What Microsoft wants for your future

From: BillK (bill@wkidston.freeserve.co.uk)
Date: Tue Mar 11 2003 - 09:14:39 MST

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    Andrew Grygus of Automation Access published a 50+ page report on
    February 23rd 2003 entitled "2003 and Beyond -- Technology trends that
    will affect your business and how you do business."

    http://www.aaxnet.com/editor/edit029.html

    This is a big detailed report, heavy going at times, but well worth the
    effort to digest. It will give you a frightening and eye-opening look at
    Microsoft's public plans over the next decade.

    Using research and news articles from hundreds of different sources,
    it is an in-depth, ten-year look at information technology in general
    and Microsoft in specific.

       "This article is a guide to trends that are already in full motion
         and well known by technology specialists, but are far from
         obvious to most business managers."

    A few tasters, just to raise your eyebrows :-)

    --------------------------------
    Longhorn - Big Changes for Windows

    The very disappointing uptake of Windows XP has convinced Microsoft they
    must force upgrades. License 6 does force customers to upgrade on
    Microsoft's schedule, whether they want to or not, but a majority of the
    market has not adopted License 6, despite Microsoft's threats. Clearly
    drastic changes are needed to Windows to generate renewed upgrade
    revenue.

    The successor to Windows XP (due in 2004, and rapidly slipping to 2005)
    is currently code named Longhorn, and it will not be compatible with
    your existing software, hardware or methods. Microsoft has already
    stated that backward compatibility will not be a design feature.

    ----------------------------------
    Microsoft Office

    Office 2003 and Windows Server 2003 will include a Rights Management
    Services feature for document security (W25). If Microsoft can convince
    businesses to use this feature, Office 2003 documents will be completely
    unreadable by OpenOffice / StarOffice, WordPerfect Office, Lotus, and by
    all older versions of Microsoft Office, forcing a total upgrade of
    Windows, Office and the computers it runs on.

    Office 2003 will not run on Windows 95, 98, 98SE or Me. Microsoft is
    very clear that it will run only on Windows XP and Windows 2000 with SP3
    (Service Pack 3) applied (W17). Currently over 60% of Microsoft's
    business customers are still running Windows 95/98, and would have to
    purchase all new computers for an XP upgrade - new computers soon to be
    obsoleted by Longhorn and Palladium.

    ------------------------------------
    The PC Industry

    The PC industry was once thriving, driven by rapid innovation. It's now
    down and it's not coming back.

    --------------------------------------
    The Software Industry

    The PC software industry is in the final days of being destroyed by
    Microsoft.

    ---------------------------------------

    That's enough. Have a good read!

    BillK

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