And like Steve Jobs, Mitch Kapor, Dan Bricklin, all of whom created seminal products in a line leading to the Web, he yearns to do it again. We're definitely at a crossroads. On June 1, we'll hear, in some detail, what Bill Gates's next vision is. Like Berners-Lee's vision it must include the Web, but it's more than the Web. In normal times it wouldn't be as dramatic as now, because the verdict in the anti-trust trial dramatizes everything Gates does until it's overturned or implemented.
Applications surely figure heavily in the next configuration of Windows, and so does the Web.
To me, the only sharable vision is the Web with nothing extra. A commitment by Microsoft to gently upgrade the Web, while competition catches up. We must have competition in Web browsers. This is something that the DOJ got right. At minimum, if Microsoft wants the respect of the people who create and use the Web, they must cooperate here, if they want to be taken in any way to be a leader, and a supporter of innovation.