Behind Microsoft's Shift on Windows nytimes.com
Before getting to the NYT story, Gerald, I got to ask about this:
Instead, they are talking about releasing the crown jewel, the flagship. If they are serious, and that's a BIG "if", I think this could be huge -- for them, a bold experiment.
They're talking about releasing NT? I didn't get that impression. Not that it really matters, without an independent distribution channel. Anyway, on to the article, again on Windows 2000 versus Windows for 2000, try keeping that one straight for the next few years. I still like the Times' reporting better than most. Quotes here are for amusement only, though, read the article for the news.
"This is an explosive problem," said Mark Anderson, president of Technology Alliance Partners, a research and consulting firm based in Friday Harbor, Wash. "The consumer market will be the largest market in the world for operating systems," and Microsoft does not have a product.
That's Anderson, not Andreeson, but methinks he exaggerates somewhat.
"This is just the tip of the iceberg," said Jeffrey Tarter, the editor of Softletter, an industry newsletter based in Watertown, Mass. "The real problem is the more you look at the innards of Windows the more complicated and more flaky it gets. I don't see any way that they can fix the mess they created without going back to the beginning."
Ok, that guy sounds like he knows what he's talking about.
"At a risk of being called sexist, ageist and French," said Jean Louis Gassee, chairman of Be, "if you put multimedia, a leather skirt and lipstick on a grandmother and take her to a nightclub, she's still not going to get lucky."
No comment on that one.
Even with its consumer plans in a state of flux, Microsoft also announced plans for its corporate Windows 2000 operating system, raising new concerns that by fragmenting its product line the company may inadvertently sow confusion among customers.
Inadvertently sowing confusion? Sheesh, I thought that was Microsoft's business plan. Why ship an OS that sucks less, when you can add new features? On a slightly more serious note, the rest of the story:
"This raised a red flag for me," said Louis J. Mazzucchelli Jr., a financial analyst at Gerard Klauer Mattison, a New York investment firm.
He said that the company now had as many as four or more versions of its high-end Windows 2000 operating system (formerly Windows NT) in the works.
"Remember when Apple had more than 17 different product lines?" he said. "I have trouble understanding how Microsoft is going to keep customers from becoming confused."
In addition to Windows Server Appliance, which Ballmer announced on Wednesday, he said the company was working on Windows 2000, Windows 2000 Professional, Windows 2000 Server, Windows 2000 Advanced Server and Windows 2000 Data Center.
Conceivably, this could leave the software developer at a disadvantage against Linux and other versions of the Unix operating system, which have been growing rapidly among both Internet server and software developer markets.
Conceivably, but I'm not exactly holding my breath on that one.
Cheers, Dan. |
