[IP] more on Why Sun threw in the towel in Mankind vs. Microsoft

[Dave Farber <dave@farber.net>]

Delivered-To: dfarber+@ux13.sp.cs.cmu.edu
Date: Sun, 04 Apr 2004 22:44:16 -0800
From: "Robert J. Berger" <rberger@ibd.com>
Subject: Re: [IP] more on Why Sun threw in the towel in Mankind vs. Microsoft
To: Dave Farber <dave@farber.net>
Cc: Tom Fairlie <tfairlie@frontiernet.net>

On 4/4/04 6:12 AM, "Dave Farber" <dave@farber.net> wrote:

>
> -To: dfarber+@ux13.sp.cs.cmu.edu
> Date: Sun, 04 Apr 2004 09:07:47 -0500
> From: Tom Fairlie <tfairlie@frontiernet.net>
> Subject: Re: [IP] Why Sun threw in the towel in Mankind vs. Microsoft
> To: dave@farber.net
> Dave,
>
<snip>

> Does Microsoft produce some mediocre software? Sure.
> Has Microsoft suffered some sloppy releases? Certainly a few.
> However, Microsoft (along with Intel, their manufacturer)
> produces a fine computer that does a fine job doing what it's
> intended to do. I'm not going to run a bank or an embedded
> machine or a particle accelerator with it, but for 95% of the
> other things we can think of to use computers for it's great.
>

Oppps, looks like Diebold ATMs do run Windows and several top tier bands had
their ATM networks down for almost 24 hours when one of the MS Worms
infected their network. Also a recent Diebold ATM failed by loosing its
application GUI and opening up its Windows Login screen at a University
allowing students to experiment with hacking the ATM network.

Diebold also foolishly uses Windows for the touch screen voting machines and
MS Access for the database. These were shown to be a major part of the
vulnerabilities of untraceable vote manipulation.

Don't know if there are anyone foolish enough to run particle accelerators
on Windows, but there was that Navy Destroyer that run by Windows and had to
be towed back into dock do to failure of its Windows based systems
(http://www.gcn.com/archives/gcn/1998/july13/cov2.htm).

> Aside from the teenage Linux user forced to edit PowerPoint
> presentations while working for "the man" in a large corporation,
> I don't think that many people are being forced to use something
> they don't like. Ironically, when I worked at Bell Labs, I was
> the only Windows NT user in a veritable sea of Solaris boxes
> simply because I could do more things faster with my machine.
>
> I think Sun failed because of Sun. They themselves have been
> guilty of mediocrity for far too long. Like Apple, they proved
> themselves in the mid-1980s and then coasted into obscurity
> today. However, unlike Jobs, who managed to turn things around,
> McNealy isn't a visionary.

Its true that many ISVs had their own problem, but Microsoft has practiced
extreme predatory practices that got them to where they are. I suggest that
all who still believe the myth that Microsoft "out competed" their rivals
read "The Microsoft File" by Wendy Goldman Rohm
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B00005LPV3.

This book clearly lays out how Microsoft has used predatory practices since
its very beginnings. One of the real turning points in the history of
Microsoft domination is described in this book. MS  had publicly committed
and was under contract with IBM to develop OS/2 as the replacement for DOS
and Windows 2.x. In reality, they put limited resources into OS/2 and
massive resources into developing  Windows 3.x and the Office Suite. This
allowed them to get make the ISVs waste their time on OS/2 and allow
Microsoft to get ahead of the ISVs competing productivity applications by 9
to 18 months. And this is just one example.

Also check out "Barbarians Led by Bill Gates" by Jennifer Edstrom, Marlin
Eller (http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0805057544) a short quote from
the Amazon
"How has Microsoft been able to crush its competition every step of the way?
The company's own version of history ascribes it to something like "really
great technical innovation." Barbarians Led by Bill Gates presents a harsher
and messier history, sharply questioning Microsoft's ethics and corporate
wisdom while underscoring its fierce will to compete."

And then there is the news "Microsoft Nearing Completion of Death Star"
http://bbspot.com/News/2002/05/deathstar.html But that was just an April
Fools joke :-)

--
Robert J. Berger - Internet Bandwidth Development, LLC.
Voice: 408-882-4755 eFax: +1-408-490-2868
http://www.ibd.com

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