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Microsoft - $51.12 billion annual revenue as of 2007. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microsoft) It’s the company that every web geek is supposed to hate. But, why? As Clazh points out in this entry,

Sure IE 7 doesn’t have the best support for Web Standards but at least Microsoft is trying. Hey I am web designer and I hate IE. But lets not forget that IE was at one time the most advanced and sophisticated Browser heck IE was the first to implement the concept of AJAX.

!Then comes this news, yup from Microsoft turf…Microsoft has been a ruler of the roost since the 80s. Ever since Windows 3.1 and 3.11 became hits, Microsoft has not really seen a slowdown as far as its revenue is considered. When Microsoft came up with Windows 2000, it really hit a sweet spot. With Windows XP, it dominated the market…Yet, it is facing some major setbacks and bashing from its competitors. It’s interesting to note that most of the companies that are now jointly bashing up Microsoft, have all had comebacks after facing extinction from the revolution that was Microsoft.Apple, Novell, Sun - were all languished after Microsoft’s steady releases of (crappy on retrospection) software - be it any version of Windows, Office or some innovations. Apple lost to Microsoft because of crappy hardware and irritable software (not to mention some terrible business choices). Novell lost their position as the dominant server market player in the mid to late 90s to the rising force that was Microsoft. Let’s face it: Much like how Google, at present, is an IT professional’s dream company, Microsoft was _the_ technology company at one point (For the hardcore Microsoft fans, it still is)! I still have most of the seniors in my firm dreaming of working for Microsoft one day :D!However, of late Microsoft has taken a lot of flak. It was the emerging Linux sector and the fans at one point. Now it’s the Apple fans. Why? Linux fans are pretty quiet these days with the Ubuntu and the Fedora, which btw have finally come of age as a decent desktop replacement OS! Apple fans are seeing a sudden jump in the Mac sales thanks to iPhone, Steve Jobs and iPod! And yes, Vista is most definitely sub-par especially after 5 years of development. Yet, there’s unwanted and unwarranted bashing.Let’s take a look as to what Microsoft has contributed to the world.

• Windows - 90% of the world’s computers run on this operating system. Windows 95, 98, 2000 and god-awful ME still run on some of the PCs. Windows XP has matured, numerous patches, updates, 2 service packs down and one more to go!
• Office Suite - Microsoft truly revolutionized the business sector and the use of PCs for the same with their office suite - boringly titled - Microsoft Office <insert 2 digit year here>. Windows + Office has helped Microsoft gain the foothold it has on the normal businesses. Just imagine a world sans Excel, Word or Powerpoint.
• MFC and Visual Studio IDEs: Despite the crumminess factor and the lack of pizzazz of MFC and Visual Studio IDE, what really boosted Windows was Microsoft providing an easy interface to the software developers in the form of Microsoft Foundation Classes and Visual Studio. Yes, they have a lot of shortcomings, yes they may not be the best way to implement those sorting/searching algorithms, but they provided a Rapid Application Development Environment to the developers. And the developers made tens of thousands of applications for the platform. And windows sailed forward as a result!

This is just the contribution from a technology perspective. World’s richest man, Bill Gates is also the co-founder of the Melinda Gates Foundation that significantly contributes to the betterment of the world.I am no big fan of Microsoft. However, I will respect the fact that it had a significant contribution to realize technology and be at the current state that we are!However, Microsoft has also grown tremendously and has undoubtedly lost some talent to competitors and has gained a lot of flab in the process! But, I see change…Vista is a HUGE blow to Microsoft. As much as it radically tries to change the Windows experience, it has not really unlocked any doors for Microsoft. The sales figures talk for themselves. Vista has _not seen_ the amount of widespread adoption that XP saw. Yet, it’s a sign from Microsoft acknowledging the presence of other operating systems in the market and also acknowledging that they have gotten some things wrong. What’s more, they have actually accepted that Vista needs work and are already giving us tidbits of what’s next in Vienna, or Windows 7 as it was recently renamed to.Now, for some speculation. Based on the response received from Office 2007, Microsoft must (better) have realized that they need to innovate. Innovate in all phases of the operating system. Windows 7 has to better its competitors - Mac OS X Leopard and various flavors of Linux if it has to gain popularity. All operating systems are on a level playing field wrt hardware. I believe that they are heading the right way…They have announced that Julie Larson-Green is heading the Windows 7 revolution. For the uninitiated, he’s the guy behind the revamped user interface of Office 2007. They have predicted, but not promised on a 2010 release (which is more along the lines of the common Windows releases 95, 98, 2000, XP :P)!!From the looks of it, Microsoft is heading down the right path! IE8 has also been announced and looks like it’s ready to kick some butt (finally). So, let’s hope the software company that once was glowing with all the glory is rearing for a comeback, because finally as consumers, we just want the best deal :)!

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Tags: microsoft, speculations, comeback, apple, novell, windows 7

Tags: Apple, MicroSoft, office, windows 7

This entry was posted on Thursday, December 20th, 2007 at 10:07 am and is filed under Business, MicroSoft, Technology, Windows. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.