Text 17388, 48 rader
Skriven 2007-04-12 21:15:20 av mike (1:379/45)
Ärende: Microsoft "dead," at a turning point?
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From: mike <mike@barkto.com>


http://www.macnn.com/articles/07/04/10/microsoft.doubts/


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Microsoft may be at a turning point in its future, according to actions taken
by key figures today and over the weekend. Goldman Sachs financial analyst
Sarah Friar today removed Microsoft from its conviction list, noting that while
the stock was still worth buying it no longer had the same allure as before. A
fundamental shift in the market towards the web and the resulting independence
from Microsoft's software were cited as the primary reasons, as users no longer
needed Windows or desktop utilities for an increasing number of tasks.

"Vista may be the last big operating system developed by the company," Friar
said. Microsoft still plans a revision to Vista codenamed "Vienna" for 2009.

This freedom may have helped play into the analyst's observations about rival
operating systems from Apple and various Linux distributors, which Friar said
were likely to draw business and home users away from Windows over the next ten
years. Google, however, is the primary threat, Friar said. Their "dominance in
search, deep pockets, and “coolö factor make it a serious competitor to
Microsoft," she wrote, "as it strives to obsolete the desktop operating
system." The California-based search engine developer has developed or refined
a series of web tools that potentially replace Microsoft's well-established
desktop software, such as Gmail (which supplants both Hotmail and Outlook) and
Writely (a web-based text editor). Although strictly professional, the advice
reflects an opinion which gathered momentum in the blogging community this
weekend. Influential author and venture capitalist Paul Graham has
controversially declared Microsoft "dead," pointing to Google as far more
"dangerous" thanks to its relentless web expansion. Microsoft no longer posed
an immediate threat to Silicon Valley firms by threatening to buy them out or
release a direct competitor. "We [don't] worry about Microsoft as competition
for the startups we funded. In fact, we've never even invited them to the demo
days we organize for startups to present to investors," Graham said. "We invite
Yahoo and Google and some other Internet companies, but we've never bothered to
invite Microsoft." Microsoft has also lost mindshare among the most
computer-literate developers, many of whom explicitly prefer Apple systems.
Windows has traded positions with Macs as the safe choice for beginners. "I'm
now surprised when I come across a computer running Windows. Nearly all the
people we fund at [our company] Y Combinator use Apple laptops," Graham added.
===

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