What does the future for Microsoft look like... 5 years, 10 years from now?
Are their darkest days behind them or still ahead?
Are their darkest days behind them or still ahead?
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The future of Microsoft?
- Thread starter VirtualRain
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Everyone is clamoring for Windows 7 right now. Beta/RC servers go down and so to the pre-order ones.
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I think they are going to continue to loose in the consumer market but they will be fine in the business world.
I think they are going to continue to loose in the consumer market but they will be fine in the business world.
With apple's continued growth, I would say they are looking at a slow but steady decline in sales as long as apple continues on the path they are on.
Who would this "everyone" be? It is certainly not me. A report was published a couple of days ago that said that businesses were holding out on upgrades to Windows 7. They are sticking with XP for the near term. Take away me. Taking away Windows-using businesses. Who's left?
Yes, but eventually they will have to upgrade whether they like it or not. And at the very least, the large majority will upgrade to whatever the newest Windows release is. Microsoft isn't going anywhere.
This thread could go on forever but agreed with retail and biz market. So many large company still runs windows OS environment and depends largely on it. To ask them to switch, they would need a HUGE justification. Plus so many proprietary programs is on Windows. Perhaps over time it will...
Times are changing.
http://www.tomshardware.com/news/windows-7-business-enterprise-upgrade,8251.html
http://hardmac.com/news/2009/07/15/microsoft-servers-go-bottom-up
I'd enjoy XP while you can.
Re: Microsoft
Personally, I think microsoft will be just fine. I know they have had some terrible business practices and products in the past. However Apple and Microsoft are on of the few tech companies with REAL products. I mean the whole community has jumped on this google, yahoo, and facebook like bandwagon. Microsoft and Apple are the only companies with a useable OS, in terms of enterprise, it only leaves Microsoft. As for office and business appliocations, you only have microsoft.
Personally, I think microsoft will be just fine. I know they have had some terrible business practices and products in the past. However Apple and Microsoft are on of the few tech companies with REAL products. I mean the whole community has jumped on this google, yahoo, and facebook like bandwagon. Microsoft and Apple are the only companies with a useable OS, in terms of enterprise, it only leaves Microsoft. As for office and business appliocations, you only have microsoft.
I think at some point MS is going to need to scale back a bit and refocus on its core businesses - which will probably be Windows, Office, and the various Server bits and pieces.
It really does need to flourish in online services, because if it doesn't then Google will continue to become a more prominent force in modern computing than Microsoft.
As for Apple, well, hopefully it'll keep growing in its own way yet stay somewhat on the sidelines, and keep innovating in software and hardware quicker than Microsoft and Google can
It really does need to flourish in online services, because if it doesn't then Google will continue to become a more prominent force in modern computing than Microsoft.
As for Apple, well, hopefully it'll keep growing in its own way yet stay somewhat on the sidelines, and keep innovating in software and hardware quicker than Microsoft and Google can
Microsoft will continue to be the 800 pound gorilla when it comes to consumer computer operating systems and office suite software in the near term;
Open source software will make slight advances but without "killer apps" is going to be the home of the frugal tinkerer;
Apple's product line and price points will keep its place as a luxury brand in the consumer computing marketplace;
In other words, without a major shift in applications or deployment of personal computers, pretty much the status quo.
That's a bad thing for MS, which as a company needs to grow to increase profitability. Apple saw this by branching out of the computer business and taking its tech and design abilities to media and telecommunications.
MS has tried to get its market position to get a piece of home entertainment via XBox and Media Center.
Open source software will make slight advances but without "killer apps" is going to be the home of the frugal tinkerer;
Apple's product line and price points will keep its place as a luxury brand in the consumer computing marketplace;
In other words, without a major shift in applications or deployment of personal computers, pretty much the status quo.
That's a bad thing for MS, which as a company needs to grow to increase profitability. Apple saw this by branching out of the computer business and taking its tech and design abilities to media and telecommunications.
MS has tried to get its market position to get a piece of home entertainment via XBox and Media Center.
since when business world become quick in adopting any new version of any OS?
don't grab a report without presenting the context.
Take away business PCs, there are 1 billion-business pc left, and let me tell ya, its far bigger than apple's market share, by a lot.
Microsoft have little competition. They have heavy competition with Apple in the $1000+ market, they have competition with Linux in the enthusiast and server market. Other than that, Microsoft are free to run wild and have done for 20 years. Now Chrome is coming, who really knows. Apple is not going to, doesn't want to and thankfully never will at least under current management style, compete with them in the mainstream. Neither are small open source Linux projects, but I'd keep a heavy eye on Google.
clevin, my Windows-loving friend, do you realize that you are proving my point? Businesses have lagged behind one or two versions of Windows for more than a decade. Added to this history is the current state of the economy. When these two circumstances are considered together, the notion that businesses will suddenly become less conservative and adopt Windows 7 soon after its release is a pipe dream.
You love Windows so much that you don't understand that your individual licenses for Windows mean very little to Microsoft's bottomline. Microsoft's health depends on business licenses. For the past decade, business licenses have been a drag on its bottomline. Windows 7 will only make matters worse.
my living in mac RDF friend, you need to learn more about microsoft and realize how their business model is and what they are selling.
MS doesn't need to sell windows 7 like a rocket to business world, business want to use winxp for a while? fine, as long as they stay with win, MS can count on them. As long as market holds, MS is fine with it. Business world, no matter they adopt win 7 or not, sooner or later, they won't just switch to mac, thus the windows market share will not change, at all.
Hate to break it to you, but that is not how business works. I shouldn't say that I hate to break it you because I love it. At any rate, Microsoft has spent millions, if not billions, to develop Windows 7. Its inability to sell the product will mean that it cannot pay the cost of development with the sales of the product. Other products must subsidize Windows 7 development. However, you cannot spend the same dollar twice. Neither can Microsoft. Every dollar that Microsoft spends to subsidize Windows 7 is a dollar that Microsoft can't spend to improve the product that earned that dollar.
It's a good thing Microsoft is a fairly large umbrella company, although parts aren't as good at keeping out the rain as before. If MS didn't have their XBox division, I wouldn't be as optimistic about their future.
The last few sections from an AppleInsider article I read last night is what I think MS should be definitely worried about in the near future.
The last few sections from an AppleInsider article I read last night is what I think MS should be definitely worried about in the near future.
Your entire arguement is based on the idea that big business won't upgrade to 7, which they will.
Short term, M$ isn't going anywhere - they have a solid base of users in both office software and business software.
Long term they will probably lose marginal market share to Macintosh and possibly Chrome, and their gaming, search and music divisions have yet to turn any kind of profit and they've been on the market for years. These are like sea-anchors that weigh the company down when they should concentrate on doing a few things well - build a stable desktop OS, keep on top of business and office apps, and leave search and music to the ones who make it their primary business. Outside of their basic divisions, M$ is very much an unimaginative me-too company.
Long term however they aren't going anywhere either although they will falter some in certain markets. As Cassie pointed out there will always be people who upgrade (Windows market), to whatever version of Windows is current when the time to upgrade comes. Over time, however, this will dwindle - but even if they (highly doubtfully) dwindle to less than 3% of the market they could still make a comeback (a lá Apple). Mobile-wise, they stand to lose a lot - more and more stylish phones are incorporating Android, Palm Pre is getting much good press, and iPhone OS is strong.
- They will remain a major player in the desktop, office and business markets.
- They will lose market share steadily (however slowly) in mobile, music and search markets, but fortunately these are not the bacon-bringers for the company anyway.
The sooner they realize they need to focus on their core markets the sooner they can begin producing higher quality products.
...and as much as Ballmer is great for being such a go-getter at Redmond, they really need to put a leash on the guy.
Long term they will probably lose marginal market share to Macintosh and possibly Chrome, and their gaming, search and music divisions have yet to turn any kind of profit and they've been on the market for years. These are like sea-anchors that weigh the company down when they should concentrate on doing a few things well - build a stable desktop OS, keep on top of business and office apps, and leave search and music to the ones who make it their primary business. Outside of their basic divisions, M$ is very much an unimaginative me-too company.
Long term however they aren't going anywhere either although they will falter some in certain markets. As Cassie pointed out there will always be people who upgrade (Windows market), to whatever version of Windows is current when the time to upgrade comes. Over time, however, this will dwindle - but even if they (highly doubtfully) dwindle to less than 3% of the market they could still make a comeback (a lá Apple). Mobile-wise, they stand to lose a lot - more and more stylish phones are incorporating Android, Palm Pre is getting much good press, and iPhone OS is strong.
- They will remain a major player in the desktop, office and business markets.
- They will lose market share steadily (however slowly) in mobile, music and search markets, but fortunately these are not the bacon-bringers for the company anyway.
The sooner they realize they need to focus on their core markets the sooner they can begin producing higher quality products.
...and as much as Ballmer is great for being such a go-getter at Redmond, they really need to put a leash on the guy.
I'd argue against that, at least not initially. Businesses are noted for being very stodgy about upgrades, and for the all the hubbub that was worked up about Vista it still got horrible press and relatively few upgrades - the State of Texas, for example. By the time many businesses decide to upgrade, Win 7 will be in Service Pack 2 or 3 and M$ will be announcing a new version. Upgrading will be slower still given the amount that will be upgrading from XP and all the hardware upgrades that entails (additional expense). Businesses are famously closed environments. A corporate setup can run years-old software with the only question being customer support, which in M$ case given they're so big in legacy support, will end up hurting their sales of Win 7. Win 7 is a major upgrade - it's a bigger jump than it was to XP.
Probably pretty much the same as they are now.
Microsoft have been feeling the pitch, Flight Simulator, Autoroute, Encarter, Money -all axed.
They will be slimmer - now, but will be competing against Google more - i.e., free Office online applications.
microsoft will still be dominant.. there is no one, business wise to compete against them... Office is their cash cow and for the foreseeable future, there is no worthy competition.
If they don't sort out their mobile ( smartphone ) platform, they will be effectively forced out of the market.. but its a growing market, microsoft won't give up so easily.
They have the $$$ for the long haul.
Microsoft have been feeling the pitch, Flight Simulator, Autoroute, Encarter, Money -all axed.
They will be slimmer - now, but will be competing against Google more - i.e., free Office online applications.
microsoft will still be dominant.. there is no one, business wise to compete against them... Office is their cash cow and for the foreseeable future, there is no worthy competition.
If they don't sort out their mobile ( smartphone ) platform, they will be effectively forced out of the market.. but its a growing market, microsoft won't give up so easily.
They have the $$$ for the long haul.
Window 7 pre-orders have been breaking all kinds of sales records. Pre-order allocation sold out in Japan in a couple of days. Pre-order allocations sold out across major European markets in less than a day.
For example, in the UK, Windows 7 sold more pre-orders yesterday in nine hours on Amazon than they sold for the entire seventeen weeks for the Windows Vista launch.
People are definitely looking to move on from XP/Vista. And unfortunately that choice is going to be Windows 7 and not Mac OS X in the vast majority of cases moving forward.