In this column about one year ago, I wrote that not only was Apple in for better days, but that Microsoft was headed for deep doodoo. I said that all the signs were pointing to a huge reversal in fortune. One of the signs was the gradual u-turn that the media herd was making.
The other day I was cooling my heels in the local Nissan waiting room, where I was taking our new Quest for its fourth (but not last) sick call. I grabbed a cup of coffee and scanned the array of dog-eared magazines.
Sandwiched among the stacks of People and the piles of 4-Wheeling rested the November 23 issue of Business Week. Normally, that would have appealed to me just about as much as the latest issue of "The National Enquirer." However, this issue had a big ol' picture of one Mr. Steven P. Jobs pasted on the cover.
Though this cover story dealt with Jobs in his capacity as fearless leader of Pixar, in the pursuit of a good well-rounded life experience, I flipped to the story. Within laid this reference to Jobs, "Silicon Valley's numero uno visionary…" He may well be.
Microsoft and Bill Gates should be so lucky.
 
We Got Cross-Mojonation Going
 Dan Briody, in the November 30 issue of InfoWorld, notes
"… the emerging message is clear: Reports of Windows NT's
imminent dominance have been greatly exaggerated." He says
that "Intel sees Unix making a resurgence," and "users are
turning back to higher-end Unix servers for real enterprise solutions." He quotes an IT manager at a Fortune 500 company as saying:
We embraced NT early on and thought it would be able to do it all. But we were disappointed. It's not an enterprise solution, and that's why I think there is a movement back to big boxes. We are skeptical of Windows 2000.
My own industry buddies say the same thing.
Why does the movie "Deathrace 2000" flash into my mind each and every time I hear the phrase "Windows 2000?"
Fancy paint job removed, NT/2000 is revealed for the steaming pile of cow plop it really is. Briody says "Analysts say they think Unix is the reality and NT was, in part, the hype."
Mac OS X Server, a Unix-based system, will be released at the same time these thoroughly fed up IT managers will be casting about for a real solution to their server needs. And, hey, it looks good, too!
The September 7 issue of InfoWorld offers, "Intel begins push for the end of legacy PCs." In that column, Mr. Shawn Farshchi, VP of Infrastructure Technology and Services at DHL Airways, says "My biggest problem is related to Microsoft and setting up Windows NT configurations. NT goes down once a week." Which is, sadly, a huge improvement over Windows 95.
Hopefully, Silicon Valley's leading visionary has people knocking on DHL's door yelling "Send me in, coach!" Meanwhile, Microsoft just released a year 2000 (Y2K) bug fix for Windows 98. In case you didn't catch that, let me say it again, slower. Microsoft released a Y2K patch for an operating system released in 1998. There, maybe even PC users have caught on to what I said.
If the industry journals have been rough on Microsoft/Gates, Wired magazine annihilated them like a pack of pumped-up Republicans setting upon a weakened socialist president. The December 98 Wired is a priceless collectible. The cover features a huge (and therefore very frightening) picture of Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates. The lead article is titled "83 Reasons Why Bill Gates's Reign is Over." Only 83? Okay, I guess this is the Reader's Digest version.
Run out right now and buy this magazine if you can still find a copy. If you can't, beg or borrow a copy and make copies. Distribute them widely. Make all of your brainwashed Windoze buddies read it!
 
I Also Like to Live Dangerously
In that vein, I'll risk the torrent of email I may receive by sharing a few examples with you.
"Where do you want to go today? Microsoft asks. Some of the toughest voices in the high tech world answer, 'To war.'" Hey, me too! Don't leave me out. War on Microsoft — how cool! Any wise comments I have appear in blue.
Reason 9
"NT? No Thanks. Windows NT, the company's attempt to seize the lucrative network server market, is a bug-infested mess that, in its upcoming 5.0 version, could run to 35 million lines of code. Does it scale?…" I add — hell no! Look at MSNBC, which had to abort use of the NT servers and go back to Unix. Duhhh.
Reason 21
"Free's Still Cheaper. Bill says that Windows is a bargain — "less than 5 cents a day." (He's not counting the cost of psychotherapy for frustrated users.)…"
Reason 59
"MS TarPit. Now 20 years old, the PC desktop is a technological Jurassic Park. And Microsoft is trapped in it, fenced in by 182 million active Windows 95 users demanding backward compatibility."
Reason 68
"Billions Not Yet Served. Most Earthlings have yet to buy a PC and probably never will. But they will buy plenty of smart electronic computing stuff. Who will supply it? Why would anyone bet on a company that has taken 14 years to reproduced the usability levels of the 1984 Macintosh?" You got me.
Reason 64
"But Who Needs Fins? Now you have your fully loaded OS — browser, Java, channels, groupware, messaging, you name it. You've also got an unwieldy, unmanageable product that might collapse of its own weight. 'The PC has continued to accrete complexity faster than people can absorb it,' admits Craig Mundie, senior VP of Microsoft's consumer platforms division. 'The problem is there's no IT manager for the home.'"
Last, but certainly not least, is this excerpt:
Reason 53
"Jobs Won. Don't laugh. A survey sponsored by Mac-only retailer ComputerWare found that 12 percent of new iMac purchasers were Windows defectors; 16 percent were first-time computer buyers. In a world of networked devices, style, superior interface, and ease of use are enough to make Apple a heavyweight again."
 
I'll Get You, Austin Powers, If It's the Last Thing I Do
Fifteen months ago, I wrote a couple of pieces for a publication I was working for (which will remain nameless) which said: Apple's back, killing the clones off was good for Apple, Apple's stock is going to go straight up, and NT would collapse once people came to their senses and experienced (then) Rhapsody. The powers-that-were at that publication wouldn't print any of them.
Man, I'm glad I got this job. They let me say all this neat stuff.
Apple's back. Microsoft's in deep trouble. I'm diggin' it.
