Business and enterprise software, and other applications that help a business run

In some ways, Windows is the most popular business software, which is like saying (I suppose) that the common cold is the world’s favorite illness. Like a rhinovirus, Windows is everywhere. As Microsoft continues to dither, and to make what appear for all the world to be a series of bone-headed PR moves, the rest of the world is gaining on them.

Linux and OS X are gaining on the operating system front, mainly because the only thing worse than Vista is the way that Microsoft has handled Vista. Open source is gaining on Microsoft business software of all kinds, from server software (Apache) to business desktop apps (Open Office), because the Open Source software is superior to the Microsoft bloatware. The year 2008 is not going to be a good year for Microsoft, just as 2007 was not, and like 2009 probably will not be.

The only direction Microsoft seems to understand these days is backward. I am more than old enough to remember when Microsoft was the new, forward-looking kid on the block, the company that finally got everybody on the same page so that personal computers all worked together and traded data. That is what fueled the PC revolution, and I appreciate what they did.

But the software and the minds at Microsoft are all filled with nothing but legacy code. After many years as a PC and Windows user and expert, I finally could no longer give the aging behemoth Microsoft any more money. I had paid my debt to them for the unification of micro-computers. Their software became lousier by the year and their attitude became even worse. So I began to plot my way out.

I do not believe that the Linux world has their act sufficiently together to replace Windows. At least not yet. Maybe in a couple of more years. However, Apple has the *nix act together almost perfectly. I know, the Apple folks are not exactly wearing white hats. They are more proprietary that the detested IBM ever was. But while I am tapping my foot waiting for Linux to grow up, I would prefer to use proprietary software that works instead of proprietary software that sucks.

So I have traded in Windows for OS X on a MacBook Pro. It’s only been ten days, but it is one of the better moves that I have made, at least for now. It is a move that even major corporations could make without taking a big hit in the IT budget to make the change, and one which would save them a lot of money down the road. If your clients are asking for Macs, Mr. Corporate Technology Officer, listen to them, for they are right.

OSX is orders of magnitude better than Vista.