Commentary - Channel Insider
Empowering the next generation Channel
 

Bull’s Eye Awards
Nominations Open for Channel Insider 2009 Bull’s Eye Awards
Nominations are now open for the Channel Insider 2009 Bull’s Eye Awards, which recognize excellence in customer service, technology prowess, business acumen, channel leadership, communications and community building, and innovation among vendors, solution providers, distributors and channel services companies.



Sponsored Links
  • Control VM Sprawl, What You Don’t Know Can Hurt You
  • FREE Sophos Encryption Tool: Encrypt, compress and share files easily
  • LSI 6Gb/s Portfolio Expands to Include SATA+SAS HBAs
  • Reduce the cost of managing your mobile workers.
  • Find out 7 Ways to Drive Data Center Efficiency
  • SonicWALL breaks through network and email gridlock
  • Save up to 40% on calling costs with Avaya Aura™



  •  

    Gartner Analysts Predict Doom and Gloom for Microsoft Windows

    in Commentary


    Article Rating:starstarstarstarstar / 52
    Article Views: 19970

    Rate This Article:
    Add This Article To:
    Is the end in sight for Microsoft Windows? Will Linux finally get some market share? Gartner thinks it is possible.

    In a presentation at a Gartner-sponsored conference in Las Vegas, analysts Michael Silver and Neil MacDonald said Microsoft is overburdened by nearly two decades of legacy code and not responded to the market and faces serious competition that will make Windows moot unless the software developer acts.

    My question is “what serious competition?” Linux, MAC and other OSes have been around, viable and available for some time, yet none have really chipped away at Microsoft’s dominance on the desktop. What’s more, by all accounts, the Windows Server Market is expanding, not contracting!

    Resource Library:

    It seems that Microsoft’s only real competition is itself, users choosing to stick with XP, instead of Vista, network administrators sticking with Windows Server 2003 (or even 2000), and not even entertaining thoughts of switching to Windows Server 2008. The list goes on for many of Microsoft’s products, ranging from MS Office to Small Business Server, people just seem to stick with what works for them, and that may be the real problem here. Let me put it this way, Microsoft’s biggest enemy is common sense! Common sense basically dictates if something works, leave it alone.

    Even so, alternatives to Microsoft’s products are still not being considered as viable by most of the mainstream market. Does anyone know why? After all, we can’t chalk it up to quality, especially if you listen to how much people complain about Microsoft’s products and it can’t be a cost issue, Linux for the most part is free and it can’t be because of a lack of applications, there are open source alternatives that with a little bit of work could probably meet anyone’s needs.

    Yet we hear very little news of any enterprises, small businesses, non profits (and pretty much any business segment) ditching Microsoft’s products and jumping on the band wagon of alternatives! So it seems that applying Silver and MacDonalds arguments to the market will really have no effect, even though their arguments make a lot of sense (even common sense). It’s going to take a lot more than predictions of gloom and doom to derail the Microsoft juggernaut, but I’ll be dammed if I know what it is! Do you? If so, let me know!





    Discuss Gartner Analysts Predicting Doom and Gloom for Microsoft Windows
     
    It seems Gartner analysts will resort to saying anything to get people to pay...
    Perhaps - they do make some good points - but the question is "does it realy...
    I'm really glad someone else caught Gartner's propensity for hyperbole. And you...
    I agree Microsoft has a serious problem. Microsoft defended and continues to defend...
    Jeff, - what do you think has prevented a shift from Microsoft over to Linux...
    Mac is out of the running because nobody in the corporate world is going to trash...
    Craig Wilson wrote:"The cost of training people to use it and the increased costs of...
    Gartner deals with facts. They count things and ask people what they spend. That is...
    I completely argee with Clint. Why oh why do CIO's pay for this dribble. It must...
    If you are just focusing on western nations then Microsoft may be fine. If you look...
    So far what is keeping me from adopting Linux is the difficulty installing it on...
    There are really two separate problems in today's PC world. The first is M$'s...
    Microsoft won the OS and Business Automation markets hands down. The Feds, Vendors...
    Web 2.0, virtualization, nCore Processors, Saas... it's the Cloud is coming to both...
    Wow ... this is a little surreal. I have to defend those weezils at Gartner to the...
    Microsoft is a bunch of corporate wonks holding onto market share ... there's no...
    The article does not defend Microsoft, nor does it condem Garnter - the goal was to...
    Why Microsoft? Well, it used to be said that “you can’t go wrong choosing IBM”....
    I installed Ubuntu on a two year old machine. It found the hardware and installed...
    It used to be an enjoyable read when Gartner would do another analysis (this goes...
    I agree with you, on the first install it finds and installs within minutes. ...
    I have been in IT all my life and NOT ONCE has a decision been made based upon their...
    Gartner group? OMG are they still around? I just remember that their "predictions"...
    The essential matter at hand here in measuring what OS if any, will replace Windows...
    Watch Google.... that is where you will find the tipping point for Microsoft. They...
    Just look at the future, Windows Seven is already at Milestone 1. Does that look...
    First of all, almost all of that original DOS era code was mostly taken out with the...
    Some ramblings. Much of it gets down to marketing why M$ is still the 10000 pound...
    Everyone's missing the pount by not focusing on what the primary driver for a...
    Yep, I go back to at least MicroVax II's and VMS 5x. DEC hardware was extremely well...
    MS could sell WinXP after 6/30, but on a yearly subscription basis. I'd pay...
    A major IT cost driver is the number of suppliers one has to deal with, no one gets...
    >>> Post your comment now!
     

     
     
    >>> More Commentary Articles          >>> More By Frank Ohlhorst
     


     


    [ci] feeds
    XML
    Add Channel News, Product Reviews, Trends and Analysis to your RSS newsreader or My Yahoo!


    HTML PLAIN TEXT

    Keep on top of news for VARs and Resellers with CI's Weekly Newsletter and Alerts.

     


    CHANNEL RESOURCE CENTER
     
     
    Enterprise Mobility Zone
    The Enterprise Mobility Zone (EMZ) blog is a tool designed to help senior IT executives discuss, create and deploy next-generation mobile strategies in their organizations.
    Go beyond yesterday's tactical approach to mobility!
     
    Build A More Efficient Data Center
    Demands are growing but budgets are not. Solve your pressing IT issues using the resources you already have. Determine which technologies can help you drive efficiencies and how they are applied. Gain a quick ROI on new initiatives
    Find out how
    Let Enterprise TechBrief do the work for you. Aggregated content, tech news, product reviews, vendor updates, how-to’s—all you need to boost your efficiencies and cut costs, all from one place.
    enterprisetechbrief.com