What would happen if Microsoft went bust?

[AdamW]

A hypothetical question:

"What do you think would happen if Microsoft went bust?"

I was thinking about this the other day. It would be an unprecedented situation, because in any other product I can think of you can just switch to a different supplier. If Ford went bust, you could buy a Vauxhall. If Sony went bust, you could buy a Phillips. But if MS went bust, there is no easy alternative... you can't just get a different brand of Windows!

Of course, there are other OS's. But due to the incompatibilities between Linux and Windows, and the hugely different sizes of userbse, competition between MS and Linux is as negligible as the competition between the Caterham 7 and the Ford Focus. You won't convince a 7 driver to get a Focus, he'll have a million reasons why he prefers his 7. At the same time you aren't going to convince millions of people to ditch their Focus and get 7.

So, you would have a few options

1) MS bought out by another company - but what other companies exist that could afford to take it on?

2) MS bought out by the US government - but wouldn't that just result in criticism of monopolies?

3) MS software eventually phased out and replaced by alternatives such as Linux - However, it is only really feasible if you swap over entirely or go for dualboot systems/two PCs on each desk. Could corporations afford to replace all their Windows software all at once? Not to mention retrain all the staff?

4) MS Windows becomes an open-architecture and Windows clones start appearing, just like IBM-compatible PCs did.

I reckon 4 would be quite likely.

 

[kendor]

A hypothetical question:

"What do you think would happen if Microsoft went bust?"

I was thinking about this the other day. It would be an unprecedented situation, because in any other product I can think of you can just switch to a different supplier. If Ford went bust, you could buy a Vauxhall. If Sony went bust, you could buy a Phillips. But if MS went bust, there is no easy alternative... you can't just get a different brand of Windows!

Of course, there are other OS's. But due to the incompatibilities between Linux and Windows, and the hugely different sizes of userbse, competition between MS and Linux is as negligible as the competition between the Caterham 7 and the Ford Focus. You won't convince a 7 driver to get a Focus, he'll have a million reasons why he prefers his 7. At the same time you aren't going to convince millions of people to ditch their Focus and get 7.

So, you would have a few options

1) MS bought out by another company - but what other companies exist that could afford to take it on?

2) MS bought out by the US government - but wouldn't that just result in criticism of monopolies?

3) MS software eventually phased out and replaced by alternatives such as Linux - However, it is only really feasible if you swap over entirely or go for dualboot systems/two PCs on each desk. Could corporations afford to replace all their Windows software all at once? Not to mention retrain all the staff?

4) MS Windows becomes an open-architecture and Windows clones start appearing, just like IBM-compatible PCs did.

I reckon 4 would be quite likely.

Very unlikely to go bust but IF then i'm sure another company consisting of the key staff would be formed as the product is so extensively used and has such a big market share.

more likely if going bust to be sold off before that happens the whole may be split into subsiduries but the product would still have support , as for longevity that would depend on how good that support would be and if bad then consumers will have found an alternative by then.
Always someone ready to jump into their shoes if the market beckons.

 

[oilman]

..................2) MS bought out by the US government - but wouldn't that just result in criticism of monopolies?.....................

Be far more likely the US government was bought out by MS.

 

[pickles]

All I know is I have to use Netscape to post in here. IE bugs out on me every time at home or work and I hate it. If Netscape made an operating system it would be better, just like their browser, and i would buy it. Microsoft need some serious competitve pressure, like Intel when AMD came along and started to outperform them in recent years which i think has pushed their prices down compared to the way they were in the 90's

Is Linux any good, can you actually use it as a proper operating system or is it just a toy

 

[oilman]

Buy yourself a Mac.

 

[pickles]

Buy yourself a Mac.

Are they really all they are cracked up to be. I'm tempted, but can you pull them to bits and rebuild them like a pc

 

[Stoday]

If you hear that Microsoft's gone bust, watch out for the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse - they won't be far behind...

.

 

[oilman]

Buy yourself a Mac.

Are they really all they are cracked up to be. I'm tempted, but can you pull them to bits and rebuild them like a pc

Why would you want to pull them to bits and rebuild them like a PC. You don't have to, you just install some emulation software and run the PC programs.

I have a slow (500MHz) laptop, which I bought secondhand in 2001, still OK. I recently bought a 1.8GHz iMac and that goes like a bat out of hell. You will have a little time you need to spend to migrate to a new way of operating, but once you've done that, life's a lot easier.

They are all fitted with ethernet as standard, so if you have more than one, and you have only one printer, you can connect the machines together. I have an ethernet hub to connect to adsl, and an ethernet printer and both machines connected to the hub. Its great.

The new machines mostly have bluetooth built in so you can connect to the outside that way if you want.

Want more?

 

[pickles]

Buy yourself a Mac.

Are they really all they are cracked up to be. I'm tempted, but can you pull them to bits and rebuild them like a pc

Why would you want to pull them to bits and rebuild them like a PC. You don't have to, you just install some emulation software and run the PC programs.

I have a slow (500MHz) laptop, which I bought secondhand in 2001, still OK. I recently bought a 1.8GHz iMac and that goes like a bat out of hell. You will have a little time you need to spend to migrate to a new way of operating, but once you've done that, life's a lot easier.

They are all fitted with ethernet as standard, so if you have more than one, and you have only one printer, you can connect the machines together. I have an ethernet hub to connect to adsl, and an ethernet printer and both machines connected to the hub. Its great.

The new machines mostly have bluetooth built in so you can connect to the outside that way if you want.

Want more?

The great thing about pc's is they are so easy to build yourself fom bits you buy. You can upgrade them constantly as cpu's and video cards etc get faster. You can't do that with macs can you

 

[AdamW]

You can't do that with macs can you

You probably will with the next generation of Macs... Apple is switching to Intel architecture, so your next Mac will be PC hardware, possibly with a tiny amount of proprietary hardware, running MacOS.

However, the developers' package has already been hacked to run on bog-standard PC hardware.

Apple Macs do have their advantages:

1) they look pretty sexy
2) they are a closed architecture so in theory you should never have to do the faffing about that PCs are occasionally let down with. However, being a closed architecture is very limiting.

I was tempted by the Mac Mini until I priced a half-decent spec up on the Apple website... £800 for what would essentially just be a plaything for me.

My PC has gigabit-ethernet, bluetooth, firewire and wi-fi all built in, my laptop has all that except firewire... I don't think Apple owns the monopoly on computers with built-in connectivity

 

[ninebob]

As you said, it's a wholly hypothetical question, because I can't see microsoft ever going bust. It's only my guess, but I'd say at least 80% of the worlds population rely on their product, directly or indirectly, on a daily basis.

It's turning into a very scary monopoly though... A friend of mine just bought a new phone, a market which I thought was entirely cornered by nokia. When you switch it on - "starting windows......"

 

[Moz]

Is microc*ck still being sued by the european union ?
for the anti/monopolies law , so many 1000s Euros a day I saw some place