

In 2009, Microsoft Still Underestimates the Web - nx
http://lifehacker.com/5127866/in-2009-microsoft-still-underestimates-the-web

======
seldo
Of the many pieces of evidence that Microsoft doesn't get the web, the fact
that they suffer under download spikes is one of the least persuasive. For
example: they think that buying Yahoo, the slowly sinking grandaddy of the
web, is somehow going to help them beat Google, even though Google has been
wiping the floor with Yahoo for near-on a decade now.

~~~
dmix
Why does it have to be about beating Google?

Business acquire companies to make money, to get ROI. That comes well before
beating a competitor in any investment, unless its clear that they will damage
your market share in the future.

Consumers will still need desktop OS's for a long time and Google isn't
competing with Microsoft on the enterprise front (yet).

Live search is only a small portion of Microsoft's revenue, but $44 billion is
a significant amount of cash.

~~~
palish
I'd say a Google OS would have the potential to be pretty damaging to
Microsoft's market share.

------
MrRage
> Microsoft's not the only one who's blown web launches. Apple did it
> spectacularly with MobileMe

Oh, come on! Those aren't even in the same category. MobileMe wasn't a big
file to download. If tanking on a large download means Microsoft is
underestimating the web, then what the heck was Apple underestimating with
MobileMe?

------
aneesh
Especially after Microsoft's Cashback.com outage on Black Friday (the _worst_
day for an e-shopping site to go down), I'm surprised they let this happen.
This was on the calendar for a long time, and they should've gone to great
lengths to make sure they could handle the traffic.

------
Niten
Some tech at Microsoft chose the wrong server to host a download, therefore
Microsoft's corporate strategy with respect to the Web is "clueless"?

Hard to argue with that kind of logic.

~~~
jws
I don't think it is a good indicator of corporate strategy, but is deeper than
just a bad web server.

I tried to get it so I could have a Windows machine for IE testing.

1) It required me to log in with my Microsoft Id. I didn't have one. No link
or hint for how to create an account.

2) I clicked about a bit and found where to create an account. The SSL
certificate was flagged as signed by an unrecognized authority. It was still a
microsoft machine and I had come in from a trusted path, so I accepted it
anyway.

3) This new account sent me an email to validate, but allowed me to log in and
proceed BEFORE the validation was sent. Probably an abuse vector there.

4) I then get a page with a little green "loading" indicator spinning about.
After staring at that for an hour I checked the javascript log and the
javascript had blown up on load and left the animated gif misleading me that
progress was happening. Don't be updating the loading user feedback device if
you aren't loading. That is called lying.

5) Tried a couple more browsers, no better results. Eventually it degraded to
404s and then a "Coming Soon" page.

There are numerous warts on a rollout that is, at least partially, intended to
change the media dialog from the negative tone of Vista to a "now things are
good" message of Windows 7.

~~~
somnambulist
Yesterday I too tried to download the new version of windows life; but after
33%, it would not download any further

:(

------
arthurk
The hoster for the Windows 7 beta download is Akamai, MS is not hosting it
themselves.

~~~
axod
Maybe they should learn how to host files themselves? Just an idea...

------
aston
Akamai?

------
trezor
Alternative take: Windows 7 _beta_ is such a popular download that with the
current demand even MS is having troubles hosting it.

I think the rumours about Microsoft's near imminent death is greatly
exaggerated.

~~~
old-gregg
That was my take also.

Personally I could never understand why does everybody think Microsoft _must_
become a great Internet company. I do understand that a lot of people are
tired of so many years of Microsoft dominance on the desktop and are willing
to look stupid predicting their collapse just because another markets opened
up that MS isn't dominating in (yet). But hey, IBM is still around and doing
fine.

A friendly reminder to Web 2.0 types: the only company making seriously big
piles of cash, the big boys club kind, is Google. And the rest of Internet
ghetto can only dream of making the kind of cash Microsoft is generating
without "getting it".

And speaking of new markets...

Here's another reminder: measured in computer years, widespread Internet is
very, very, very old and can hardly be called a "disruptive technology"
anymore. We've all had fun throwing VC-supported sheep for free, now lets get
back to work, figuring out what software users want.

That's what Apple's been doing, and perhaps this is what Microsoft has done
with Windows 7. I hope so, even though I'm not their customer.

------
somnambulist
when will these guys ever learn?

