NY Times on Windows: Hiding a Statement in a Question

• October 16th, 2006 /
•  Chris Schultz

Journalists have a trick they use when they want to make a statement, but they need to soften it to make it less controversial. They take a headline and transform it from a statement into a question. It’s easy to read between the lines on these, and the NY Times threw one Microsoft’s way on Saturday:

1. Is Windows Near End of Its Run? – original headline
2. Windows Near End of Its Run – remove the “Is” and “?” and you’ve got the gist of the story

Wow, that’s quite a statement to make about the Redmond behemoth but it is dead on. Microsoft has been struggling to release its long delayed Vista new version of Windows. Apple has had a major resurgence since XP came out. And even Linux is getting interesting. I installed Ubuntu Linux at home and I have to say it works great and does everything I need to do. The article goes on to say:

Windows Vista and Office 2007, according to industry analysts, may be the last time Microsoft can really cash in on these lucrative personal computer products, as software is increasingly distributed, developed and used on the Internet.

Right on the money. Software is moving online. And companies like 37signals and Carson Systems, are creating the software you’ll be using in the future. Microsoft’s reign is largely over because of this. It won’t happen overnight, but they will never again enjoy the tremendous monopolistic power they exercised for a generation of computing.

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