Windows 11: 20 years ago, the browser war began, which continues to this day. Microsoft's Internet Explorer managed to overturn the original data after killing the popular Netscape due to its integration into Windows 95. Windows 11 has Edge as the default browser, but Microsoft can no longer invest in it, since there's her Chrome Google.
No, the new super weapon is coming free with Windows 11 it is not the browser but Microsoft Teams. It comes pre-installed and you cannot remove it. You can remove OneDrive, Office 365, the new widgets, but not Teams. At least not that simple. Ostensibly, the app is there to help you communicate with other people or even exchange files with them.
And this time, there is no significant opponent. Google's conferencing system is a mess that doesn't even know its name. The only competitor at the moment is formed by Salesforce with the recent purchase of the Slack service. Slack sued Microsoft a year ago for including Teams in Office. Certainly its addition to Windows 11 did not find Slack agreeable but who is running in the courts?
But what makes online sessions as important as the oil wells of Mesopotamia? It is the same war of browsers. Whoever manages to control the conversations between people will also control the digital world. Every file you share, every connection made, every link changed, is a treasure to be collected. All collected information is automatically merged. Teams access channels, businesses, helplines, content storage, special offers, preferences, payment systems.
The long course of interactions between the users of the conference system, produces a rich map of behavior of each of us. All of this metadata - and actual data - on Microsoft servers is a raw material ready to power AI / ML machines. Microsoft has the lead over Salesforce, as the Microsoft Teams app will be pre-installed in almost every business in the world. If it manages to attract home users now, Microsoft will live through great times again, like the IE6 era.
The reign of IE6 was marked by stagnation. Competitors found no reason to allocate resources to gain a monopoly service. If you think Teams won't do the same, wait until Microsoft starts enjoying its new monopoly again.
What saved the world then was the open standards of the internet - Microsoft could not hold on to the victory of IE6, no matter how hard it tried.
Windows 11 will soon be everywhere with its telemetry and the rest of the players are sitting idle. Google, Salesforce, Amazon and Apple simply see the lot lost. Salesforce's Slack app has found a big company to back it, but Salesforce isn't Microsoft. Google and Amazon have the reach and infrastructure to sell conferencing services on the open market. Google won the mobile market very smartly with an open operating system. If he showed the same interest in the conferences, maybe something would happen. Of course, "from the dog to the horse" also applies here, but at least there would be a competitor.
