Saving MS
Cloud based computing has eroded MS in several ways: a) one can live without MS desktop solutions; b) most of the software that runs the cloud based solutions uses open source software.<p>Here is a challenge. What kind of crazy strategy could MS pursue to beat Google? Or at least to survive. Here is my attempt at a solution.<p>I propose they solve one of the pressing issues of our time: Freedom. The rise of cloud computing has created Big Data and the temptation to use it to profile all of us. Yes Google can say they will do no evil, but the temptation is there. Absolute power corrupts absolutely.<p>To do this MS would have to embrace free software and become the type of company that RMS likes. They would have to abandon or even start opposing DRM. They would have to create a peer-to-peer solution to cloud computing that preserves our freedom and takes the temptation of Big Data away.<p>The fact is that MS could do well by doing good. Peer-to-peer networks would have to have a desktop component. MS would make money in two ways: a) running a large peer-to-peer network; b) becoming the lead maintainers of open source desktop solutions--hence the ones that companies will turn to first when they need something changed.