Unlike many companies, Microsoft is adapting. F# is an example of that.
Posted on Friday, January 23, 2009 at 12:44 AM.Today I perused an article suggesting that Microsoft is a "dying giant". While that article is correct to point out that we are seeing things change for Microsoft, I don't think the article's interpretation was correct. They're adapting to changing circumstances, and are doing a better job than many of their competitors.
Yes, they have or will be making some significant layoffs. That's often necessary during a time of change. Efficiency and productivity has become a necessity, and those who don't offer one or both must go.
But unlike many of their competitors, especially Sun, Microsoft has potential. They're going in the right direction where it matters. One such example is F#. With virtually every PC sold these days having CPUs with two or more cores, software will need to start making better use of such resources. One of the most effective ways of doing this is through the techniques of functional programming. With the release of Visual Studio 2010, which will include support for F#, Microsoft will bring functional programming to the masses.
Sun has failed miserably in this respect. Considering the hardware they offer, they should have been at the forefront of delivering what it takes to write effective software that runs on systems with 32 or more processing units. After all, that is what we'll see in typical desktops in a few years, if not sooner.
Java has stagnated, and in many ways is becoming irrelevant in the coming software development world. While Java did help bring multithreaded programming to a wider audience, its techniques are no longer suitable. We, as developers, need functional programming. So Sun should probably have put much more emphasis on programming languages that target the JVM like Scala and Clojure, rather than Java. They do offer the functional programming capabilities that we're really beginning to need these days, and that we'll find crucial in the very near future.
Although I have used Sun's hardware and software for years, and have very much enjoyed using them, I see Microsoft as bringing more innovation and practicality to developers than Sun is these days. So although Microsoft is falling on some troubling times these days, as most companies and individuals are, they have a better future ahead of them. They're adapting during these crucial times, and will be much better prepared to face the computers we will be using shortly.
