In May of 1995, Bill Gates, in his ?Internet Tidal Wave? memo (pretty cool stuff ? click on the link and read it for yourself!), saw the potential and the dangers in the rapidly approaching age of the Internet. The once venerable behemoth, Microsoft, however, was slow in pivoting to conquer the unknown territories. It had already ceded the benefit in the browser war to Netscape in the early nineties ? which it could only win back because of its mighty war chest and some unsavory leveraging of its Windows monopoly. It had also let AOL become synonymous with Internet; Gates attempted to fight this one with MSN. These battles came with tremendous costs for the giant, as it prompted governments across the world to look into its business practices and forcing it to open the market to its competitors. So, although the physical computing world (desktops and laptops) was still tied strongly to Microsoft through its Windows OS and the Office suite of programs, the web basically became an open playing field for entrants.
At the dawn of the new century, Microsoft dominated the entry point to the web with almost 90% market share of its Internet Explorer browser ? but then it again decided to sleep on its laurels. Almost before it knew, first Firefox in 2005 and then Chrome in 2008 crept in and started stealing its market shares. Like the proverbial ostrich, Microsoft refused to acknowledge that it was in any trouble and kept on foisting the same old technology on its customers. Now the Internet Explorer stands as a shadow of its once mighty presence, reduced to a measly 19%, a fifth of what it had been before.
And then came the smartphones and with it mobile computing and an accelerated pace of device convergence. As far back as 2000, Microsoft already had Windows Mobile but even then, fighting a rearguard action as always, it was positioning itself as a Palm Pilot alternative instead of as a new product. In 2003 Windows Mobile moved into the phone business but its clunky interface never won it any following. Even the introduction of iPhone in January 2007 was not seen as a big threat, with Steve Ballmer dismissing it as ?the world?s most expensive phone.? At the end of that year Microsoft owned about 42% of the US smartphone market while iPhone had already grabbed about 11%. The real slide began with the introduction of Android OS the next year. Today Microsoft is at a miniscule 5% in the USA, with Androids and iPhones at a whopping 82% combined. Globally, MS has fared even worse, with its shares dwindling to only 1.7%.
A Reactive vs. A Revolutionary Company
A history of Microsoft reveals it to be a reactive technology company rather than a revolutionary technology company. Throughout its life it has seen technology come up and gain acceptance among the consumers before it wakes up and attempts to do something about it. The first DOS was perhaps its only large use revolutionary product. Although other operating systems existed before it, DOS, along with the IBM PC, helped bring computing to the masses for the first time. Most of Microsoft?s later victories came as a result of shrewd marketing moves rather than genuinely superior first mover technology. The Office Suite won against Lotus123 and WordPerfect when it was sold as a convenient one-stop package; Windows copied Apple?s visual desktop metaphor and then ran roughshod over it by making bundling deals with PC vendors; the Internet Explorer crushed Netscape when it came bundled with Windows. These deals made Microsoft a household name but, unfortunately, they also tied it to physical ? and mostly static ? devices.
Over the course of the last decade the computing world has been slowly shifting from the desktop metaphor, where you owned the hardware and the software that actually did your computational works for you, to the cloud metaphor, where all your computations is done by software and servers residing hundreds ? maybe thousands -of miles from you and you only need an access terminal at your hand. In this world you are not tied to a piece of software just because you bought it and have no choice but to go through an endless update cycle for it. You are not tied down to your hardware just because all your data resides in it and it is very cumbersome to port data from computer to computer. With cloud you can access and work with your data, as long as your accessing device ? whether it is iOS, Android or Windows based, a phone, a tablet or an old-fashioned Desktop or Laptop ? is properly configured. If you don?t like your device you can get a new one tomorrow and within a few minutes you can retrieve and keep working with your files and pictures.
Ever since Google declared a silent war on Microsoft, this day has been coming. The opening up of the web and the resulting rise of more nimble competitors has weakened Microsoft?s hold on the technology world. The freeing up from the desktop tether has allowed computation to go mobile. And mobile is where Microsoft is losing its hold quick and hard, so much so that there is not even a native browser or worthwhile spreadsheet or word processor tools for the new world. With apple?s iCloud and Google?s Chrome OS and its brand new Google Drive even more damage is being inflicted to the old giant. Google is quietly helping hasten the demise of the computer world as we have known it. The next step will be integrating its drive with its OS. Most of the old world functionalities of programs are now duplicated by lightweight apps. Microsoft has been trying hard to join the next wave of computation but? is it too late now?
?
Other Posts You May Enjoy
Log Bunk Beds Syracuse insurance I blog about internet marketing Wall Mount Electric Fireplace
কোন মন্তব্য নেই:
একটি মন্তব্য পোস্ট করুন