Everybody likes to pick on Microsoft. There are plenty of reasons to do so. It’s fun. It’s easy. They shoot themselves in the foot frequently.
But let’s step back and take a look at the good that Microsoft has done for the world:
They have created a spreadsheet program that may be the best example of software that is both trivial enough for a child to use and extremely powerful for advanced programmers.
The economic value they created in terms of helping people to get their jobs done more quickly and easily over the last 30 years dwarfs what they’ve charged for it many times over. Heck, for years they were basically giving their software away for free since it had no protection and everybody copied it willy nilly.
They put standards in place that allowed others to build software businesses on top of them. A great example is AutoCAD. AutoDesk built a huge company on Windows. In fact, to some degree, it was fear of Windows that led to AutoDesk’s success.
If you read this letter that was written by their founder, John Walker, 20 years ago, you will discover an interesting history of the software industry.
Windows empowers millions of PCs with connectivity, ease of use, and hardware independence that we take for granted today, yet was revolutionary not that long ago.
Microsoft has generally improved global wealth and the human condition. If they’re lucky, they’ve gotten 1% of that benefit back in terms of their revenue, but I doubt it. And that’s how companies always get large, by giving far more than they get.
- Curt Finch, Journyx CEO
Post a Comment
You must be logged in to post a comment.