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Microsoft Teams Up With Japanese VoIP Carrier
paritosh wrote to mention an Ars article about the joining up of Microsoft and Softbank to provide enterprise-level VoIP, IM, email, Internet, and groupware to the Japanese market. They are already discussing bringing it to the U.S. if it succeeds there. From the article: "With Softbank BB supplying most of the VoIP infrastructure, Microsoft's primary focus in this agreement will be providing hosted versions of its server products. Some of the products mentioned in the agreement include Exchange 2003, Office Live Communications Server 2005 and SharePoint. I wouldn't be surprised to see Windows Messenger make its way into the mix considering its new PC-to-POTS capability, which can act as a segue into the larger areas of the VoIP market in North America."
Yeah, sorry, no. MS doesn't exactly have a winning track record when it comes to reliability, and VoIP is not something you want to be flaky. People just won't stand for it.
On top of the fact there are tons of internet based voip players out there that give people more options than they might ever need. Further, voip over the internet is too flaky for business use. All of these factors hurt anything MS may try in this field, and they aren't equipped to do it right.
Grasshopper. How has this hurt Microsoft before? How has an unreliable product put into a market that already has many alternative reliable products ever stopped Microsoft?
The idea of voice over ip is to reuse 'ip' to send voice, not send more cash back to M$.
M$ takes an existing product and extends it.
After dumbing down and corporatizing up what are we left with?
A new generation of beta grade voip software at enterprise rates - no saving for you.
And for 20 year ppl line up and ask for more?
Do you really want to dial 911 and get Clippy telling you about a great new deal?
Domestic spying is now "Benign Information Gathering"
Microsoft counters any attack on their reputation with the same strategy: make a TV ad showing how computers and Microsoft products actually makes children smarter and *love* to learn. It appears that it has been a fairly effective strategy so far. If you doubt it, go out on the street and ask people who invented the Internet. Discard the Al Gore reponses (and I certainly hope that out on the street does not mean on the street at MIT).
I think you miss an important thing about how Microsoft markets their products. You take one successful product and bind it to another. Then you take control of the new market by leveraging the old one. Making your product incompatible with other products helps prevent users from bouncing around. Now make TV ads showing how children learn faster with MS voip. And it makes them happier, and stronger too!
Remember that people use MS products because they have no choice!