Microsoft is a company that got its start writing software for personal computers. The personal computer revolution was a wonderous thing and no one provided a better platform for personal computer software then Microsoft did. But this is almost 2004, and not 1988, and Microsoft is still making software for personal computers, but people are using personal computers in new ways. People are doing things with their personal computers that used to be the exclusive domain of servers, an entirely different class of computers that used to run an entirely different kind of software. People are building infrastructure with their personal computers, and in that light Microsoft isn't looking as good as they used to.

You see, there are really two classes of people who use personal computers. Producers, and consumers; Developers, and Users. Microsoft has built its entire software platform to suit these two classes of users, and this makes sense as these are the people who have traditionally purchased Microsoft products. However, as Microsoft makes the move into the world of infrastructure; into the world of servers; they are entering an area where there are three classes of people who use their products: Developers, Users, and Systems Administrators.

Infrastructures are made of systems of systems that interact in very complex ways, and there is an entire class of professionals who make their living making infrastructures work. Microsoft's platform doesn't anticipate the existence of this class of professionals, and doesn't provide them with tools that are well suited to their jobs, because Microsoft's platform is designed for personal computers, and personal computers do not have Systems Administrators.

For the past decade or so Microsoft has been pushing their platform, designed for Developers and Users, into a world populated by Systems Administrators. They have tried to jam their personal computer software into the world of infrastructure the way you hammer a square peg into a round hole. They've met with constant resistance over the years and yet they have kept hammering away. Every once in a while they've changed something due to the complaints of Systems Administrators. For example, I no longer have to reboot when I change my IP address. But for the most part, they've attempted to route around the entire profession of Systems Administrators through every business and marketing trick in the book, including leveraging proprietary technology. (Of course TCO for a NBT file server IS cheaper with XP then with UNIX; Microsoft controls the protocol!)

The fact is that this strategy is doomed to failure. The fact is that Microsoft doesn't get it. Infrastructure must be reliable. Software systems are complex. Software has bugs, and will always have bugs. Systems Administrators will always be needed to reliably operate infrastructure which interacts in complex ways in spite of software bugs. There is absolutely no getting around this... [ Read More (0.5k in body) ]