Change in the wind...

The world keeps turning but technology seems to turn faster than ever.

The last few weeks have seen some very interesting things in the mainstream news, for example I read that Microsoft is giving up the antitrust battle in Europe.

I read that Internet Explorer 7 is being downloaded by millions who suddenly find most things that used to work do not any more because the new security settings are so complex and arcane and set so high by default that normal activities are blocked.

I read Walter Mossberg (WSJ October 25) thinks Vista is a clunker and the latest Mac OS 10 release (is it Leopard or Lion or Panther or something) is twice as fast, much easier to use and has much better features.

I read that Google is planning a phone and is busy looking to buy spectrum to service the phone because they don't believe that they can do business with the carriers of today.

I read Mossberg (WSJ October 23) taking a stand against the carriers in a 24 gun broadside titled "Free My Phone" in which he decries the rigid, monopolistic and anti-competitive stranglehold the carriers have on the mobile phone services we pay way too much for today. On this one we have my Motorola SLVR-toting middle-schooler and all his friends in vehement agreement.

I read that Apple having locked the visionary iPhone to ATT are now starting to feel the pinch from fans for this move and also seeing the phone get hacked to unlock it. Case in point, the small phone mobile phone store down the road from my office in midtown Manhattan has a proudly displayed sign "iPhones Unlocked Here", a sort of new age cottage industry.

In Europe of course, phones have been "Free" in this context for a long time.

I read a small PDA/Phone manufacturer is trying to break into the US market because they see the huge latent opportunity created my the current rigid carrier pricing models and limited function devices.

Finally I read that ridiculous valuations, irrational exuberance and major VC investments in tech companies are again the norm in Silicon valley.

What does all this mean?

The big themes; fresh blood (capital) & Antitrust, in my mind are a semaphore to us that a changing of the guard is underway and market forces are again at work dissembling the world we know so that it more closely reassembles into something closer aligned to the world we want...today at least.

Microsoft, once unassailable in the PC market is now seeing slower growth in personal PCs shipped than Apple which has for the first time passed into double digits in this category.

The Mac is clearly superior to the PC as a consumer product but before you start to stammer in fury and rage I want to state here for the record I have been and am still a die hard PC user, have been since the IBM XT. You will note I did not say PC enthusiast. The darn thing has just fallen way behind the user experience curve.

I think Microsoft will continue to sell into the corporate market simply on it's own momentum and long history there but as a consumer option, the writing is on the wall.