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Why Eric Schmidt Is Wrong About Microsoft Not Mattering Anymore
First time accepted submitter Gumbercules!! writes "Eric Schmidt said he believes there is a 'Gang of Four' technology platform leaders — Google, Apple, Amazon and Facebook — Microsoft isn't one of them. I wrote about why I believe he's wrong and what it might say about Google's weaknesses. From the article: 'It's no secret that Microsoft have utterly failed to make significant roads into the mobile market place. Windows Phone 7 has approximately no marketshare (ok they have live 5% or so) and this has actually gone down over the last year. It's also no secret that Microsoft have failed to gain any semblance of "cool" and that they're also managing to drag Nokia down with them. It's not even a secret that nearly everyone who looks at the new Windows 8 interface-formally-known-as-Metro doesn't like it. However this isn't the whole story.'"
Since the DOS days every Microsoft OS release has been predicted to be MS's last. My favorite was os2 warp was going to end Microsoft? Look at the growth tree with windows 95 on. Maybe i'm just older than you so I remember, maybe i just pay closer attention to history, but Microsoft has been behind in the tablet (PDA) and phone industry before and came back to be on top. Remember palm vs windows ce/mobile? Ruling Microsoft out at this point ignores history and is foolish. Don't forget that Google's entire profits for a year are matched by Microsoft in a quarter. Facebook is matched in a month.
Google makes a few hundred million off of android, and for a company that size and the costs associated with it , that is not significant profit. In fact, most reports suggest Microsoft makes more from android (through licensing) than Google!
At some point money/profit wins. Apple is on top because they have the most profits and have significant room for growth using their current model. Google has no significant revenue growth from Android. Does giving away an OS make you top, need I bring up Linux? Google's profits are primarily generated with web search and always have been. Despite years of trying they haven't cracked another model to make significant profits. Gmail is close, but comparing numbers it just doesn't make that much $.
Microsoft is a different story. Server platform, Xbox (now very profitable), productivity (office, share point, etc), desktop os, and despite the loses Bing has had it is on track to turn profit. Microsoft has the money to lose (more than google) to wait for bing to make a profit. Don't forget the Xbox. Laugh if you want, but i remember arguing with people on the Xbox vs play station posts here a few years ago. MS enters a market with a loss, but has a clear path to profit. Google does not, they give away software, and hope a revenue stream comes into play.... In almost all cases outside of search (and kind of email) it's failed to generate much money.
Everyone seems to forget that both Microsoft and industry analysts are predicting Windows 8 to be on almost 400,000,000 machines by next summer. That is less than 1 year. A simple fact that people are overlooking is that Microsoft is adding a new revenue stream to their company. That's huge news that people are ignoring. With 400,000,000 potential buyers, that is a very tempting app platform. MS get a 20-30% app cut (just like apple with their store). Virtually all profit for them. Microsoft doesn't have to sell 1billion copies of windows 8 for it to be a wild success... apps are going to ensure that for them.
Google is on thin ice. They are dependent on Web search for most of their profits. However it's habit not brand loyalty (like apple has) driving most people to google.com. iOS, Facebook, Windows, Amazon, and even android apps change that. Sure if you open a browser you go to google.com, but the more people use aps the less relevant google is. When searching from an app most people no longer care if its google as long as they get the results. The truths is google is far more likely to fade away than Microsoft.
With respects to money generating ventures at risk. Again i point out thst Microsoft has a far more diverse portfolio than google, with new added revenue on the horizon. And again, Google primarily has web search and hasn't managed to get much else on the horizon.
I think if anyone stepped back and looked at this objectively and not emotionally they would see Microsoft is in a much better position than google. Your hate for balmier, gates, and Microsoft doesn't mean they are going to fail. It just means you don't like them.
OpenOffice is a joke these days and LibreOffice is nowhere near good enough to replace MS Office for anything remotely serious.