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In 2009, Microsoft Still Underestimates the Web

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Re: In 2009, Microsoft Still Underestimates the Web

#11

Post by palish »

dmix wrote: post #6
seldo wrote: post #2

Of the many pieces of evidence that Microsoft doesn't get the web, the fact that they suffer under download spikes is one of the least persuasive. For example: they think that buying Yahoo, the slowly sinking grandaddy of the web, is somehow going to help them beat Google, even though Google has been wiping the floor with Yahoo for near-on a decade now.

Why does it have to be about beating Google? Business acquire companies to make money, to get ROI. That comes well before beating a competitor in any investment, unless its clear that they will damage your market share in the future. Consumers will still need desktop OS's for a long time and Google isn't competing with Microsoft on the enterprise front (yet). Live search is only a small portion of Microsoft's revenue…

I'd say a Google OS would have the potential to be pretty damaging to Microsoft's market share.

Re: In 2009, Microsoft Still Underestimates the Web

#15

Post by old-gregg »

trezor wrote: post #12

Alternative take: Windows 7 beta is such a popular download that with the current demand even MS is having troubles hosting it. I think the rumours about Microsoft's near imminent death is greatly exaggerated.

That was my take also.

Personally I could never understand why does everybody think Microsoft must become a great Internet company. I do understand that a lot of people are tired of so many years of Microsoft dominance on the desktop and are willing to look stupid predicting their collapse just because another markets opened up that MS isn't dominating in (yet). But hey, IBM is still around and doing fine.

A friendly reminder to Web 2.0 types: the only company making seriously big piles of cash, the big boys club kind, is Google. And the rest of Internet ghetto can only dream of making the kind of cash Microsoft is generating without "getting it".

And speaking of new markets...

Here's another reminder: measured in computer years, widespread Internet is very, very, very old and can hardly be called a "disruptive technology" anymore. We've all had fun throwing VC-supported sheep for free, now lets get back to work, figuring out what software users want.

That's what Apple's been doing, and perhaps this is what Microsoft has done with Windows 7. I hope so, even though I'm not their customer.

Re: In 2009, Microsoft Still Underestimates the Web

#17

Post by mdasen »

trezor wrote: post #12

Alternative take: Windows 7 beta is such a popular download that with the current demand even MS is having troubles hosting it. I think the rumours about Microsoft's near imminent death is greatly exaggerated.

Just for some perspective: 2.5million people downloading at a relatively slow 250KB/sec comes to about 4.8Tbps. Currently we push a mere 2.1Tbps across the Atlantic. So, the downloading from Microsoft might actually outpace the combined traffic from the Americas to Europe! No CDN can handle traffic like that.

And c'mon, how many times has a Linux distro come out just to download annoyingly slow for the first few days? This is a much bigger launch than a new Linux distro.

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