Let's take a look at a very noteworthy phenomenon in the market-the preconceived idea that the strong is always the strong. Before the automobile industry developed, gasoline was considered as the most promising power fuel. At that time, the steam engine technology had developed quite well, and the steam engine was safe and familiar. Gasoline is not only expensive, but also loud when starting, and there is a danger of explosion. It is difficult to extract effective grades, and complex new engines and parts are needed. In addition, gasoline engines are inherently incapable of burning gasoline completely. We can imagine that if the steam engine can develop as fast as the gasoline engine in the past 100 years, the air pollution in our living environment may be greatly reduced.
However, the reality is that gasoline engine technology has gained opportunities for development, although this is largely caused by a series of accidental historical events. For example, in 1895, The Chicago Times Herald organized a car race, and delia, who was powered by gasoline, won the championship in one fell swoop. Deye was one of the only two cars with six starting devices at that time. Perhaps it is this reason that prompted Lanson Oz to finally apply the patented gasoline engine technology to the mass production of curve dash Oz in 1896. This technology enables the gasoline engine to overcome the problem of slow start. 19 14, foot-and-mouth disease broke out suddenly in north America, and the water tanks for drinking horses were dismantled one after another. The water tanks were the only place where steam engines could add water. Although Stanley Brothers, the manufacturer of Stanley steam engine at that time, had developed condensers and steam boilers, which could make steam locomotives add water once without driving for 30 or 40 miles, it was too late, steam locomotives never had a chance to turn over again, and gasoline locomotives quickly occupied the market.
This is a matter of the machinery industry, which seems to have nothing to do with the software industry. In fact, the reason is the same: let's look at the dilemma of Microsoft's word processing software in the market and the situation that Word spreadsheet processing software was beaten out of the water by Lotus 1-2-3, and we will know that Microsoft's Office software actually has no great advantage in pure technology, but why is Office finally popularized today?
If we look at the competition between Beta and VHS in the mid-1970s, we can know that software sales are not only determined by technical factors. During the period of 1979, it was obvious that VHS video monopolized the market, although experts thought it was slightly inferior to Beta in technology. The reason is that from the beginning, VHS products have been lucky enough to occupy some market share slightly higher than that of Beta products. Although there are technical differences between the two, this more market share has brought great benefits to VHS products: video stores don't like having two videos with the same content, and consumers don't like having so many discarded VHS videos at home. So everyone wants to buy mainstream products in the market, which makes VHS products occupy a bigger market. In this way, the seemingly small differences at first were quickly expanded. Let's look back at the office suite:
First of all, Office has the advantages of integrated suite. For a single program, the things in Office do not have great advantages, but after combination and integration, the effect is different. This is a common sense today, but when Office was just launched, the development of the whole software industry was not as mature as it is today, so it is a very fresh concept and breakthrough. Although Lotus 1-2-3 is also an integrated software package, the problem is that Microsoft has tied the advantages of sales and operating system together, making the sales channel of Office wider than Lotus 1-2-3 from the beginning. That is to say, because there are more people who have to use Windows, users who contact Office will naturally increase, and the growth rate is faster than that of Lotus 1-2-3, thus offsetting the technical advantages of Lotus 1-2-3. Later, with the further improvement of office, the technical advantages of Office software, including Lotus 1-2-3, are gradually less obvious than before, and it is more difficult to cope with it. It is normal to be defeated.
Office series is a successful example of Microsoft's implementation of the economic principle of "preconceived, the strong will always be strong". Once the initial advantages are established, the following series of things have little connection with technology, but a chain reaction follows: the input method is also an obvious example-the five-stroke input method may not be the most effective and scientific input method, but it was introduced early and occupied the input method market very early. Many new computer users only know five strokes and full spelling input method (the efficiency of full spelling can not be compared with five strokes, which does not pose a threat to five strokes). Many primary computer training only provides the teaching of five-stroke input method, so although there are many mature and fast new input methods today, it is still difficult to shake the position of five-stroke font. Therefore, Microsoft uses the advantages of Windows to drive the sales of Office, which is the true meaning of understanding the laws of the market.
Of course, many people accuse Microsoft of bundling, but since this is a fact in the market, it is useless to blame unless you find a way yourself. Microsoft will not give up this easy-to-get method to maintain its advantage. Judging from the configuration requirements of Office XP, Microsoft has signs of using Office XP to force users to upgrade to the operating system version above Windows 2000. It seems that Microsoft wants Windows and Office XP to form a closer "steel alliance" and continue to defend the foundation of Microsoft's software empire.
Judging from the so-called new features of Office XP, there are not many major breakthroughs. However, integration-adding all kinds of peripherals and software related to "network strategy"-requires users to connect to Microsoft servers to save or * * * enjoy documents, upload the settings of the software itself, upgrade registration and technical support, and others. NET strategy is becoming more and more obvious. Office represents the future development trend of office software and even the whole software industry, because the basic functions, interfaces and operation modes of office software of various companies are similar now, so it is difficult for users to feel anything special among many office software, and the market competition has reached saturation. Therefore, it will be a very important measure to customize special functions and provide special services for users, which may be the breakthrough and mainstream of the software industry in the future.
Now Windows and Office have indeed formed a powerful circulation system, forming an inertia equilibrium monopoly in the market. Domestic software to break this balance, first, to enhance their own strength, there are obvious breakthroughs in technology; Second, we should learn from Microsoft's personal service-oriented software production and sales strategy, and strive to make the "positive feedback" effect accumulated by the number of Microsoft users and sales channels no longer in an advantageous position in software technology, so as to achieve a strong impact on the old market rules and inertia thinking-otherwise, we will still be forced to follow the market giants such as Microsoft.