

Microsoft brand in sharp decline - edw519
http://www.itworld.com/Tech/2421/microsoft-brand-in-decline-080328/index.html

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mechanical_fish
I well remember reading Peter Gutmann's "Cost Analysis of Windows Vista
Content Protection" [1], in which he said:

"The Vista Content Protection specification could very well constitute the
longest suicide note in history."

I'd say Peter's prediction is holding up pretty well so far. I mean, Microsoft
is not dead, and they're not even near death, but they do look more like an
invalid than an industry leader.

[1] <http://www.cs.auckland.ac.nz/~pgut001/pubs/vista_cost.html>

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angstrom
I think it's a combination of Vista and XBox 360. When Windows 95 came out it
used both game support and office applications to become the defacto standard
in businesses and homes. XP brought solid compatibility and durability. Vista
became Windows ME part deux. There's no need to buy a new computer when the
360 has shifted the hardcore gamers away from the PC. And although Office 2007
is the first significant improvement in 10 years, the fact that you don't need
Vista to use it detracts from any tie in possibilities. Now throw on top of
this the estimated 33% failure rate of XBox 360s and there isn't much to brag
and toot their horn about.

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aston
The Xbox 360 has been amazingly successful. Not sure what similarities you see
between it and Vista.

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bayareaguy
Amazingly successful? Perhaps for the game companies but not for Microsoft. It
hasn't turned a profit since it was released 7 years ago (although there is
some speculation that it _might_ turn one this year).

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angstrom
To be fair, the last I read they turned a marginal profit on the 360 (earnings
report from the EDD divsion) in January, but that isn't what gives them a $260
billion market cap. Compared to the profitability Nintendo has raked in
through the Wii and DS it's anemic.

~~~
aston
You're comparing fundamentally very different approaches to the game console
industry. Nintendo _must_ be profitable selling its consoles and software
licenses in order to survive. The company ethos is letting people have fun and
doing so in the most economically efficient way possible. Microsoft cares more
about getting their hardware and software into America's homes. They don't
want profit, they want a platform for content delivery.

Both companies are doing pretty good right now.

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angstrom
I realize they're going about it in different ways. The focus was on the
damage to the brand. As a brand, when people think Microsoft products they
generally think "hold back and wait for the first service pack, the hardware
refresh, or the 3rd product iteration".

That's expensive when you rush something to market and the market doesn't bite
because the product was rushed and the brand suffers. Under the Microsoft
model that works because they have the cash reserves to burn through the flops
and deadpans, but it damages the brand each time.

In contrast, when people think Apple, Nintendo, Adobe, Google they tend to
associate those brands with strong cost/value.

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aston
I don't disagree in general. But.

The Xbox is one of the few products that actually break the Microsoft trend.
The first one was great and the second one was better as far as value provided
to the consumer goes. Manufacturing problems make me suspect Microsoft hasn't
figured out this whole hardware production thing (and they haven't), but the
brand itself would only be tarnished if the Xbox 360 were fundamentally broken
rather that just failing more often than the industry average. Hence why I
claimed the Xbox 360 is not really comparable to Vista.

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angstrom
I can agree with that, both as a consumer and a developer. Of the 3 consoles
Xbox is the easiest/cheapest to develop for and the value of Xbox Live is
certainly not to be overlooked.

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noonespecial
I think I'm not alone in witnessing Microsoft and the BSA treat my corporate
customers very badly over the years. The biggest deal at my biggest corporate
customer's IT dept. is the "renegotiation" that happens every couple of years
with MS in which they send their people in and see how much more they can grab
this time around...

When you treat your customers like crap, they don't line you. Now there's a
surprise.

I think after all I've seen, when the decision finally falls to me, I'm gonna
be Ernie Ball'n it, even if it costs more up front.

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aswanson
These guys will mint for as long as corporate America uses office (probably
10+ years) and mom & pop in Peoria buy PC's from Best Buy (probably 10+
years). Will they ever be front and center again? No. But give them credit.
From 1981 to about now they _ran_ things. In this business, staying on top for
20 years is unheard of. And they will still be around, at near current revenue
levels, for at least 10 more.

Name 1 tech company today that you think has a chance of matching their track
record.

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rantfoil
Unfortunately it's a slide into irrelevance. The execs and braintrust at
Microsoft generally don't "get" the Internet.

PG, not BG's "The Road" is absolutely coming to fruition.

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Goronmon
I find this interesting, mainly because personally I'm less hostile towards
the company than I was 4-5 years ago. I think that overall, the "evilness" of
MS has abated somewhat, and I no longer feel it necessary to scrutinize every
action they take to see how it might be screwing over the customer.

I wonder how much of the decline is based on the entertainment side of MS,
such as their push of the Xbox platform. Perhaps the business-types see this
as MS losing focus from what they care about, software solutions for their
companies.

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ashu
Could it be because MS' relevance has reduced drastically in a lot of places?
Its monopoly is going away, slowly but surely. Office is still a killer, but
indications are that we will get other powerful choices - one sunny day. (In
fact, most light document editing is easily accomplished by Google Docs.)

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henning
This is more of a fluff piece for some market research firm than a
story/article.

However, I do agree that their brand could be much stronger. Relatively few
people know what the Zune is - tons of intelligent (often iPod-using) people
have no idea that Microsoft has a music device. When they think Microsoft,
they think Windows, Office, Internet Explorer, and Xbox.

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dbreunig
Thankfully, Johnny Knoxville will ride to their rescue as Crispin unveils
their new consumer facing campaign!

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TrevorJ
They needed a study?

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kajecounterhack
I find I'm less hostile to MS now (note that I didn't use M$, like I used to),
because unlike many I feel that vista was a great security update (My family
that uses vista has not complained of adware or viruses since), while I use
linux.

However I must note, even as a person hostile to mac, I live in awe of the
might of Steve Jobs and his influence on the masses.

"Look, its a thin laptop computer that sony made long ago but I decided to
push!"

"Look its a phone, but not just any phone, it is an iPhone! You must buy it!"

"Look its a decently constructed but sorely overpriced piece of common
technology that I decided to work on a little and brand with my company name!
You must buy it!"

The next 2 years, Apple's stock triples.

