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Walmart Teams Up With Microsoft To Fight Amazon, Netflix (cnn.com)
Slashdot readers hyperclocker and Hallux-F-Sinister have shared news about Walmart's new strategy to take on Amazon. In a nutshell, Walmart will use more of Microsoft's cloud services and work with the company on AI and machine learning projects. The goal is to reduce its energy consumption and improve its delivery systems. Hyperclocker shares an excerpt from a report: Today, Walmart announced that it has established a strategic partnership with Microsoft to, "further accelerate Walmart's digital transformation in retail, empower its associates worldwide and make shopping faster and easier for millions of customers around the world." What that means in reality is, Walmart is embracing Microsoft's cloud services and will run its digital operations by taking full advantage of Microsoft Azure and Office 365. The partnership agreement lasts for five years and starts with a team of Walmart and Microsoft engineers working together to transition the retailer to Microsoft's ecosystem.
Hallux-F-Sinister provides some commentary: According to CNN Money, Walmart and Microsoft are ganging up on Amazon.com. I found myself wondering if this was more like Lex Luthor teaming up with the Joker to fight Sinestro, or Bruce Wayne letting Tony Stark use the Bat Computer to fight against the thing Richard Pryor's character designed in whichever godawful nineteen eighties-era Superman sequel he was in. The story itself would bore an accountant to tears, I am convinced, so I did not dare read it for fear of being rendered insensate; but here is the URL if you find you are in desperate need of sleep. Perhaps this other bit of news will wake you up: Walmart is also contemplating starting its own streaming service to compete with Amazon and Netflix. According to GeekWire, citing The Information, "Walmart is considering various ways to stand out, including undercutting Amazon and Netflix on price or offering an ad-supported free service."
I find it funny how Walmart is complaining about Amazon. Walmart came into town, under cut everyone and all the other chains folded up shop. Now Amazon is using the same tactics and Walmart cries fowl. Eat a dick Walmart
What absolutely everyone wants from a movie streaming service is a BIG DAMN LIST of movies to watch.
Every offering available right now has like 20% of what I actually want to see. I think of something I want to watch, I check, and nope, they don't have it. 4 times out of 5.
The best deal out there, right now, is Netflix's old dvd-by-mail offering. It blows all the streaming offerings away in terms of range of content. Though, sadly, even it has been cut down from what it was during its heyday, with many older movies and shows lost to the "unknown availability" void forever.
We want it all. One service, with all the options. That's exactly what the industry refuses to give us because ever IP holder thinks they need to spin up their own service instead of license the content out. Fuck you, you greedy bastards, you will MAKE UP FOR IT IN VOLUME if you give us the all-in-one streaming service that we ALL want.
Now that AWS is profitable, every brick and mortar retailer is on there way out of AWS and into GCP and Azure. Walmart made the "stop putting money into a malicious competitor's hands" over a year ago. They're just now done with internal PoCs and such to validate migration plans.
Nobody really likes doing business with Amazon at the corporate tier because you never know when Jeff is going to decide to consume your market for himself. Bezos need to get a fluffy white cat to complete the Bond villain thing he has going.