Paul Graham - Latest Comments in Microsoft is Dead

Re: Microsoft is Dead

bizvn — Sun, 30 Nov 2008 22:37:08 -0000

yes, a great article!

Re: Microsoft is Dead

Danny — Sat, 29 Nov 2008 20:58:34 -0000

I'm always amused by people who say the desktop is dead. It's like people in the 1890s proclaiming that the invention of the telegraph heralded the end of books and newspapers. We NEED the desktop because the web simple isn't ready to take over. It may never be ready. There is no consistency on among webpages, no clear guidelines and a mass of competing technologies, none of which can solve all the problems. Bandwidth is a huge problem as is the assumption that a PC must always be online to make use of it's services. The technical standards (for what they are) remain weak and cover only the most basic things. They are reliant on desktop browsers and plugins to deliver the contents and those are desktop apps. Flash, Java, sliverlight whatever.

C made the desktop what is. There is no dominant equal to C on the web. For that to happen, the major desktop players will have to coorperate and who would want to? Apple and MS have everything to loose.

It's about politics and the web today is a child of those politics. People who talk about the obsolescence of the desktop are usually really trying to convince us to stop using WIndows. If you feel that way, switch Mac or Linux. The web is not the panacea you're looking for.

Re: Microsoft is Dead

Hal — Thu, 27 Nov 2008 08:22:05 -0000

So, You could be right (or not), I don't know... But so, what will you do now ? You think you don't need Microsoft anymore, do you everybody doesn't need Microsoft anymore ?
Will you report Microsoft use on Apple ? What make you think Apple is making things different from Microsoft ? Design ? hum... What make you think Apple could make differents things than Microsoft, if Microsoft wasn't here anymore ?

Lot of people used to say Apple was dead in late 90's...
Computing needs Microsoft, as it need Apple. Apple needs Microsoft as Microsoft needs Apple. If Microsoft dies, Apple will follow it. Cause the reasons you're using to demonstrate the Microsoft dead is the same that could kill an Apple without a Microsoft.
Cause if Google can get off Microsoft, it will not need Apple anyway.
If desktop is really off, MacOS desktop will not be needed anymore than Windows desktop...
If net broadband evolving could cause Microsoft desktop dead, it will be the same for any desktop based company, and Apple is one. More : Apple is an old fashion company... Their computing vision is one of the older : One computer, one OS, one company. So its real face isn't really much different than Microsoft and bigger Apple will become, the more it will be a fact and the more bigger Apple is becoming and the more it will be harder for them to change.
Yes Apple actual succes is due by their amazing way to comeback (on the desktop). It is also due to the very big Windows position : the big can stay big for ever as the little have lot of chance to grow.
So, I should not say Microsoft is dead, as lot of people shouldn't have said that for Apple in late 90's.

Re: Microsoft is Dead

alm — Wed, 26 Nov 2008 09:58:50 -0000

I never understand how somebody could use a mac. 1st you pay more, not only for the HW but also for the updates. I really like to see MS ask me every 2 Years ( at least ) to get an update for their not so good OS. But if i pay 3 to 4 times the money i pay for MS Win XP. I could also ask 3 to 4 time the power, which there is not. I know that most people like you point out that the "quality" of MS products is not so good. Well they should get somethign like a sony or samsung top of the line NB or quite simpler the Dell Business line with overnight switch ( we got it here at our business, it simply means : pick up the phone, say dvd is not working. Next morning the new one is here. And please don´t send the old one back. They also send more complicated parts like the keyboard etc. ). This model is much cheaper than the so called high quality mac stuff. They also have a lot construction problems, even with the iphone ( the so called hair crack ). So why do most news people think the apple is so much better? I think it´s like short dic*** guys tend to drive a porsche to impress. They know they are not really working, just trying to catch on the main stream and put it in words. Like MS bashing was and is good at the moment. I can remember a time when people were happy that there is a MS, but today they just see the bad side. The lower they are the more crap they install = the more often their system crashes. Which is not a problem on an apple, because there is no SW. I hope you guys do a comparision of freeware on MS Linux and MAC. The last two simply fail in that regard. Yes Linux freeware is apart from the so called Tower software like Gimp etc. is crap! To sum it all up: Apple forces you to buy overprized software and hardware. The hardware is naturally better then PC Standard, but if you are an idiot and spend as much money on a PC you get the same. Cheap Apple Stuff = you are out of luck. SW is no Problem on a MAC because there is nothing to chose from. Especially the OS is a joke, you pay more than double than what you pay for MS XP or MS Vista and what do you get ? Nice gimmicks.

I used both systems, and i like MS XP much more. Even Vista is much better than OS X today, considering the price.

Re: Microsoft is Dead

quantum flux — Wed, 26 Nov 2008 09:05:25 -0000

Nuf said is right.... do you realize you sound like a lunatic? Seriously. And a hopelessly naive one at that? You dont realize how big corporations, weighed down by red tape, can often not do what a small startup can? And how small sexy startups (like prodigy GOOG) get less agile DAILY? Go back to school then bud, if you dont know these things.

Anyone using terms like "evil" and "devil" in the context doing business is either a moron or deranged. And that applies to Google also (because the articles are starting now "is Google evil?")

Are tech guys REALLY this pathetic? I guess so. As for MSFT, I'd LOVE to be as "dead" as them. Everytime there is a lukewarm product release the vultures come out and declare them "dead". I've been watching this trend for as long as I've been in the industry - over 20 years now. Before some of the posters here were born.

Cosmos... all I can really say is some day, if you're lucky, you'll look back on arrogant and dellusional posts like this one (where you're ironically calling OTHERS arrogant) and say "MAN what the HECK was I thinking?!)

Re: Microsoft is Dead

Bassam — Tue, 25 Nov 2008 06:16:40 -0000

"MS is dead and Desktop software is also dead"

Are you living in planet earth? guess not , look at Gartner market share in all software directions , then you will know you are very wrong.

Office , SQL Server , IE , .NET , Windows , ... , ...

They are No. 1 by far except SQL Server which is No3 and the fastest growing DB in 2007, larger than IBM+Oracle combined

Maybe you "Wish" they are dead, that's another story.

Re: Microsoft is Dead

cosmos — Sun, 23 Nov 2008 18:10:51 -0000

I totally agree. As someone who worked - albeit briefly, and as a cynic - at Microsoft, their operation can be described as frenetic chaos. You stated, "Microsoft's biggest weakness is that they still don't realize how much they suck." This too is absolutely true. They are definitely a pretentious bunch. And I classify most "permanent" employees as either "devil worshippers" or those who have "sold their souls to the devil." It amuses me.

My standard illustration for my assertions of them being essentially "dead": How can a company with approximately 90K full time employees and 70K contingent staffers not be able to create a search engine anywhere close to Google? It's amazing and mind-boggling. It's hillarious.

The other thing is now Microsoft has finally caught on to the future as services via the "cloud." But what do you think their execution will be like? They can't even get Hotmail/Live running reliably - or IE. LOL.

'Nuf said.

Re: Microsoft is Dead

Dave — Sun, 23 Nov 2008 06:16:08 -0000

you just may be right about microsoft being "dead" figuratively
but i wouldn't bet on apple not shooting themselves in the foot again like they did in the past with their famous (holier than thou) attitude that almost got them bankrupted. They may have made better hardware but if you treat the vendors and customers like sh*t they will go out of their way to avoid you like the plague, even as far as buying an inferior product (windows loaded PCs).
But i guess even with the bad memory that PC/mac users have
Apple still managed to carve a niche for them selves and some windows users were not able to take the boosting that microsoft gave them and some did switch to either linux or maybe what apple offered. It's a windows world for now mostly and that does not suprise me "the year of the linux desktop" has not finally opened the eyes of the windoze zombies yet and maybe won't until they are all gone. I would say i agree for the most part with what you are saying, not a bad article, but the jury is still out on web based apps as far as i can see and software as a service
so the user can be ripped off and be at the mercy of whomever is offering the on-line app or service. the commercial model is sound enough but as for the financial implications for the end user i will have to wait and see on this one

Re: Microsoft is Dead

linux0 — Mon, 17 Nov 2008 07:39:41 -0000

do you take pills after you wake up?? get real man..
dont write just for the sake of it! hocus pocus.. lol.. lame content with lame reasons.

Re: Microsoft is Dead

John — Thu, 16 Oct 2008 10:03:32 -0000

While OS X looks nice, it's a question of cash. The new MacBook costs 12000 SEK over here (the cheapest of the new ones, not the Pro). I can get a laptop from HP, Acer etc with more disk and RAM for 6000 SEK, which is a heck of a difference. Also, once I've paid for XP, I get all updates for free until they shut it down in 2014, while the Mac folks have to pay for upgrades every other year or so.

If I had unlimited resources, I'd get a MacBook. But my resources are limited.

Re: Microsoft is Dead

gechurch — Sun, 12 Oct 2008 07:38:03 -0000

People have pointed out the huge market share Windows continues to enjoy, and the ludicrousness of your statement that you can't remember the last time you saw someone using Windows; instead of supporting your theory, it goes to show the distorted perspective you have on the issue.

Neither of those things is hugely relevant though. Your point isn't that Microsoft isn't big or dominant, but that they aren't dangerous. The main problem I have with your essay though is the premise that the desktop is dead. Web apps with functionality comparable to dekstop apps is still quite a new thing. That's why there are lots of new web-based apps coming out. Extrapolating this new trend and suggesting that eventually most or all applications will have good web-based counterparts is not realistic though. Even applications that do lend themselves quite well to the web paradigm like office productivity suites are largely unsuccessful. Google and Adobe both have, for example, online word processors. But people still use Office. Your example of the online photoshop "replacement" is almost the perfect example of why most categories of applications suck as web-apps; it's just too frickin slow. I tried it and it took more than 7 seconds to change the contrast on a photo no more than about 600 pixels wide. Now imagine doing something semi-serious with this program - I don't even want to know how long it takes for a normal size digital photo to be uploaded and then re-downloaded every time I make a change. No thanks.

Re: Microsoft is Dead

ig — Fri, 10 Oct 2008 22:46:44 -0000

Finally, someone who gets it!! Microsoft is rapidly becoming irrelevant. It doesn't matter if they continue to own the desktop -- the desktop is becoming irrelevant, and Microsoft will decline with it -- just like IBM lost control of the industry when the mainframe declined.

Re: Microsoft is Dead

Big Lebowsky — Sat, 04 Oct 2008 07:22:50 -0000

I´m not sure you actually mean what you´re saying. Perhaps many people nowadays use linux distros and apple laptops, but the fact is undeniable that more than 90% of the people in the world use Microsoft software, from Windows to Office to whatever others. On one part, linux distros are mostly incompatible between themselves, i.e. software deisgned for ubuntu might not work on smaller distros, and so on. Also, Mac OS has had a great advantage thanks to Virtual Machines, which allow MS Software to be run on them. I don´t know, maybe you´re just trying to fire up some controversy here.

Re: Microsoft is Dead

Matt Trousdale — Wed, 01 Oct 2008 09:21:44 -0000

Try analysing the hits you get on this web-site for agent. I'm guessing
at about -

IE 93%
FF 5%
Others 2%

Facts are facts.

Re: Microsoft is Dead

Thu, 18 Sep 2008 21:16:22 -0000

envy! please try to accept that Microsoft is powerful!

Re: Microsoft is Dead

Vn — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 08:26:29 -0000

"I'm now surprised when I come across a computer running Windows."

Are you kidding me? What parts of the world are you isolating yourself to? Almost every single corporate entity runs Windows computers (including Google and Yahoo themselves). If you are restricting yourself to only Y-Comb companies, and college kids; then maybe you are only seeing Macs.

To make a statement that you are surprised to see a Windows computer just proves how off base you are. Simply look at the sales figures across any geographic region of the world. Windows dominates the market. Are Mac sales increasing? Absolutely. Going from 5-10 is a great increase; but not when compared with a competitor that is already at 10 million.

Re: Microsoft is Dead

Wickywild46 — Wed, 10 Sep 2008 23:05:42 -0000

You have no idea what your talking about and you dont understand the process behind developing software

Re: Microsoft is Dead

Dave — Tue, 09 Sep 2008 11:53:59 -0000

Yea! The witch is dead!

Re: Microsoft is Dead

bill gates — Fri, 29 Aug 2008 19:51:18 -0000

your an idiot if you think OS x is better than windows, what would you expect from a fanatic mac fan.

Re: Microsoft is Dead

Marco — Sat, 23 Aug 2008 10:13:44 -0000

I think microsoft is a different type of company then apple, yahoo and google. The problem is that they think they are figthing against each other and sometimes even against the world. Life is not a race. You are not gains the world your are with them. Same for companys. What they need is to stop to trying to be like google and start building the real future. The future of technology is not only WEB 2.0. With all this money, microsoft shoud invest to bring Quantum Comput to reality, Parallel still being shit and non software for normal people can really use the power of one qadcore for examplo. There´s a world of possibilities that ONLY MICROSOFT WITH THEIR MONEY AND EXPERIENCE CAN EXPLORE but they insist on smell google´s ass. LET THE GOOGLE BE WHATEVER. Focus on people and people are claiming for new solutions that only microsoft can bring. Sory but the comon limited vision for what BUSINESS can be makes me seek ! Sory for the bad english too.

Re: Microsoft is Dead

Kirsty — Sun, 17 Aug 2008 12:27:34 -0000

It's totally true, however I would have said that they are dying, not that they are dead. And yes the last nail in Ballmers chest will come from Apple, believe it or not.

They have a terrible product plan, backed only terrible products, and are slowly losing all relevance within the computing world. Because they have a huge marketshare, don't be fooled, this is due to legacy products, and businesses, in reality over 20%, nearly 30% of all computers sold in the home market are Macs.

The single reason people dislike Macs is because of their price, and just like every other asshole in this country, buy products based on price and not how long they will last or how little headaches they will give you. And what people can't afford, they hate, just like the plague that they are.

OS X beats Windows into the ground in every way imaginable, yet even if a Mac was $5 more, they would no doubt buy a cheap, junk ass Dell.

All the OEM's, all the software developers despise Microsoft after 20 years of them forcing their crap upon everyone, and dead they will be. And good riddance.

Re: Microsoft is Dead

steve brallmar — Thu, 14 Aug 2008 00:44:48 -0000

Linux still is on beta, apple makes shit icrap which breaks every month and their operating system is a joke, god bless microsoft, clearly microsoft was created by god to lead the world to a better future.

Re: Microsoft is Dead

Antenore — Fri, 08 Aug 2008 04:25:17 -0000

First of all I'm not a M$ fan... Of course not!!! I'm using only Linux since 4 years in enterprise environment and sometimes I feel to be rounded by enemies. I just want to use what I want without bother nobodyelse.

But to speak honestly and openly, M$ is not dead and it's even not possible to predict its end.

That most of all of the M$ products are loosing their hegemony is an evident fact, Mac OSX, Linux (all the variants), Firefox, Thunderbird are just examples.

That OSS need to become better is an evident fact as well, several good OSS products don't have some needed features and because of this M$ products are still there...

While I'm writing M$ market capital is 250.08B$, do you have an idea of what you can do with these (virtual) money? Which is the power of this Mkt Cap?

In any case M$ in the last 2 years lost about 2.3%, on the contrary IBM gained 26%. If you consider the last Year M$ lost 23% and IBM gained 20%.

Well, I always work for really large companies and for desktop M$ is the leader (even if it sucks), but not for web technologies, not for billing solutions, not for CRM solutions, not for backend solutions, not for DBs. I see always more and more Linux and Mac OSx installations around me.

But M$ is not dead yet, and what I really hope is that it will not die, but that it will improve, because what we really need are good products, new technologies and only who has money can help this improvement..

Re: Microsoft is Dead

Varun — Mon, 28 Jul 2008 12:37:44 -0000

MS is still alive and they will fight hard before they are completely dead.They don't give up easily they will try hard to bounce back with their own strategies and money.

Re: Microsoft is Dead

IDIFL — Sun, 27 Jul 2008 06:55:01 -0000

this was a very good troll