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Microsoft: Facebook Home Is a Copycat, Windows Phone Is the 'Real Thing'

Posted by Unknown on from the our-interface-sucked-first dept.

colinneagle writes "Frank X. Shaw, VP of Corporate Communications at Microsoft, did not seem happy about Facebook's Home announcement when he wrote, 'I tuned into the coverage of the Facebook Home event yesterday and actually had to check my calendar a few times. Not to see if it was still April Fools Day, but to see if it was somehow still 2011. Because the content of the presentation was remarkably similar to the launch event we did for Windows Phone two years ago.' Shaw also posted Microsoft's 'Put people first with Windows Phone 7.5' video before writing, 'We understand why Facebook would want to find a way to bring similar functionality to a platform that is sadly lacking it.'"

4 of 199 comments (clear)

  1. Companies are becoming like political parties by Morgaine · · Score: 4, Interesting

    [No axe to grind since I use neither MS nor FB ...]

    Stories like this one remind me of politicians playing party politics and slagging off everything the opposition does and says instead of focusing on whether it's a good idea or not.

    It seems that long gone are the days when the top companies competed on product and politics was (ostensibly) about doing the best for the nation. Doing good work has become quite secondary to politicking (in the worst sense of the word) in both areas.

    --
    "The question of whether machines can think is no more interesting than [] whether submarines can swim" - Dijkstra
  2. Re:Children, children... by Grishnakh · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Have you ever known Microsoft to do anything really intelligent to win good PR and sales? Every one of their marketing campaigns has been a complete debacle (remember the people running around in MSN butterfly outfits? Or the commercial for Microsoft SongSmith?). I don't know where MS gets their marketing people, but they're probably the worst in the Fortune 500.

  3. Chanting this in the hallways... by SethJohnson · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Are they also upset that they invented the Tablet PC in 2002 and then Apple ate their lunch eight years later by actually delivering it in an appealing form factor that people actually wanted ?

    I'm not sure how you're sourcing this, but this is actually a very accurate depiction of Microsoft's deluded perspective. A couple of years ago, a friend of mine was working as a consultant on some projects with Microsoft and was flying to Redmond frequently. I asked him if the people he was working with were feeling disillusioned about where they've been heading and their prospects against the competition. He related that they were proud that their company had already invented the tablet several years ago.

    Internally, they must be bragging about that as a morale-booster or something in the face of pretty daunting prospects for what they're working on now.

    Seth

    --
    $5 / month hosted VPS on linux = awesome!
  4. Re:because microsoft is always completely original by alen · · Score: 4, Interesting

    the kinect was originally made up by an israeli defense contractor
    they pitched it to apple first but didn't want to sign NDA's and agreements not to pitch it to anyone else even if apple refused it
    MS loved it and took it on to develop it further