When exactly was it that Microsoft dropped so swiftly from cultural relevance? Let your mind wander back to the glory days of Windows 95, when Microsoft’s business practices consisted of releasing an OS update every few months and sitting back in their suede leather chairs as they counted the money pouring in. Today it’s a different story for the mighty Microsoft. Bill Gates is a figurehead now, with Steve Ballmer headlining as the face of Microsoft. The Xbox 360 is now their second largest selling product (after their operating systems) and the world no longer talks about Windows as if it gave birth to their second child. So where and how did it all fall apart?
Microsoft’s problems did not start and end with this flawed operating system – it was floundering in a confused state for close to a decade with the release of OS’ such as Windows 98, Windows ME and Windows CE (for handheld devices such as the Palm Pre). Vista was certainly the nail in their popularity coffin though. It looked great, it had amazing ideas and it ran as fast as a cheetah with its legs cut off. The security hassles, driver incompatibility and speed issues of Vista were legendary and caused Microsoft’s stock and board members faith to plummet. A full three years later, Microsoft resolved the issue by repackaging Vista as Windows 7 and hoping that no-one would notice the difference. Thankfully, Windows 7 rocks on any supported platform. But is it too little, too late?
When you think of cool, when you think of ‘how will I speak to and connect to my friends today’ a Microsoft product is not the first item to pop into your head. Thanks to Facebook, Twitter and Google marketing, people today think Apple, they think Facebook, or Twitter or any one of the hundreds of social media options that are integrated into their lives. Microsoft has made an effort by merging their Bing search engine with Facebook’s own search results – this has resulted in little fanfare; for now at least. Of course, you can use any social media product on the Windows OS, but that is just a lazy way of cornering the market with the least amount of effort. Get social Microsoft! Your fans demand it.
Let’s get this elephant out the room – Apple’s OSX will never take over the market percentage which Microsoft is currently sitting on. The same goes for Android. Despite their good looks (iOS) or freedom for creative thought outside of a restrictive OS (Android), Windows remains as the number one OS not only for home and business computers, but for computers built into everyday products such as ATM’s and supermarket cash registers. But despite this, Microsoft is still thinking too small and cannot seem to push their OS into the hands of the average person on the go. Their Windows 7 phone and the Zune are nothing more than an unmitigated failure; Microsoft’s next attempt is a tablet-like device in 2012. Some success could still come its way.
The Face Of Today
Additionally, Microsoft has lost a great portion of respect amongst the man on the street – when a question is asked we say ‘Just Google it.’ Nobody – outside of those on paid TV shows who are forced to use the Microsoft search, ever say to ‘Just Bing it’. Ultimately, Microsoft may enjoy being the ‘grandpa’ of the computing world. They get to sit comfortably in the corner, living off the fat of their past business practices while younger companies flourish in their wake. If that is the case, then I wish them the best in their golden years.
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