Microsoft's Yahoo Pratfall
,----[ Quote ]
| In the business textbooks of 2025, Microsoft’s slow collapse will be
| attributed to many things. The failure of Windows Vista to hold the desktop
| market; Microsoft’s inability to successfully move from a PC product based
| company to an Internet service based enterprise; and Ballmer’s inability to
| pull off the Yahoo buyout.
|
| Now, buying Yahoo wasn’t going to guarantee Microsoft transition from a 20th
| century product-oriented company to a 21st century SAAS (Software as a
| Service) business, but it was a better shot than the Microsoft continuing to
| push its confusing mish-mash of Windows Live programs.
|
| As it is, Microsoft’s brand is losing value; Google is beating the pants off
| the company on the Internet; and Linux and Apple are making gains on the
| desktop. Adding insult to injury, open-source programs like Firefox are
| gaining marketshare at the expense of Microsoft’s own products.
`----
http://blogs.computerworld.com/microsofts_yahoo_pratfall
Is Live Mesh Dead Before Arrival?
,----[ Quote ]
| As former Microsoftie Joel Spolsky opined, Live Mesh is not the first time
| Microsoft has tried a master plan for connecting everything via the Internet.
| It's not clear how this effort will end any better for Microsoft than the
| last one.
|
| The first attempt that Microsoft made at everything-to-everything
| connectivity was about eight years ago, and was code-named HailStorm.
| Microsoft's master plan didn't go quite the way they hoped, and HailStorm was
| never released. One of the remnants of that effort is Passport, now renamed
| and known as Windows Live ID. But in the meantime, people have figured out
| how to craft their own connectivity using everything from RSS feeds to
| Twitter.
`----
http://www.informationweek.com/blog/main/archives/2008/05/is_live_mesh_de.html
In my humble opinion, Microsoft hasn't backed off. It'll use the investors to
fight Yahoo, by proxy. It's just drama that they craved.
Recent:
Microsoft's Last Big Beat: Internet Domination or Death
,----[ Quote ]
| What can $44.6B USD mean? Well, for Microsoft (MSFT) it may mean the cost of
| survival.
`----
http://seekingalpha.com/article/63876-microsoft-s-last-big-beat-internet-domination-or-death?source=yahoo
Microsoft says to borrow money for Yahoo deal
,----[ Quote ]
| Microsoft Corp said on Monday it may borrow money for the first time in its
| history to fund a portion of its $44.6 billion unsolicited offer for Yahoo
| Inc.
`----
http://www.reuters.com/article/companyNews/idUSN0455692920080205
Why Microsoft Should Fret
,----[ Quote ]
| But what if at stake in the battle isn't just Microsoft's position in selling
| ads, but the very survival of its core software business? Microsoft would
| never admit that so much is on the line.
`----
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB120277476716860601.html?mod=yahoo_hs&ru=yahoo
Microsoft's IBM Moment
,----[ Quote ]
| News Commentary: Microsoft can only lose if it enters into a proxy fight
| against Yahoo.
|
| Supposedly, Microsoft is ready to make a hardball maneuver to replace Yahoo's
| board of directors. A proxy fight would be a highly aggressive move from a
| company that for years sought to remake its tarnished public image. Antitrust
| cases on two continents portrayed Microsoft as a bully, which is a label a
| Yahoo hostile takeover may just revive.
`----
http://www.microsoft-watch.com/content/corporate/microsofts_ibm_moment.html?kc=MWRSS02129TX1K0000535
Related:
Will Microsoft Survive the Next 10 Years?
,----[ Quote ]
| I am not really an expert in this but when I read all the negative
| headlines and articles I ask myself if Microsoft really will survive
| the next 10 years.
|
| [...]
|
| I am pretty sure that the Open Source Community, the new Ubuntu,
| Google and of course Apple are those companies that are ready for
| our century and they will get more and more people that know what
| they really want.
`----
http://websquirrel.blogspot.com/2007/03/will-microsoft-survive-next-10-years.html
P. Graham: Microsoft is Dead
,----[ Quote ]
| A few days ago I suddenly realized Microsoft was dead. I was talking
| to a young startup founder about how Google was different from Yahoo.
| I said that Yahoo had been warped from the start by their fear of
| Microsoft. That was why they'd positioned themselves as a "media
| company" instead of a technology company. Then I looked at his face
| and realized he didn't understand. It was as if I'd told him how much
| girls liked Barry Manilow in the mid 80s. Barry who?
|
| Microsoft? He didn't say anything, but I could tell he didn't quite
| believe anyone would be frightened of them.
`----
http://www.paulgraham.com/microsoft.html
