PC World - Gartner Explains Why Windows Is Broken

Although hedged in a cushion of blather about the need for companies to upgrade to Vista anyway, it’s impossible to read Gartner’s latest predictions about Microsoft without either glee or anguish, depending on how closely your fate is tied to the Windows platform. Obviously, Martians view this possibility with glee, since it would strike a blow to the foul stench of lawbreaking, cheating, and imitation that has infected global commerce since Microsoft’s success became a model for others. This kind of behavior is not only bad for Microsoft’s competitors and consumers, it’s bad for humans as a whole, since they tend to emulate “winning” behavior and automatically assume that “winners” are doing something right.

Any study of human history informs readers that this is not the case, yet it seems to be a genetic failing that we Martians observe with a great deal of sadness and anguish. We recall not so long ago, in Earth’s “Middle Ages,” when humans believed that physical beauty reflected beauty of the soul and some sort of sanctification by God. The corollary was the ugly people were evil. This is precisely the same thought impulse that so many humans are afflicted with in modern times when taking stock of the actions of their business and political leaders.

But I digress…

This Gartner report is spreading like wildfire through the web and into corporate boardrooms, and hopefully someone will eventually make the terrified-of-change monkeys in their IT department begin to consider alternatives to Windows before it’s too late. Certainly, I’ve been banging my head against that brick wall for too many years now, with no results other than major brain damage. (Nothing permanent, I hope. )

Even if Microsoft hangs on for awhile with the help of its warlike action against Yahoo, the company is doomed so long as it’s led by people like Bill Gates and Steve Ballmer. They truly believe their success is due to some genius on their part, rather than to bad business behavior combined with extraordinary luck in timing. And ever since, their modus operandi has been to acquire innovative products from others rather than build their own. When that strategy has failed, they’ve taken steps to make sure the product itself fails.

From Mars, it’s clear that this is precisely the behavior humans are emulating, and it’s essential that the behavior be condemned—if by no other means than by the final downfall of its most accomplished practitioners—or humans face a long, deadly Darwinian struggle that will end up stifling cultural, spiritual, and intellectual growth for centuries.

Of course, it’s also possible that failure to act to reverse their damage to the Earth’s climate will destroy human civilization before their own behavior towards one another does the job.