Microsoft loses showdown in Houston

USA TODAY | Byron Acohido

[Forgiven_Sinner]

The more I read this, the more interesting it became.

This is a tremendous loss for M$. They will have to cave on their prices. The only question is how long will they lose sales before they do.

[Support Free Republic]

CAN I HAVE YOUR ATTENTION

PLEASE SUPPORT FREE REPUBLIC

Donate Here By Secure Server

Or mail checks to
FreeRepublic , LLC
PO BOX 9771
FRESNO, CA 93794
or you can use

PayPal at Jimrob@psnw.com

STOP BY A BUMP THE FUNDRAISER THREAD

[Xenalyte]

Only problem is that SimDesk bites. It's unintuitive, hard to learn, and a source of payola for the unbelievably corrupt (yet amazingly stupid) Lee P. Brown.

[hchutch]

Of course, there is a question as to whether or not the state and local governments have been good about following the terms of the EULAs. Somehow, I think that might not be the case.

[Xenalyte]

Exactly. There are huge discrepancies between the number of licenses Microsoft says Houston has bought, and the number Houston says it paid for.

[Poohbah]

You, Houston...

"LICENSE CHECK!"

[kylaka]

Hey, some would gladly use a hammer and chisel if it meant being able to say screw you to Microsoft.

[babyface00]

In some ways, Microsoft's real problem is that it has been too successful (or successful enough) for its own good.

I'm running a small network. All the servers are NT, the workstations are Win98 with Office2k. It works. It's stable. We don't need anything else. There's no reason for me to upgrade, but now that MS is going to suspend support for NT and 98, we have to. You can bet there are some NT vulnerabilities out there that crackers are delaying exploiting until the day after MS stops releasing security patches for that OS.

So I need to spend tens of thousands to upgrade to software I don't need, upgrade my hardware to accomodate it, and introduce yet another Microsoft product that will need to be patched several times right out of the box. There are retraining issues, support issues, etc. that I really don't need.

Worse thing, as soon as I get the whole package running and stable like my current setup, Microsoft will force me to upgrade to yet another level of products I don't want and don't need.

I came very close to getting Linux in here, at least on the servers, but as noted in the article, career managers are loathe to make any decisions that aren't "safe" - even if it means spending lots more money. Like they used to say about IBM, no one ever got fired for buying Microsoft.

The thing is, we're quite happy with the Microsoft products we're using. What bugs us is that we're forced to upgrade from something we're happy with. I'd almost rather they just charge a license renewal fee and leave us alone.

Change is coming. Microsoft can either be business' best friend or worst enemy. It seems right now like they prefer the latter.

[Gorest Gump]

Only problem is that SimDesk bites. It's unintuitive, hard to learn, and a source of payola for the unbelievably corrupt (yet amazingly stupid) Lee P. Brown.

Exactly right. IMHO, the threat to MS is Linux/unix. From what I have seen and heard, SimDesk is a couple of steps backward. More importantly, it was chosen, in violation of City ordinances, without an honest bid process and based on at least some false information.

[weegee]

Wouldn't be the first time a computer company put the screws on someone to use "new technology". I had a Fortran professor (who also worked his daytime in the computer industry). He said that he had taught at Harvard and IBM was trying to get them to upgrade to the new machines (I don't even think it was financial, I think that IBM wanted the prestige of saying "even at Harvard..."). The compiler was different though (WAT FOR, WAT V?) and would have required rewriting code to compile existing programs. They declined and were told "well then we will cancel your service contract and you won't get parts".

The university relented and got the new machine.

[weegee]

One of the things that came out in the older Microsoft lawsuit was that Microsoft considered licensing the OS for 1-year's use at a time. Pay your annual user fee or be forced to uninstall their OS.

It came up in the context of whether Compaq or some other large player had the technology/muscle to use a different OS if that became MS policy.

[babyface00]

Another aspect is that computers, and their associated software have largely matured. No longer are they magical boxes with all kinds of gee-wiz appeal.

In business, they're simply tools to accomplish specific tasks - documentation, calculation, communication. Frankly, the machines and MS software of five years ago were more than adequate (when they worked) for 99% of businesses. Unfortunately for Microsoft, their tools don't "wear out".

It's akin to having to buy new screwdrivers when your old ones work just fine. Sure, its nice to have the newest tools, but at some point it isn't cost effective if the old ones are working - money is better spent in other places.

Once upon a time, you had to upgrade to get needed features, or better speed, or reliability. That isn't really the case any more. I don't have anything against Microsoft, but they need to focus on their customers again. We don't buy MS to keep them in business, they're in business to meet our needs.

I'd have no problem recommending Microsoft if I could say to my managers "We need to upgrade because of these xxxx innovative features that will save us money/increase our efficiency/give us better control in the following ways...". Microsoft's not giving me that anymore. I have to say "We need to upgrade because Microsoft is forcing us to". There's no business case - its purely driven by Microsoft. Believe me, its resented all the way up the chain, because everyone has to use the same reason; there's no good business case, its because Microsoft is forcing us.

Sure, maybe this time there really aren't safe alternatives and we can eat the cost because "everyone else has to pay too". Any loyalty to Microsoft has been used up. Two or three years from now, when Microsoft pulls the same shenanigans, more and more of us will be willing to take the jump. I'll be one of the first in line.

[apillar]

"The people who run this city recently heard a familiar pitch from Microsoft: Sign up for a multiyear, $12 million software licensing plan or face an audit exposing the city's use of software it hadn't paid for."

Somehow I find it hard to believe these cities are actually intimidated by Microsoft. I am unware of any law that would require a municipality to submit to an audit by a private corporation and if Microsoft tried it, I'm sure they could come up with some burly police officers to "gently" escort the auditors off of city property.

[danelectro]

There's no business case - its purely driven by Microsoft. Believe me, its resented all the way up the chain, because everyone has to use the same reason; there's no good business case, its because Microsoft is forcing us.

your post here and the other above are a big part of why all of our backoffice machines run linux. the equipment is 4-5 years old for the most part. it runs fine, and doesn't need updating from a performance standpoint. the services (email, fileserving, printing, vpn) all work to our satisfaction, and we don't need additional features. why on earth should we put our business in a position that it is forced to spend thousands of dollars when the only benefit is to microsoft? dows, as to their liking.

an aside: i don't know why houston picked simdesk. i would think openoffice, or staroffice even, would be a much better substitute. well, i have an idea or two, but they certainly don't relate to technical merit or the ability to solve problems.

[weegee]

Companies want to keep revenue coming in. Many try to find ways to nickel and dime customers to keep paying every month/year rather than making a "one time" purchase.

Best Buy still offers annual "service" contracts on merchandise but when a customer can buy a new VCR for a year or two's service policy price, just replace it when it breaks.

Cable tv has people paying for the same syndicated programs that Viacom used to show on commercial television for "free".

Pay radio (a concept Stan Freeberg joked about in the 1960s) is here too now.

Beyond convincing existing customers to keep forking over money every year, companies are also seeking "new sources" of revenue. No one at the top wants to confess that a market has been saturated (and won) with their product.

Rather than MS creating a new OS, how about they stay with one for a decade and fix the 5,000-10,000 "known" bugs instead?

Their worthless "disclaimer" click box notwithstanding, I wonder when someone will bring a product liablity lawsuit against MS for shipping a known defective product?

[weegee]

It seems that Simdesk's selection would fall under the classification "insider deal".

[The Great RJ]

While the city may have won this battle in the long run they will lose and it has nothing to do with Microsoft monoploy conspiracies. MS Office is number 1 because it is a good (not perfect, but good) product. There are and have been other alternatives in the market, but they have not caught on because they are not as good. Not to say that might not change in the future

I've used the competitors and in general they are cheap knock offs. Evidence of this is how the graphic user interface looks (GUI) -- even the small icons and buttons in say Corel Word Perfect mimick MS Word. Its as though Ford put a Chevy body and interior on one of its products.

Houston will find they got what they paid for with this cheap knock off and will sooner or later have the cost of replacing the software on all of their computers.

[taxcontrol]

I came very close to getting Linux in here, at least on the servers, but as noted in the article, career managers are loathe to make any decisions that aren't "safe" - even if it means spending lots more money. Like they used to say about IBM, no one ever got fired for buying Microsoft.

---

The REAL IRONY is that IBM is now supporting the Linux camp.
Go figure.

[steplock]

Louis A. Waters
Chairman and CEO
Mr. Waters was founding chairman and CEO of Browning-Ferris Industries, Inc. (NYSE: BFI) and served BFI from 1969 until 1997 in a number of strategic capacities, including chairman and CEO of BFI International, Inc.

I don't know...but maybe you had to be living in Houston during Water's regime of BFI to have doubts as to the legality/origins of simdesk??? Can you say "godfather"??

[steve-b]

Additionally, Microsoft drives the forced upgrade spiral by changing file formats between versions. As a result, users of (for example) Office 97 may be unable to read docs written in Office 2000.

The best solution is for governments to write into their purchasing specs that: 1)All software must save to a fully open (i.e. fully documented and unencumbered by licensing requirements) file format by default and 2)Saving to any closed (i.e. not meeting either of the above requirements) format requires going through an "Are You Sure?" mommy popup -- if it's supported at all. This insures access to government data by citizens (no matter what OS or software they use) and by the government in the future (even if they tell their current vendors to get lost).