Stan Beer
Sunday, 29 June 2008 18:46
Opinion and Analysis
Page 1 of 3
Regardless of what opinion one might hold of Bill Gates, there can be no denying that concerning IT he is a man with vision. Thus, it comes as no surprise that at just 52 he has cut the cord with his baby, Microsoft. Gates has known for a long time Microsoft is a company on the wane.
As a technology company Microsoft hit its peak in
1995. It was a pivotal year in which Gates realised his greatest dream
and witnessed his biggest nightmare.
The release of Windows 95 finally saw Microsoft deliver a desktop
operating system that could be used by ordinary workers without
resorting to the command line. Apple had done that a decade earlier but
decided its future was not software, so it was Gates not Jobs who put a
computer on nearly every desktop in the developed world.
However, Gates, being a man of vision, knew that his dream of desktop
world conquest would be relatively short lived. He witnessed with
dismay how a young upstart company called Netscape demonstrated to the
world that there were higher dimensions of computing called the
Internet and the World Wide Web.
Gates knew how to crush the fledgling Netscape but he also knew that he
could not crush the Internet. It was a new paradigm which would
eventually make Microsoft's desktop technology obsolete.
I can remember reporting on a leaked internal memo that Bill Gates
issued to Microsoft staff in 1995 which was a literal call to arms to
fight both Netscape (not mentioned by name) and the onset of the
Internet. It was obvious to Gates that the cards were on the table and
the Internet was holding all the Aces. CONTINUED
