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Microsoft Is a Dying Consumer Brand
Taxman415a noted a CNN story on the dying Microsoft brand where they talk about "The less than stellar performance of, and problems in, nearly every consumer division. It cites StatCounter's data showing IE's market share falling below 50%, and is even smart enough to note that's just one statistic with various problems, though the trend is clear. It also seems that MS doesn't want to compete with Android, so it plans to charge royalty fees to handset makers to discourage them from using it in their products. The conclusion is that MS will just be a commercial, not consumer company."
Exactly what part of xbox360 is "milking its market share"? It's been gaining market share hand over fist since release date. Windows 7 has all sorts of enhancements both to the UI, and the programming interfaces.
Anyone that says they aren't innovating either hasn't used their products, or is trolling for slashdot karma.
First let's clear up a few things. Steve and his iDevices are a niche. A well profitable niche, but a niche. Big on the coasts, not so much in the flyover states. Also with Steve's iDevices you are strictly locked down with the walled garden. Some folks like that, many don't. And second I assume you are talking Android with regards to Open Source, because Linux on the desktop is frankly as dead this year as it was last. No big box retailers carry it, not a single model anywhere. And Android right now is a mess. Sorry, but it is. The handset makers have made the platform into a fractured mess, with versions galore and some being updated and some not, sorry but it's a mess.
Finally you are forgetting the history of MSFT: The first versions? ALWAYS suck. But they keep at it and slowly but surely crush the competition. Anybody that compared the early Windows 1 and 2 to Apple would have laughed their asses off if you told them MSFT would dominate. Hell the first version of WinNT took frankly insane hardware for the time. Now all you see is XP and 7 everywhere. The first Xbox? MSFT said their goal was to have a MSFT product at the center of everyone's living room, and now with the X360 that is the case. So I think the other poster's comment about potential is right. We haven't actually seen MSFT try to compete in the mobile space, because frankly they haven't cared about it. But with WinPhone 7 it looks like the repeated poking of the bear has woken it up. Tying WinPhone into X360? A DAMN smart idea. It is the youth market that drives the latest gadgets and being able to up your stats on the go? That sure sounds like a selling point to me, and from what I've read XNA is damned easy to code for, and you can currently write one game and have it run on Windows, X360, and WinPhone. you watch, the next version will be more powerful, probably powerful enough to write AAA titles with.
So calling the fight before the round has even started is foolish IMHO. After all there was a time when everyone laughed at the thought of IE ever unseating Netscape as the number 1 browser, or that you would see an Xbox in nearly every gamer's home, or that anything after Vista would be a hit. MSFT has been using the same strategy for years: Start out slow and clunky, learn, get better, then slaughter. And finally don't forget old Ballmer's "Developers developers developers" which Steve and his arbitrary app rules is working hard to seriously piss off. If MSFT makes it butt simple AND profitable to develop for their device? watch the apps roll in. I'd say we have another 2 or 3 years before we see exactly what MSFT is gonna be going for, and whether they are gonna sink the money and time into mobile to really compete. But if they tie everything together nicely, like they have been doing with Windows 7 and the X360? Sure it could be a hit. There is enough division in the market right now that calling it for ANYBODY at this point is simply too premature. Hell if HP wasn't so stupid they could even slice off a nice chunk with sales of WebOS. It is simply anybody's game at the moment.
ACs don't waste your time replying, your posts are never seen by me.
Care to elaborate what's so good about Visual Studio? I have it, and I have used with it (albeit only casually), but I can't really find what's so good about it.
PlusFive Slashdot reader for Android. Can post comments.
THANK YOU!!! That is EXACTLY what I'm talking about! Most laughed their ass off when Jobs talked about making an iPhone, because RIM and WinMo had the market "locked" and now look. Mobile phones have ZERO lock in when it comes to customers, who have no problem tossing old phones for new, old networks for new, etc. Trying to bet the mobile space is "locked" is frankly insane or link bait, as we have seen time and time again in the consumer market things can change in a heartbeat, and anybody who thinks that with the kind of R&D money MSFT has they can't buy or hire enough talent to make a good product is just delusional.
If you look at the past it was pretty clear MSFT simply didn't give a shit about mobile, the WinMo division was a tiny group treated more like a red headed stepchild than an actual dept in MSFT. But it seems now that Win 7 has launched and shown what tie in can do the suits may actually be paying attention for once. Anyone who has used Win 7 and seen how nicely it hooks into Xbox 360 knows they can do bundle, and if they can tie winPhone 7 into that? Yes it can grab some serious share. I personally am not "for or against" ANY of the mobile companies, I'm an old greybeard that prefers his computing on a computer and his tunes on an MP3 and his phone for actually making calls. But the rampant fanboi-ism we are seeing around the mobile space is frankly nuts, and trying to call it at this stage of the game is wishful thinking.
While I haven't got to play with a WinPhone 7 I have got to play with an iPhone and a WebOS phone and frankly there is NO phone out there that is perfect, in fact they ALL leave a lot to be desired, from battery life to reaction time to intuitiveness. Trying to say someone has a lock is like saying someone has the perfect phone, which unless you are seriously gulping some koolaid is just not believable. There is PLENTY of room for new ideas and new directions in the mobile space, just look at how Android came out of nowhere. Hell I would LMAO if while every fanboi ran to defend their phone of choice some little no name company put out the next killer PhoneOS. At this early stage of the game that is ENTIRELY possible, all it would take is coming up with a better GUI or a "killer app" that made it a must have. After all who would have thought selling apps to a phone 5 years ago would have been anything but a worthless niche?
ACs don't waste your time replying, your posts are never seen by me.