DaveNet 1998 Review: Microsoft
Microsoft could deliver nirvana. 1/19/98.
WordPad is a nice piece of software. I can hear the people at Microsoft ducking, waiting for me to say, but... But it's fine. It does the job. I'm writing. It's receiving. All is cool. It sure is a heck of a lot nicer than SimpleText. And of course, since it's 1998, not 1984, it should be. 2/27/98.
There's a technical revolution hidden inside Windows, a far-reaching architecture, called COM. Unlike other buzzwords, COM has substance, a long history, but has suffered from Microsoft's mishandling of the marketing job, and the industry's cynicism about Microsoft. 2/27/98.
TCP is the runtime environment of the Internet. It's deeply competitive with Microsoft, and it's larger than Microsoft. The stronger TCP is, the more outside of Microsoft's control it is, the more powerful everyone else will be. 2/27/98.
They continue to exceed all reasonable expectations of support from a platform vendor. 3/14/98.
On Scripting News today, one of the architects of DCOM, Bob Atkinson, talks in the present tense about Microsoft's plans to transport DCOM over HTTP. If you follow Microsoft I strongly suggest reading this piece. 4/20/98.
There once was a lady from Niger who smiled as she rode on a tiger. They returned from the ride with the lady inside and the smile on the face of the tiger. 5/6/98.
I don't know why I believe in the creativity of Bill Gates. Some people say it's foolish to. But I think I've seen it and I think he's missing something important. He won. You can't win any more than he's already won. The game is over. Now the question is what does the playing field look like in the aftermath. Does he want to loop back around, and run a smaller part of Microsoft? Will he accept some rules about what Microsoft can and can't do to link their disparate businesses? Will he jump in front of the train, far enough, and self-impose some rules? If he were as driven by creativity as he is driven to dominate, he could see this as a challenge of a lifetime. Or he could continue down the road he's been going down, and retreat, step by step, flailing in the wind of public opinion. 5/7/98.
One of the things I used to admire about Microsoft is a philosophy called BOGU, which stood for Bend Over and Grease Up. It was a reminder that they would take it up the butt for the bigger prize. 5/13/98.
I continue to have great hopes for Microsoft and for Bill Gates. With his resources, his intelligence, his drive, he could be a great leader. But he is not now leading us anywhere anyone with a mind would want to go. 5/13/98.
Netscape was extending their product into Microsoft's space, and it seems that Microsoft could defend their product without breaking the law. 5/22/98.
While we're busy rewriting history, I think many people forget the mood in 1995 and 1996, it was euphoric, the old ways were on the way out, the web and its energy were going to rewrite the rules of the old software business. Out with the old, in with the new, Microsoft is encircled! Right on. 5/26/98.
Look at Microsoft. I blast them and they keep the conversation going. Last week I said "I have great plans for Microsoft," in a phone conversation with a Microsoft exec and he says he likes that. Even I was surprised. 6/1/98.
So, by agreeing, at least at a philosophic level, that XML-RPC is an important way to go, Microsoft is putting out a big Welcome Mat -- come rule our world, they say. You can control Windows without adopting COM. You can replace an NT machine with any other machine that supports the same interfaces. 7/14/98.
It's true that software company death happens all the time in Silicon Valley, and often Microsoft is somewhere near the corpse at the time of its demise, but it's totally unscientific to conclude that Microsoft is responsible. 10/27/98.
For the first time, this memo reveals the process at work, it's visible and it's pure Microsoft. If the memo isn't real, it was written by someone with a very deep understanding of how Microsoft works and thinks. 11/3/98.
The seeds of the downfall of the gorilla strategy is that we all grow older, and new people come along, and they have no vested interest in the rules of our world, and they break the rules, to their advantage. 11/18/98.
