[ Thanks to George
Mitchell for this link. ]
“Now Gates seems to speak of .NET, with its
multi-environment, network-delivered programming model, as a
platform itself, distinct from Windows. And with a reported 80% of
Microsoft R&D resources now going to .NET, it sounds like
Windows loses.”
“Little wonder, then, that Microsoft’s new strategy seems so
closely to resemble Sun Microsystems’ strategy of the last
decade. Sun, whose slogan is “The Network is the Computer,”
originally embarked on its Java strategy largely out of
desperation. They knew the only way to loosen Microsoft’s
stranglehold on the software market would be to downplay the
significance of the Windows OS.”
“Ironically, Microsoft now finds itself stuck in the same boat:
faced with the possibility of having to compete with — and defeat
— its own OS. What better tactic, then, than to adopt the very
strategy dreamed up by one of its most competent competitors? In
other words, “If you can’t beat ’em — and you can’t eat ’em —
might as well join ’em.” So, has anything changed since Judge
Jackson’s finding in favor of the Department of Justice? Yes and
no. The strategy is different. But it’s certainly the same old
Microsoft.”