Forums: Discussions for entrepreneurs and small business.

Yep, still want it to croak.

And you`re kidding yourself if you think the mainframes run on Microsoft products. They`re running on UNIX like they should be.

"if everyone used IE" ... GAG. Then we`d all be riddled with spyware, virii, you name it! Everyone should STOP using IE which can`t even implement CSS right, and then being a developer would be like cake.


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That PHP Girl
Small Business Essentials
Latest Post on SUN: New Facebook Pages - First Impressions

LOL!! :-D Okay...an excellent debate on the pros and cons of Microsoft.

The key here, I think, is whether or not Microsoft in its current form, promotes or inhibits competition! Yes .NET is a fine development tool, and it`s likely true that SQL Server is a good database. I don`t know on that, as I`m not into high-level databases. Fine: So we`ve got some new products.

But what about the announcement that Open Source software violates over 250 alleged patents held by Microsoft, where MS doesn`t say what specific patents they`re talking about? What about the fairly well known practice by the company of buying out small competition?

Then you have such ideas as FireFox, even if it`s only tabbed browsing. How come Microsoft didn`t invent that? Because no single company is omniscient.

Competition not only drives prices downward, it also enhances innovation. Look at all the products that come out of competitions involving highschool kids, college students, and so on. There just was a story about a home inventor who won a competition put on by NASA for a new astronaut glove.

This isn`t about Microsoft and software or hardware. It`s about the much larger movement toward gigantic corporate enterprises tending to use government regulation to constrain small startups, small competitors, small businesses, and other forms of original invention.

Right now the Open Source vs. Microsoft/Intel is a good *example* of what`s happening. So too is the Internet Radio problem. But the airline industry is very much in the same situation, as is the automobile industry.

And in every one of those cases ... I`m going to cheer for the little guy. 

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That PHP Girl
Small Business Essentials
Latest Post on SUN: New Facebook Pages - First Impressions

The IBM mainframes run on IBM proprietary software (OS/400 and others).  And they are widely being replaced by Microsoft web-based solutions.

I`ll take IE 7 over FireFox 2, with it`s non-functional autocomplete, iframe swapping, and bass-ackwards event model any day!

 

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Oleg Issers | StartupNation.com Web Team

50% of computer programming is trial and error. The other 50% is copy and paste.

Ok, I don`t know crap about technology, so I won`t get too far into it except to say with Microsoft, I like the consistency. If I want to send an Excel file, I want the recipient to be able to open it and see what I wrote. I have no idea if other companies can make their software compatible with each other without violating patents, but if I could get any old spreadsheet program, and anyone in the world could open and view it, I`d be ok with it. May the best program win. However, I don`t think this is the case (correct me if I`m wrong) and I would gladly sacrifice a program with more capabilities if I could get one that is used consistently everywhere.

As far as the giants vs. the little guys, I feel that it is not a competition. Each is successful (or should be) in their own market. If I need just any old thing to get the job done, I`ll go to a big box store. If I need a special item that isn`t common, and fits my precise specifications, I`ll go to a smaller company or check online, or find an artisan who can create what I need.

The good thing about chains, big box stores and Microsoft is consistency. I can go anywhere in the US and find the same stuff. I don`t feel like this is a bad thing. I go on buisness trips every now and then for my day job, and if I need toothpaste, I don`t want to go all over the place looking for it. I want to go into a store that is familiar, even if I have never been in that town before.

Now... when I go shopping for souvenirs, that is different. I want something I can`t find at home. When I went to Wisconsin, I went to a small store that I had never heard of, and found a plethora of different kinds of cheese. I loaded up as much as I could fit in my suitcase and brought home some rarities that you just can`t find anywhere else. My ziplock baggies, however, came from Target, because it was close to my hotel, and it had what I needed at the time.

What`s funny is that if you send an Excel file to anyone else, they all can open the file with almost no problems at all. But if you send any other kind of file at all to Microsoft, it often fails completely. I guess Microsoft "feels" they don`t have to be part of the rest of the world.

The only thing Microsoft can do to Open Source is their campaign of FUD. They may say that Linux uses 200+ windows patents but when asked to describe them there is never a reply. I look forword to them trying to sue a RedHat or HP on use of their so called patents in Linux. It may show Windows is riddled with other company`s patented functions. More than likely Apple would be the one to benefit with a patent case. Not that Apple is always the good guy`s. Just follow the iPhone and lock-out of 3rd party apps.

When people talk about Microsoft they say they innovate. I disagree, they see what is out there and copy it. The graphical front end operating systems is not a Microsoft innovation as some people may think, nor is it Apples. I have never seen anything that has been a Microsoft innovation. Innovations are fundamentally risky so its a turn off for large companies; they come from the small fast moving company or small group of people that see differently and create it. I look forward to Microsoft falling by the way side, it will allow openings and branches as yet unknown.

Otakurider makes the point, I think. Large corporations are too cumbersome and require too many meetings to be very innovative except in the most rare examples. In those examples, it`s the massive number of resources such a company can control that "makes things happen."

I`m thinking of Google, at least prior to their going public, and the amazing number of innovative things that they`ve produced. But in general, it seems to me that it`s the little guys who devote their entire effort to making 1 think really well.

So not only is there a difference in competitive agility, but also in the introduction of new products and services into the world. Where it`s a problem is if the new product requires a huge amount of effort or money for its development.

Yes, you are right. Firefox doesn`t support software that is outdated and/or a security risk. We can definitely thank IE for that though!

(iframes? Who the hell uses iframes?  )


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That PHP Girl
Small Business Essentials
Latest Post on SUN: New Facebook Pages - First Impressions

I would never look to Microsoft for innovation. As someone who knows former Microsoft employees ... Microsoft basically punishes for outside-the-box thinking.

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That PHP Girl
Small Business Essentials
Latest Post on SUN: New Facebook Pages - First Impressions