Microsoft offers the operating system for endpoints and a good number of servers
They offer the office suite which I’m sure over 90% of companies use
They offer file sharing solutions such as OneDrive and SharePoint which integrate natively with the office suite offering
They offer the critical business services for creating accounts, managing devices, deploying software and updates, many of these features integrate natively with the operating system
They offer security services, which again, integrate natively with the operating system.
Its not impossible to find solutions to all of these, but finding reasonable alternatives that only work a fraction as good as some of the native features Microsoft offers, it’s understandable that there becomes a dependence on just sticking with the Microsoft option.
Sharepoint is a pain to use, For sharing OneDrive does nothing better than other drives, Nextcloud offers Office integration which should cover most use cases…
From the end user perspective, even in a business context i dont see MS to be that much better, its just people sticking with what they are used to.
From an admin perspective i have the feeling it has gotten much worse, and whenever i had to read up on slightly administrative stuff with MS products, the documentation was terrible and things seemed needlessly complicated. Here again i have the feeling that a lot of it is a lock in effect from people just doing what they are used to and expanding on that, rather than learning anything new.
Meanwhile one of my customers is struggling to merge their 365 accounts into one new structure after a merger. They even hired some consultants who only made things worse instead of helping with it. So everything being with Microsoft as the single provider, while running the same systems, still makes integrating the systems obnoxiously difficult.
I’d argue the dependence on Microsoft products isn’t a result of rational business choices, but lack of qualification and knowledge meeting predatory business practices and a FOMO/technical lock-in effect.
I think its fair to be concerned.
Microsoft offers the operating system for endpoints and a good number of servers
They offer the office suite which I’m sure over 90% of companies use
They offer file sharing solutions such as OneDrive and SharePoint which integrate natively with the office suite offering
They offer the critical business services for creating accounts, managing devices, deploying software and updates, many of these features integrate natively with the operating system
They offer security services, which again, integrate natively with the operating system.
Its not impossible to find solutions to all of these, but finding reasonable alternatives that only work a fraction as good as some of the native features Microsoft offers, it’s understandable that there becomes a dependence on just sticking with the Microsoft option.
Sharepoint is a pain to use, For sharing OneDrive does nothing better than other drives, Nextcloud offers Office integration which should cover most use cases…
From the end user perspective, even in a business context i dont see MS to be that much better, its just people sticking with what they are used to.
From an admin perspective i have the feeling it has gotten much worse, and whenever i had to read up on slightly administrative stuff with MS products, the documentation was terrible and things seemed needlessly complicated. Here again i have the feeling that a lot of it is a lock in effect from people just doing what they are used to and expanding on that, rather than learning anything new.
Meanwhile one of my customers is struggling to merge their 365 accounts into one new structure after a merger. They even hired some consultants who only made things worse instead of helping with it. So everything being with Microsoft as the single provider, while running the same systems, still makes integrating the systems obnoxiously difficult.
I’d argue the dependence on Microsoft products isn’t a result of rational business choices, but lack of qualification and knowledge meeting predatory business practices and a FOMO/technical lock-in effect.