What was true about MS 10 years ago is not very relevant today.
MS & the remaining employees were hired to surround a market from all angles.
That worked fine 7+ years ago when you could control manuafcturers, suppliers and retailers (eventually illegally).
In the internet era, NO ONE can do that.
Ms took out Netscape by not allowing anyone to place Netscape on the machine at an OEM level. In the pre-internet & dialup days, that was death.
MS tried to do that with the ipod by helping launch a couple dozen online stores and working with a myriad manufacturers to create plays4sure. That works when you are talking about CPU manufacturers - bundle IE or you can't sell Windows.
But unlike before, consumers are free to ignore MS. Consumers could downloaded itunes in 20 seconds off the internet to try it out. Apple could choose from hundreds of OEM manufacturers to product ipods - no one fearing MS very much because MS cannot leverage their OS anymore.
They spent $400 per unit to make the XBox a sucess and how much of a straetch is it? It's essentially a flat PC without the hassles of PC ownership for playing games (no viruses, no drivers and no patches ... well, not that many ...)
They have failed in EVERY consumer endeavor since 1995 from talking barneys to watch OS to MSN ... this will be exactly the same - it will be like their Q phone - after all this - really? That's it?
It will be expensive and it will have a battery of 2 hours and if the pohotos released so far are true, it looks like a thing designed by bureacrats ... and they want to brand it Xbox something but with no game capability so the gamers will sneer at it and for non-gamers, they'll dismiss anything XBox as some game machine ... so who's left?
Sony was fine when Hardware was only required to do one thing and consumers had few choices - now, we, the consumers control EVERYTHING. You don't offer TV shows on the internet - fine, we'll p2p, bit-torrent or whatever ... same with Sony's plans. You're absolutely right - Sony cannot design an interface to save their life - just toggle through any of their TV's ... or the music CONNECT - great relaunch - how many tracks are they selling now? I heard 100,000 a month verusus itunes 1.3 million ... itunes beat out kazaa or napster for simplicity and ease of use ... Sony's will have to beat out bit-torrent ... unlikely to happen on many fronts ...
You hit it right on the button - they keep wondering why less than 5% of their users want the "premium" monthly package - they think it's just marketing that's holding people back.
And you touched upon the bigger question - they cannot design a phone interface to save their life. It takes me 5 minutes to remember how to change the date & time or there are bizarre choices like DMSC on or off? WTF?
While philosophically, I don't disagree but legally, there are other issues - sure the Netflix thing seems pretty harmless but a) what if Apple signs a deal with Blockbuster to add that service to Sherlock? Or your employer signs a deal with a competitor? Just awkward or a major conflict?
What if you write something controversal? Maybe scholarly but a Hitler search engine? No company wants to be 'responsible' for contributing or being perceived as contributing computing power to such a project, right?
Or if you release it and someone claims you stole their code, wouldn't it be more profitable to sue your employer than you?
The thing is - who decides to draw the line so the best thing is unfortunately to build a giant wall.
BestNetTech has not posted any stories submitted by jbelkin.
Joe Rogan's website
You did read Joe's blog that his agency told him to apologize or they would drop him - he laughed ...
http://www.joerogan.net/main.php?archives=1&article=53981
Re: MSFT competes
What was true about MS 10 years ago is not very relevant today.
MS & the remaining employees were hired to surround a market from all angles.
That worked fine 7+ years ago when you could control manuafcturers, suppliers and retailers (eventually illegally).
In the internet era, NO ONE can do that.
Ms took out Netscape by not allowing anyone to place Netscape on the machine at an OEM level. In the pre-internet & dialup days, that was death.
MS tried to do that with the ipod by helping launch a couple dozen online stores and working with a myriad manufacturers to create plays4sure. That works when you are talking about CPU manufacturers - bundle IE or you can't sell Windows.
But unlike before, consumers are free to ignore MS. Consumers could downloaded itunes in 20 seconds off the internet to try it out. Apple could choose from hundreds of OEM manufacturers to product ipods - no one fearing MS very much because MS cannot leverage their OS anymore.
They spent $400 per unit to make the XBox a sucess and how much of a straetch is it? It's essentially a flat PC without the hassles of PC ownership for playing games (no viruses, no drivers and no patches ... well, not that many ...)
They have failed in EVERY consumer endeavor since 1995 from talking barneys to watch OS to MSN ... this will be exactly the same - it will be like their Q phone - after all this - really? That's it?
It will be expensive and it will have a battery of 2 hours and if the pohotos released so far are true, it looks like a thing designed by bureacrats ... and they want to brand it Xbox something but with no game capability so the gamers will sneer at it and for non-gamers, they'll dismiss anything XBox as some game machine ... so who's left?
Sony is lost in the new Software World
Sony was fine when Hardware was only required to do one thing and consumers had few choices - now, we, the consumers control EVERYTHING. You don't offer TV shows on the internet - fine, we'll p2p, bit-torrent or whatever ... same with Sony's plans. You're absolutely right - Sony cannot design an interface to save their life - just toggle through any of their TV's ... or the music CONNECT - great relaunch - how many tracks are they selling now? I heard 100,000 a month verusus itunes 1.3 million ... itunes beat out kazaa or napster for simplicity and ease of use ... Sony's will have to beat out bit-torrent ... unlikely to happen on many fronts ...
Great Summary!
You hit it right on the button - they keep wondering why less than 5% of their users want the "premium" monthly package - they think it's just marketing that's holding people back.
And you touched upon the bigger question - they cannot design a phone interface to save their life. It takes me 5 minutes to remember how to change the date & time or there are bizarre choices like DMSC on or off? WTF?
works both ways
While philosophically, I don't disagree but legally, there are other issues - sure the Netflix thing seems pretty harmless but a) what if Apple signs a deal with Blockbuster to add that service to Sherlock? Or your employer signs a deal with a competitor? Just awkward or a major conflict?
What if you write something controversal? Maybe scholarly but a Hitler search engine? No company wants to be 'responsible' for contributing or being perceived as contributing computing power to such a project, right?
Or if you release it and someone claims you stole their code, wouldn't it be more profitable to sue your employer than you?
The thing is - who decides to draw the line so the best thing is unfortunately to build a giant wall.