For years I’ve been a profound opponent of everything Microsoft. Our company and my private productivity runs on Mac/Google/Web apps -environment and for years, since leaving a large company (where I did not have a choice), I have been sticking to non-MS world. However, lately listening to the Apple vs Google battle and seeing what kind of (high) walled garden Apple is creating I am not so sure anymore. And greed has gotten deep into the Google’s value system also even if they do everything to nurture the more socially conscious and great place to work -image.

I guess that most of my animosity comes from the lousy user experience of most MS Office applications and the dismal Live Meeting (which I have to admit have not used in over two years i.e. I am sure it is better today – or not). Especially Word is unbelievably bad compared to Apple’s Pages or the ultra simple GoogleDocs document. But Word does have one killer feature and that is support of even obscure languages including my native Finnish. And, I have to admit that I still love Excel even if some of the visual and usability issues in Apple’s Numbers are done way better. Unfortunately Excel is embedded deep in my cerebral cortex.

Bill Gates is the world’s largest philanthropist. He does it in smart controlled way that the money is used where it creates the biggest positive impact and not to build bureaucracy or lost in individual countries political layers. He has also been able to engage other powerful and wealthy people to contribute. Compared to Larry Ellison who puts his money on sail boats, Gates’ endeavors are truly commendable.

Why do I then hate Microsoft so much. The shocking realization this morning is that actually I don’t. Well at least I don’t as much as I used to. And as said above Apple and Google are pretty good at creating the evil empire clout around them nowadays too. I have heard great things about Windows 7 and that the usability of Word has improved by REMOVING features from it! Unfortunately their licensing model and cost make testing them impossible. I have done a rough estimate and using Microsoft environment in our company would increase the software cost about ten fold. Because the calculation was a bit biased, let’s say five fold.

Maybe the question then is whether Microsoft’s working environment is five times better than the alternatives. We know that that is not the case. The challenge comes from the relative cost of MS tools still being a very small percentage compared to the totals cost of running a company. And, the embedded cerebral cortex is a real issue.
issue. It is very hard to change the way people do things and it is even harder to introduce new tools to them.

I wish people were more open minded: Google Docs Document is so incredible simple that anybody can learn it in an hour. And the fact that you never have to worry about version control and backups and that it enables a whole new way of working real time in a team is an enormous bonus (I have heard rumors that you can do the same in SharePoint but can not test and see it). And Google Docs are free. Are people so afraid of change or is it the IT departments that are terrified. If more people knew and understood that there is a great innovation system outside Microsoft and that producitivity can be increased by different ways than SharePoint and Outlook improvements then more companies would consider the alternatives. Unfortunately IT departments will keep them from doing this. And, if Microsoft would offer their services free or very low monthly subscription cost like Google, I would be willing to try and even use them. But only if they tickled my mind and improved my productivity.

Matti & Juhana

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