By Jo Best, 26 January 2004 19:15
NEWS Speaking today at the Microsoft Developers Conference, the Redmond behemoth's head man revealed his dream for the future of software - keep it small and keep it simple.
Gates described software as the '"key frontier" left in tech and said that the software giant wants to make sure that any users would always be familiar with the interface in front of them. Gates said he wants it so users can "see the same concepts as you navigate different types of information" but admitted that the there is still a long way to go.
"The challenge of doing it right requires a lot of innovation," he said.
Keeping the little man happy is at the forefront of Gates' mind in more ways than one. With new CRM software launched today, aimed at SMEs as well as the big players, the newly 'knighted' Sir Bill underlined Microsoft's commitment to backing small business.
"Small business should be able to use [Microsoft software] as well as big business and overcome difficulties of scale," he said.
When questioned by a small businessman about the problem the deluge of spam and viruses posed to SMEs, Gates reiterated his ideas of stopping spam at source with "payment at risk" system and hopes to kill off the twin menaces in the coming years.
While some businesses may be suffering, Gates said he believed the Utopian vision of ecommerce is worth fighting for: "It's tough to achieve the dream of ecommerce but it is worth achieving - the productivity the world economy achieves is phenomenal." But he acknowledged killing off spam and malware comes first.
"There are big roadblocks [between business to business communication]... systems have to be incredibly trustworthy," he said. " It's an area of great concern for us - we want to make it so people with malicious intent can't cause outages - it's a top area we're spending on time on. You won't see it... you'll just say 'wow'" when the system works, he claimed.
When it comes to keeping systems secure, 'Sir' Bill said the software giant has two main messages - get a firewall and keep your software updated - but admitted it is up to Microsoft to play its part, adding that ensuring 90 per cent update compliance is on the agenda.
Nevertheless, even a computing legend like Bill Gates isn't immune from the odd spammer. Gates told conference how some of the junk that lands in his inbox offers to help him get out of debt and cover his legal costs for just a few cents a day. Those spammers don't know what they've promised.
Comments
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1. Phill Robinson
The CRM industry:
"Microsoft CRM....possibly the most expensive CRM product on the planet?²
Gartner Group suggests that 50% of CRM projects fail to deliver any business benefit, often due to the cost and complexity of traditional enterprise software. Microsoft CRM is just another me-to product that solves none of the major problems that have besieged traditional application software vendors
of late, and caused declining revenue across the sector. This is the second or third time Microsoft has launched a CRM product and it still has no traction in the marketplace.
CRM requirements amongst SMEs:
SMEs need a CRM solution that is low cost, low risk, easy to implement and
delivers benefits immediately. Only a hosted CRM solution fulfils these criteria.
Microsoft's strategy to lock companies in:
"Microsoft has one mission, to sell and lock you in to every piece of
software they ever made, salesforce.com's goal is the opposite, we don¹t
want you to buy any software again ever.
At face value Microsoft CRM may seem competitively priced. On the contrary, organisations that implement it will soon find out that it requires the entire Microsoft software stack installed to make it work, from SQL Server,to Exchange, to Office - making it the most bloated CRM solution known to
man - and the most expensive.
The end of software:
Salesforce.com is working towards the "End of software". For a single
monthly subscription fee, salesforce.com will deliver a comprehensive and complete CRM offering direct to your desktop through a browser. No software,
no hardware, no database, no systems management, no complex security,
no upgrade headaches, no installation, no sophisticated IT support, no upfront licensing cost, no problem.
2. Simon Hobson
"Small" and "Simple", in the same sentence with Microsoft Software ?
Microsoft couldn't write small and simple software if they tried, and I can't see them trying. Their whole empire relies on building complex software with complex private interactions between components so that it is virtually impossible to pull out any component and use a competing one - if they built houses, not only would the front door be an optional extra (making the house 'as sold' about as secure as their software), it would use non-standard dimensions to prevent you buying a lock or spare keys from a non-Microsoft source.
To change from this complex, non-splitable, concoction to small, simple, software units would release users from the lock in which is the ONLY way they can keep their stranglehold on the industry.