[H-GEN] Microsoft Meeting
Frank Brand
fbrand at uq.net.au
Sun Jul 25 21:36:14 EDT 1999
(Note reply-to: being general at humbug.org.au vs Frank Brand <fbrand at uq.net.au>)
This is a snip from the Australian Financial Review report on the Microsoft
forecast of diminishing returns for Microsoft next year. Find the full text on
http://www.afr.com.au
What dangers are these business leaders scared of? Linux, for one.
Microsoft's top executives insisted that this operating system,
developed by volunteers and sold by only small commercial outfits,
now ranked as a serious threat to Windows.
Mr Ballmer said Linux and the Java language developed by Sun
Microsystems had the potential to hobble Windows by luring
software developers and their commercial applications to an
alternative platform. Last month, for instance, the JavaOne
conference for developers drew 17,000 delegates.
"I've never felt more competition for the hearts and minds of
developers," Mr Ballmer said.
Later, Mr Gates, the company's co-founder, pointed to the
open-source approach to Linux development and hinted that
Microsoft may learn from its enemies.
"Microsoft is very good about thinking about its competitors very
broadly," Mr Gates said. "Linux proves you can have this distributed
development.
--
Frank Brand
E-mail: fbrand at uq.net.au
Home Page: http://www.uq.net.au/~zzfbrand
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