Georges Raad wroteFor the past 25 years, microsoft didn't grow up as a 25 y.o company should grow... They occupy a great part in the world of computers nowadays, but still, I guess microsoft should be more powerful. WAY MORE powerful that it is now.
Look at Apple, especially this year with its outsdanding growth. They're planning to buy a large company now. Microsoft, with all that money, didn't do anything, and still don't have plans to grow furthermore...
Regarding their products now, i guess they could/should have done a better job regarding their operating systems. Vista was a major failure (Let's say after 22 years of OS (and Only OS) development). XP has more than a billion patch for security breaches... Same applies for 7.
I completely disagree. Here are some points:
- Buying a large company doesn't mean anything. Microsoft is a fortune 500 company, which basically mean they're one of the largest companies in the world. Their presence on the OS market is so strong, there is almost no single company that has a Windows machine at least.
- Operating systems are far to be the only field of expertise of Microsoft. Historically, the first product they sold was a BASIC interpreter. Now their products include: Office suites, Dev platforms, Databases, phone & mobile systems, business applications, web services, search engines, I could go on. They are your typical
software company.
- XP ruled the desktop/workstation market for almost a decade. Love it or hate it, it may very well be the most popular operating system of all time.
- When they met a failure with Vista they knew how to react properly by launching 7 rapidly and efficiently.
- About growth, they are strongly positioned on the cloud computing market with their Azure platforms. The only company showing any signs of competition is Google with their Chrome OS (once again not strongly targeted at businesses, Microsoft strongest territory).
- Their engineers are some of the best in the world. Their recruiting process is the most difficult in the industry. Any guy working for Microsoft would simply crush the best Lebgeeker in a second.
It's very easy to bash Microsoft. I personally dislike a lot of their business ethics, as well as the business model they stand for (selling ideas). But I recognize that they're one of the most exciting companies around, far more interesting than Apple (who is great in its own way). In other words, Microsoft is the enemy we love to hate.
Happy birthday Windows, we have yet to see the best of you. (and crush you like a bug).