What every developer should know about Microsoft David Strom Technology Editor VARBusiness LI Java Users Group 2/04

Pogo once said…

General Patton once said “I have studied the enemy all my life. I know exactly how he will react under any given set of circumstances. And he hasn’t the slightest idea of what I’m going to do. So when the time comes, I’m going to whip the hell out of him.” (From Forbes magazine, 4/98)

Why Java developers should care It isn’t because they will ultimately write.NET apps Or because they are going over to the dark side Or because their apps will eventually run on Windows

Here’s why Java’s success is closely tied to its performance and behavior on Windows first and foremost The best Java toolsets are also proven for Windows developers Microsoft’s version of Java on more desktops than anyone else’s

Why Microsoft Wins It’s not because of better software Or superior products Or coincidence Or getting a pass from the DoJ

Some Signs That Linux Has Bill Gates Worried New numbering scheme. Instead of Windows XP, it is now Windows 3.1.plXP Flowers sent to Janet Reno with a note saying "What's a little anti-trust between friends.” -- from Brian Lantz, 3/95

Planned Improvements at MSNBC-TV CNBC will include a new section - "Microsoft Upgrades Available This Week". New voice-over: "You're Watching MSNBC, version 1.5, release F" All graphs showing the economy improving should be done using Microsoft Excel.

Microsoft and software bugs have a long history Headline in PC Week (1986): “Microsoft is Fixing Bugs in QuickBASIC [2.0]” Headline this week in Bugnet: “Front Page will erase your hard disk!”

What else was going on in 1986? 2400 bps internal modems from Hayes $ PC 18 Mhz clones with 512 k bytes of RAM for $4500 Microsoft selling Windows 1.03, Word 3.1 3Com's 3servers cost $6000 and came with 70 megabyte disks!

OS/2 Magazine (1990)

Things Gates probably wouldn’t say today “640K ought to be enough for anybody." (1981) “If you don't know what you need Windows NT for, you don't need it." "I believe OS/2 is destined to be the most important operating system, and possibly program, of all time.” “There is nothing in this industry that Windows 3.0 isn’t going to change.” (1990)

Remember these technologies? Loser Digital Research DOS Netware Stac disk compression Word Perfect Spyglass Mosaic Central Point utilities Lotus Winner MS DOS NT, WinServer 2003 Part of Windows Word IE Part of Windows Excel

Microsoft’s Internet timeline 1/93: NCSA Mosaic 1.0 released 4/94: Netscape founded, MS hold first Internet meeting 9/94: Netscape 1.0 released 12/94: MS licenses Spyglass Mosaic for IE 11/95: IE 2.0 released 12/95: MS finally has Internet strategy 5/96: IE 3.0 released 10/97: IE 4.0 released

How they win: developer relations! “Office provides easy upsizing capability to move from Excel to Access, from wizards to Visual Basic programs. As trite as it sounds, suites such as Office Professional can empower the user and developer to grow.” -- Kevin Boynton

Microsoft understands developers What tools they need How they think What sodas they drink What snacks they eat What games they need to play when not coding

How they win (2): bundling Look what you can get for MS Small Biz Server 2003: –Web Server –Database Server – Server –Etc.

My open standards scorecard The REAL Standard Sun’s Java Apache Web browsers Tomcat, JSP, etc. SMTP Java DB solutions The Microsoft Way Microsoft WinJava FrontPage and IIS Built-in to Win98.NET Framework Exchange ODBC

How they win (4): Everything Windows What cross-platform really means to Microsoft Eventually, everything becomes part of the operating system Include interfaces initially for features Then extract performance Case in point: Java support. It just works better.

Let’s review Superior technology and developer relations Bundling strategy for software and desktop PCs Buys everyone in sight Better run company by the numbers Desktop OS monopolist Superior PR tactics