

Microsoft's Colossal Strategic Mistake: "We Need to Be in Advertising" - jmorin007
http://www.alleyinsider.com/2008/2/microsoft__yahoo_will_be_our__google_apps_

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pg
I agree that buying Yahoo probably wouldn't work out as Microsoft hopes. The
interesting thing to me is that their mistake here derives from their "evil"
nature.

Microsoft looks at Google and thinks: "These guys are a threat, so we have to
get into their business. Google's business is advertising, so we have to get
better at that." But the source of Google's power is not what they deliver to
advertisers; it's what they deliver to users. Advertising is just how they
monetize it. But because treating users well is so alien to Microsoft, they
can't grasp something like that.

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Xichekolas
Likewise, I think Microsoft's perception that they need to get into Search and
Advertising via Yahoo! just goes to show they have swallowed the Google Kool-
aid (the desktop is dead and all growth is on the net). Google should consider
that a victory right there.

I think Microsoft should try to change the game rather than beat Google on
it's home turf. Surely if it focused on technical excellence for once and
stopped following everyone else around, it could probably leverage it's
desktop dominance into something. Of course, Microsoft has never been apt to
do that.

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kajecounterhack
I don't see the big deal with Microsoft trying to stretch like this when it
can't even get its operating system or office suite right. Has anyone seen
Office 07? I feel like I'm drowning every time I use it. Default font is arial
10pt instead of Times New Roman 12. What happened? And Vista...lets not even
go there.

What happened to Windows being good at what it does? It feels like its
overextending on every front. Windows = Next GE?

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aston
Did you just complain about the default font size in a word processing app?
Really, you can dig deeper than that next time you want to criticize
Microsoft.

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kajecounterhack
No but its just one of the pesky things that shouldn't be. Most people are
typing things on word that are formal or formal-like. Meaning, they want TNR
font, pt 12, and perhaps 1 inch margins double spaced. Of course, Microsoft
wouldn't know that because rather than listening to users they're trying to
buy yahoo to expand their horizons.

I'm not really trying to criticize microsoft, I just felt that I should point
out that Microsoft seems to be overreaching in terms of the things its trying
to do and pushing "ahead" when many aren't really ready or willing to deal
with the changes they make. Are they listening to their customers anymore or
are they simply assuming that people will use their stuff because thats all
they know to use?

Seems to me its the latter, and that they're going ahead to be a jack-of-all-
trades instead of doing what they do well.

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aston
You misunderstand Microsoft. They listen to their customers probably more than
any other software company I know. Unfortunately, they have way more customers
than any other software company I know. Hence the feature creep. They'll
pretty much add anything people ask for (especially if people = big companies
paying $75/Office seat). The definition of "what they do well" is Office, and
in particular the fact that it's a jack of all trades, and a master of most.

As for the default font, I believe it's actually Calibri, which is a great
sans serif font. Personal preference will dictate whether it's appropriate for
your uses, but that's why it's a dropdown menu and not a hardcoded value. If I
had to guess why they left Times New Roman, I would guess because based on
their collected statistics more people use sans serif fonts, or maybe just
that it's more readable. Also, TNR is pretty ugly.

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kajecounterhack
Yeah you're right...that makes sense. But how would they collect statistics on
whether people use sans serif fonts more? Because at a glance, it seems serif
is used more. Students, teachers, professors and professional people who use
office need formality, thus serif seems to be the obvious answer...

At any rate, yeah I guess it makes sense to me now. I still maintain that I
feel like I'm drowning in the new interface for office though. Thanks for the
insight.

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mhidalgo
Quite frankly I have a distaste for advertising in general. Google has taken
that dislike and made advertising as unobtrusive as possible, if I feel
clicking a link then great. Whatever happened to paying for something you
like, these business models seem to always resonate with me. I think the
article is spot on, let google play with advertising move on from the ad game,
its over, maybe .... maybe facebook has chance to provide advertisers with
something different in terms of ads and thats HUGE maybe

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emuload
Sometimes I think advertisers overpay because of publishers and fraudulent
clicking.

