Slashdot Mirror
Microsoft Accused of Squandering Billions On R&D
Julie188 writes "Even as Microsoft celebrates its 10,000th patent, angry shareholders are starting to speak out against what they say is the squandering of billions of dollars on pointless R&D projects. The 10,000th patent covers a technology that allows a device to associate data with objects placed on its surface, and is likely eventually to become part of the Surface table PC. But shareholders are fed up with the $8 billion annually spent. Said one, 'I believe Bill Gates is a charlatan because what he has said, implied, promised to shareholders and stakeholders and all of these visionary things that he mumbles and jumbles about and doesn't make reality of. MS is spending billions of dollars on R&D. Where is the return on investment?' In contrast, Apple had almost the same revenue gains as Microsoft while spending one-tenth as much."
Shoulve been on slashdot a while ago....
You see, we already knew they were taking you for a ride. Ah, but no, out you were believing the all-american microsoft of innovation (Microsoft has NEVER been an innovator.... EVER.... EEEEVEEEEERRRRR).
So, you get what you deserve.
NO SIG
Microsoft R&D is there for one purpose - to keep smart people working for Microsoft, and not some other company.
Microsoft really does not care if they are developing a toaster that can come up with a catchy background track for eating your bagel, they don't want the smart people harnessed by other companies.
If you haven't figured it out, that's really why Google is such a threat - because they have figured out how to attract the smart people, while also getting some productive ideas from them to market.
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
Nothing in .NET is new so I don't really see how much research would have been necessary to produce it. I'll give partial credit for F# as even though functional languages aren't new (no matter how you slice it) a modern implementation build on top of a pseudo VM like CLR is at least semi-novel.
Under what criteria is Songsmith successful? And if people are actually using Songsmith seriously why are they being allowed to breed?
This is the first I've heard of Kodu, and it does look interesting, although having never used it myself and not having ever heard of it before I can't really say how innovative or successful it actually is.
The fact that you're able to point out F# and Kodu shows that maybe MSR is actually starting to do some real R&D work and we'll start to see something actually innovative at some level come out of MS, but both of those items are relatively new which raises the question of what exactly the R&D department has been doing before now. Re-implementing other established technologies inside of MS products doesn't really count as research in my book, anymore than adding a "proc" filesystem to Windows 7 would count as R&D. Just because Microsoft has never done it, doesn't mean that it's new and innovative.
Curiosity was framed, Ignorance killed the cat.
"Out of all the billions they have wasted, this one looks like a winner in the long run"
Was that a joke?
They've got a system that:
* The first ever console to have LESS storage space compared to previous gens: PS2,Xbox had 8.5 GB per disc, the 360 only has 7 GB per disc
* The worst console hardware ever created
* The only console in history with graphics hardware so poorly designed that the console is forced to rely on a third party crossplatform engine, the Unreal Engine, for its 'graphical showpiece'
Microsoft has lost almost exactly the same amount of money on the Xbox 360 as they did with the Xbox. And the Xbox 360 is dead in Japan just like the first Xbox. And the Xbox 360 is dead all across mainland Europe just like the Xbox.
And the one thing that the is supposed to justify the pitiful existence of the Xbox platform, to 'own the livingroom,' has been a total failure with BluRay curbstomping HD-DVD right onto the trashheap of history. And digital download continuing to be a tiny and irrelevant niche.
Meanwhile Sony:
* Is now raking in the BluRay royalties
* BluRay is being adopted faster than DVD over VHS
* Selling at a faster rate than the 360 over two years even with being 200 dollars more expensive
* Has 20 some first party development studios all making exclusive PS3 games compared to Microsoft's anemic and shrinking 3 first party studios
* Has incredibly silent and reliable hardware even though they introduced brand new drive tech with the PS3
LOL! You really are a delusional little fanboy...
I mean who doesn't want a big-ass kiosk in their home.
Buy one and use it as a diaper changing table. That's a fitting secondary use for it, don't you think?
And remember - investing in MS is risking having your own money used against you in the marketplace.
My god. I didn't know there were people this gullible.
There is only so much the little kid can inflate 360 sales numbers and deflate PS3 sales. He can't put 360 sales number up that are higher than reported shipment figures. And he can't put up PS3 sales numbers that are so low that it would mean millions and millions of PS3 sitting unsold on store shelves around the world.
It is obviously getting harder and harder for him to inflate 360 sales relative to PS3 sales as the installed base numbers increase. But he tries with the burning fanboy desire. He once in a while screws up and puts up his fabricated sales numbers that have 360 sales greater than 360 shipments or some other obvious mistake. The Other region is where he sticks most of the inflated sales numbers for the 360 since that is the hardest to track region with no single company providing regular sales numbers for the entire region.
And then there are the fabricated software sales numbers that make the hardware sales numbers look reasonable...
they've been funding R&D at those levels for 20 years! That's 160 BILLION.. have they gotten good value for that money? The VAST majority of Microsoft's profits come from Windows and Office that generate 80% profit margins. Most other product lines lose money and don't make back their R&D cost.. they only "profit" Microsoft because they keep other companies from selling a product and keep customers from paying money to somebody else. Spending $8B a year to keep somebody else from having employees or new customers isn't really worth it.. When it could be $8B in investor's pockets. Why not stop making products that lose money and just keep the cash they already make by the bag full!
And I'm sure you have some data to back that up, right?
For what it's worth - anyone who goes by anything other than NPD data is a fool. But then again, that wasn't your point, was it?
Those who can, do. Those who can't, sue.