I blame the two Steve’s for Microsoft’s poor decisions and poor performance over the last couple of years.
Steve J – Ultimately I blame him (tongue in cheek) . Genius, a masterstroke in personal/recreational computing with IOS (iPad, iPhone etc) – So much so users are bringing them into the workplace – “BYOD”. Forever changed the world and made it a better place when it comes to personal devices. I had huge respect for this man.
Steve B and the rest of the `Senior Leadership Team’ – Abysmal business sense – instead of focusing on the strengths of their business applications which reached a peak with Widows 7 and Small Business Server 2011 – decided that “if you can’t beat them join them” approach and gave us Windows 8. They have done a little back flip with 8.1 but is it enough? and now they are focusing on “devices and services”. Granted the Business and consumer models are becoming integrated or blurred togrther – but totally losing focus of the business model is fraught with danger.
When it comes to the business side of IT, Personally I think Redmond has left reality and have ascended into the CLOUD and has lost touch (lack of oxygen maybe?) with the real business world. SaaS (Software as a service) has its place – but when a software provider big as Microsoft is herding most of its users towards the cloud it starts to ring alarm bells. Yes it limits piracy but it also gives the software provider much more control as the user has lost ownership. With a purchased (owned outright) software – if you stopped M&S (Maintenance and support) you still had access to the program (for example – I have not kept up with M&S with my accounting package for 5 years & don’t need to, so I am in front if and when it becomes necessary to purchase the new version). With SaaS – you need to continually pay for the use – cheaper upfront and easier to swap to a different provider maybe, but at what cost (migration of data, loss of productivity due to downtime, no control over services/feature changes etc).
Call me old fashioned – but I like to own my car instead of renting, same goes with programs – ESPECIALLY when myself and most of my clients do not have fast reliable internet. For example Office 365/MYOB online – how well can you run your business if these cloud services go down.
It looks like Microsoft is going to learn the hard way – Xbox One – With the vial backlash reactions of dedicated xbox 360 fans. Apparently it needs constant access to the internet, you wont (or very limited) be able to trade/lend games etc etc. It will be like telling a farmer that he has to make sure that he takes his ute/tractor on the main road at least once a day or it will stop working and you wont be able to trade it in! At the launch – it sounded more like a list of limitations than a list of features.
Where is this all leading to? A couple years down the track, will the only Microsoft software you can purchase be Internet Explorer version 20 – just enough to boot up your computer, smile at the camera, check your credit card balance and get on the internet? Unless common sense is an oxymoron – I don’t think so.
SaaS and cloud services do and will have a big/huge part to play in the business world but when a company that has a very large market share wants to limit your choices – you’re going to have a bad day!
Rest assured Waldon Computing has a finger on the pulse – and can provide the right solution for your business whether it be in the cloud or on premise!
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