Microsoft's biggest problem...
Posted Jul 20, 2006 18:50 UTC (Thu) by
cventers (subscriber, #31465)
Parent article:
Free Software Sets the Computing Agenda
...is that they've built such a huge monopoly that depends on all pieces
working together. Now that the lack of alternative solutions is gone / on
its way out (which you measure by considering how well the potential
alternatives would function in a vacuum), you'll start to see tiny cracks
and pebbles falling off the Microsoft mansion.
And with each grain of stone that falls to the ground, the structural
integrity of the Microsoft mansion is reduced. Eventually you reach a
tipping point...
ODF is a huge deal, because beyond just giving free software opportunity
for a powerful footing in office suites, it lets the other vendors that
had previously been beaten into submission by the Microsoft monopoly have
a chance to compete once again. Office competition would be my biggest
fear if I ran Microsoft, because once your Microsoft Office monopoly
fails, and competing software that interoperates well starts to build and
install on Linux, you just lost a huge chunk of the reason that the
modern commercial enterprise runs their desktops on Windows.
And you can bet that Novell will be waiting there, ready to pry their way
in just as soon as it is so possible.
Sure, the GNU/Linux desktop has its own problems. But as each day passes,
ours are more and more just technical. And if there's one thing free
software people know how to do, it's technical work.
In short, this is the beginning of the end for Microsoft (at least as we
currently know it). I'll think back to this day and giggle when Microsoft
is forced to alter strategy and support the GNU/Linux platform itself.
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