If I was wrong in suggesting Astroturfing, then I apologize. And thanks for un-downvoting me.
Looking at what developers are choosing (when given a free choice) also makes me think that Microsoft is losing ground. They used to be able to claim "It's better" - a much more enticing sales pitch than "You can never leave".
On the enterprise front, going forward, it's going to be easier to get management interested in web/intranet delivered solutions via the PC (or iPad) browser. Far fewer worries about roll-out, hardware upgrades, etc.
One of the big arguments that Microsoft (and its partners) has always been switching/training costs. And with the Office 2010 button bar, coupled with Windows 8 'tiles', I think they've created a massive own-goal. It's pretty easy to roll a rock-solid Fedora/XFCE/LibreOffice/Thunderbird/Firefox image, which will feel very familiar indeed to users.
I wanna know why people use MS Office, anyway: 99% of the communications are: Please click this link to open this Word doc on a web server.... couldn't we just post up a HTML page instead? I bang my head at work every time someone does the above. It's a big waste of time, and money. And don't get me started on SharePig
I agree with you, for the most part (though I actually do like the Ribbon when I need to use Office). I just find slinging around claims of astroturfing to be counterproductive, especially when your points are solid. :)
Looking at what developers are choosing (when given a free choice) also makes me think that Microsoft is losing ground. They used to be able to claim "It's better" - a much more enticing sales pitch than "You can never leave".
On the enterprise front, going forward, it's going to be easier to get management interested in web/intranet delivered solutions via the PC (or iPad) browser. Far fewer worries about roll-out, hardware upgrades, etc.
One of the big arguments that Microsoft (and its partners) has always been switching/training costs. And with the Office 2010 button bar, coupled with Windows 8 'tiles', I think they've created a massive own-goal. It's pretty easy to roll a rock-solid Fedora/XFCE/LibreOffice/Thunderbird/Firefox image, which will feel very familiar indeed to users.