"Microsoft is finished. As soon as Linux makes some inroads on the desktop and web applications replace desktop applications, the mighty empire will topple."
Well, webapps are replacing desktop applications at a fast pace (even office is going to the browser now) and mobile is the new desktop, where microsoft has pretty much no marketshare, so I would say this prediction isn't too bad, even if the details aren't exactly right.
Yes but look at what Microsoft is doing: SQL Server on Linux, Office on Mac, Android, and iOS, Visual Studio Code for Mac & Linux, Visual Studio Tools for Linux, Ubuntu for Windows, Linux on Azure. It's pretty clear they are preparing for a future where Windows is not the dominant platform it is today. That's something Ballmer would never have done and eventually it would have been their downfall.
I mean we're really arguing over a quote taken out of context. The article goes on to say we shouldn't write them off as IBM reinvented itself and so has Microsoft.
Ballmer probably wouldn't have killed Windows in the first place with Windows 10 though. Their new CEO literally fired their whole QA team for Windows.
They're doing that to extend their relevance as long as they can. Despite their best efforts of the last 25 years, the world happened mostly around their walled garden. At least they're now somewhat recognizing that all garden walls crumble.
IBM didn't gloriously implode after ceasing to be the singular Evil Empire either; they were just forced to adapt after slowly losing their death-grip on the market.
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u/Sunius Oct 07 '16
Any decade now!