After Bill Gates, five possible futures for Microsoft
Bill Gates' impending retirement comes at a major crossroads for the company. InfoWorld sketches out five paths the software giant may take
For most people, Bill Gates and Microsoft are one and the same. Gates has led Microsoft to global dominance in the 33 years since its founding, combining a strong opportunism -- getting the code for DOS to sell to IBM for the first PC and aping Apple's visual interface for the first Windows are the two best examples of Gates' moving where the wind was soon to blow -- with a steady vision of desktop computers being as powerful as the mainframes that captured techies' imaginations in the 1970s.
June 30 is Gates' last day as a Microsoft employee, though no doubt he'll continue to advise the company. Taking Gates' place is his longtime buddy and aggressive salesman, Steve Ballmer. In its 33 years, Microsoft has extended its quest to turn every PC into a mainframe and to make Windows the center of the information and technology worlds. It's come close, but there are strong signs that the Microsoft era, at least in the Gates mold, may be ending. And it's far from clear that there is a leader to take Gates' place at this critical time. Which Microsoft future do you see as likely? Source: http://www.infoworld.com/article/08/06/24/26FE-microsoft-gates-future_1.html ----- I thought these were very interesting... Still, since it's about Microsoft in general and not specifically the Xbox, I thought I'd better post it here.
* The "Borvell" scenario
* The "slow decline" scenario
* The "streaming" scenario
* The "Oort services" scenario
* The "Gates was right" scenario
Not trying to be a fanboy. Of course, it's hard when you own the best console eve... dang it
