Another Microsoft Failure™

There's a saying in the tech industry: "Nobody every got fired for buying Microsoft." The point being that Microsoft may not always be the best choice, but at least it's a safe one.

If you decide to use MS Windows as your operating system, or MS Office as your business-productivity suite, you can be sure that it won't be a dead end. And if Microsoft comes out with some other new technology, and you're not sure whether to support it, or maybe support some alternative from another source... you go with Microsoft. Because... see above.

Not true.

Microsoft has a slew of failed products and services lying in the gutters of the technology highway. Failures so bad that not even the strongest technology monopoly since the Bell System could foist them on us. MS Bob was a "social interface" for Windows - horrible idea, poor implementation - that flopped so badly that the project manager surely would've been sacked... if she weren't Melinda Gates. MS PhotoDraw was a painting/drawing program included in certain versions of MS Office, which was supposed to make Adobe with their overpriced Photoshop tremble. Gone. Windows ME... well, it sold OK, but no tech worth more than minimum wage ever recommended installing it. Ultimate TV was supposed to kill off TiVo and ReplayTV (already based on tricky business models), but instead it failed. Hailstorm was the cornerstone of a new software-as-service model that Microsoft was pushing to programmers. And flopped.

The latest MS Failure is Passport. This was a single-sign-on system that would enable people to create a single account with a single username and password, and use it... everywhere. Eventually. When everyone got on board and made their sites Passport-enabled.

Admittedly, it's an appealing idea. I have accounts at countless web sites, where I read news, post messages, buy stuff, etc. It'd be nice to be able to just use the same username and password on all of them, without having to sign up over and over. But it's all based on trust... and that's something Microsoft simply hasn't got.

(Actually, a "trust" is exactly what Microsoft keeps trying to build: an illegal scheme in which participants agree to unethical business practises for mutual benefit. But I Digress.)

Despite the obvious convenience for users, Passport never really took off. On one hand, people were reluctant to trust Microsoft with all their personal information. On the other, web site operators were reluctant to hand over their membership management to Microsoft.

Some businesses jumped on the MS bandwagon, and Passport-enabled their sites. After all, Microsoft was 100% behind this service, and they were eager to hop into bed wtih Mr. Bill. EBay was a prominent example of this, offering Passport logins as an alternative to their own accounts. But now eBay has dropped out of Passport. Even Microsoft no longer lists its directory of sites using Passport, presumably out of embarrassment at how small it is.

This is important to note, especially whenever Microsoft unveils a new technology or product or service that is supposed to become a de facto standard that everyone will have to support to remain competitive. Don't count on it. The person who decided that eBay would use Passport may not have gotten fired for it, but I doubt that choice helped his career.

So when Microsoft tells Visual Basic developers that it's time for them to switch to VB.NET... don't count on it. Maybe RealBasic (which can convert most existing VB programs, and unlike VB.NET will compile apps for Windows 98, Mac OS, and Linux) is a better, smarter... and even safer choice. Or when they say it's time for everyone to upgrade to a new version of MS Office... don't take their word for it. Maybe OpenOffice.org, or WordPerfect Office, or maybe even the version of MS Office you've been using is a better choice. Heck, I haven't upgraded my Windows computer since 98SE (instead setting up Linux and Mac OS X systems), and it's worked out pretty well for me.

And if anyone working for me ever bought from Microsoft without looking at alternatives from other sources... you can be damn sure he'd be fired.