

Microsoft is starting to pivot - tristan_louis
http://www.tnl.net/blog/2012/06/23/below-the-surface/

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inoop
I'm sorry, but the writing is just absolutely awful. Content-wise there's
nothing insightful or new here either. Just personal opinion, conjecture, and
projections based on absolutely no hard facts at all. Seriously, this reads
like a 16-year old's Reddit comment.

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ta12121
Why do people use the word "pivot" to mean "change direction"?

The word pivot has many meanings but most imply some sort of stability or
immobility. It can mean a physical peg or stick around which things turn, or
the fulcrum of a lever which is also stationary. According to wiktionary it
can also mean turning with one foot on the ground or to turn in a single spot.

I can somewhat understand when startups like to use cool lingo to imply how
agile they are by being able to change direction in an instant, although I
still find it annoying.

But Microsoft? Pivot? As in change direction nearly instantaneously? The
answer is no. The title itself acknowledges this, since it includes the word
"starting". If you're "starting" to pivot you're not pivoting. You're changing
direction.

~~~
yread
piv·ot noun \ˈpi-vət\

1

: a shaft or pin on which something turns

[http://www.merriam-
webster.com/dictionary/pivot?show=0&t...](http://www.merriam-
webster.com/dictionary/pivot?show=0&t=1340690904)

I always imagined it as turning (pivoting) on one leg to change the direction
you're walking

~~~
ta12121
Which is precisely something a behemoth like Microsoft can't do.

Can an oil tanker pivot?

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Zenst
Having read the article I call FUD; Nothing to see and realy not worth
reading. I could do better with a few grep lines a awk script and /dev/rand.

~~~
tristan_louis
Then please do :)

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mustpax
This is tangential point but if you need to make images fit into a smaller
bounding box, crop them. Do not just rescale with a different aspect ratio.
Stretched/squashed images look terrible.

~~~
tristan_louis
Thanks for the insight. I've been debating that for a while. I do create crop
them initially and then do a rescale. Maybe I need to do something different.

~~~
mustpax
I actually really like how you've kept the images as thin bands, really keeps
the continuity of the text going. I'd just recommend that you use source
material that looks good when cropped to fit such a wide aspect ratio without
any stretching.

Other than that, great blog!

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BruceIV
Does anyone else think that the DOJ would go after Microsoft for anti-
competitive behaviour if it sunk $10B into selling hardware below cost to move
into a new market?

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tristan_louis
I would disagree here because of the situation. Microsoft is no longer the
dominant force it once was and thus can do what it want to compete against a
larger company (ie. Apple). The DOJ would probably not see it as anti-
competitive as, in this case, it would be more of a question of trying to
crack through a market that is dominated by another player.

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Shorel
The lack of crapware in the new products can be a good start.

~~~
fname
I know you got downvoted and while I agree with you, it's not really
Microsoft's fault. Microsoft is actually trying to stop it themselves by
offering the same (sometimes) PCs in their own stores that come without the
crapware.

