February 04th, 2010 at 01:40
Posted by Marc
Filed under: Business | Tags: Bill Gates, Microsoft, Windows 7
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Bill Gates and Microsoft - 35 years of success
It’s been a long time since I’ve written an article concerning Microsoft, something I really aught to do more often. Partially because Apple hits the headlines more often than Microsoft, who don’t produce their own computers but simply their operating system. Which practically means Apple release new products all the time, but Microsoft only refresh their OS every 3-4 years.
Speaking of operating system refreshes, it’s hard not to notice the success of Windows 7. It’s replacing XP rapidly. It’s helping businesses to move away from old technology and move towards the future of new, updated technology – and help the entire computer industry move forward. Another prime example is the replacement of Internet Explorer 6 – something which hinders web development and Microsoft themselves even hate. Internet Explorer 8 is not a bad browser – it’s the best edition by Microsoft, and it attempts to co-operate with the modern standards, albeit not as capably as Webkit based browsers Safari and Chrome.
Microsoft have been in the Operating System business since way back. The friendly competition between Steve Jobs and Bill Gates, which later may have seemed hostile, was a benefit to both businesses and helped Microsoft work to create a solid Operating system – something they accomplished in 1995 with the release of Windows ‘95, possibly the most recognized at the time. But they’re still working on the game – and hell, face it, Windows Vista was not their greatest success. They released Windows 7 in a move to correct everything and to patch up the bad PR from Windows Vista – and probably with a few handshakes and a little slipping of money under the table could have created some positive PR before the launch of Windows 7.
Even when you think about it, the company has generated 4 billionaires – one of them being Bill Gates himself, worth over $50,000,000,000. That’s 50 billion, and that’s a lot of money. If you’re comparing the success of Microsoft to Apple, be reminded that Steve Jobs is worth $5 billion, about 1/10 of Gates’ fortune. (I’m not saying Apple isn’t a success story, though).
The main thing that makes sense when you sit down to think about it is that Microsoft was growing. It almost seemed to stop, but it’s growing again. It’s back on track and it’s rolling faster than you can think. Windows 7 hasn’t just ensured the updated survival of the computer industry as a whole in an effort to push people from older operating systems, it’s changed many things in the computer industry, like the pushing of Internet Explorer 8, now the worlds most used browser. It’s not all it’s changing. Microsoft are producing new products that may be of some vague support to the computer industry, although admittedly they haven’t performed it with the best execution (a tablet running full Windows 7 and nothing else is not going to be as good as a tablet with a customized operating system). Take the HP slate for example. Yeah, it’s not the Microsoft Courier of our dreams, but it’s a product that is set to be an ‘iPad killer’ (oh the days of iPhone killers, iPod killers, etc.), and yet it’s still something worthwhile.
And even as big daddy Ballmer takes over the kingdom from Gates, it’s a reputable company and hopefully, just hopefully, their new hot-headed CEO manages to pull things together and to keep the company growing, because at the moment, Windows 7 and Internet Explorer 8 are the best things that ever happened to them.
Kat
February 4th, 2010
Good blog post. I'm just thinking personally whether Microsoft's success can really be comparable to Apple's – they do deal with different sectors of the industry, mostly.