Text 3346, 105 rader
Skriven 2005-03-28 00:28:24 av Adam Flinton (1:379/45)
   Kommentar till text 3343 av Mike '/m' (1:379/45)
Ärende: Re: Thomas Hazlett: Is Microsoft toast?
===============================================
From: Adam Flinton <adam@NOSPAM_softfab.com>


Amusing where linux is the elephant in the fridge for both of them <G>

Odd (if you consider it) that linux can compete on the pc with ms & on ppc with
osx....

Adam


Mike '/m' wrote:
> Good grief, this isn't a commentary on some Linux site, it's the Financial
> Times.
>
> http://news.ft.com/cms/s/0fa4c038-9c8b-11d9-b1c2-00000e2511c8.html
>
> ("The writer is a senior fellow at the Manhattan Institute for Policy
> Research")
>
> ===
> The US government proved that Microsoft possessed, and illegally exploited,
> monopoly power in the “antitrust case of the centuryö, the six-year action
> that ended in July 2004. The Final Judgment allowed Microsoft to remain
whole,
> but imposed conditions that permit rival software makers to tuck their
> products into its Windows operating system. Anti-Microsoft groups were
> outraged; a spokesman for one said: “This decision represents the failure of
> antitrust laws in the high-tech industry… An unrestrained monopolist in the
> most vibrant sector of the economy cannot be good for America.ö
>
> The critics were right: the Government’s remedies have had little impact. Yet
> today customers are flocking to Microsoft’s competitors. Hammered on multiple
> fronts by opportunistic rivals, the high-flying starship of the PC Age has
> stalled, and many wonder if it will now crash and burn.
>
> Compare the fortunes of Apple and Microsoft. To most, Apple is yesterday’s
> news, “That ‘70s Show.ö But the company, despite myriad marketing blunders,
> has survived, and today the Mac is back. Finally price competitive with PCs,
> and offering software used interchangeably with other programs, the company
is
> staging a run. Apple’s share of the US desk top computers market was up by
> half from 2003 to 2004.
>
> That share is still low – just 3 per cent for desk tops, about twice that for
> notebooks – but a much bigger run may be in the offing. That is because of
the
> plague that has hit the Windows world. Apple, with its tight, integrated
> interfaces cinching hardware to software has proven powerfully resistant to
> viruses and spyware, the poisonous infections of the Internet. Meanwhile,
> Microsoft users scramble to update their software with the latest patches,
> frantically downloading anti-viral software, running and re-running spyware
> disinfectants. With the Mac offering equally proficient word processing,
> presentations, spread sheets, web browsing and email, along with the standard
> multi-media applications, many are asking: Why bother?
>
> Over the two year period commencing March 18, 2003, Microsoft shares rose 5.3
> per cent; Apple’s 373 per cent; and the Nasdaq Index, 43.4 per cent (bouncing
> back from historic lows). The upshot: while Microsoft’s market cap has
> flat-lined at $260bn, Apple has jumped from $6bn to $35bn. Of course, the
> spectacularly popular iPod music box has generated much of the buzz –
> underscoring Apple’s multi-pronged assault on the Microsoft Monopoly. Neither
> flank of the pincer movement was anticipated by regulators, or their
remedies.
> Recall that the government’s anti-monopoly solutions focused on gaining
access
> for multi-media software, such as that provided by RealNetworks, to piggyback
> on the Windows network. Yet the creation of an entirely new web-based gizmo,
> tied online to Apple’s iTunes, has proven the killer app. And despite the
> explosion in (legal) online music downloads, RealNetworks has seen its shares
> rise less than the Nasdaq over the past two years.
>
> But the resurrection of Apple may only be a petty skirmish for Microsoft’s
> field generals, as a new “browser warö has been launched. Mozilla, producing
> an “open sourceö web browser called Firefox, blasted onto the scene last year
> (with $25m in development funding from Microsoft rival Time Warner, owner of
> the presumably vanquished AOL-Netscape), and is now gaining traction.
> Microsoft’s Internet Explorer dropped to below ninety percent market share
for
> the first time in years this past February; Mozilla Firefox has 6 per cent.
> Customers are embracing Mozilla because it navigates the web faster than
I.E.,
> is free to download, and resistant to spyware.
>
> Of course, Microsoft will do fine if its Windows customers use Firefox and
> like it; it will be easier to be a Microsoft customer if the malicious-ware
of
> the Internet is kept at bay. But the threat, just as with Netscape (and its
> embedded Java script) a decade ago, is that valuable functions will gradually
> shift away from Microsoft’s domain – including, in the end, the operating
> system itself. This application creep happens so easily – take the Google
> gambit. A company provides a new and improved search engine, splices in a few
> well-targeted ads, and is now capitalized at $50bn. Microsoft, despite
> ‘owning’ the software on which the applications run, did not get here first.
> Ouch....
> ===
>
> While I don't agree with all that is in there, the presence of this
commentary
> is sure to evoke debate and discussion outside of the normal areas.
>
>  /m

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