Microsoft's Dumbest And Smartest Moves Of 2011 - InformationWeek

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Government // Enterprise Architecture
Commentary
12/19/2011
01:46 PM
Paul McDougall
Paul McDougall
Commentary
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Microsoft's Dumbest And Smartest Moves Of 2011

The past year was one of highs and lows for the world’s biggest software company. Here are seven reasons why.

Microsoft's struggle to adapt to a computing market in which the PC is taking a back seat to tablets and smartphones is well known, and much of the company's troubles of late have arisen directly from that market shift. But don't count Redmond out just yet--it had some solid wins in 2011. There were also a number of clunkers. Here's a look at 7 of Microsoft's dumbest and smartest moves of the past year.

1. Skype buy (Smart). Microsoft announced in May that it had reached a deal to acquire Skype for $8.5 billion. Why was that smart? Skype's VoiP tools and services will add simple, widely-used video chat features to a whole host of Microsoft's products, including Office and Office 365, Windows Phone, and Xbox, and, in the future, Windows 8 tablets. That could give Microsoft a leg up on rivals like Google and Apple that, going forward, might even have to pay Redmond for the right to use Skype on some of their platforms.

2. Still no tablets (Dumb). If the current holiday shopping season has proven anything, it's that 2011 is the year of the tablet. Market data shows that the hottest gifts under the tree this year will be touch-powered slates from the likes of Apple, Android OEMs, and Amazon and its Kindle Fire. As for Microsoft? It's still talking about tablets in the future tense. The company's tablet strategy is closely linked to the touch-friendly Windows 8, which may not see daylight until late next year or even until 2013. By then it may be too late to the party.

3. Kinect for Windows (Smart). With PCs taking a backseat to tablets and smartphones, Microsoft needs to find a way to reinvigorate its core Windows franchise. It may have just the thing in tools that will allow developers to port Kinect apps from the Xbox to the PC. Kinect on Windows machines promises a number of new applications, from entertainment to manufacturing to healthcare. Some developers at the University of Washington are already using the technology to create systems that will allow physicians to operate miniaturized surgical equipment through hand gestures.

4. Killed Zune (Smart and Dumb). Microsoft officially put its long suffering Zune franchise out of its misery in October. That was smart because Zune had become an also ran in the MP3 music player category, and as a brand did not fit with Microsoft's new mobile strategy, which is based around Windows Phone 7. The dumb part? That it took so long--Zune has been on life support for years and should have been scrapped long ago.

5. Office 365 launch (Smart). With cities like Los Angeles and Washington, D.C. moving their desktops to Google Apps, Microsoft needed to respond to its rival's cloud-based offerings. It did so with Office 365, which launched in June. Office 365 features cloud-based versions of familiar Microsoft productivity and communications tools. It includes access to Office Professional Plus, Exchange Online, SharePoint Online, Lync Online, and Office Web Apps.

Plans start at $6 per user, per month, making the offering competitive with Google's Google Apps service, which includes online email, productivity apps, and calendaring starting at $5 per user, per month. Key Office 365 customer wins to date include Hendrick Automotive Group.

6. Billions To Nokia (Dumb). Microsoft and Nokia earlier this year struck a deal under which the Finnish handset maker will ditch Symbian and use Windows Phone as the default OS on virtually all its mobile devices. On the surface, it's a good deal for Microsoft, given that Nokia still ships more phones worldwide than any other manufacturer. But it turns out that Microsoft will actually pay Nokia billions of dollars to use Windows Phone. Don't OEMs usually pay for the right to use software, not the other way around?

7. SUSE Linux deal (Smart). Microsoft in July announced that it would extend an agreement under which it purchases "certificates" for SUSE Linux support and services and resells them at a markup to Windows customers that operate in hybrid environments. Microsoft, which claims Linux violates its patents, also pledges not to sue certificate holders for infringement. The arrangement allows the company to profit from its claims on Linux without angering customers.

Any other Microsoft moves, dumb or smart, that caught your eye this past year? Post a comment or drop me a line.

According to our Outlook 2012 Survey, IT should expect soaring demand but cautious hiring as companies use technology to try to get closer to customers. Also in the new, all-digital issue of InformationWeek: Inside Windows Server 8. (Free registration required.)

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ThePrisoner6
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ThePrisoner6,
User Rank: Apprentice
1/16/2012 | 3:16:38 PM
re: Microsoft's Dumbest And Smartest Moves Of 2011
As you say, the "write once, run anyware" model has been a lofty goal, harder to deliver - especially when competing interests are jostling for a larger share of the pie. I appreciate your thoughts, and the intellectual discourse as well. Looking forward to the next exchange!
mfritz119
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mfritz119,
User Rank: Apprentice
1/12/2012 | 5:46:19 PM
re: Microsoft's Dumbest And Smartest Moves Of 2011
If IBM didnGÇÖt drop the ball on OS/2 and if they made OS/2 seamless with DB2 and their mainframe / iSeries OSGÇÖs, and if they provided quality tools to develop in object oriented languages, Microsoft may have been reduced to a tools vendor because they would not have the OS platform upon which so much else derived. Novell dropped the ball. Oracle laughed off SQL Server. Netscape was a one-product company. Sun just didnGÇÖt get it and now no one cares. The list of companies that simply underestimated the challenge goes on and on.

Perhaps if Google and Apple adopted Linux youGÇÖd have more of an argument since these are MSGÇÖs greatest competitors today. The end game of every business is 100% market share (and zero regulations and zero taxes GÇô but thatGÇÖs another topic). That includes those companies of that people who hate MS love to love. Good luck with the endless struggle against the evil empire.
kaliolio
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kaliolio,
User Rank: Apprentice
1/11/2012 | 10:54:24 AM
re: Microsoft's Dumbest And Smartest Moves Of 2011
Microsoft started screwing up when they changed over to "ribbons" instead of "drop down menus". They seem to be on a curve to dumb down everything. This in my opinion makes doing any real work difficult as the most powerful functions get obscured by the most popular ones.

To get into the pad and phone arena they need to invent a whole new interface. Something along the lines of a true 3d operating system might do it (might) but it has to besomething new, not another endless repackaging of an interface that has ben around since the 80's. it seems really likely that after 30 years some one will come up with a better paradigm sometime
soon.

Perhaps it will be a true conversational interface or how about an app that uses Konect and 3d technology to display useable controls floating in front of our screens.
Guest
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Guest,
User Rank: Apprentice
12/31/2011 | 2:25:42 AM
re: Microsoft's Dumbest And Smartest Moves Of 2011
The paradigm shift has not yet happened, but it is in the works. These shifts usually build for a number of years with rumblings behind the scenes. When they start to turn, they generally turn quickly. I don't think it will be an Ubuntu or Debian thick-client, but probably something that catches on outside of IT, like Android. If Android eats the corporate smartphone/tablet world, it could very easily migrate upstream to PC form factors. Even a mixture of platforms would marginalize Windows. The new mobile OSs, iOS and Android primarily, need to come to some common development standard so the ISVs can write above the OS, the elusive "write once, run anywhere" language that Java was supposed to be. If they can just write their applications to a common standard which can be ported easily to run on any platform, any browser, then the OS will really be irrelevant. The problem is that iOS and Android don't want the OS to be irrelevant. They just want to displace Microsoft as the standard, which makes things more difficult.
Guest
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Guest,
User Rank: Apprentice
12/31/2011 | 1:29:20 AM
re: Microsoft's Dumbest And Smartest Moves Of 2011
It is beyond words hilarious that you are invoking Chomsky to defend a monopolistic corporation. I am sure you are not taking that out of context at all. Have you ever read any of Chomsky's books?

Microsoft relies on people not questioning assumptions which are stated as facts. For instance,

- Linux is a "cancer" (quoting Ballmer) that destroys intellectual property. Read: The Linux community is developing comparable or better technology, without using any Microsoft IP, that threatens their monopoly.

- Linux is not suited for the enterprise. Read: IBM and Oracle run enterprise Linux which is infinitely more scalable, reliable and secure than any Wintel server. See IBM System z - Linux.

- You must run Office. Nothing else is acceptable for business. Read: Please don't consider OpenOffice. It is free, nearly identical functionally, but we are going to make it nearly impossible for you to integrate it with any of our technology (directly in the face of multiple Federal rulings).

- Users need the rich client experience in Windows. Read: Please don't remember that every application you run is on a web browser and the OS is becoming increasingly irrelevant.
ThePrisoner6
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ThePrisoner6,
User Rank: Apprentice
12/30/2011 | 1:46:06 AM
re: Microsoft's Dumbest And Smartest Moves Of 2011
I agree with your assessment, that a Windows-centric world is not in anyone's interest anymore, and CIOs everywhere are beginning to steer their shops away from it, albeit slowly. Still, there are a number of risk-averse companies out there who, rather than weighing other options, are likely to choose the Familiar over the unknown.

One also questions whether pending changes to the Windows interface will help them retain market share by upping the coolness factor, or be sufficiently unrecognizable as to open the door to competing products. I have no doubt that if Win8 is a flop, they will redouble their efforts on Win9. Microsoft will do their darndest to hold onto market share or expand into other areas, such as mobile and gaming. It remains to be seen whether they will succeed, but I agree that they are bringing up the rear on mobile and tablets. I personally think there are too many unknowns to predict the outcome, but to look at the market right now, it is easy to surmise that, in a few years, Microsoft's hold on the enterprise will be about as tenuous as RIM's right now. I just hope it will be a little more interesting than that.
tbel
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tbel,
User Rank: Apprentice
12/29/2011 | 2:52:12 PM
re: Microsoft's Dumbest And Smartest Moves Of 2011
getting rid of email.. Pass me whatever you been smoking
tbel
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tbel,
User Rank: Apprentice
12/29/2011 | 2:50:40 PM
re: Microsoft's Dumbest And Smartest Moves Of 2011
I have been hearing that for about 15 years now.. I'm still waiting on linux to takeover the world Or Novell to takeoer the data center
hettingr
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hettingr,
User Rank: Apprentice
12/29/2011 | 2:29:27 PM
re: Microsoft's Dumbest And Smartest Moves Of 2011
"Too slow." But they did it before. When Commodore Amiga, Atari & Macintosh excited the world with an OS "for the rest of us," the formidable Microsoft sales force previewed demos of "Windows" that would not be functional for over five years. It was enough. IBM/Microsoft was hugely aided by a perception of generations of competence in the public mind and the habits associated with that perception. The competition was drained and progress stagnated for at least five years.

Apple may have taken the shine off that unconscious level of perception this time.
mfritz119
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mfritz119,
User Rank: Apprentice
12/29/2011 | 12:21:21 PM
re: Microsoft's Dumbest And Smartest Moves Of 2011
"Anytime someone makes a statement of fact, the first thing we should ask ourselves is, 'Wait a minute. Is that true'? (credit to Chomsky). The endless 'us and them' rants against all things MS are sophomoric at best and often based on assertions that are either simply not true or are gross exaggerations that seem to get amplified with each re-telling.

All companies have a life-span but rumors of MicrosoftGÇÖs demise are (once again) pre-mature. If you choose to believe that their success is all about evil business tactics and nothing to do with building competitive platforms and dev tools then thatGÇÖs your choice. As the saying goes, GÇÿyouGÇÖre entitled to your opinions but not your own factsGÇÖ.

I look forward to the outrage from the GÇÿI hate MSGÇÖ tribe when they gain double-digit market share in the mobile space. It should be entertaining.
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