Is There Any Reason To Buy Microsoft Anymore?

OS Opinion ^ | 9 May 2003 | Vincent Ryan

[ShadowAce]

Tech Ping

[robjna]

maybe that they have 45 billion in cash might be reason to buy this stock.

[Wonder Warthog]

"Is There Any Reason To Buy Microsoft Anymore?"

One. CAD. Thus far, Linux still can't match the CAD applications available for Windows, and unfortunately, Crossover Office and/or WINE won't do the job of allowing Windows CAD applications to run over Linux (yet). I understand the WIN4LIN does. I'm in the process of building a new machine, that is the route I will probably go (Linux and Win4Lin).

[Frumious Bandersnatch]

I think generally, that the apps in the Windows world are better polished than in the Linux world (though Linux apps are catching up remarkably quickly). However, I do think that Linux utilities generally have the edge. In fact, many of these utilities are being ported to the Windows environment. I've not been all that impressed with IDEs in Linux (although the GNU command line development utilities are impressive), but then, I think that VB is not nearly as good as CodeWarrior either.

[Reaganwuzthebest]

Thus far, Linux still can't match the CAD applications available for Windows, and unfortunately, Crossover Office and/or WINE won't do the job of allowing Windows CAD applications to run over Linux (yet).

That's the key word... yet. Xandros is a Linux distribution using CodeWeavers CrossOver Office and has the potential to give MS a run for their money in the desktop OS market with a few more improvements. Especially if the public rejects Microsoft's attempt to be the big-brother, copyright cop for the RIAA and others with Longhorn, which I suspect they will.

[Soren]

I know nothing about Linux. It sounds like there are parallels to the Office apps. Is there a parallel for Excel and Access? Is there a programming language similar to VBA that can be used among the apps? Can you do automation (where you control one app using code in another)? How do these apps compare for a power user?

[js1138]

I assume Star Office has a spreadsheet, but I'm not aware of any good replacement for Access. That would definitely hurt Microsoft.

[Strider]

Is there a programming language similar to VBA that can be used among the apps?

That's a good question. If the Linux office suite doesn't have something comparable to VBA, it won't be replacing Microsoft in businesses.

[ShadowAce]

Is there a parallel for Excel and Access?

Yes. OpenOffice and StarOffice both provide Calc for the Excel apps. As far as databases go, you have choices for that--MySQL seems to be the most popluar for personal and web site use. PostgreSQL (though I'm not familiar with it) is a step up in power, then you have Oracle.

Is there a programming language similar to VBA that can be used among the apps?

There are so many differnt languages you can use I can't remember them all. Perl, Python, C, Ruby, and even shell scripting like bash, ksh, and csh.

Can you do automation (where you control one app using code in another)? How do these apps compare for a power user?

I believe so, but I have not yet done that, so I could be wrong.

[montag813]

There are no reasons to buy MSFT. Which is exactly why it has hovered between 25 and 26 for the past several weeks while other tech stocks have exploded higher. The market is showing its disdain for Microsoft.

[lelio]

"Not only do you have the porting costs, but you have the systems administration costs. You have to retrain a lot of people," Claybrook said.
As is true in anything, the smart ones will be able to adapt. The ones that only know how to operate a GUI or remember some wacky registry setting will have trouble.

What do people use VBA for? Like macros in Excel? A lot of programs have their own mini scripting language, or you can use Perl to manipulate the data. With most people moving towards XML to save their data, you should be able to use any program you want to change it around.

[Strider]

What do people use VBA for? Like macros in Excel?

If you record a macro in Excel, the resulting code is VBA. However, VBA is much more than a macro language. You can literally control all of the Office programs with VBA. You can create programs that leverage all of the power of the individual office products into your own creation. It's very powerful.

XML is great and provides compatablility between programs, but that is different than controlling other programs.

[free me]

Maybe, but the artcicle is about buying MS products, not stock.

[Tom Bombadil]

Micro Soft is good to developers but is a miserable partner for the corporate purchaser. Linux is needed to keep MicroSoft honest.

Anything MicroSoft says about being customer (as opposed to user) friendly is pure baloney.

[Strider]

Linux is needed to keep MicroSoft honest.

Competition is good. I don't see Linux taking over the top spot from Micosoft, but I'm happy it's around.

[David]

"Maybe, but the artcicle is about buying MS products, not stock."

Well fundamental business evaluation is out of favor at the moment as a stock market analysis tool--none of these leading stocks with the possible exception of Bershire has any real earnings to speak of--so at the moment the market doesn't seem to care much about investment merit.

But, long term, one stock that probably is tied to the real world is MSFT--which is why this article is so important. The real earnings fundamentals of MSFT seem to be fairly poor--everybody is looking for a way to get around Windows and the Windows based software.

[Soren]

Thanks for responding. So do the Linux apps have an object model that these languages can operate on?

[antidisestablishment]

Until major companies develop their apps in Linux, it isn't going on granny's desktop. One of the ways that MS keeps control is by "partnering" with other developers with the intention that they develop MS products only.

Three years ago, Adobe released a FrameMaker beta in Linux. Soon afterwards, they shackled themselves with MS to develop open type .

All raw Linux develoment has since died, AFAIK. It's a damn shame, since many of their apps were released in Unix and porting them to Linux would have been a huge boost in productivity.

[Frumious Bandersnatch]

There are parallel apps in Linux (several office-type suites, for example). None of them seem to be as polished as MS, OTOH, they are more than adequate. None of the IDEs are there yet, IMHO, but they are on their way. However, the toolsets available in Linux are truly astounding. It is very easy to write a small, compact program using the available tools which does much more than an equivalent MS app does. As far as controlling apps are concerned, you have a number of options including TCP, UDP, IP, shared memory and semaphores, forks and pipes. I am in the process of converting a Unix program to Windows and it is a real pain because of the awkwardness of some of the Windows memory handling techniques. This same program was originally written for VMS and it took me only 6 weeks to port it to Unix. It looks like its going to take me 6 months to port it to Windows. While the IDEs are not there yet, the underlying compilers are most excellent. Gnu C, C++, Fortran and Pascal provide tight, stable, highly optimized and efficient code.