proprietary standards. It's absolutely frightening what they're doing. Having said that, Corel's warmed-over hairballs are in far worse shape than anything Microsoft has to offer. There's no contest if your comparing Corel and Microsoft office products.
There's too much inter-application and direct OS connectivity for anybody else to compete with Microsoft on that front. They have a monopoly and they are leveraging it for all it's worth. Corel doesn't have a monopoly. Corel just sucks, period. They have a CEO who goes out of his way to attract the attention of Microsoft, not through superior products but with superior rhetoric, albeit hollow, baseless rubbish. Wanna know why Microsoft's products aren't as good as they can be? Monopoly? Yes. Inferior competition? YOU BET! Look, Corel bought this stuff, they throw it in a box and maybe fix some bugs, end of story.
Gates has nothing but time and money and here is Cowpland standing on his front lawn with some hand-me-down, warmed-over DOS products throwing rocks at his window. Bill looks out and thinks "What the hell, I'm bored to death and despite my better judgement I'll pick up the phone and order a team to assemble and take over the consumer graphics market. That'll teach that used software salesman not to annoy me."
PREDICTION: Microsoft's Graphics Suite captures 50% of the consumer graphics market by year's end and the whole ball of wax by this time next year. |
