Imagining a day without Microsoft

[Jiggy]

I came across an interesting article at www.acron5.com , direct link:
 
http://arcon5.com/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=251
 
Usually people are keen to hate Microsoft but this individual has another view, apparently everyone would be in disarray if Microsoft were to disappear tomorrow
 
Wanted to know what eveyone here thinks about that
 
- Jiggy

[Refalm]

The article is filled with bullshit.

“Initially, panic in the streets,” says Tony Meadow, president of Bear River Associates, an ISV focusing on mobile applications. “[Microsoft] didn’t establish [its standards] in a nice sort of way, but they are the basis for a lot of things that we use and do with computers.”

Today you can send a Word document to anybody in the world and expect them to be able to open it. According to Meadow, it takes forever for people to agree to these kinds of standards.

Josh Greenbaum, principal at Enterprise Applications Consulting, says, “Downloads for [StarOffice] would bring the Internet to a screeching halt.”

Panic! Riots! The end of the world! You know have to open your .doc files in OpenOffice instead of Office, which displays it the same way. Never mind that, everything would come to a screeching halt if Microsoft Office disappeared. :rolleyes:

“Heterogeneity is a powerful positive,” says John Pescattore, vice president for Internet security at Gartner.

We would also find out how bad the Linux and Apple vendors are at providing patches, compared to what [customers] got used to from Microsoft,” Pescattore says, adding that Microsoft is much better than Apple and Linux at delivering security patches. “If you keep getting into car accidents, you know how to fix dents.”

Yes, providing patches once a month and letting security flaws just lay there for months, is a great way to provide consumers with updates (not).

Linux is way better at updates, because it most package managers actually updates the operating system and most applications installed, which Windows doesn't.

[Jiggy]

The author has exagerated greatly lol!

But a world without Microsoft!!!... Where would technology be today?

[Refalm]

The author has exagerated greatly lol!

But a world without Microsoft!!!... Where would technology be today?

Probably better. The world would better off without Microsoft.

I think Apple and/or DR-DOS would be the main desktop and everything on the server side would be UNIX.

[Aloone_Jonez]

I woudn't like DR-DOS, it's more insecure than Windows and there's no GUI and OS/2 isn't any better than Windows as far as security is concerned. Old desktop OSs are often insecure because it wasn't an issue back then as they weren't networked in anyway.

I agree in part, if MS were to disappear tomorrow there'd be problems at then things would get better - more so than they are now.

[H_TeXMeX_H]

Obviously the author is either full of shit, or has never tried any other OS besides M$ Window$, or both. Linux is really NOT that hard to figure out. Besides there are so many Linux distros that are exact copycats of Window$ that most people would not know the difference. Oh, and if the rioting does occur, a lot of stupid people will die ... and the world would still be a better place without them and without M$.

[worker201]

If you really think about it, Microsoft has devoted billions and billions of dollars into making sure that once someone tries Windows, they have to stick with Windows.  Imagine instead if they had devoted billions into making their system work really well.  Regardless of what you may have heard, nobody hates Microsoft because they make the best products.  IF Microsoft made something that was insanely greater than anything else, it would be successful without all their backstabbing and FUD and attorney wars.

I think that the overnight loss of Microsoft and the sudden disappearance of all their products would be a great boost for the world economy.  Suddenly, every member of this forum would be a highly trained computer professional, making shitloads of money helping their friends, neighbors, and any other willing clients set up computer systems.  Punk teenagers around the globe would be buying Porsches and lakeside condos with all the money they made writing simple bash scripts for accounting firms.  It would be a good life for awhile.

[WMD]

“Initially, panic in the streets,” says Tony Meadow, president of Bear River Associates, an ISV focusing on mobile applications.

...and instantly, the entire article ceases to be worth reading.

People wouldn't "panic in the streets" about anything technology.  I mean, heck, people in the USA don't panic in the streets for anything.

[sean]

"We would also find out how bad the Linux and Apple vendors are at providing patches, compared to what [customers] got used to from Microsoft,

[mobrien_12]

???WTF??? :fu:
This guy is either joking or he is a complete idiot.

I vote for idiot.  Dunno about Apple, but Open Source has always been better at releasing patches than MS.  That was just a stupid statement.

[noob]

They release more patches because the software is utter shite. If you don't crash your car, theres no dents to fix.

[Aloone_Jonez]

Perhapps ignorant might be a better word than idiot, he probably doesn't know any better, for a start he doesn't know that Star Office isn't free, he got it confused with OpenOffice.

[worker201]

[jtpenrod]

"Initially, panic in the streets", says Tony Meadow, president of Bear River Associates, an ISV focusing on mobile applications. "[Microsoft] didn't establish [its standards] in a nice sort of way, but they are the basis for a lot of things that we use and do with computers.

Seeing that I haven't used anything other than Linux and OS X for the last five years, I doubt that I'd even notice unless I read all about it at Slashdot or here.  

Still, wouldn't make any difference since some other cut-throat corporation would quickly fill the void, and we'd be right back where we started. We'd have to change the name of the website: [Whatever]suck.  

[H_TeXMeX_H]