New Microsoft Strategy

A New York Times story reports that Microsoft has unveiled a big shift in its internet strategy. "Software as a service," no "dogmatic commitment" to the Intel platform, and new hardware (a low-cost NC). Plus a revamped MSN, a portal for businesses, and free ham sandwiches for everyone (well, maybe next year). Other news reports are more skeptical, saying "Strategy-less" and "Nothing new."

Comments

Re:"Software Sold as a Service"

[Anonymous Coward]

I recently attended a Microsoft seminar, and I was impressed, but not with the software, or the technology they offered. It was the same old warmed over crap they've been foisting on consumers for years.

What really impressed me, though, is that even though it was not a part of the presentations, it seemed very obvious to me that Microsoft is obsessed with buying, partnering, or stealing the very source code of society, the cultural content known as "information".

Make an encyclopedia with multimedia galore, but with articles that aren't worth a crap? Go buy content from someone else, customize it a bit, dolly it up with video and sound, and voila, Encarta 2000.

Can't make maps worth a damn? Buy one of those companies. Your previous thesaurus was a waste of time? Pay for a new one! Got a rotten, poorly organized book of quotations? Buy another! News and information service isn't worth a damn? Hey, partner with a giant, well-respected network. Financial information not drawing any good reviews? To hell with it, copy what Q does and spend, spend, spend to enhance it! People love going in droves to ebay? Make a clone!

Then, when you've done all this, embed web links into everything pointing back to where? Microsoft, of course!

Maybe they'll drive enough traffic that they'll make a fortune on advertising, but frankly, from what I've seen, when this all comes together, they'll have people lining up at the gates to sign up for subscriptions for the content they're gathering. Think I'm wrong? They got 40,000 idiots to subscribe to Slate , for crying out loud!

When they put this all together and get it running, software will be nothing more than a tool that you use to access your Microsoft Information (tm), and people will expect it to be free, without remembering the $29.95 they're paying ($44.95 for the Plus! edition, or $59.95 for the Deluxe Edition) for it every month.

I don't know about the corporation as a whole, but at least one part of Microsoft has a strategy that is, for much as it is disturbing, quite compelling as well. Yet for all the potential genius in the scheme, I doubt they'll pull it off.

Saurentine (don't have my password handy at the moment.)

The lack of Newness in NC

[Thomas Charron]

Their idea of a NC is funny to me.. 'Windows Terminals' as they called them, with 'Windows Terminal Server'. Brand new technology, they called it. Cheaper end computers, as they are simply stipped computers with Monitors and a keyboard..

I'm feel like I've seen this before..

Oh wait.. THAT'S X-Windows.. ;-P

Wow, X-Windows is NEW? Who woulda known, I coulda sworn it's been around for YEARS.. ;-P

MS Net Computer and what it would do to servers

[Sabalon]

Well, I've played with an Oracle NC and it was terrible.

However, MS has the software to get it done...and if they don't they could buy it.

If MS really pushed a NC to the business world as a cheap thing to put on everyones desk, I wonder what that would do to back-end servers. Right now a Linux box can sit behind a windows network just fine because of things like Samba.

But what happens when a MS NC is just a windows terminal...then that pretty much means the server behind it needs to be an NT server. And once one NT server gets in the door, many IS shops will just move everything to NT for the interoperability.

Another way for MS to make sure people buy NT?
Or am I just getting paranoid from too much /. :)

Strategema

[Signal 11]

Sounds like Microsoft got a good kick in their complacency courtesy of Linux. The trial really shook things up in the industry.. and there's now evidence emerging that M$ is rapidly losing ground.

This is a subtle move by Microsoft to move itself in a position to take advantage of the "alternative OS" marketplace should it's primary source of revenue collapse. They may sell bad software, but they're not stupid - they know the marketplace inside out. Am I suprised? No. But I'm still not going to buy "winux 2005".

--

The Value of Information

[chromatic]

The real value of information is the organization of that information.

Yes, there are millions of websites out there. Yes, there are probably dozens of them with information relating to what I want to know at any given moment. Now how do I find them? (Substitute 'websites' with whatever you prefer.)

THAT will be the killer application and the killer service to provide -- not generating new information nor providing access to it, but helping people find and use it.

I think the OSS community had that in hand a long time ago. Would you rather sit on the phone for four hours to talk to a low-paid support technician who might be able to send a bug report to a Bug Report Engineer who might have met a programmer once on the line, or would you rather read the kernel-dev archives?

If information is free, then the ability to find the information you want is invaluable.

--
QDMerge 0.21!

I have a confession

[Flak]

I used to be a dev lead on the a MSN team. Yes I worked for the evil empire and since I have run very fast from anything looking like M$ jobs. But hey it looks real good on my resume. When I was there, signs hung in the all above machines with AOL accounts setup stating "Know Your Enemy" I did, we all did. Anything that was not Microsoft. Not just AOL but the whole world. The need of M$ to be the top of what they do is amazing. These are people that where the top of the class over-achievers all there life's. I know I am one too. It is very hard to have a few hundred of these type of people working together, egos clash, but you know what? EVERY PRODUCT WAS THE BEST THAT COULD BE DONE. JD Powers thought so, naming MSN the best ISP for service etc. I believe that the guys there will get their shit straight and deliver a good product. What the world does not know is MSN is part of M$ not M$. The idea of service is top concern on the minds of the brass within MSN. Now as I think back, would I do it again? Fuck no. Will I ever again, fuck no. Will MSN be a power on the net? Maybe. Will MSN innovate fast enough to match the rest of the worlds needs. I doubt it. Will this little box work? The public wants it. What does M$ and it's divisions/subsitararies do best? Give people what they THINK they want. Will it be a success? Yes, anyone can be brainwashed, just look at all the people that use Office.

Mmm.... ham....

[sterwill]

If Microsoft was giving away ham sandwiches, I might be convinced to start liking them as a company. Of course, my shift in opinion rests on the assumption that the mayonnaise will not be rancid, the ham isn't really from a cow, and I won't be forced to upgrade to larger mustard packets half-way through my meal.

Remember, you is what you am; a cow don't make ham.

--

Stand by for lawsuit.

[Black Parrot]

I thought "Me Too!" was a service mark of AOL. Micorsoft is probably going to find themselves in court again over this one....

Seriously, this whole thing is funny as Hell. After all the bullturf about how innovative Micorsoft is and what a visionary Bill Gates is, a single announcement from Sun makes them stop on a dime and announce a new vision setting the company off in a direction 179 degrees away from where they've been headed since... since... since last time this happened. With all the visionaries, futurists, seers, shamans, astrologers, and hinge-with-butt-straps designers on board, why do they always let someone else announce The Next Big Thing (TM) first?

The only thing that could make this richer would be for Sun to come out tomorrow and say "Just Kidding!"

Top 10 Surprises

[meersan]

Top 10 Surprises in Microsoft's New Internet Strategy

10) Competitors now to be broiled in lemon butter before being swallowed whole
9) Software will be offered as services, due Microsoft's stellar performance in the service department
8) Windows refund requests to be considered by an additional layer of management before being rejected
7) Brand-new innovative network computing device bears no resemblance whatsoever to Sun's network computing devices
6) Windows2000 slogan announced -- Windows2000: Not Just the Kitchen Sink
5) Bill Gates' charitable contributions not directly tied to Microsoft's PR engine
4) Plan to increase worker productivity by allowing play of Civ:CTP during coffee breaks
3) Plan to dock all workers playing Linux version of Civ:CTP during said coffee breaks
2) Customers who sign up for 3 years of MSN to get free PC, rebate, small Carribean island
1) There's a strategy!