Either way, Microsoft is getting too big for its boots!
Aye, but they're floundering now. Windows 8 has been a disaster in the business world (where they make most money) for the reasons I cited yesterday. And the Surface tablet has been a commercial debacle - do
any of you have one? Or know someone who has one?
Steve Ballmer, who took over as CEO from Bill Gates, is a dinosaur. There is massive political turmoil within the major business divisions inside Microsoft, with the Office team ruling the roost for too long.
They need to ditch Ballmer and bring in a non-Microsoftie who can stand up to the divisional heads.
So, TBH, Microsoft still thinks it is too big for its boots, but these boots become less relevant with every passing month;
Phones? iPhone or Samsung
Tablets? iPad or Samsung or Google or any other Android clone
Virtualisation? VMWare by a country mile
Servers? Maybe Windows but just as likely to be a Linux derivative
Web? .Net is actually pretty strong, but Apache is way cheaper
Database? They have just moved SQL Server 2012 to be price-comparitive with Oracle, which is a big mistake. If SQL is cheaper, people will buy SQL. If it's the same price, they will go with Oracle.
Office / Productive software? MS Office still wipes the floor with open office or its many derivatives.
The latter is why the Office division in Microsoft is still so dominant; they are pretty much the only clear market leaders in the MS portfolio. But their arrogance is starting to turn people against them, with the horrible UI of Office 2013 and the reluctance to release proper Office apps for the cheaper Surface RT tablet.
All in all, Microsoft's dominance is in no way assured for the coming decade. This is made all the more obvious by the arrogant way that they think this is our fault for not understanding their direction.
End of rant #2
