
The old ways of companies being able to dominate in technology are crumbling, and I see that the future as more competitive.
Why? Google is losing both the ability to be dominate in ads, and facing governmental regulation or even being split up. Apple and Microsoft while huge and powerful are seeing backlash from users and companies.
It is easy to dismiss this as just temporarily issues. I think they signal something more fundamental. People have seen and felt being abused by tech giants for years with loss of privacy, data breaches and lack of choice. I think people have slowly learned it doesn’t have to be this way.
Lets talk about examples. I worked with a company once that bought Okta and was treated terribly. Okta wasn’t honest about the full cost of its services, and so they didn’t budget or plan and it turned out the client needed more functionality. However with the budget, they had to use another option that was less than ideal. Other companies that deal with that company were told of their experience, and it won’t increase sales from their partners.
Now one could easily say they didn’t need Okta. Perhaps they didn’t. However what they will remember is how they were treated, and that will drive them more firmly in the Microsoft camp. I have the same experiences of people who were nickle and dime from Microsoft.
Other companies I have worked for have complained about the high cost of Apple and they problems with integration into other technologies. So no tech giant is perfect of course. However when the vendor doesn’t care about the customer, the customer gets the message and moves on.
I wrote before about how Windows dominance on the desktop was falling, and people are similarly tired of the iPhone and same looking laptops. Failure to innovate makes people want to keep what they have, and explore other options. I don’t blame anyone who is tired of the old guard and looking for new things. No this is not a Linux rant.
The problem is that giant tech companies are too slow to move at the pace that customers want. Sure people will continue to use those companies products, but when something better comes along or people recognize what is better, then we will see those giants fall. Nothing lasts forever, companies that don’t make it easy for the clients are being rejected by people in small and large ways.