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What is Microsoft smoking?

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Re: What is Microsoft smoking?

#231

Post by optimiz3 »

pm wrote: post #141
JoshGlazebrook wrote: post #38

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think you have to keep in mind Azure is not just a PaaS (which of course is still in beta as websites) It's has an IaaS equivalent of EC2.

If I wanted to do IaaS I would have done so already, and most likely on EC2. However, I don't want to spend time doing devops, which is what makes PaaS so attractive in the first place. Actually the true PaaS is Cloud Services, which we've integrated along with the queues and tables. It's definitely not in beta - it's been out for quite some time. Most of my PaaS experience comes mostly with App Engine, which I liked…

Way to go, this completely describes Azure (and MSFT web) development. We've been using the MSFT stack for the last 4 years and this is 100% consistent with our experience.

Re: What is Microsoft smoking?

#232

Post by kalininalex »

riskable wrote: post #225
kyllo wrote: post #193

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Consulting, not so much, but they have an integrated, whole-enterprise stack that includes: Office (especially Word / Excel / Outlook trifecta which practically everyone uses at work for documents, scheduling, e-mail) Lync (text, voice, video chat that is integrated w/ Outlook contacts) Sharepoint for intranet portals, content management, collaborative documents with version control Dynamics ERP & CRM for accounting…

The biggest (of many) problems with these offerings is that they only work in and of themselves and only on Windows. I cannot run any of them on my Linux desktop, an Android device, an iPad, etc. Microsoft will not port any of these things to alternate platforms because Windows is their religion. So the less people use Windows the less appeal there will be for these products. They are all anchored to the same sinking…

And why specifically do you dislike, say, SQL Server? (except for price; obviously Microsoft wants to make money off of it).

Re: What is Microsoft smoking?

#233

Post by robotresearcher »

astrodust wrote: post #177
jemeshsu wrote: post #83

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> They tried to emulate apple while forgetting that people that bought into apple ideology already had apple. Agreed. Their enterprise offering is strong. And one day they will realize it is IBM that is their destiny, and drop out of consumer market.

Microsoft has no hope of becoming an IBM. IBM manufactures lots of hardware, produces new technology it licenses, and has an enormous software consulting division. Microsoft does none of these things. If anything, Microsoft will become like Computer Associates (CA Technologies), a company that milks products enterprise is hooked on and can't quit, squeezing money out of these things for decades to come.

"IBM manufactures lots of hardware"

I bet MS makes and sells more hardware. XBox alone must outnumber all IBM hardware sales. (ThinkPad hasn't been IBM for several years now).

Re: What is Microsoft smoking?

#234

Post by kyllo »

riskable wrote: post #225
kyllo wrote: post #193

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Consulting, not so much, but they have an integrated, whole-enterprise stack that includes: Office (especially Word / Excel / Outlook trifecta which practically everyone uses at work for documents, scheduling, e-mail) Lync (text, voice, video chat that is integrated w/ Outlook contacts) Sharepoint for intranet portals, content management, collaborative documents with version control Dynamics ERP & CRM for accounting…

The biggest (of many) problems with these offerings is that they only work in and of themselves and only on Windows. I cannot run any of them on my Linux desktop, an Android device, an iPad, etc. Microsoft will not port any of these things to alternate platforms because Windows is their religion. So the less people use Windows the less appeal there will be for these products. They are all anchored to the same sinking…

Yep. Using any of these locks you into Windows.

Sharepoint kind of sucks, but it sucks less than most proprietary corporate intranets. It's an out-of-the-box intranet server app and it's pretty good for small-medium enterprises. Beats Lotus Notes anyway.

Re: What is Microsoft smoking?

#235

Post by RyanMcGreal »

marcosdumay wrote: post #223
RyanMcGreal wrote: post #158

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Every Microsoft debacle peels off a few more users. I grew up on DOS as a kid and rode the Microsoft train through Windows 3.1, Win95, Win98SE, Win2K and WinXP but jumped ship to Ubuntu in 2008 after everyone had a chance to see just how bad Vista was. I was also increasingly conscious of the cultural shift in Microsoft: away from a legendary fidelity to API stability and toward an ever-shifting grab bag of disposabl…

My impression is that Linux is not some weard system that nobody uses anymore. Now it's a weard system that this or that person uses because they like to be different for difference sakeness. I wonder how many more users Linux must gain untill people perceive it as something normal that they can just use.

I can't tell whether you're being facetious.

Re: What is Microsoft smoking?

#236

Post by nivla »

riskable wrote: post #226
_pmf_ wrote: post #130

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The reasons why Microsoft fail seem so petty. They are technologically probably the most advanced company, but ruin it by dubious politics.

> They are technologically probably the most advanced company What?!? How could you possibly believe that when you know they're all using Windows in Redmond. It has absolutely zero technical superiority over everything else out right now (e.g. Linux, Mac OS X, iOS, etc). I don't want to say which company is the most technically superior right now but I'd probably start my investigation at Google because of things lik…

>It has absolutely zero technical superiority over everything else out right now.

Not necessarily in the enterprise market. Based off my experience, their enterprise softwares are vastly superior other alternatives.

May I also mention the advancements of Kinect? The ability to scan and display with a great deal of accuracy: your body skeleton, your heart rate, muscle maps, etc is pretty awesome. I find whatever comes out of Microsoft Research to be very exciting. However the truth is most are killed even before they make it to the market (remember Microsoft Courier?), thanks to their internal politics.

Re: What is Microsoft smoking?

#237

Post by Tcepsa »

AndyKelley wrote: post #216
jimmar wrote: post #194

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is "signaling." Companies are not allowed to meet and align their strategies. E.g. car rental companies can't get together and agree to raise their rates 10% next year. (A few years back I think Budget got in trouble for basically proposing that other car rental companies follow their lead in raising rates in a conference call). However, companies can send each other signals in various ways. Microsoft may have b…

> It's probably a bid for market share more than a bid for consumer happiness, in my opinion. What's the difference?

Motivation? In other words, a focus on market share seems to me like it's a much more selfish thing, and that Sony is perhaps only going in the direction that they are because they perceive that it will be better for their bottom line in the long run and not because they care whether or not their customers are happy. It's hard to see how they would not be the same thing, but at the same time I think there is an argument to be made that there have been times that Sony have done things that decreased consumer happiness (e.g. removing the ability to install Linux on the PS3) which did not have a particularly adverse effect on their market share (how many people actually stopped using PS3 or decided not to buy one when Sony made this decision? I do not actually know the answer, so my argument might be way off base, but I had the impression that it was some insignificantly small number).

Re: What is Microsoft smoking?

#238

Post by [deleted] »

kyllo wrote: post #234
riskable wrote: post #225

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The biggest (of many) problems with these offerings is that they only work in and of themselves and only on Windows. I cannot run any of them on my Linux desktop, an Android device, an iPad, etc. Microsoft will not port any of these things to alternate platforms because Windows is their religion. So the less people use Windows the less appeal there will be for these products. They are all anchored to the same sinking…

Yep. Using any of these locks you into Windows. Sharepoint kind of sucks, but it sucks less than most proprietary corporate intranets. It's an out-of-the-box intranet server app and it's pretty good for small-medium enterprises. Beats Lotus Notes anyway.

[deleted]

Re: What is Microsoft smoking?

#239

Post by astrodust »

robotresearcher wrote: post #233
astrodust wrote: post #177

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Microsoft has no hope of becoming an IBM. IBM manufactures lots of hardware, produces new technology it licenses, and has an enormous software consulting division. Microsoft does none of these things. If anything, Microsoft will become like Computer Associates (CA Technologies), a company that milks products enterprise is hooked on and can't quit, squeezing money out of these things for decades to come.

"IBM manufactures lots of hardware" I bet MS makes and sells more hardware. XBox alone must outnumber all IBM hardware sales. (ThinkPad hasn't been IBM for several years now).

I didn't have time to dig for really accurate numbers, but Microsoft's Xbox sales, which might include revenue from game developers as well as hardware, was about $9.6B for FY 2012. (http://www.microsoft.com/Investor/EarningsAndFinancials/Earn...)

IBM's system hardware revenue for FY 2012 was $17.6B. (http://www.ibm.com/annualreport/2012/bin/assets/2012_ibm_ann... page 30). IBM also manufactures components and licenses hardware designs, such as the CPUs used in the PS3 and Xbox 360.

Microsoft is still not as big a hardware player even compared to an IBM that has sold off a good chunk of their hardware manufacturing.

Re: What is Microsoft smoking?

#240

Post by snowwrestler »

kyllo wrote: post #193
astrodust wrote: post #177

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Microsoft has no hope of becoming an IBM. IBM manufactures lots of hardware, produces new technology it licenses, and has an enormous software consulting division. Microsoft does none of these things. If anything, Microsoft will become like Computer Associates (CA Technologies), a company that milks products enterprise is hooked on and can't quit, squeezing money out of these things for decades to come.

Consulting, not so much, but they have an integrated, whole-enterprise stack that includes: Office (especially Word / Excel / Outlook trifecta which practically everyone uses at work for documents, scheduling, e-mail) Lync (text, voice, video chat that is integrated w/ Outlook contacts) Sharepoint for intranet portals, content management, collaborative documents with version control Dynamics ERP & CRM for accounting…

MS lockin starts with Active Directory and Exchange. There are basically no competitors for AD, and few credible competitors for Exchange.

From there they jump to the products you mention. Sharepoint is terrible for building websites, but recognizes and uses AD permissions out of the box. So does Office. So does Lync. Etc.

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