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The Deal That Makes No Sense

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Re: The Deal That Makes No Sense

#151

Post by geoka9 »

Tloewald wrote: post #126
polemic wrote: post #11

> "...I think Microsoft ought to abandon Windows Phone. The war is over, and iOS and Android won." That's remarkably short-sighted. The first iPhone was released only 6 years ago, Android 5 years ago. You really think that Microsoft - a company with nearly infinite runway, an enormous R&D investment and serious history - is going to down tools after a few years of frustration? Not likely. The prize is too big and con…

Microsoft seems to avoid competing on even playing fields. It would rather own the platform and dictate terms than try to be the best in a crowded market. There's one notable area where Microsoft has competed and thrived: Microsoft does quite well on the Mac platform, possibly making more money from each Mac sold than it does from each Windows PC sold. And there are in fact more viable word processor, spreadsheet, an…

> There's one notable area where Microsoft has competed and thrived: Microsoft does quite well on the Mac platform

I wouldn't call it a level playing field. They've had a lot of time to make inroads into the market by not documenting the office file formats for as long as possible, so people had no choice but to buy their software.

The formats are documented now, but it's very hard for the competition to get people to switch from a product they are already comfortable with.

Re: The Deal That Makes No Sense

#153

Post by brianpgordon »

chris_wot wrote: post #57
bodyfour wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Exactly. Plus it's a prize Microsoft probably feels it can't afford to lose. If Android magically evaporated tomorrow Google would be just fine -- the core of their business (ad sales) doesn't fundamentally require that they control the mobile platform, although it certainly makes things easier. Microsoft, on the other hand, had for decades been the platform company. They've historically tried to grow by pushing out…

Plus it's a prize Microsoft probably feels it can't afford to lose. This whole post reads like a warning about the sunken cost fallacy!

Admitting defeat would destroy the value of their stock, so maybe it's not such a fallacy after all.

Re: The Deal That Makes No Sense

#154

Post by singlow »

dragonwriter wrote: post #149
singlow wrote: post #87

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Word is from Latin - Latin plural is viri . The double i would only occur if the stem already ends in i , such as radius : radi- + -us . http://lysy2.archives.nd.edu/cgi-bin/WORDS.EXE?virus In English the plural is viruses .

> Word is from Latin - Latin plural is viri . No, that's the Latin plural of vir ; viri means "men" not "poisons" ("virus" means "poison" in Latin.) [1] http://www.google.com/#q=translate+viri+from+latin+to+englis...

Oops. I mistook the genitive listing in Whitaker for a plural.

Re: The Deal That Makes No Sense

#155

Post by drbawb »

300bps wrote: post #89
lttlrck wrote: post #69

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why did you switch if web and email are paramount? I am genuinely interested.

Because Windows Phone does web and email better than iPhone. The primary way it is better is that the screen is so much bigger. This is easy to dismiss, but it makes a ton of UI hacks done for the iPhone needless. For example, the fact that the address bar isn't on the screen all the time is a hack to compensate for the small screen. Then that leads to a need for the hack where you click the top of the screen in the…

> The screen is ridiculously small.

To which I'd say the screens on WP8 and Android flagships are ridiculously large and poorly calibrated.

I feel as though I'm in the minority: but it pains me to use anything larger than an iPhone 4S. (The iPhone 5 included, sadly.)

I'd love to leave the iOS ecosystem, as I agree with your other criticisms. I long for the days where I can use foobar2k to manage my portable media player again -- but there's _no where for me to go._

The iPhone isn't a "little toy" to me, it's the only flagship phone I can use comfortably.

I feel left behind, as if I'm some sort of refugee from the display wars. -- Who will cater to me? Sony seems to be on the right track. At least their giant-Xperia has finally relocated the controls to be a bit more ergonomic.

Re: The Deal That Makes No Sense

#156

Post by bsullivan01 »

ajays wrote: post #125
bodyfour wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Exactly. Plus it's a prize Microsoft probably feels it can't afford to lose. If Android magically evaporated tomorrow Google would be just fine -- the core of their business (ad sales) doesn't fundamentally require that they control the mobile platform, although it certainly makes things easier. Microsoft, on the other hand, had for decades been the platform company. They've historically tried to grow by pushing out…

> Plus it's a prize Microsoft probably feels it can't afford to lose. Just like their search engine? They have been flushing cash down the "online services" drain for years, with nary a profit to show, nor any progress in market share. Why should the phone market be any different? They'll keep subsidizing the "WinPhone by Nokia", and flushing cash down this new drain too. I'm seeing parallels between their attempt to…

Just like their search engine? They have been flushing cash down the "online services" drain for years, with nary a profit to show, nor any progress in market share.

Cash is the one thing Microsoft has. Ability to make tons more cash over the next few years (at least) is another one.

Oh, and their market share in increasing http://www.brafton.com/news/google-bing-gained-search-market... , albeit at Yahoo's expense. Who knows, 3 years from now Microsoft might outbid Google on Firefox or maybe anti-trust will not let Google buy more traffic, being essentially a monopoly and all.

Bottom line: Microsoft is in for the long, long run. So is Apple and so is Google.

Re: The Deal That Makes No Sense

#157

Post by jyrkesh »

windexh8er wrote: post #78
polemic wrote: post #11

> "...I think Microsoft ought to abandon Windows Phone. The war is over, and iOS and Android won." That's remarkably short-sighted. The first iPhone was released only 6 years ago, Android 5 years ago. You really think that Microsoft - a company with nearly infinite runway, an enormous R&D investment and serious history - is going to down tools after a few years of frustration? Not likely. The prize is too big and con…

It's not about having the resources, it's knowing when you understand you don't have the devices to compete. Then myth that Microsoft has "unlimited runway" is just pure market BS at this point. Microsoft is not invincible based on its former pedigree. We also know that they're likely being funneled money via programs that spy on Americans and are likely helping float products that should have failed (speculation, bu…

I don't think it's "pure market BS". Microsoft has "total cash, cash equivalents and short-term investments standing at $77.02 billion as of June 30."[1] For a company that's still in the black, that's a pretty long runway.

And I have trouble understanding why the NSA stuff is relevant here. Believe me, I'm as upset as anyone here about it, but I really don't think that Microsoft is propped as a company by some cash that the NSA gave them to build out some relatively trivial monitoring infrastructure.

[1]http://techcrunch.com/2013/09/03/a-trojan-horse-once-again-s...

Re: The Deal That Makes No Sense

#158

Post by hobs »

mikeash wrote: post #101
hobs wrote: post #93

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Hi there, as a former phone support/trainer for apple support, people definitely buy things repeatedly! I had one customer who thought each phone was effectively a burner, and he threw them out when he got a new one. He also made sure the apple store activated his phone (before all went that way) as he thought it was useless to have a computer with the phone (because why was he buying the phone then?). This story and…

Surely the Apple Store would set up the new phone with his existing Apple ID, though? Even if they didn't, most people only have one e-mail address (that they know of?) and so will be forced into using the same account again whether they like it or not.

Just like the commenter at the same level, many times the customer would not bring in their previous phone and have little to no idea about what their email address even was.

The apple store will definitely attempt to gather that info, but at some point it is new account and have a great day!

Re: The Deal That Makes No Sense

#159

Post by rgeyzer »

This guarantees that Nokia phones will continue to run Windows and that Microsoft can stay in the fight. This could be a life and death fight for Microsoft as both Google's and Apple's ecosystems are extending to phones, tablets, set-top boxes and beyond. They haven't built a bad Phone OS, but they need more time and a full-court press to fight for some market share. This deal gives them that opportunity.

Re: The Deal That Makes No Sense

#160

Post by polemic »

windexh8er wrote: post #78
polemic wrote: post #11

> "...I think Microsoft ought to abandon Windows Phone. The war is over, and iOS and Android won." That's remarkably short-sighted. The first iPhone was released only 6 years ago, Android 5 years ago. You really think that Microsoft - a company with nearly infinite runway, an enormous R&D investment and serious history - is going to down tools after a few years of frustration? Not likely. The prize is too big and con…

It's not about having the resources, it's knowing when you understand you don't have the devices to compete. Then myth that Microsoft has "unlimited runway" is just pure market BS at this point. Microsoft is not invincible based on its former pedigree. We also know that they're likely being funneled money via programs that spy on Americans and are likely helping float products that should have failed (speculation, bu…

"The crux of it is Microsoft is not good at R&D today."

Where on earth did you hear that?

Both Nokia and Microsoft are known for producing high quality products and investing heavily in R&D. The don't have a technology problem, they've got a branding, positioning and strategic problem.

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