"Microsoft is stuck" says trendwatcher Vincent Everts

During a recent seminar organized by Cap Gemini called ´The Future of Office automation´various large IT vendors gave their vision on innovation on people productivity and office automation for the years to come. During the mainstream session Microsoft, IBM and also trendwatcher and ICT guru Vincent Everts spoke about how technology has influenced the way we live, work and interact in our day to day personal and business lives. One thing is clear; we are starting to get ´addicted´ to the ease, speed, cost and practical advantages of new ways of communicating. While I can still remember the first mobile fridge phones of 15 years ago (remember how proud you were having one;-), nowadays tools like Skype, Google, Hyves and other instant communication and social networking tools start to dominate the way we interact and share idea´s.

IBM Lotus VP Ken Bisconti amongst others talked about how Lotus Sametime 7.5 (see article and links on other parts of this blog) will be every businesses alternative to public instant communication tools and how IBM see´s these worlds blending together. Microsoft spokes person Ms. B. Karia talked about the future innovations of Microsoft Vista and how this will add even more features probably nobody will use. Vincent Everts wrapped it all up in a high paced overview with many recognizable examples (presentation available via the link on this page).

At the end of his presentation Vincent was asked the question which company would no longer exist in 10 years time. His answer: "Either Microsoft or Google will eat each other, I see Microsoft trying to climb up in the business segment but they are currently ´stuck´"

It is true that Microsoft currently has to deal with many different issues and that it´s shine has faded over the last couple of years. Last year for the first time worldwide more Linux servers were sold then Windows servers, adoption of the open document standard (ODF) is growing at a rapid pace, X-Box is tagging far behind Sony´s playstation and customers are starting to see that they are only paying Microsoft for expensive marketing campaigns while not getting back true innovation.