Archive of UserLand's first discussion group, started October 5, 1998.
MS OS Office
Author: David Valentine Posted: 4/29/2000; 4:02:11 PM Topic: scriptingNews outline for 4/29/2000 Msg #: 16765 (In response to 16763) Prev/Next: 16764 / 16766
Gee, it's not about now, it's about the past, and possibly how MS would really act if it was not in a monopoly trial.Ever wonder if what's happening today is an effect of MS being under a microscope?
I think the DOJ hit the nail on the head, at least from an interview of Joel Klien.
* MS apps are designed to drive people to the OS.
* MS apps should be free to develop for any platform
* MS apps were used as a negotiating tool to get IE as the default browser on the Mac.I'd like add:
* If MS apps goal was to make great apps, instead of great X86 windows apps things would be different.
* MS apps should be allowed to develop for many platforms: Playstation, Mac, Unix.
* IE was not developed for competing platforms, linux and BeOS. It was developed an OS with MS apps (Mac), a collaborators OS (HP-UX), and the next largest OS (SunOS). And the unix ports were done not by MS, but by a contractor
* Without an MS application, products survive in niches. Mac is a moderatly large OS. It had MS apps early in it's life. Amiga, and OS/2 had no OS specific MS app development. Look where they are. Linux and BEos, at present, are still niche players. But the niches are getting a bit larger. The PC market is how many times larger than it was at the start of the 90's.
MS apps would not be tightly linked to the OS that thier performance sucks when not run on windows. Such performance was a direct effect of the MS attempt to get 80% cross platform code development. That promise with Office 4.X (word 6, Excel5) also came with mac follows windows by 90 days. This promise was the start of the MS development delays exceeding a year.
MS promises of multi CPU architechture OS is also a big failure. MS wouldn't even make thier Office apps for thier own Multi-Architechure OS (was it because it would show how poor the cash cow win 3.1/95/98 actually ran?). Even MS showed that it was the APPS that are important. Without apps you can't sell the OS.
Lets also not forget one really big thing. IE started out with multiplatform code licensed from Spyglass who was the exclusive licensor of Mosaic Code. MS has forgotten how to compete in the cross platform arena. But it is the MOST important desktop applications company
The only company with a proven stable cross platform compilation environment is Apple. And they may be making the lack of cross platform developement mistake. or maybe not, since most of us don't really know what's going on. Of course, not fully knowing whats going on, may actually be preferable to a couple years of FUD.
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