Business | Technology
Bill Gates got out while the going is good
The 'software-in-a-box' industry that Gates influenced so heavily for over 30 years is slowly giving way to an online environment, and frankly, Microsoft isn't making the transition all that well.
- By Scott Shuey, Chief Business Reporter
- Published: 00:04 June 28, 2008
- Image Credit: EPA
- Bill Gates
The Bill Gates era ended on Friday. Is it just me, or does it look like Gates got out while the going was good? I realise that he made the decision to step down from Microsoft's daily operations two years ago, but his final days come at a time when Microsoft is under siege.
The 'software-in-a-box' industry that Gates influenced so heavily for over 30 years is slowly giving way to an online environment, and frankly, Microsoft isn't making the transition all that well.
I had a reminder of just how much the industry had changed when I was digging through some old paperwork recently and found an old copy of Microsoft Office 2003.
I was surprised the software hadn't been missed, especially since I just reinstalled XP. Five years ago, Office would have been the first piece of software I would have installed.
These days, it's forgotten.
Instead, Firefox was the first software to get installed. With the browser installed, I can do anything from watch videos to do research.
More importantly, I can do just about everything that I used to do with MS Office, including email, word processing and even spread sheets.
Just because I can do those things doesn't mean I do, yet. I still use MS Word at work, but as the world becomes more connected, I figure it's only a matter of time before I make the jump.
This means one critical thing. My web browser has now become the most-used and most-necessary piece of software on my computer. There's no doubt that Microsoft saw the writing on the wall. There was nothing left of Netscape but a red smear on the pavement after the Browser Wars 15 years ago, but then Microsoft got lazy.
For over a decade, there was little to challenge Internet Explorer, and the company never really developed the browser like they should have.
IE built a reputation for being buggy, slow and vulnerable to exploitation by malware. That allowed companies like Firefox to grab a foothold in the PC market. Microsoft's release of Vista, which seemed to make no one happy, has also given Apple an opportunity to promote their software.
That's a problem for Microsoft, but it also goes a long to explain some of their recent activities.
The company has invested hundreds of millions in Facebook, a popular social networking site. That deal is somewhat odd in itself, since it is one of those rare opportunities when Microsoft has invested in a system that runs popular software that isn't Window-based.
Then there was the attempted purchase of Yahoo. Following Microsoft's relative failure to build up a dominant web presence, the company attempted to buy its way in. It found out it couldn't.
So now Microsoft is looking at interesting times. Their market share for web browsers is being successfully attacked, they don't have a dominant position on the web, and the guy who led the company for 30 years has decided to go philanthropic.
Now, I'm not predicting the downfall of Microsoft, at least not yet, but Ballmer and crew have their work cut out for them.
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