This is going to sting a bit. If you’re a member of the press or provide hardware or software, then WAKE UP! You’re stuck in a 10-year-old mindset, sound like idiots, and better pull your heads out because you are scrambling from behind.
There have been so many technology articles written by the press in the last few months about how surprised they are about Microsoft innovation and how Microsoft is known for old or copied technology. Stop it. That’s revisionist history and plain wrong. Here’s another thing. If you’re going to have a job in the future, do some research and stop passing around the “group think” duplicate content from the Associated Press.
By mid October of 2012, Microsoft Partners worldwide (640,000) were running Windows 8 for nearly a month. I called our Dell rep at that time to order new workstations with Windows 8 and was told release timeframe of Windows 8 workstations was unknown – even though the whole globe knew the official release date of Windows 8 was October 26, 2012. If it wasn’t for the incentive of Christmas sales, I probably couldn’t have ordered workstations for my staff in December.
“Don’t you remember Vista?” That’s what I’ve heard from consultants, small software developers, and even major publishers like Sage. People, “Longhorn” which became Vista was around in 2003. It was a radical change that most people couldn’t digest and the press treated with the same biased disdain as George Bush. That’s a lifetime ago in this industry and you might as well be saying “Do you remember the Apple Lisa?”. It’s not like there is a published Microsoft software life-cycle and you have 5 years to prepare for a new OS version.
Hypocrite is an understatement for those who gush about the annual purchase of the little changed iPhone or have paid no attention to the Justice Department ruling that Google is not a search monopoly. Versus the handful of Apple products over the years, Microsoft has released hundreds in all aspects of our lives. Part of the legal ruling in favor of Google was the fact of how quickly technology changes using Microsoft as the example, punctuated by how badly our economy was damaged.
We must understand the gaming industry offers a historical microcosm example for the technology industry as a whole. Juggernauts like Atari may fade into oblivion, like NetWare and Blackberry (Apple better be careful). Strong contenders such as Nintendo may wane and then comeback strong ala Wii or like IBM now doing services. Dominant leaders comparable to Sony were blindsided by Xbox, much like iPhone with Droid.
While pundits have been caught unaware over the last decade, Microsoft has completed an integrated platform from entertainment to productivity, poised to dominate many segments. Office 365 lords over Google Apps nearly 3 to 1 in subscribers, Bing is starting to keep Google honest in search, and Amazon has to be concerned about Azure. Often forgotten is the fact that Microsoft once dominated the smartphone industry prior to the existence of iPhone and is coming back to battle for prominence with Windows Phone. While security risks continue to mount for Java and Flash, Internet Explorer 10 ushers forth an era of pure HTML5 escaping any proprietary languages (including Microsoft Silverlight) and unnecessary fees for apps.