After the (non-)excitement of Steve Ballmer's announcements about "people-based" software on Thursday, Nicholas Carr has a thoughtful post in which he suggests that Microsoft is trying to position itself in contrast to IBM over its office software rather as Apple did re PCs in 1984.
Yesterday, Microsoft launched an assault on IBM using a very similar message. Microsoft, said CEO Steve Ballmer, offers "people-ready" computing. "Our innovations facilitate the power of people," he went on, drawing a direct comparison with IBM: "Their pitch is to let IBM help your company with its innovation. Ours is to empower your people to innovate. The two approaches are striking in their contrast." IBM is The Man - the hidden power behind the hegemony of the centralized, spirit-crushing Corporate IT Department - and Microsoft, like Apple before it, is going to help you stick it to him. "People, people, people," boomed Ballmer, in case anyone missed the point.
But as he notes at the end:
Will Microsoft's strategy work? Will it erode IBM's hold on corporate computing? I don't know. But it's worth remembering how the earlier Apple-IBM tussle turned out. The victor was neither Apple nor IBM. It was a third company that, at the time, both Apple and IBM viewed not as a competitor but as a benign partner.
