"Adam Albright" <AA@ABC.net> wrote in message
news:vqh544525eginmae9foba0ksll5pts1kul@4ax.com...
> On Sun, 1 Jun 2008 11:50:16 -0400, "Mike Hall - MVP"
> <mikehall@remove_mvps.com> wrote:
>
>>"Alias" <iamalias@NOSPAMPLEASEgmail.com> wrote in message
>
>>> No, Mike, you don't understand the whole picture. Ubuntu and other
>>> versions of Linux are taking off. If you can joggle your poor memory a
>>> bit, when XP came out, you didn't see *any* posts about Linux in the XP
>>> General newsgroup. No media was covering it and practically no major OEM
>>> was offering it preinstalled. All that's changed and the reason is that
>>> distros like Ubuntu are so user friendly, easy to install and easy to
>>> configure and tweak.
>>>
>>> Alias
>>
>>
>>For now Linux is seeing better times, but Vista has hoisted the hardware
>>requirements, and in a couple of years from now, many will have upgraded
>>their computers. Vista will have improved enough that it is the force to
>>be
>>reckoned with, and then Windows 7 will release, easily able to run on the
>>same hardware as Vista.
>
> Vista will have improved enough?
>
> Funny to watch fanboys change their tune as they constantly move the
> goal posts. I though Vista was already the greatest version of Windows
> ever. If so, why does it need to improve?
>
> After all that was the song you guys were humming over a year ago.
> However now that Vista has been out awhile and proved to be just
> another bloated, poorly implemented, bug riddled, sluggish pile of
> coding mistakes like every prior version of Windows before it was, you
> now say wait to the next version. I'll say one thing good about you
> Mike, you sure know how to repeat the party line issued from Redmond.
>
> Microsoft has been saying the same thing for over two decades... just
> wait for the next version of Windows, it will knock your socks off.
> Sure, right. Only problem is I like tens of millions of others are
> tired of waiting and being disappointed over and over again. People
> are more seriously starting to look at alternatives to Windows.
>
>>In the meantime, Linux will make inroads in third world countries where
>>cheap equipment is all that can be afforded.
>
> You really are clueless and dense on world events aren't you. Would
> you consider China third world? Are you sitting down? Right now China
> has over 300,000,000 MIDDLE CLASS citizens and that number is growing
> at explosive rates. That's as many middle class as the entire
> population of the United States. Are you aware Russia soon might have
> more millionaires then there are in the United States? Their middle
> class is exploding too. While Windows "sales" in China is a drop in
> the bucket they already have more Internet users than in the United
> States. Hint: Those people are running all those computers on
> something, and it isn't paid for copies of Windows.
>
> The reality is Microsoft's time in the sun is fading. That is why
> Ballmer tried, but failed to take over Yahoo, to start building a new
> cash stream since people are fed-up giving Microsoft piles of money
> for one broken OS version after another.
>
> Microsoft's other cash cow Office, has been equaled or surpassed by
> FREE Office alternatives. That's not good news for Microsoft either.
> Their two biggest product lines, Windows and Office are showing signs
> of cracking.
>
> You know what the biggest sign of Microsoft's pending doom really is?
>
> Simple. That would be Bill Gates founder getting ready to throw in the
> towel. His belly no longer burns for Microsoft. He's more than willing
> to give Microsoft over to flimflam artists like Ballmer while he
> starts to give away his billions. That surely can't be good for
> Microsoft's future. No, not when the founder only 53 year old decides
> he's had enough. Maybe he sees the writing on the wall clearer than
> anybody.

Bill Gates might be setting himself up for doing a Dell or Jobs type
comeback.

But in Bill's case, he maybe too rich to care. Or with Microsoft they
simply are not competitive any longer.

BTW, well put.