Magnus Ramage <magnus@comp.lancs.ac.uk> continues the dialog on Microsoft:
I said ....
>They are constantly
>learning from their competitors. Their world view is that their market is
>the world of computing and communications that involves people. Because
>everyone (except maybe Cray) is their competitor, they are learning lots.
and Magnus replied
>To me this has a somewhat negative tone to it, suggesting that Microsoft
>are simply organisational cuckoos, waiting for an idea to develop and then
>taking it over.
No matter how smart an organizatiion is, they can always learn from their
competitors. So I intended it as a complement.
>Or maybe you meant it positively. What is good about
>Microsoft is the energy with which they have pushed forward the computer
>revolution - it took them a long time to reach the same standard as Apple
>in terms of usability and consumer accessibility, but they appear to have
>more or less reached that point.
Even better, Apple paid them to learn the GUI standard of the MAC to write
their Office Suite. Then they implemented a version of the standard on
Windows (over 5 years to version 3.1)
>I understand their mission statement is
>"a computer on every desk, running Microsoft software". I'm ambivalent
>about the latter part, but if it makes the former more likely (and it
>appears to) then it does something of a service.
Their recent behaviour would expand on that to a computer in every closet
running Windows NT server, and a computer in every pocket running a
personal digital assistant, and a computer on every TV set runnning MS
Explorer (Internet browser), and Windows running in every office machine
whether FAX or Copier to name the ones I can think of.
There is no question that Gates understands his business, works long and
hard, is dedicated, not motivated by money (but power), has a vision, and
displays visionary leadership. I do not know whether they are more of a LO
than other computer companies but I DO KNOW that they learn more from
their competitors than many, many computer companies! Cheers....Keith
--Keith Cowan <72212.51@CompuServe.COM>
Learning-org -- An Internet Dialog on Learning Organizations For info: <rkarash@karash.com> -or- <http://world.std.com/~lo/>