Microsoft 'ecosystem' is biggest, survey says

In the IT industry, Microsoft and its "ecosystem" of parters are big--on the order of 40 percent of the market. And if any policy makers around the world doubted its influence, it now has the data to prove it.

The software giant commissioned research company IDC to survey 82 countries and measure the economic impact of the IT industry, and Microsoft specifically.

Overall, the results were not surprising, according to Craig Mundie, chief research and strategy officer at Microsoft. IT contributes to economic growth and job growth more than other industries, according to the IDC study.

The study managed to quantify the Microsoft business universe. There are about 14 million people working at companies that touch Microsoft software in some way, either as hardware distributors, services companies, or software developers.

That number represents about 42 percent of the overall IT market, according to the data. Mundie expects that number to stay consistent in the coming years.

For policymakers, the survey offers some lessons on how to promote economic development by encouraging an IT industry, said Mundie who worked several years on government policy in China, India and other countries.

Governments looking to nurture IT should not only seek to attract large, established IT providers to the countries, but also the smaller companies that revolve around those giants, Mundie said.

"People tend to look at IT in a somewhat naive way. If the big guys are there--Microsoft, IBM, Oracle, the names you know--they think that everything will be good. That's not the case," Mundie said.

"If you don't have companies on the ground like hardware manufacturers, services companies supporting them, then the big guys can't carry it by themselves," he said.

In the case of Microsoft, for every dollar it earns, partners earn just under eight dollars.

Other policies, such as intellectual property reform and investments in networking infrastructure, are also important, he said.

The IDC study--which Microsoft has been commissioning in different forms for the past five years--also forecasts positive growth for the IT industry and workers, with developing countries leading the way.

In the next four years, they were be an additional 7 million jobs added in IT with about 60 percent of those in software. The fastest-growing country for IT jobs is China with the United States behind it, Mundie said.

[Galaxy5]

There's a lot of pond scum in the world, too

Numbers mean little when your mediocracy precedes you.

No one gives awards out to pipe manufacturers or sewer plant
operators - but they keep a vital part of society operating as
well. The crucial difference is that with Microsoft playing these
societal roles, we'd have sewerage in the streets and
substandard waste treatment.

If I wanted to recycle my grey water for gardening, I'd either
have to be trained well (linux) or pay a little more (Mac OS X) to
ensure that I don't get sick. On the other hand, folks who want
to dump crappy water in their gardens deserve all of the fun that
Exchange...uh, I mean e. coli an visit upon them.

It's a bit out of scope, but the increasing rates of bacterial
infection upon mass-food consumers has roughly paralleled the
rise in virii and exploits for the 'most popular' OS.

[galacticcruiser]

Agreed!

Funny analogy! I would say that instead of "most popular", maybe you mean most "popular" :)

It just feels like yet another self-congratulating survey. What were the negatives, for example?

[Neville Bartos]

Well said

To Microsoft, it's exactly that; a numbers game. When your goal is purely to create revenue, who cares if there's sewerage on the streets? Most people are so used to it, they know no better. A cheap fix to clean it up, and back on their mary way.

[John Beagle]

Pond Scum takes many forms

Everyone wants to call Microsoft names, but no one can be em.

Microsoft is not paying societal roles, I don't even know what that means.

Rock on Microsoft!

[rashinal]

it's all about this :

"In the case of Microsoft, for every dollar it earns, partners earn
just under eight dollars."

because it says two imortant things.

one, that for every dollar you have to pay MS (which is a
ridiculous lot), you have to pay nearly eight to other companies
in order to actually make the MS product worthwhile. (and yet
it's supposed to be 'cost effective" !)
two, the huge industry push to live in an MS universe is, in large
part, driven by the money you can force companies (users) to
spend once they commit (are trapped) in the MS product
hegemony.
ie., for support, protection, xtension, etc..