>
> They need a new business strategy and direction. The world has left the
> proprietary software model behind, most computing devices in the hands
> of the public are mobile phones, and precious few of those run Windows,
> furthermore, the computing growth areas are in mobility (OLPC, Eee,
> Nokia 810, Elonex etc.), virtualisation (ie., hiding the OS), network
> hosted applications (google calendar and other social tools plus google
> office etc.), and appliances (TVs, Mythtv, PS3 etc.), an area Linux is
> increasingly invading.
>
> For Microsoft to survive in such a world, they need to determine:
>
> 1. What skills have they got which can be taken into this new
> mobility/hosting/appliance world
> 2. Have they any assets (Windows is certainly not an asset here)
> 3. How much are they prepared to invest in doing something new?
>
> I think that they'll need a lot of new staff, both at the board level
> and senior management, as well as at the working (programmer, programme
> manager) levels. And...
>
> 4. Can they change their culture?
>
> Their current "build a monopoly" culture is never going to work again,
> they need something new.
>
I think they know they need something new, but with Ballmer in charge
the only way they know to go about it is to create a new monopoly.
That seems to have been the aim of all the DRM in Vista. It isn't
working very well these days.
Have you seen the Wall Street Journal article on Gates and Ballmer
(front page today)?
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB121261241035146237.html?mod=hpp_us_whats_news
PJ thinks Gates is trying to get out while he can and blame the deluge
(as in apres moi) on Ballmer.
> One has to consider that this is a much to do with Microsoft dropping
> the ball as it is with Apple picking it up, though. Jobs did well to
> keep it, run, and score a try with iPlayer, then portable Macs and
> iPhone.
When you mean dropping the ball, do you mean putting out mediocre
products in areas where they don't have a monopoly, and seeing them
flop? Jobs certainly had help in this respect, I agree. But he's
also really good at what he does.
.
>
> It's going to be very very tough for them.
Well the drama unfolds slowly. Although MS continues to rake in the
dough from Office, their position relative to a year or two ago seems
definitely weaker. Just one item. A friend of mine is now using
Google Apps in a big collaboration. She does it all with a browser.
She says it works beautifully. Not good for Office.
Best wishes, N.
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