* What Microsoft should resolve to do in 2005
It’s that time again when we make vows to improve ourselves, do better and simply be a better person. It’s time to make New Year’s resolutions! The secret to making good resolutions, though, is not to strive for the unattainable. As British author William Ralph Inge (1860 – 1954) said in his 1910 “Outspoken Essays”: “It is useless for the sheep to pass resolutions in favor of vegetarianism while the wolf remains of a different opinion.” He might almost have been speaking about standards bodies and Microsoft.
Since I don’t expect Microsoft to make its own resolutions, I’ll volunteer to step into that breach and do it for the company. I think three should suffice, nothing too difficult (“embrace open source,” for example) but also nothing too simple (such as “return a profit to the stockholders”). In no particular order, then, I’d like to see Microsoft resolve to do the following:
1.) Join wholeheartedly in standards bodies with the aim of developing protocols and specifications that create an even playing field for everyone. This doesn’t mean that Redmond should not advocate its own methods where they can be perceived to be better. It does mean, though, that the concept of “embrace and extend” (i.e., subscribe to a standard, but make subtle changes to the way most people understand it works so that others are shut out of the Microsoft technology) should be banished from consideration.
2.) Establish a licensing model, then stick with it for longer than a year. Each fall, it seems, Microsoft attempts to change the in-force licensing model and tweak it so that more revenue can be extracted from customers. Customers do not like this. Really. They’ve told me so. While they don’t agree on which licensing model is best, most do wish that there were some consistency so that they can actually budget more than six months out with some certainty that their software costs won’t suddenly burgeon due to a change in pricing models.
3.) Linux’s share of the server market is growing and its share of the desktop market will soon start to follow. It might be time to offer the well-known (and used) Microsoft services and applications for this platform. OpenOffice is still no real competition in terms of operational ability, to Microsoft office but as more and more people implement it on Linux desktops, the quality can only go up. Why leave the fastest growing platform in computerdom to rivals such as Sun and Novell? There is a market, a business market, which would love to buy a Linux version of Office. Give it a try.
All three can be accomplished, I think. It remains to be seen if Bill Gates & Co., have the resolve to do so. We’ll review these resolutions in 12 months but we’ll also watch developments in the interval. Happy New Year!
