[dba-Tech] Microsoft and its future

Microsoft for many years played it safe.

Safe, in that it did not get invested heavily in commodity market (selling hardware). It has done well with the XBox but so far its latest ventures can not be said to have been that successful.

In the late seventies and early eighties, I worked exclusively with the two largest computer companies in the world. IBM and DEC (VAX). DEC made the first 64bit PC computer and our office bought one for only 15K...a UNIX box. For a short time, while in my own business, I even sold Compac computers (I even sold AST). In the mid-nineties DEC crashed, was sold off to Compac which followed suit shortly after. Even today I still find that amazing...amazing that a company, originally so large and successful (with an excellent virtual OS) should just crash, burn and then disappear.

In the following link, the article draws close comparisons between Microsoft and DEC and the author feels a note of caution should be seriously observed. IMHO, Microsoft should be taking some serious courses and learning lessons from recent history.

http://www.computerworld.com/s/article/9242253/Decline_of_Digital_Equipment_offers_lessons_for_Microsoft

Aside: Do not get me wrong; I do not dislike Microsoft, in fact they have been very very good to me, but I truly believe that Steve Balmer was the worse thing that could have happen to MS and the damage he has done to the company may have not run its full course, yet. I still believe Microsoft will survive all this but it is going to be a bumpy ride.

Jim