
Be Captain Of Your Destiny - Not Prisoner Of Wishful Thinking - jasonlbaptiste
http://onstartups.com/tabid/3339/bid/79811/Be-Captain-Of-Your-Destiny-Not-Prisoner-Of-Wishful-Thinking.aspx
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stcredzero
_Poor execution of the right strategy will most likely lead to failure_

Example: Bill Gates and others tried to push tablet computing about a decade
before Apple did. I have one, and it's phenomenal. However, it's not good
enough for the mass market.

Poor execution of the right strategy gives away "the right strategy" while
leaving an opening for someone else to do it right. So one of the questions
you must first ask yourself is, "Can I execute -- on a world class level?"

~~~
amirmc
In cases like tablets, market timing also matters.

It's not really fair to cite poor execution if things like the supply of
suitable parts, supply chains, price-points etc don't combine in the right
way.

~~~
jordan0day
That's true, but I wonder how much better Microsoft's tablet strategy would
have fared 5, 10 years ago had they not been developing essentially a tablet
version of Windows.

(It's hard to know just how sticky the iPad would actually be if, say, there
had never been an iPhone. The iPhone established iOS and Apple as the best
choice in non-computer computers for consumers. For the sake of argument,
though, let's assume the iPad would be just as successful regardless of the
success of the iPhone.)

So, back to the original argument -- MS was busy making Windows on a tablet
computer. The failure of this effort can probably be attributed to two main
points: 1 - The tablet computer hardward tended to suck for a lot of people.
Bulky, slow, stylus-based, etc. This is the point you're making. 2 - As Apple
an iOS have shown us, people don't necessarily want [Desktop OS] on their
tablet. They just want a great tablet _experience_ , even if that means
throwing away years worth of desktop paradigms. As hackers, we can see the
similarities between OS X and iOS, but to your average user, there's almost
nothing similar between iOS and OS X.

I think point #2 _could_ have been done by MS 10 years ago, had they had
stumbled upon the same happy accident that I think hit Apple with the iPhone
and then iPad: a dedicated phone OS works much better on a tablet than a
tablet-versioned desktop OS. We can probably trace this back even further to
the original iPod, with Apple gaining a lot of knowledge about what people
like and dislike on portable electronic devices.

In summary: while you're right, MS's tablet ambitions were hindered by the
hardware-of-the-day, I think stcredzero is _more_ right: had Microsoft's
execution been better, they wouldn't have been held back by lesser hardware.

~~~
stcredzero
_I think point #2 could have been done by MS 10 years ago, had they had
stumbled upon the same happy accident that I think hit Apple with the iPhone
and then iPad: a dedicated phone OS works much better on a tablet than a
tablet-versioned desktop OS._

My understanding is that they were developing the iPad first, but realized
they should first do a phone.

------
bjxrn
Shouldn't the title be the other way around? "Be Prisoner Of Your Destiny -
Not Captain Of Wishful Thinking".

It might sound a bit less appealing, but by definition you can't control your
destiny. You could at least make a case for that you can control your
thoughts.

------
AznHisoka
"Don't be that person, folks. So much of the pain in life, over time, is
caused by distance from the truth. And the same is true in business."

Love this line. Just because you hate the alternative of a job, or really want
to change the world doesn't mean much. If anything it just adds undue stress
and pressure.

~~~
dshah
Though it is really good advice, it's hard to both receive and give it. The
stories we usually hear are the "she believed and persevered and prevailed
through sheer will...".

We rarely want to hear the: "He didn't face reality and overestimated his own
ability given the situation..."

~~~
nanijoe
"she believed and persevered and prevailed through sheer will...".

"He didn't face reality and overestimated his own ability given the
situation..."

Both of these mean the same thing. The description that is applied to you
depends on the outcome of your (ad)venture

