As Microsoft looks ahead, will Vista be the end of an era?
,----[ Quote ]
| Once installed in the post, Mr Ozzie wrote an internal company
| memo that mapped out the challenges that face Microsoft. The
| message was clear: get Google, get with the internet and wean
| Microsoft off Windows as we know it.
|
| "Through Google's focus they?ve gained a tremendously strong
| position," he said. "[Microsoft] must respond quickly and decisively
| . . . It's clear that if we fail to do so, our business as we know
| it is at risk."
`----
http://business.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,13129-2494732,00.html
Related:
Why Vista might be the last of its kind
,----[ Quote ]
| Imagine this. One of the world's most powerful monopolies puts 10,000
| people to work for five years to create one new product. And nobody
| is really sure if anyone wants it. How's that for a gamble?
|
| That's what we have with Windows Vista, the new computer-operating
| system from Microsoft that debuted last week for businesses and,
| next month, for consumers.
`----
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/businesstechnology/2003460386_btview04.html
Vista: Microsoft's Last 'Big Bang' Operating System?
,----[ Quote ]
| Yet for all the design missteps, overly ambitious plans, and
| personnel changes that led to a five-year lag between versions
| of Windows, questions about the future of Microsoft's software
| are top of mind for customers and partners. Ballmer swears to
| never let as much time elapse between Windows versions; the
| question now is how the company can keep churning out
| innovative products on a compressed timetable.
`----
http://newz.byethost31.com/Microsoft_vista_last_big_bang_operating_system.htm
Is Vista the End of Windows as We Know It?
,----[ Quote ]
| The five-year long march to developing Windows Vista exposed just how
| broken Microsoft's Windows-development process is. It took far too
| long, major features were dropped along the way, and it was wrapped up
| in more red tape than the IRS. That's why I think that Vista will be the
| last of the "big-bang" Windows releases.
`----
http://www.oreillynet.com/windows/blog/2006/11/is_vista_the_end_of_windows_as.html
Life After Vista: Can Microsoft Retool for Web?
,----[ Quote ]
| In a similar tug of war in the late 1990s, one internal faction
| lobbied to use Microsoft's Internet browser software to radically
| retool Windows for the Internet. But that faction lost out to a
| more PC-centric view of the Windows mission -- an outcome that some
| Microsoft insiders say is one reason the company fell behind in the
| Internet services Google and others now lead.
`----
http://online.wsj.com/public/article/SB116459728069433263-K0zAOblcMz_...
http://tinyurl.com/yjngqj
Windows Vista the last of its kind
,----[ Quote ]
| Vista will be the last version of Windows that exists in its current,
| monolithic form, according to Gartner.
|
| Instead, the research firm predicts, Microsoft will be forced to
| migrate Windows to a modular architecture tied together through
| hardware-supported virtualisation. "The current, integrated architecture
| of Microsoft Windows is unsustainable - for enterprises and for
| Microsoft," wrote Gartner analysts Brian Gammage, Michael Silver and
| David Mitchell Smith.
`----
http://www.techworld.com/news/index.cfm?RSS&NewsID=6718
The alternative route seems to have gone nowhere.
Will Berkowitz keep Windows Live?
,----[ Quote ]
| At the risk of moving this article over to the opinion blog, many
| of the problems Berkowitz faces were caused not by too much focus
| on technical wizardry, but by a lack of clear direction, both fo
| MSN and for Windows Live.
`----
http://www.liveside.net/blogs/main/archive/2006/12/10/ny-times-will-berkowitz-keep-windows-live.aspx
Sources: Several Windows Live Projects Halted
,----[ Quote ]
| Microsoft's Windows Live desktop search project has been
| shelved "indefinitely," although not much reasoning has been
| given as to the reason for its demise.
`----
http://www.betanews.com/article/Sources_Several_Windows_Live_Projects_Halted/1163715423
Will Web 2.0 ultimately kill Windows?
,----[ Quote ]
| Allchin shared his thoughts on Windows Live (which, along with Windows and
| developer tools also falls under his organization); competition with Google
| and Apple; and why a client-based version of Windows won?t ever completely
| disappear, regardless of how successful Web services become.
`----
http://blogs.zdnet.com/microsoft/?p=66
Mozilla Ships Alpha Release of Firefox 3.0
,----[ Quote ]
| "...Developers hope that it will be a major step toward making Web
| applications indistinguishable from programs that are installed on
| the desktop, Schroepfer said."
`----
http://news.yahoo.com/s/pcworld/20061209/tc_pcworld/128128
Why I hate the new Windows Live Mail
,----[ Quote ]
| Microsoft is currently in Beta on Windows Live Mail. Personally I think
| it is a steaming pile of garbage. The 'new and improved' email is
| nothing more than a fancier interface and more color options.
|
| [...]
|
| If you have not upgraded from standard I suggest you DO NOT. This is
| a typical product from Microsoft even though it is in beta. I think
| it should still be in alpha testing personally because at times I cannot
| even access my email which is most annoying when there might be
| time-sensitive documents in it. If you depend on your hotmail account
| for important emails I suggest looking into another option, like Gmail
| or even Yahoo. There are ZERO improvements in this deal and there is
| absolutely no reason to even think about moving to it until they force
| everyone to and even then I would consider just forwarding all the email
| to another account.
|
| Where is the 'undo' button so I can go back to the old Hotmail?
`----
http://www.xomba.com/why_i_hate_the_new_windows_live_mail
Software as a Service paradigm remains a huge threat to Microsoft.
Once more (with feeling): What is Windows Live?
,----[ Quote ]
| Live consists of three distinct, yet interrelated, parts, Berkowitz
| said. There?s the Live platform (about which I?ll be blogging more
| later today); the individual Live services (Windows Live Messenger,
| Windows Live Spaces, Windows Live Expo, etc.); and the Live experiences,
| or user interfaces.
`----
http://blogs.zdnet.com/microsoft/?p=118
Sniffing out Microsoft's 'OS in the Cloud' skunk-works project
,----[ Quote ]
| What do you think, readers? Is such a vision feasible? Do you see
| anything that will stop Ozzie and his cloud cohorts from realizing
| this goal? And do you think Google ? in spite of its claims that it
| has no intentions of creating a GoogleOS ? could beat Microsoft at
| its own game?
`----
http://blogs.zdnet.com/microsoft/?p=119
Can Google trump Microsoft?
,----[ Quote ]
| Google's "frontal assault" to Microsoft Office is Google Apps
| Enterprise Edition and Google is indeed waging warfare against Microsoft.
`----
http://blogs.zdnet.com/micro-markets/index.php?p=697
November 25 - Microsoft Dies
,----[ Quote ]
| This is the day. The demise of Microsoft. The day of reckoning has
| come at last. Friday 23rd November 2006. Google had seen it's profits
| soar massively. Microsoft on the other hand have had an awful year.
| Low profits, internal scandals, a lowered reputation and a lowered
| customer satisfaction rate have left the company in tatters.
`----
http://globa-tech.blogspot.com/2006/11/november-25-microsoft-dies.html
,----[ Quote ]
| Schmidt's favorite saying is "Don't bet against the Internet." What he
| is really saying, however, is don't bet against Google.
`----
http://blogs.zdnet.com/micro-markets/index.php?p=697
The above is FUD.
Ozzie: Vista, Office must adapt to Web era
,----[ Quote ]
| Ozzie said that the transition to integrate online services into Microsoft
| products has been a challenge but that changes within the company are
| happening.
`----
http://news.zdnet.com/2100-9588_22-6133895.html
Desperate Acts (of Microsoft)
,----[ Quote ]
| Microsoft is expected to spend $650 million next year to let the world
| know it has a shiny new search service and Web advertising network.
| That money is more than double the amount Microsoft will spend rolling
| out Vista, the new operating system that will contribute vastly more to
| its revenues.
|
| Microsoft's two-year catch-up effort in search has yielded only
| middling results. This year it dropped from 11% to 9% of all searches.
| Google handled 61% of the 204 billion searches worldwide in the past1
| 2 months.
|
| "We're late to the game. We admit it," confesses a full-page Microsoft
| ad in national papers, begging the world to try out its new Live
| search service. You almost want to hand Chief Executive Steven Ballmer
| a cup of cocoa.
|
| [...]
|
| Think of this fight as determining a few decabillion dollars of market
| value circa 2010. The current figures are $147 billion for Google and $284
| billion for Microsoft.
`----
http://www.forbes.com/forbes/2006/1127/044a_print.html
MSN Still Going Nowhere Fast
,----[ Quote ]
| It is worth noting that Microsoft still hasn't made any headway
| in the search-and-portal game and, in fact, is falling farther and
| farther behind. As a result, it is not surprising that Steve Ballmer
| is now warning media companies that Google is the Evil Empire --
| because no other competitive tactic has worked.
`----
http://biz.yahoo.com/seekingalpha/061116/20767_id.html?.v=1
Google, Ask Gain Search Share; Yahoo, Microsoft Lose Ground
http://biz.yahoo.com/seekingalpha/061020/18896_id.html?.v=1
Google vs. Microsoft Market Cap Game
,----[ Quote ]
| Interesting seeing how Google's market capitalization has chased
| Microsoft's since Google's IPO. We have seemingly plateaued at a
| little under 60% for a year now, but any takers on bets with
| respect to how long that holds?
`----
http://paul.kedrosky.com/archives/2006/11/21/google_vs_micro.html
ComScore: Google Leads Again In Search
,----[ Quote ]
| Yahoo reversed a slide that lowered them to 28.1 percent in September.
| They gained slightly to 28.2 in October. Microsoft gave up 0.2 percent
| to decline to 11.7 percent, after falling 0.6 percent in September to
| 11.9.
`----
http://www.webpronews.com/topnews/topnews/wpn-60-20061120ComScoreGoogleLeadsAgainInSearch.html
|
|
