We don’t want to live in a world without Microsoft
I don’t want to live in a world in moving off of Microsoft sale, what about you? Last week, I wrote about the “post-PC world” that is the current vision of choice for many tech pundits. Some conversations I’ve overheard recently suggest that some people believe it goes further than that; they suggest that we’re on the verge of a Brave New World that not only won’t include PCs, but eventually won’t include span style=”color: #800080;”>Microsoft Office discount sale at all.
These are generally the same people who claim the company is failing (despite record profits), becoming irrelevant (despite the almost ubiquitous nature of its software), and is destined to fade into the annals of history sooner than later. I think that’s a ridiculous point of view, but if it did happen, it would be a sad thing for all of us – including those who only use Macs or Linux and those who don’t own or use computers at all. Although many might rejoice at the idea, I don’t think they would enjoy the reality quite as much as they think.
f Microsoft did disappear, what would the impact be on all those who would find themselves stuck with an unsupported, end-of-the-line OS? Certainly they could continue to run it for ten plus years, as many have done with XP (and, in fact, there are some computers still running Windows 98, 2000 and NT). But eventually systems break down, and have to be replaced. The cost of retraining users on a brand new system would be significant (despite all the complaints about changes when users upgrade to a new version of Windows, there are still enough basic similarities to make it easier than switching to Mac or Linux).
End users, however, are only part of the equation. Millions of IT pros who have spent their entire careers learning all the ends and outs of Windows server products would have to start over and learn UNIX, the only viable replacement. Or would the demise of Microsoft lead to the end of on-premise datacenters and thus the loss of hundreds of thousands of jobs? Would we all end up living in a UNIX-based cloud? I believe taking Microsoft out of the picture would change the face of IT dramatically – and not for the better.
A big problem without Windows sale is not about the OS at all; it’s about applications. The millions of programs written to work on Windows would have to be ported to another platform, or users would have to switch to new apps. For companies that run expensive proprietary special purpose software, the cost could be astronomical. So we cannot live without Microsoft sale now.
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