By silicon.com, 14 October 2004 10:30
NEWS 15.10.99: Sun Microsystems CEO and president, Scott McNealy, told a London conference this week the game is over for Microsoft.
McNealy envisages that the future of computing will be dominated by wireless devices - none of which will feature Microsoft's Windows operating system.
"The wireless market is the future. Microsoft has figured out that it has no way of making money out of the wireless market and no good ideas about how to get out of this problem," said McNealy.
15.10.04: "Microsoft"? Now there's a blast from the past.
As ever, McNealy's prediction was spot on and those of you will long memories will recollect that the large US software firm founded by the now-forgotten former billionaire Bill Gates went bust soon after this statement was made.
The world did go for all things wireless in the ensuing years and the market slammed the door shut on Microsoft, leaving no option but the long decline into obscurity.
Back in reality of course McNealy was typically wide of the mark - in truth it is his own company which has increasingly been linked with decline and demise and his own job which has looked insecure over the past five years, as Sun racked up consecutive loss-making quarters at an unenviable rate.
As times got harder for Sun the anti-Microsoft sentiment got stronger. Many in the industry recall his "Ballmer and Butt-head" jibe at the Ballmer and Gates management of Microsoft, but it did little to deflect from McNealy's own precipitous position.
As for Microsoft - the company has predictably gone from strength to strength. McNealy probably suspected this would be the case but simply could not bring himself to say it.
To some extent it has embraced the move to wireless. The Smartphone has been one in-road, the tablet PC another.
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1. anonymous
In fact Sun is doing farily well with wireless compared to Microsoft. There are millions and millions of cell phones shipping with Sun's Java software as Microsoft struggles to enter the cell phone market. We will have to wait and see if Sun can turn this advantage into actual revenue tough.