tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17469573.post2799314769993206898..comments2023-08-08T09:53:14.113-02:00Comments on Platform Wars: Microsoft Go HomeComposinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01739889615635395138noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17469573.post-56465964198983901222008-06-10T14:38:00.000-02:002008-06-10T14:38:00.000-02:00Apple and Google are interesting contrasts. Apple ...Apple and Google are interesting contrasts. <BR/><BR/>Apple is all about Steve Jobs and his taste and design-vision. Apple in the early 90s didn't have that, and it's hard to see that Apple would have amounted to much without Jobs' return. The good people would have evaporated ... to Be, to 90s web-startups etc.<BR/><BR/>Microsoft are analogous. In fact, Bill Gates's vision was pretty fundamental to it. M$ began to go downhill in the late 90s when Gates was out of sympathy with the times, and it went completely to pieces when Gates lost interest entirely.<BR/><BR/>Sure, Microsoft's strengths have always been a) its shedload of smart people and developer mindshare; and b) its money.<BR/><BR/>But look how they're (proverbially) "pissing both away" (eg. on Vista). The institution doesn't (at the moment) enable those people and so it will lose them.<BR/><BR/>Google did the opposite. They hired all the smart people and then found a way to harness their creativity and energy ("20% time")<BR/><BR/>That's driving Google's world domination ... the ability to apply the collective intelligence of their employees.<BR/><BR/>Of course, Microsoft *might* either a) get taken over by a new genius or b) discover a new way exploit their collective. No one can say it won't happen.<BR/><BR/>But it hasn't happened *yet*. <BR/><BR/>Today, their trajectory is very much into oblivion. <BR/><BR/>And prediction is really only about naming present trends - not claiming genuine clairvoyance.<BR/><BR/>So yeah, you're right ... I'm not writing them off. But I need to see one of those things happen before I change my prediction. (I think copying Google is the more likely : it's easier and closer to M$ "DNA" ... Chanel 9 was a promising start ... perhaps more federation / autonomy / even directly ripping off "20% time") might save them. <BR/><BR/>Game console market I'm not sure about ... the only *ideas* in game consoles seem to come from Nintendo. Frankly the whole gaming world is moribund anyway. Sony and M$ are merely about technical competence and massive advertising. Their success is bought.<BR/><BR/>I suppose there is "platform strategy" somewhere ... but not sure where.Composinghttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01739889615635395138noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17469573.post-48511596273769424522008-06-10T13:44:00.000-02:002008-06-10T13:44:00.000-02:00Remember what everybody said about Apple in the ea...Remember what everybody said about Apple in the early nineties?<BR/><BR/>Or, to pick a more recent example, how many people thought the idea of MS successfully entering the game console market would ever work? I know I didn't.<BR/><BR/>MS has a stupid number of very clever folk working there. They have a big pile of money. I wouldn't write it off for a few years yet...Unknownhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07129653155892872494noreply@blogger.com