

Is Microsoft's copying of what works and making it better simply smart business strategy? - amichail

You might not want to do that sort of work, but it does sound like a way to create solid products and be highly profitable.<p>Why not let others take the risks of innovation and just copy what works if you can get away with it?  Much cheaper that way and you get the benefit of creating a refined product.<p>For example, while Windows 7 has copied from Mac OS X, the resulting product is actually very good.
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michael_dorfman
The Windows 7/Mac OSX example is absurd, but there are plenty of genuine
instances where Microsoft emulated and enhanced an existing product, and ended
up as the market leader-- Word followed WordPerfect and WordStar, Excel
followed Lotus 1-2-3, and IE followed Netscape.

The more interesting (and difficult) question is to what degree their
overcoming the lack of first-mover-advantage was due to a superior product,
and what degree was due to leveraging their strength in the OS arena.

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mindviews
IE would be the poster-child for leveraging the OS. The products that leverage
the OS seem to be the free ones, now - so I guess that hits a
price/performance sweet spot. What else is there besides IE that falls in this
category? Media Player, maybe. But even though it's free and the default on
windows, everyone I know has at least one other media player they use
regularly (e.g., iTunes). IIS? Personally, I think IIS is quite good and can
stand on its own merit. Sharepoint? I still don't understand its popularity in
the corporate world, but you can't really claim it's leveraging the OS - maybe
it's leveraging SQL Server?

Products that stand on their own merit: MS Office (though PowerPoint looks
like the one most in danger of being passed), XBox (it's not #1, but it's
clearly competitive), Visual Studio (destroyed the competition)

To me, it looks like Microsoft's winners by and large win by delivering a
quality product, not being bundled with Windows.

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mindviews
I think it’s smart business because when your customer base is huge you don’t
know everything that will be needed ahead of time. All those people out there
trying to solve problems will find the pain points and need solutions - that’s
the whole point of listening to your customers. The catch is that other people
may be listening to your customers as well. Thus innovation and competition.

I think Microsoft sees itself as a "platform" company, not a "product"
company. In that context, it doesn’t need to be first to win - it simply needs
to be the best at integrating the pieces into a cohesive unit. Platforms are
for dealing with general problems and not specific ones, so individual
features may get copied or innovative companies may get bought when you’re
trying to build a common base that a large number of people can build on. The
strategy of keeping an eye on what’s being done and incorporating the best and
trying to improve on it sounds like a smart business strategy for a platform
company to me.

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halo
What has Windows 7 copied from Mac OS X exactly? The new Start Menu takes more
inspiration from the 20-year-old RISC OS Icon Bar than the Mac OS X dock, for
example.

