Comments on: Businesses Don’t Demand Industrial Strength Technology

By: I dislike the term business user.. « Vendorprisey

I dislike the term business user.. « Vendorprisey — Wed, 04 Jul 2007 13:34:02 +0000

[...] Governor made a similar point a few weeks ago, when discussing IBM “industrial strength” and on [...]

By: Bob McIlree

Bob McIlree — Sun, 22 Apr 2007 03:37:59 +0000

Having worked with Microsoft technologies directly in the mid-90’s, I can assert that their software (think pre-4.0 NT and pre SQL Server 6.0) DIDN’T scale past, say 20-30 users. They really didn’t have it together on an enterprise scale until around 2000. And your point on these lines was what, again?

By: Dennis H

Dennis H — Sat, 21 Apr 2007 04:08:29 +0000

Hindsight is a wonderful thing and we all look at things through the lens of our experience. In this case, I’d suggest you’re retro-fitting facts to suit an argument I certainly did NOT see in that timeframe:

“Many industry analysts, reporters and IT people in the 1995-2001 timeframe would dismiss the latest Microsoft technologies- oh no they aren’t enterprise class, SQL server doesn’t scale, and so on.”

MSFT was not dismissed per se but as I’m sure you’ll recall, there was a battle royal over databases in particular and that at least up to SQLServer 6, MSFT was very much a bit player with dubious credentials.

That changed when the product stepped up several notches in terms of features, functions and yes…scalability across a number of dimensions.

So while the general argument holds some pointers to what *might* happen, I’m not buying into Google Enterprise just yet.

But to the more substantive point - what do you mean by ‘industrial strength?’ That’s a loaded term I could apply in equal measure to a 50 person business or a 100K person business. Folk I am dealing with on the buy side don’t think that way. They want mature products where 80-90% functionality and stability are proven. That, to them, is industrial strength, and is what they will buy.

Hence today, no-one thinks about MSFT as anything other than a seasoned player on baseline technologies needed to run the business - at least up to a certain point.

Oracle and SAP posturing aside (of course.)

By: Nathan Gilliatt

Nathan Gilliatt — Sat, 21 Apr 2007 01:36:21 +0000

Sounds like an example of the Innovator’s Dilemma–the “good enough” product improving to keep up with customer requirements while undercutting the “better than required” product on price. This lesson should be learned by now.

By: Ken Crandall

Ken Crandall — Fri, 20 Apr 2007 18:22:39 +0000

Sounds like it’s about results again.

By: Mike Gunderloy

Mike Gunderloy — Fri, 20 Apr 2007 17:18:09 +0000

And looking one generation further out: the 3D internet as currently exemplified in Second Life is where Microsoft was in perhaps 1992. Oddly enough IBM is one of the companies that seems to be getting involved there as a long-term investment rather than as a short-term marketing play.