Microsoft is Roadkill
Beep beep
Harsh yet compelling talk from Steve Gillmor today as he describes Microsofts failings, and particularly, how Google are running rings around them.
Remember Wily Coyote? He's the Roadrunner's nemesis, chasing him out off the cliff's edge. Then there's that exquisite moment where he stands on thin air, about to realize he's got nothing. That's Microsoft, folks.
Ouch!
Talking about the defection of Lucowski to Google last year (remember, this is why Ballmer was so f**king mad apparently) he says this. Pay attention at the back! The last paragraph is important.
What Google had to offer was Gmail, a huge server farm, and a burgeoning software-as-a-service architecture in waiting. Gmail neatly sidestepped the Passport rathole that pulled Hailstorm under, and Skype reassured some of us that we weren't trading one monoculture for another. And in a few hours Steve Jobs will cut to the chase with an iPod phone that will trigger the last push (with or without the carriers) to a muni WiFi/EV-DO mesh network.
What does Microsoft do? According to John Battelle, court documents show Redmond trying to pin a Netscape tail on the Google donkey, attacking them in search to cut off their air supply. But it's too late for that–Google has moved past search to put Office in a hammerlock. With Gtalk, Google sends a very loud message: we don't have to win in order for Microsoft to lose. Leveraging Jabber isolates Windows one more time, leaving the OS just another UI on which to host a Firefox-served cross-platform application layer.
and THAT is what i was talking about when i said the Google OS is already here - yes brian, analogy is a good way to put it :)
It's Their Own Fault
Hmmm, I didn't know Microsoft and Google were competitors. Microsoft thinks everyone is a competitor - that's their problem.
Microsoft should be worried and concerned. Through most of their history, they've spent every effort to try to be everything to everybody (i.e. msn or aol, xbox or nintendo, ie or netscape, etc.). If they would just concentrate all their efforts on making a rock solid operating system, maybe they wouldn't be in this mess.
Disagree Typo
The OS wars are over, it doesn't matter what OS your on anymore so long as it supports web technologies.
I think Microsoft is doing the right thing, just really late in the game.
Nuts
In my self-appointed role as the defender of microsoft (and imo good sense, heh) I feel compelled yet again to reply ;O)
All I hear is farts from the echo chamber. He thinks Gmail replaces office. He thinks cobbling together a calendering system frees them from Microsoft? Gmail is passport strategy by another name but its cuddly Google doing it so thats ok. I think waking up and smelling the coffee is not enough for this guy, he needs to get out and talk to real people rather than his blogging friends.
The biggest threat to Microsoft in my opinion is still Linux+Open Source. Talk to anyone responsible for IT in a decent sized business, their concerns are not about free email clients, IM or search. If end users warm and fuzzies were the critical IT decision making factor there would be more blue chip companies using macs more often.
About concentrating efforts - so its a good strategy for google and apple to diversify but not microsoft? uh?
Microsoft is at its best with a credible competitor, it would be foolish to write them off.
Microsoft - it would be foolish to write them off
It's about technique.
When M$ diversies, they stomp about in rubber boots, and usually make a hash of it. Apple had a stroke of genius with the ipod, the rest (in recent years) is no more than design gimmick and good marketing.
Google has cherry picked areas in which to compete, has moved fast, been nimble, and rapidly dropped things that don't work. In virtually every area they've chosen to compete, they've run rings around M$. As have others, recently - eg Mozilla.
Yes, it would be very foolish to write them off - but M$ needs to smell the coffee. The world is changing fast, and their reactions are slow. Too slow.
Like IBM before them, M$ *became corporate America - instantly* while Google has tried hard to remain a company of innovation and flexibility. That's no guarantee for ever - but it's visibly a wiser policy than sluggish MS, in a business that lives on innovation and change.
Got to agree there
Yeah, Microsoft has got fat. They do need to change from their current oil-tanker style manuverability and some suggest breaking the company up would fix that.
I Think ,..
Microsoft is starting to get even more aggressive than normal recently.. they seem to be speaking to the right people imo..
DaveN
Have they
Been inviting any SEOs for drinks and such? ;O)
The OS wars are over, it
Google is having trouble on the cross platform bit and cross browser compatablity. All too often they release something that only works on Windows, or only works with IE. They have a long ways to go.
To give credit where it is due, MSN Search has come a long way in a very short time. It is not totally there yet but good progress has been made.
>>Have they heen inviting
>Have they heen inviting any SEOs for drinks and such? ;O)
from what I've heard - yes.