
Rumor: Microsoft about to unveil web-apps strategy - davidw
http://www.roughtype.com/archives/2008/03/rumor_microsoft.php
======
paul
I wonder about their strategy for unveiling the strategy. First they should
unveil that.

------
mixmax
I think Microsofts biggest problem in relation to a webstrategy is this:
Style. They don't have any.

What is required in the web space is elegance and simplicity in your
userinterface and workflow. The reason for this being that if a potential
customer doesn't "get it" within 5 seconds he will move on to the next
offering. Microsoft is not used to this scenario. Of course MS has some muscle
to move around, but it won't get them the users they crave. They have tried
moving on to the web before, and never had the success a company their size
aims for. Remember passport?

Their problem is very fundamental, making it hard for them to bridge the gap.
They value lock-in and pushing other services from themselves or their
partners. This muddles the proposition of their products, and makes it very
hard to create a good webbased product.

~~~
simplegeek
>>I think Microsofts biggest problem in relation to a >>webstrategy is this:
Style. They don't have any.

True. I would say they just don't have the _taste_. I guess you just cannot
create design marvels without _taste_. I'm still at a loss to figure out why
Ray Ozzie couldn't add any magic to the recipe. I also think he's in agreement
with MSFT-Yahoo acquisition. If so, then this is beyond my comprehension and
they (MSFT) should admit that this is a problem they cannot solve. Even worst,
they have lost focus on delivering quality desktop software (but thanks
goodness there are investors like YCombinator and companies like Xobni :-).
Vista is also miserable failure and a thorough rip-off. Remember Apple SE VP's
comments?

~~~
mixmax
Yes, taste might be a better word.

I started noticing how deep the problem runs after Ray Ozzie joined the
company. He has done great work, knows a great deal about usability, hacking,
etc. And he has taste. Yet he has completely failed to change anything,
despite the fact that he is as high on the corporate ladder as you can get,
and has a lot of clout within the company.

What that shows is that the corporate culture simply doesn't support what he
has to offer, and that it is not willing to change in order to accomodate a
new reality.

Same thing happened to IBM in the 90's.

------
SwellJoe
Wow. Microsoft is really at the head of technological innovation, aren't they?
How do they come up with this stuff, I mean, applications that run on the
web!? What a great idea...just think of the possibilities: you could keep all
of your photos online and see them from anywhere! And your word processing
files...you could share them with your co-workers without having to email a
bunch of copies around! This is gonna be awesome. I can't wait until Microsoft
starts releasing these products so I can use them.

I wonder what they'll think of next?

------
makecheck
I don't think strategies are news.

I'd rather a company tell me what it has _done_ , what products _exist_. A
strategy is just "hey, everyone else is doing something cool, let's tell the
world that we are too so we can reserve our piece of the pie".

Especially coming from Microsoft, who made part of its business by telling the
public all the great things it was going to do without actually having a
product...

------
systems
So MS will turn into an application hosting company!

Hmmm ... I wonder when will google start offering ERP modules, actually I
wonder why are they so late!

All in all, i believe this is a good thing, it should kill most IT departments
or largly downsize them, and MIS ppl might be the first to resist this, but,
well, its coming .. and few can stop it

~~~
pg
_So MS will turn into an application hosting company!_

The next Microsoft will probably be one. So the question is whether the next
Microsoft is Microsoft or someone else.

~~~
michaelneale
I would say its Google - its very similar to what happened to ISVs in the 90s
- if they were too close to the horizontal stuff MS did, they were
steamrolled. today, its similar with startups and google - if what you do is
too close - you will either be steamrolled or acquired (if you are lucky).

~~~
foonamefoo
In the very limited field of dinky web calendars and todo lists, maybe, but
not in the startup world in general.

------
michaelneale
MS unveils strategies, everyone else just unveils.

------
edw519
Does this mean it will take 10 minutes to "Start" the internet?

~~~
xirium
Be more concerned about the shutdown (
[http://www.gandalf.user.xirium.com/tech/computer/network/hum...](http://www.gandalf.user.xirium.com/tech/computer/network/humour/end/)
).

