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A new Microsoft browser?

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Re: A new Microsoft browser?

#13
post #3

Earlier quoted context omitted.

See also: Yahoo, but with #2 as "Acquire at large premium". Any company with more cash than cultural relevance will do the same. I don't think bing belongs on your list though. It's not making headway in the market, but it's not dead yet either.

Yeah, Bing and Windows Phone are still going but Bing is losing $3 billion a year, and Windows phone is losing market share despite sales increasing. It's only a matter of time before their plugs are pulled.

Chances are that Bing and Windows Phone will never be pulled. They are there because Microsoft has to be in certain markets, regardless of actual performance, in order to sell its technology stack as fully-featured and comprehensive. In the same way, Xbox will never be pulled.

Microsoft can drop the occasional service, but they rarely run from big platform bets. Most above-mentioned products were small fish or even just websites -- with the exception of Silverlight (but that's because in-browser media plugins as a category have been basically obsoleted across the whole market) and Zune (again, mp3 players have been basically obsoleted), they don't really sit on the same shelf as Office, Windows, Xbox, Windows Phone, Bing, VisualStudio or SQLServer.

Re: A new Microsoft browser?

#14
post #3

Earlier quoted context omitted.

See also: Yahoo, but with #2 as "Acquire at large premium". Any company with more cash than cultural relevance will do the same. I don't think bing belongs on your list though. It's not making headway in the market, but it's not dead yet either.

Yeah, Bing and Windows Phone are still going but Bing is losing $3 billion a year, and Windows phone is losing market share despite sales increasing. It's only a matter of time before their plugs are pulled.

I'll disagree on that.

Search and mobile are way too strategic to be dropped. There's no "there" anywhere else for a company as big as Microsoft!

They can lose $3B/yr for a long, long time!

Re: A new Microsoft browser?

#15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Google abandons projects swiftly when they think that don't make sense; Wave, iGoogle, Reader, Glass?, Buzz, Plus?, Answers, Google Video, Google Checkout/Wallet, Orkut, Picasa, Gears, etc... When you are a large company you need to focus your resources into areas where you can be effective and not stretch yourself too thin.

Yeah, but these aren't software platforms.

Wave, reader and glass not software platforms?

Re: A new Microsoft browser?

#17

At this point, Microsoft has pulled the plug on so many of its products & services over the years that developers and users are cautiously avoiding everything it puts out. Even if it's good. From Zune (iPod competitor), to Kin, to Origami (small touchscreen laptop), to Games for Windows Live (steam competitor), to Live.com (google competitor v1), Bing.com (google compeititor v2), Expo (craigslist competitor), whats-i…

Microsoft also has tons of product they supported for years. From Windows, to SQL server, to Sharepoint, to dynamics, to Office, to Visual Studio, to xbox, to ... Also live.com rebranded and bing,WP are still alive and well funded. If you look for a company to never shutdown a product which isn't getting traction, you are living in a dreamspace and need to wakeup.

Re: A new Microsoft browser?

#18
post #3

Earlier quoted context omitted.

See also: Yahoo, but with #2 as "Acquire at large premium". Any company with more cash than cultural relevance will do the same. I don't think bing belongs on your list though. It's not making headway in the market, but it's not dead yet either.

Yeah, Bing and Windows Phone are still going but Bing is losing $3 billion a year, and Windows phone is losing market share despite sales increasing. It's only a matter of time before their plugs are pulled.

Current funding, recruitment trajectories don't support your claim.

Re: A new Microsoft browser?

#19

At this point, Microsoft has pulled the plug on so many of its products & services over the years that developers and users are cautiously avoiding everything it puts out. Even if it's good. From Zune (iPod competitor), to Kin, to Origami (small touchscreen laptop), to Games for Windows Live (steam competitor), to Live.com (google competitor v1), Bing.com (google compeititor v2), Expo (craigslist competitor), whats-i…

Google abandons projects swiftly when they think that don't make sense; Wave, iGoogle, Reader, Glass?, Buzz, Plus?, Answers, Google Video, Google Checkout/Wallet, Orkut, Picasa, Gears, etc... When you are a large company you need to focus your resources into areas where you can be effective and not stretch yourself too thin.

Did I miss something? When did Google give up on glass?

Re: A new Microsoft browser?

#20

I actually think Microsoft is re-branding IE rather than completely rewriting it.

Rumors say it's the same rendering and javascript engine but the UI will get more similar to Chrome and FF and there'll be extensions. Also yeah no backwards compatibility it seems, and more regular updates. Sounds good to me.
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