

Technology giants at war - bergie
http://www.economist.com/news/21567361-google-apple-facebook-and-amazon-are-each-others-throats-all-sorts-ways-another-game

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Tycho
It seems that journalists now talk about Microsoft as being a spent force
simply because it's become _boring_ to continually recognise their dominant
position in the computing industry.

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rayiner
By that token, you could also complain about the exclusion of IBM, Oracle,
etc. These companies aren't really fighting it out for new territory the way
Apple, Google, and Facebook are. They are big and relevant, but they're making
money off existing fiefdoms.

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Tycho
Microsoft has the overall No.1[1] spot - it sells the OS and the software that
virtually every office in the world (and most homes) rely upon. _Nobody has
come close to challenging that._

You can look at their other ventures - XBox, Bing, Zune, HD DVD, HotMail, SQL
Server, IE, Windows Mobile/Phone and point out that they have not 'defeated'
their rivals in these areas. But these are secondary or tertiary industries
for Microsoft, where their main objective is to head-off any would-be
challenges to their dominance of the PC market. Eg. consoles replacing the
home PC, Google rendering it obsolete, Apple breaking into office sales.

[1] Yes Apple is the biggest company right now in financial terms, but
Microsoft's turf is still the most desirable (though not quite as glamorous)

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signalsignal
I'm a military veteran. I've been to war. What the article is written about is
not a war. It is a competition between companies in a safe and opportunistic
market, which is the furthest thing from warfare and destruction that I know.

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mturmon
Relax. The analogy is more to storybook combat (Game of Thrones is the model)
rather than real war. I found the extended analogy to be clever and fun.

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Mythbusters
It's odd that Microsoft's name does not come in the discussion that talks
about technology giants. Google, Apple all are competing with Microsoft tooth
and nail. Amazon and facebook maybe less so. Not mentioning it makes me
question if its the bias or lack of knowledge on the part of the author.

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mturmon
Read the article -- MS is mentioned in what is probably appropriate context --
as a side issue to the great game currently underway.

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bitcartel
I like the illustrated map by David Parkins. Good for desktop wallpaper or
printing out and framing.

Any other tech-related fantasy style maps out there?

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bergie
XKCD has done some <http://xkcd.com/802/>

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Apocryphon
What other ancient empires are still in play? IBM deals mostly in the realm of
enterprise, eBay is still around as the master of its own specific market
(with PayPal fighting back at the insurgent Square), and Oracle does-
litigation and acquisitions?

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rblion
World Web War III. Reminds me of Game of Thrones, "Winter is coming!"

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psbp
Did you not even bother to read the title of the article?

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rblion
went straight to the map. oops.

