Haven't you heard of the game called, 'No one lives forever' ? Luckily, Microsoft didn't develop that game.
First of all, what is forver to you? 20 years? 50 years? or 200 years? For a company to survive forever first of all it must keep in mind and ensure that there is always a ready market to accept its products/services and the need or demand to call it precisely is there.
Now coming down to Microsoft, we must realize that Microsoft is one of the few companies in the world that have truly revolutionized the world with their innovations and that their innovation have had an appeal to the mass market worldwide.
But is it innovation that is the only thing that fuels and sustains the lifespan of a company? What would provide the sustainability to the company's products or services. Is it adding a better product line or newer innovations?
Whenever we talk of Microsoft these days we tend to focus more on the court cases it has been dragged in rather than their products like Operating Systems/Databases etc. This is not because of how the media is presenting Microsoft to us, it is also because we are more aware of what the company is doing. Seven years back no one even bothered to check out whether Microsoft was being sued by any country or trade block because no one had the vision and courage to challange its monopoly. But today with the advance of major operating systems like Linux or Maciontosh the world has the power to challenge the company's policies and positions.
And this is where the answer to your questions resides.
Since the very beginning Microsoft was always focused on innovation. Newer versions of Operating Systems popped up every couple of years ensuring that eighty percent of the computer users have their products in their machines. Before other operating systems appeared on a mass scale many pointed out that Microsoft's newer Windows versions were nothing but sixty percent marketing stunts. So by creating a monopoly with such products Microsoft has virtually cheated the world market. And this is why I personally feel Microsoft has started digging its own grave.
The company may come up with better eye candies like Vista (which might actually be useful) or newer versions of SQL Server (though it had lost its database war to Oracle long time back) but I think what microsoft should focus on is the consumer's perceptual mapping. One factor that would be an advantage for Microsoft is that the world is not yet flooded with tonnes of operating systems which would give Microsoft a brand confusion and a possible price war. Therefore what the company needs to do right now is to reposition their brand(s). Because unless the company can make a solid place in its consumer's perceptual space in a new way it would be very difficult for it to survive after a take down of its brand image by other brands and legal issuses.
Moreover I feel Microsoft's 'New and improved Windows' gimmick won't woo the consumers anymore. They want something better, useful and less costly. And it is high time that the company realises that it can no longer sustain its growth and maintain its market share just by selling operaing systems. Microsoft should very well come down to what companies like IBM and SAP are doing, providing world class business/enterprise solutions. Otherwise it would be difficult for Microsoft to survive long enough.
2006-09-02 05:46:59
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answer #1
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answered by roymorgan276 2
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Forever is a long time.
I admit Microsoft appears to be very entrenched but at one time everyone thought Sears Roebuck was entrenched and quite frankly so did I now they are no more. They got left in the dust so to speak. The same could be said of IBM although they are still to be reckoned with, they are not the force that they once were. There was a time also when Compaq computer, Digital Computer, and Lotus Software were considered also to be entrenched.
Microsoft's main advantage is marketing muscle. You really can not say much about the quality of their software. In fact it is rather poor software when you compare it to the software that IBM provides for the AS400 computers.
What would it take to slay the giant Microsoft? If someone could develop an efficient operating system for the PC that ran windows applications, they would have a real good chance. Say an operating system that did not require 2 gb of disk space and 500 mb of storage to run and a 3 gigahertz processor to keep every thing from crawling at a snail's pace.
Frankly I would be ashamed to have written such a mess.
2006-09-02 04:10:48
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answer #2
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answered by Anonymous
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The answer has to be no.
Who would have thought 30 years ago that Ford and GM would be on their knees? Or 90 years ago that Standard Oil would no longer exist?
The "IT World" grows in scope and scale every day, it fragments and technologies of yesterday become commodity today. Microsoft's core is software applications whoose "shoe size fits all" - fundamentally that won't even last another 10 years.
In addition a world in 30 years time will be driven by the likes of Brazil, India, Russia and China (the "BRIC"). There will be an explosion of talent and ideas from these countries thats never been unleased before ; the 19th Century was British, the 20th Century American...the 21st???
If Microsoft does survives - it will be a division of a Chinese company that doesn't even exist yet...
2006-09-02 05:26:45
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answer #3
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answered by Ouseman 2
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Have you not heard the saying, "you cannot hit a moving target", if Microsoft continues to innovate and bring to the market, products that World Society wants and can use, then Microsoft will keep on being a survivor long after most of us in here have gone! Forever even!
2006-09-02 07:35:20
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answer #4
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answered by Latin Techie 7
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IBM has bought and sold many divisions throughout its years, but now survives as a services company rather than a hardware company.
Microsoft made its billions from stealing and has to realize that stealing no longer equals survivability. Once the market realizes that Microsoft is a fraud, Microsoft will die a slow and painful death. Gates knows this and that is why he's slowly separating himself from Microsoft.
2006-09-02 03:45:48
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answer #5
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answered by Anonymous
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Israel would desire to possibly proceed to exist. lots of the U. S. help is for protecting motives, and actual is customarily pumped lower back into the U. S. financial equipment by identifying to purchase American. So, reducing it out may be felt domestically interior the protection industry. Regardless, Israel has survived earlier this became into ever made an option to them, and are knowledgeable to accomplish that if it is composed of that. The Israelis take no longer something with no attention, and function a history surviving on much less. relating to the Germans, that's help in basic terms given to Holocaust survivors. So, it is not possibly going into Israel like that. Israel has plenty going for it. It does not count on different countries to maintain it is financial equipment afloat, and the protection tension funds does not count on international help.
2016-12-11 19:35:45
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answer #6
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answered by forgach 4
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No, someday an asteroid will destroy the planet. If not an asteroid the sun will go supernova.
2006-09-02 03:41:44
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answer #7
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answered by Anonymous
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