The Rise and Fall of Empires

        Empires always seem invincible just as they are about to crumble. Same happened with Microsoft. At the start of the decade, Microsoft was Dominant. The whole world was using Microsoft softwares - be it surfing the web, writing a document, watching videos or just listening to music. If you're using a computer, you are automatically a Microsoft user.

        The company was Dominant but it wasn't invincible. Although it had strong presence in the world, it still had some challengers. And then, today, Microsoft is openly mocked by apple in its advertising.

Apple Mocking Microsoft Ad

 
Computers have become portholes to the internet. Once there, Google is the brand people know and trust. Microsoft’s products are still used but they are not life-changing.


The past decade in technology is the story of how three companies shaped our online and offline lives. So, the past decade, there was a fall of Microsoft, rise of Google and the Rebirth of Apple. Their competing fortunes and philosophies also point to what the next ten years might have in store.

Microsoft’s problems started in 2000,as spent the rest of the decade dogged by regulators and lawsuits. Perhaps distracted by these battles, Microsoft missed the fact that people were migrating online. Slow dial-up connections were replaced by super- fast broadband. The key to getting around the web was search engines, and here Google was at the forefront.

Google set off with an extraordinarily ambitious mission: to organise the world’s information and make it universally useful. Its approach was revolutionary then, but seems the norm now. It was free. It was open. Anyone could use it.

And Google eventually worked out how to make bags of money. It sold advertising alongside search results. Google became a multibillion- dollor company, a VERB, a PHENOMENON.

Apple took a different route. The company had been in the doldrums for years, but in 2001 it launched the iPod. The key to the device was simplicity. It was easy to use and allowed millions to carry around entire record collections. Today public spaces are filled with people plugged into headphones.

The iPod was also beautiful, setting the standard for design and technological innovation. The only device that had a similar impact was Apple’s own iPhone, launched in 2007. Both became the must-have products of the decade. (even I own an Ipod and would want an Iphone)

What does the success of Google and Apple say about the future? Google’s “open” model seems here to stay. This is evidenced by the rise of free social networking sites such as Orkut, Facebook and Twitter. In this new world, our privacy takes a back seat to the constant drive to make information easier to obtain.

Apple is better seen as an anomaly, a tyranny run by the genius of Steve Jobs, its chief executive. Rumours continue that it will release another “game-changing” device early next year — a touchscreen “tablet” mini-computer.

But what is Microsoft going to do...tadaa..lets wait and watch...???                                        

Cheers

Mysticminds