

Microsoft bets on cloud computing as Amazon suffers outage - crocus
http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20080729-microsoft-bets-on-cloud-computing-as-amazon-suffers-outage.html

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iamdave
I'm going to get downvoted for this, but I'm saying it: can anything exciting
happen in the computer industry without Microsoft coming in and expecting
people to pay for mediocrity?

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volida
if that's your opinion why care if you get downvoted?

although I don't clearly understand your point

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iamdave
I don't (why does anyone care?)

My point is that I've been noticing a lot of "gotcha" being played, and being
played the most by Microsoft. Something happens that grabs the attention of
consumers and the blogosphere, you have some great contenders and people are
excited about the idea as a whole. There are options, some good some bad, some
great.

Then, along trudges Microsoft. They want to put their spin of the idea on the
market, except it hardly works as well as other things out there, and there's
a price tag. Point blank, they want you to pay for mediocrity. I'll provide
examples:

Cloud computing \--- Early competition: Amazon Web Services, AppEngine
Microsoft jumps in: [http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20080729-microsoft-
bets...](http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20080729-microsoft-bets-on-
cloud-computing-as-amazon-suffers-outage.html)

Online music stores \--- Early competition: iTunes, Rhapsody, Yahoo Microsoft
jumps in: [http://news.cnet.com/Microsoft-opens-MSN-Music-
store/2100-10...](http://news.cnet.com/Microsoft-opens-MSN-Music-
store/2100-1027_3-5342795.html)

Universal browser environments: \--- Early competition: Adobe Air Microsoft
jumps in: [http://blogs.msdn.com/tims/archive/2007/04/15/introducing-
mi...](http://blogs.msdn.com/tims/archive/2007/04/15/introducing-microsoft-
silverlight.aspx)

Now, I know not every one of these services has been free or open-source, but
it just seems to me lately that Microsoft has been playing this very pointless
game of copy, brand and monetize.

I would much rather see MS focus on fixing their operating system then try and
compete with great ideas, that were flawlessly executed. I'll be honest, as
soon as I saw that MS was wanting to bid, I immediately got less excited about
cloud computing

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gruseom
_it just seems to me lately that Microsoft has been playing this very
pointless game of copy, brand and monetize_

Isn't this what Microsoft have always done?

