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Time:
10:18 EST/15:18 GMT | News Source:
Boston Globe |
Posted By: Byron Hinson |
Everybody knows that Microsoft Corp. rarely innovates. You know the knock. While companies like Apple Computer Inc. roll out bold and original hardware and software products, Microsoft relies on tweaks to its world-dominant Windows software. Of course, there's something to be said for this approach. Rather than launch some radical product, why not add a heap of features to a product that already has a loyal user base tens of millions deep?
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#2 By
2459 (24.233.39.98)
at
10/28/2002 2:51:59 PM
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lol
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#3 By
61 (65.32.170.1)
at
10/28/2002 3:44:30 PM
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JWM, how exactly is Netscape innovative? Using your logic, they JUST built their browser on top of Mosaic. Same goes for Palm, the Apple Newtons were out long before the Palm, and did a MUCH better job at everything, in fact, not until the PocketPC did anything even come close to touching the Newtons. Palm really did NOTHING new, and held the industry back for years. In reality, Palm has been a burden to the handheld computing market.
There are NEW things about IE, things like DHTML, or how about using the IE rendering engine in things other than just web browsers, such as to render parts of the OS, such as help files, explorer windows, etc...
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#4 By
1845 (12.254.162.111)
at
10/28/2002 5:07:55 PM
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JWM, your beeyp comment is way out of line. If you look at Microsoft and see no new ideas, or no improvement on the existing, then you are willfully blind. If Microsoft simply copies what others do and never add anything new for themselves, then I'd like to know why I can't seem to find the application set with the features I like and the customization I like from any vendor but Microsoft. Whatever your opinion of Microsoft products might be, you show your true colors when you won't defend the truth. The truth is that Microsoft has had many new ideas, and has improved on many existing ideas.
As for the beeyp issue. There is a difference between making a post to piss people off when you have no evidence of your claim (as beeyp does nearly every post) and posting your conclusions on a matter based on evidence. In this thread, you seem to be the one who refuses to see the plain truth. It seems to me that you are the childish one.
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#5 By
1845 (12.254.162.111)
at
10/28/2002 5:20:32 PM
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JWM, my last comment dealt with the thread prior to your comment in #14.
So, you now admit that they are an innovator. Then you staet what the rest of the industry calls innovation. If creating something in a new light is innovation, then it is innovation.
.NET is creating something in a new light. It is a remake of COM. It is a remake of C++. Certainly there are portions that look similar to Java. Then again, VMs and VM based architectures predate Java, so it's arguable whether Java should get the point on that one. You conceded the .NET point, so let's not go further on that.
OLE, COM, ActiveX (all really close to the same thing or versions of each other), MTS and COM+ are innovative technologies. OLE DB (based on COM) is a very innovative data access technology.
Monopolies. Your view of business is very slanted. If Microsoft makes an improvement, it does it because of the money it has from its monopoly. You don't seem to see that nearly every existing business, which expands into new markets, buys companies or partners with others in that market to get its foot in the door. Profitable companies do that.
XBOX. If the hard drive in a game console isn't useful, then why did Microsoft add it? Just to increase their costs? If it is useful to them, you can bet the others will soon follow suit. Oh, and the quick separater thing on the controller cords is a great innovation from Microsoft. It has saved my XBOX from falling or being jerked around as someone tripped over the controller cord more than once.
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#6 By
1845 (12.254.162.111)
at
10/28/2002 7:08:02 PM
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JWM, you come across as someone waffling on his position. Toward the beginning of the thread you seem to say that Microsoft does no innovating at all. Then you begin to say that they do. I really don't see what the big deal is. Whether the money comes from a monopoly or not, Microsoft has still done a heck of a lot of innovating. Why don't you just state your position and be done with it.
Here's a thought. Microsoft is the company that brought computers to the masses. There is no other company that can claim that. Apple tried and failed. IBM tried and was relegated to be only a hardware vendor by Microsoft.
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#7 By
1845 (12.254.162.111)
at
10/28/2002 8:15:07 PM
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Gotcha. I don't see what that has to do with Microsoft innovating. It seems to me that you are more annoyed with the market choosing Windows over System (later Mac OS), then you are about Microsoft itself.
So far as I understand the anti-trust case, the operating system monopoly was obtained legally. The issue at hand is whether they use the monopoly illegally.
As an aside, if you only give the interface of your favorite OS a 6 out of 10 (failing in every school I've been to), then you must be a hard man to please.
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#8 By
1845 (12.254.162.111)
at
10/28/2002 9:58:51 PM
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I think you are being short-sighted and stubborn by talking about Microsoft's innovations. I think you have a rather indefensible position. A simple look at the number of patents Microsoft has is a statement of its innovation. If you want to disagree, that's fine, just keep your head in the sand.
Why don't you write your own UI library if you don't like the look and feel of the current UI. That way all of your apps can use your library and not be "plain, corporate-looking, [and] boring".
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#9 By
1845 (12.254.162.111)
at
10/29/2002 1:00:53 AM
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They probably got that client base by providing something the competition didn't. That thing (or things) would be considered innovation (even if only innovative pricing).
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#10 By
2459 (24.233.39.98)
at
10/29/2002 1:28:24 AM
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I think MS creating an OS not based on UNIX was one of the most innovative things they have done. In a market with many UNIX variants, it's great that MS didn't just go with the flow. This gamble has paid off in so many ways, especially from a performance and functionality standpoint.
Even their work on OS/2 stands out because it wasn't just another UNIX OS. Many people praise OS/2 without realizing it is largely an MS OS. The file system is one innovation that came from MS, and that innovation has continued with NTFS, and now Yukon.
If you want a UNIX shell, you can have one on Windows with Services for Unix.
http://www.microsoft.com/windows/sfu/
One other point: A lot of the work MS does in innovating and inventing does not even show up in MS' products (or in industries MS is in). If you look only at MS' products for signs of their inventiveness and innovation, you will see much evidence if you know what you are looking for, but even this is a fraction of the things they have accomplished, and many innovations in MS products may be obscured by other innovations in that same product because they work closely together. The Tablet PC is an example of this.
Again, if you really want to realize a greater picture of the innovations and inventions of MS, look at MS Research.
This post was edited by n4cer on Tuesday, October 29, 2002 at 01:30.
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#11 By
2459 (24.233.39.98)
at
10/29/2002 8:29:34 AM
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beeyp, why bring Linux into this discussion? :-)
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#12 By
1845 (12.254.162.111)
at
10/29/2002 8:32:41 AM
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Tee hee.
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#13 By
3 (62.253.128.4)
at
10/29/2002 10:45:59 AM
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Beeyp - cut out the swearing, you can put your points of view across without it.
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