Ex-Microsoftie: Free Software Will Kill Redmond (ComputerWorld) [LWN.net]

Ex-Microsoftie: Free Software Will Kill Redmond (ComputerWorld)

Posted May 22, 2009 5:20 UTC (Fri) by luya (subscriber, #50741)
In reply to: Ex-Microsoftie: Free Software Will Kill Redmond (ComputerWorld) by vomlehn
Parent article: Ex-Microsoftie: Free Software Will Kill Redmond (ComputerWorld)

Bigger they get, harder they fall. So big company who thought they will not go away vanished (in Canada, Steinberg and Eaton are a good example). With their recent behaviors like attempting to extend and extinguish open standard like ODF , Microsoft is on self-destruct mode.

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Ex-Microsoftie: Free Software Will Kill Redmond (ComputerWorld)

Posted May 22, 2009 9:00 UTC (Fri) by nhippi (subscriber, #34640) [Link] (7 responses)

That depends on the companies ability to adapt to change. The way microsoft turned the linux netbook tide to the current situation where most netbooks come with windows XP shows that microsoft is good (for it's size, _very_ good) at adapting.

On the other hand, it seems the Linux companies completely failed to adapt to the market opening they had...

The same bad practices

Posted May 22, 2009 10:12 UTC (Fri) by pboddie (guest, #50784) [Link] (1 responses)

The way microsoft turned the linux netbook tide to the current situation where most netbooks come with windows XP shows that microsoft is good (for it's size, _very_ good) at adapting.

How is this really any different from Microsoft's existing strategy (or Intel's, for that matter)? The vendor expresses interest in using something else; Microsoft probably tells the vendor that they'll be paying more for those Windows licences if they mix something else into their offerings; the vendor doesn't want to make their other offerings more expensive (or more laden with badware) but insists that they can't make their "price point" with Microsoft's current pricing or products (more memory required, for example); a deal is then cut to keep the vendor as Microsoft-exclusive as possible.

So, pressure is exerted on vendors by manipulating the terms of Microsoft's business relationships with those vendors. It seems to me that the same dubious practices are in play, and no adaptation has taken place at all.

The same bad practices

Posted May 22, 2009 12:21 UTC (Fri) by mchehab (subscriber, #41156) [Link]

> Microsoft probably tells the vendor that they'll be paying more for those
> Windows licences if they mix something else into their offerings

This can be true to netbooks sold by desktop vendors, but, with the advance of netbooks from the cellular industry, this probably won't work that easy.

This is a new and very dynamic market. IMO, netbooks will reflect what happens at the smartphone market, where you see waves where you see some software has predominance over the others, for some time, but that can be quickly replaced by other software on the next wave.

Ex-Microsoftie: Free Software Will Kill Redmond (ComputerWorld)

Posted May 22, 2009 11:03 UTC (Fri) by robert_s (subscriber, #42402) [Link]

"The way microsoft turned the linux netbook tide to the current situation where most netbooks come with windows XP shows that microsoft is good (for it's size, _very_ good) at adapting."

Adaptation? The only thing they did was their normal conditional discount deal shenanigans. Same thing they've been doing for at least 15 years. If there's one thing MS is good at, it is delaying the inevitable.

Ex-Microsoftie: Free Software Will Kill Redmond (ComputerWorld)

Posted May 22, 2009 12:14 UTC (Fri) by mchehab (subscriber, #41156) [Link] (2 responses)

> The way microsoft turned the linux netbook tide to the current situation
> where most netbooks come with windows XP shows that microsoft is good
> (for it's size, _very_ good) at adapting.

The way companies shipped their Linux netbooks contributed a lot with the failure on this market. They were released with an old kernel, using some proprietary drivers, and without a proper support.

So, if you try to connect an unsupported hardware ther (like a new webcam or some audio device), you're alone in the dark: you can't upgrade your kernel to a vanilla one (due to the proprietary drivers) and the netbook manufacturer won't support you to connect a third party hardware.

I tried to remotely help a developer with such hardware, needing to compile an an alsa driver he wrote on an eeepc. The alsa headers at the kernel source package weren't the ones used by eeepc. Even after seeking a lot at the vendor's site, we couldn't find the proper alsa headers used to compile the alsa modules for that kernel.

The developer had to give up.

Ex-Microsoftie: Free Software Will Kill Redmond (ComputerWorld)

Posted May 22, 2009 17:36 UTC (Fri) by JoeBuck (subscriber, #2330) [Link] (1 responses)

Microsoft adapted to the competition in the netbook market by severely cutting their prices. They can compete successfully, yes, but only by accepting a lot less per copy of Windows. Their old pricing structure, where they charged OEMs $50 or more per machine, simply isn't sustainable when the hardware costs the OEM less than $50.

Ex-Microsoftie: Free Software Will Kill Redmond (ComputerWorld)

Posted May 25, 2009 18:26 UTC (Mon) by bfields (subscriber, #19510) [Link]

There will eventually be an unbelievable number of those $50 devices sold, though, so the smaller license fees could still add up....

Ex-Microsoftie: Free Software Will Kill Redmond (ComputerWorld)

Posted May 23, 2009 0:47 UTC (Sat) by dkite (guest, #4577) [Link]

Let's see. They had to keep a product on the market far longer than they
were planning.

Indeed they acted quickly. They already had the product. All that had to
be done is wake up the marketing people.

Derek