Don't believe the hype

GoogleOffice = Microsoft killer?

While initiatives such as OpenOffice document formats and GoogleOffice will prove to be interesting, and yes it may very well gain traction in the industry, I must take a minute to call out some of the super hype articles predicting the down fall of Microsoft.  While making money for our shareholders and great software solutions for our customers is job 1 at Microsoft,  competition is also pretty high on my list of things that drive me to get up in the morning an go to work.  Truth be told new competition is fun and exciting, so I love the fact there are new and interesting offerings developing in these spaces.  I respect companies like Google but I hardly think Redmond is in a position of panic, regardless of what you think about the re-organizations and the reasons behind the re-organization.  A new time and day calls for new plans and a fresh approach.

If you have not seen the previews for the Office 12 system and the MSN Development Center on MSDN, I encourage to take a look at what we we have been up too lately.  It is a little more than SharePoint, IM integrated into Office and Smart Clients, these days.

I recall when Novell Netware, BEA, Netscape, Plumtree (Portals), IBM Lotus Notes (Knowledge Management), AOL, Java, Palm, TiVO, Cold Fusion, and yes Linux were all touted as Microsoft killers (The list of Microsoft killers get long over the past 10 years <grin>).  While many of these companies are very respectable and competitive (well at least some of them are still competitive), Microsoft will continue to innovate and thrive for a very long time to come.

I say bring it on, I love the competition and what it does for the market, and people passionate about technology.

Happy coding....

Ed