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Microsoft's Sneak Attack On Apple: SkyDrive, Not Surface
New submitter curtwoodward writes "Microsoft won't become a hardware company — unless you count mice and keyboards, former Microsoftie Charlie Kindel argues — because that would mean competing with Apple on its terms. But Kindel says Microsoft may be embarking on a totally new business model by seeding its connected software services across all platforms. You saw more evidence this week with the release of SkyDrive for Android. 'For that to work, it can't just be Windows,' he says. 'As a matter of fact, to beat Apple, it has to work really well on Apple devices.'"
They really don't think of the Xbox as hardware?
Damn_registrars has no butt-hole. Damn_registrars has no use for a butt-hole.
So what happens when it starts doing "too well" and gets banned from the AppStore for violating it's guidelines?
not sure I need that
Yes, please. Try fixing MS Office and Outlook for Mac before embarking on a SkyDrive project.
sudo make me a sandwich
Microsoft sues for anti-trust.
Populus vult decipi, ergo decipiatur...
"Force shits upon Reason's back." - Poor Richard's Almanac
Apple's new internal motto: Mac OS X isn't done until SkyDrive won't run.
They need to embrace non-windows platforms cause that's where the action is right now.
Once they've destroyed all semblance of competition, THEN they can tighten the noose and force everyone onto Windows.
So I take this as a threat by Microsoft to make something that "works really well"? How about getting the "works really well" part first, then maybe the "all devices" part.
I'll see your senator, and I'll raise you two judges.
Google beat them to the punch with Google Drive. Likewise with reports that after the Samsung spat Google and Apple are talking about sharing their IPs with each other, I dont think Apple has anything to fear with Redmond anymore.
"Slashdot, where telling the truth is overrated but lying is insightful."
Microsoft sues for anti-trust.
After all, they have irony clad arguments to do that!
> by seeding its connected software services across all platforms
Cloud needs mist.
(-1: Post disagrees with my already-settled worldview) is not a valid mod option.
The fundamental problem is that if Microsoft "[moves] away from its licensed operating system business model", it is throwing away its primary competitive edge – the whole multi-billion-dollar Windows ecosystem – in favor of other markets where competition is fiercer, profit margins are lower, and (most importantly) Microsoft doesn't have a massive legacy advantage. Businesses pay billions of dollars collectively for licenses to Windows and Office because: (1) they need them to run legacy programs and read legacy documents; (2) all their employees already know how to use them; and (3) everyone *else* is using them, so they need to do the same thing for interoperability. Steve Ballmer doesn't seem to understand these basic facts, so he is undercutting the core business of Microsoft to chase after newer, sexier markets.
Of course, if you flip it around and look at how amazingly bad iTunes is on the PC, you'll notice how that statement is complete BS. In fact, anyone anywhere knows that Apple became popular by creating the fake image that if you buy an Apple device, you can show off and tell your friends you're better than them. Now that too many people have Apple products, that fell apart so they've resorted to lying about being better at graphics and video editing and suing their competition.
Back to the original article's point, all that they need to beat Apple's iphone and ipad is the keyboard. EVERYONE who types over 30WPM on a standard keyboard hates typing on ipads and iphones. They could put up a giant banner at Best Buy with the Microsoft Surface tablet on it and just put "It has a physical keyboard" and that's all that's necessary. Or they could really drive up the score by adding another banner under it that says: "Screw skydrive, Screw iCloud, this has a USB port." People do know how to use flash drives these days and my flash drive worked just fine last February 29th, unlike some clouds.
Windows couldn't make Windows Live Mesh run on their own platform. What makes you think they can make Windows SkyDrive work on someone else's?
I've been hearing for years that Microsoft is moving to a subscription model for all its software products. I'm still not buying that this is the heart of any strategy.
Perhaps I can see a complete subscription model working in the Enterprise segment, but the consumer segment? I don't see it. I don't doubt that MS plans on building out services that they hope to attract subscription revenue. They have XBox Live and it's working pretty well. After that, what else is there? They have Office 365 which is competitive but I'm sure it doesn't make up for the revenue lost on traditional Office licenses. Windows? Forget it. I don't see the average consumer getting on board with a subscription tied to the computer unless the computer is subsidized to a free price point. SkyDrive? That's another crowded market with Google Drive, iCloud, Dropbox, etc. Azure? Amazon, Google, Rackspace...I don't think there's any web service that MS can offer that would be a "sneak attack."
Nope, MS is a behemoth company. As such, it's doing many different things at the same time just like Google & Apple. It has web services like Google. It has hardware like Apple. And all of them are vying to be the center of everyone's computing ecosystem to the point that the barrier of exiting is nearly insurmountable. It's that simple.
MS wants to be on the Desktop, in the cloud, on your mobile device, in your living room, and on your tablet. The question is if they can pull all their disparate teams together to provide something that excels in what Apple & Google has already done.
-Shawn "If the Name Don't Rhyme It Ain't Mine" Conn
Perhaps TFA has overlooked the other elephant in the room - Google
Microsoft's SkyDrive attack is not only aimed at Apple, but also Google as well
I have to agree that the move is sneaky, but then, business is business
Google better sits up and takes notice, and do something about this
Muchas Gracias, Señor Edward Snowden !
'As a matter of fact, to beat Apple, it has to work really well on Apple devices.'" ?
Seems to me it has to be killer apps the do NOT work on apple at all.
Wuddooeyeno? IITYWYBMAD? Like nuts? eclecticallyincorrect.com
Ultimately cloud storage itself is a commodity. In fact, it's a commodity that loses a LOT of value if its a walled garden. Microsoft will have to compete on the value that sits on top of that storage. Just like Google and Apple have to compete on that plain. There are a bunch of aggregators coming on the scene that are proving this out. I work for one. It's called Otixo.com and it pulls together 21 different services including Skydrive, GoogleDrive, DropBox, etc and WebDAV and FTP into one big online harddrive and WebDAV share.
We are really careful not to step on the toes of these providers so we try to identify what their value is beyond storage and enhance it or at least stay out of the way. Ultimately, SkyDrive makes it easy to collaborate with the Office Suite and to eventually store XBox stuff. Microsoft's value prop is still Office, Sharepoint, MSSQL & it's Analysis Services, .NET and XBox. I think it's hard for them to break out of that even when there are contenders beating up on it daily. SkyDrive is a path to greater presence in the cloud which they sorely need but it's not a strategy in and of itself and it won't save them.
What Microsoft has needed for at least the last 10 years is to build bridges to Linux and Apple. They needed to make it as easy as possible for all boats to float. It's probably too late for that now....
Every rule has more than one consequence.