OMFG TECH

continuations:

Two years ago I wrote a blog post titled “Is Google the New Microsoft?” hedging it with a question mark. I think after the announcements at Google IO there can be very little doubt that Google is the new Microsoft.

Here is a short check list. Dominant position in one market that generates huge…

“They can’t type, they can’t create documents, they don’t have Office there.”

Last time I checked, the lack of Office on iPad was nothing to do with Apple or the device. What a stupid thing to say.

parislemon:

Here we go again.

Frank Shaw, Microsoft’s head of communications, took to the company blog today to “congratulate” Facebook on the launch of Facebook Home. Except that he’s not really congratulating Facebook, he’s passive-aggressively signaling the old “WE DID THIS FIRST!!!” whiny bullshit…

It’s all about execution. MSFT executed badly, as they have done on every product for the last few years.

Unbelievable.

Sounds like a great strategy.

parislemon:

Thus continuing the trend of people loving the “dogfood” when they’re inside a company, and throwing it up when they’re out.

Most of the ones I notice (both with people I know and those in public) are former Microsoft employees. People leave and immediately switch to Macs, iPhones, iPads, Google Docs, Chrome, Android devices, etc.

What I never see is people leaving Apple and switching to other products — PCs, Android devices, Windows Phone, etc. I’m sure there are some out there, but for the most part ex-Apple employees seem to remain “loyal” to the brand. Read into that what you will.

QFT.

Anyone with a brain could see this coming.

It’s happening. Sit back and watch MSFT in panic by the year’s end.

parislemon:

Paul Thurrott:

It’s not pat to say that the Windows PC market went for volume over quality, because it did: Many of those 20 million Windows 7 licenses each month—too many, I think—went to machines that are basically throwaway, plastic crap. Netbooks didn’t just rejuvenate the market just as Windows 7 appeared, they also destroyed it from within: Now consumers expect to pay next to nothing for a Windows PC. Most of them simply refuse to pay for more expensive Windows PCs.

Well stated. Microsoft’s problem isn’t just that Windows 8 is a confusing mess of a product that offers little upgrade incentive (though I’d argue that’s a big one), it’s all the elements surrounding it as well. Thurrott rightly points out a massive one not often talked about: netbooks. They inflated Windows 7 numbers while destroying the margins of the PC business, which in turn is now badly hurting the Windows business. It’s the classic short-term gain for long-term pain scenario.

It’s a perfect shitstorm, really.

Interesting. Good commentary by Siegler.

I love that Paul Thurrott aka Mr. Windows aka Nº. 1 fan is being honest and shitting on Microsoft a lot for their poor decisions and product of late. It’s good to see him being unbiased.

A top Dell executive warned Microsoft boss Steve Ballmer not to call its new tablet operating system “Windows RT” because the operating system wasn’t compatible with other versions of Windows and the name would only lead to widespread confusion.

They weren’t the only ones who thought so.