Posts tagged microsoft
As Microsoft leverages a litigation model to force Windows Phone 7 on the masses and penetrate the smart phone market and Apple prepares to roll out the much anticipated iPhone 5 to bolster their position within the market, take a look at the two companies’ stock prices in September of 2001 and September 2011:
Who do you think will end up on top, and more importantly, who is more in touch with their customer base?
Although the litigation model (or at least the threat of) may be Microsoft’s best chance to penetrate the smart phone market and become some sort of limited player within it, I find their litigation tactics a bit pathetic. They have lost their ability to truly innovate and not only connect with their customers in meaningful ways, but anticipate their future needs or at least influence them significantly.
Microsoft’s Mango (Windows Phone 7.5) release has closed some of the gaps but as soon as the iPhone 5 is announced on October 4th they will be back to playing catch-up.
There is a reason why Apple has seen a 5000% increase in their stock’s value in the last decade just as much as Microsoft has been flat during that same time period. In Microsoft’s case the story has become all too familiar…
Too little too late, I’m afraid.
“Windows 8, I’m afraid, is too little too late…”
Uh-oh, who’s been sleeping in my bed?
If you can’t beat ‘em, join ‘em…Google’s Cloud Connect will now allow the sharing of Microsoft Office - Word, Excel, and PowerPoint (versions 2003-2010) with Google docs including sharing and co-editing functionality. Files are synched to the Google cloud so file sharing and simultaneous & offline editing are now easy as clicking on the link right from within Word, Excel, and PowerPoint.
Happy New Year! I wish you and yours an awesome 2011!
Since I promised myself I would limit my “connectivity” over the Holiday break, I am going to make this a very brief, rapid-fire list of predictions for 2011. So, without further adieu, here we go:
- No surprise here, but mobile apps will continue to proliferate at a record breaking pace. This will impact not only consumers, but the enterprise, in both the private and public sectors.
- Mobile security will become a #1 priority. In a rush to get apps out in 2010 security was an afterthought, in my humble opinion. 2011 will be the year where mobile application security will have to be addressed to reduce risks especially as enterprise apps are rolled out. I suspect the folks at Good Technology are going to have a banner year in sales.
- This is going to be a make or break year for BlackBerry and Windows Phone 7. Research in Motion (RIM) and Microsoft are WAY behind on the device and mobile application front and I don’t hear too many folks clamoring for a BB or a WP7 now-a-days. BB is better positioned, but they have an eroding user-base and their stranglehold on the enterprise is going to be seriously challenged (see Good Technology above) in 2011.
- Cloud computing will become a significant part of enterprise strategic planning initiatives for the vast majority of firms and agencies in the private and public sector (even in those firms and agencies that have resisted the Cloud in the past). The benefits far outweigh the risks.
- The vast majority of private cloud initiatives will fail, significantly underachieve, or never realize its full potential - all at a huge cost. I say leave it to the public cloud experts, work out the security concerns, and start focusing on aligning IT capabilities with mission (business) drivers.
- Public cloud providers (Amazon, Microsoft, Google, etc.) will have record cloud computing sales in both the private and public sectors.
- All eyes, in the Federal space, will be on the General Service Administration (GSA) and their Google Doc procurement (via the Alliant vehicle in partnership with Unisys). Should the deployment, migration to, or adoption of Google Docs somehow get “dorked-up” (highly technical term) Google may never win another contract with a Federal agency when it comes to their Google Docs offerings. Same goes for Microsoft with their Business Productivity Online Suite (BPOS) win at USDA. Remember, ALL EYES…
- With Federal CIO Vivek Kundra’s announcement of a “cloud first” policy as part of the 25 Point Implementation Plan To Reform Federal Information Technology Management Federal agencies must identify three “must move” services to be migrated to the cloud (the first of which to be deployed in the cloud within 12 months and the remaining two within 18 months). I expect (and highly suggest) the vast majority of agencies will identify/move their public-facing, non-secure websites (*.gov) to the cloud joining the likes of Recovery.gov and Treasury.gov (to name just two).
- As firms and agencies in the private, and especially the public sector, become increasingly “brand aware”, the concept of “user experience” will begin to drive how technology is designed, deployed, leveraged and ultimately used. Mark my words, user experience professionals will have an amazing 2011. It would serve most technologists to get smart on the broader points of user experience.
- In order to meet the ever-changing demands of whatever business you may be in and to take advantage of the power of cloud and mobile technologies, 2011 will force the private and public sectors to adopt some sort of Agile methodology for system development life-cycle purposes. This will take an incredibly strong project management delivery mechanism that is well versed in delivering solutions in short iterative cycles leveraging the latest technologies.
- Microsoft Kinect Proof of Concepts will penetrate the enterprise. Mark my words, this technology is going to change the world as we know it. If I were a half-way decent coder, I would would spend every waking hour coding for the Kinect. Microsoft was brilliant in making the code-base “open”.
2011 should be an awesome year! I look forward to expanding upon some of my predictions in the near-future and I can’t wait to revisit them later this year to see how accurate my “crystal ball” really is…
Thanks to @kenstcyr and @davidzi for sharing this link of consolidated Office Microsoft Team Blogs/Microsoft Blogs as compiled by Daniel Good:
(RSS feeds included)
Great resource for all you Microsofties out there!
Why do I point this blog post out, in particular?
Well, Microsoft is finally beginning to understand that people use multiple, web-based technologies, not just Microsoft technologies (web based or otherwise). This is their attempt to marry their fledgling Hotmail/Windows Live brand to the whole Web 2.0 movement.
Nothing like being late to the party!
That said, Microsoft is making a good faith effort to bring all your favorite social media sites into their typically proprietary environment:
We’ve designed Essentials to connect your Windows experience to the web services you already use – not just the ones from Microsoft. The new betas of Windows Live Photo Gallery, Movie Maker, Mail, Writer, and Messenger connect to photo and video sharing (SkyDrive, Flickr, YouTube, Facebook, SmugMug), social networking (Facebook, MySpace, Linkedin), email (Hotmail, Gmail, Yahoo! Mail), blogging (Spaces, WordPress,Blogger), and document productivity (Office Web Apps) services. And the new Windows Live Sync keeps your files synchronized across multiple PCs and in the cloud. You can even directly access your PC over the web with Sync’s new remote desktop feature.
So, what I find most interesting in all this is that this Beta is strictly for Windows 7 and Vista. Still using good, old reliable XP? Well your out of luck, apparently:
Windows Live Essentials beta requires Windows 7 or Windows Vista. Learn how to upgrade from Windows XP.
Click on the Learn how to upgrade from Windows XP link and your options are spelled out to you quite simply:
- Buy a copy of Windows 7 and upgrade
- Buy a new PC/Laptop with Windows 7
Poor Windows XP, your days are numbered…
And, for all those still using Windows XP at home or work…Apparently, you will have to upgrade or purchase a new PC in the not too distant future…
Remember when Microsoft focused on the consumer, or at least the end user with strictly PC based software - RE: Windows/Office? I do, and at that time, they ruled the world. I wonder if Microsoft’s diversification into all its other product lines over the years have hurt their ability to be great at any one of them? Apple is largely focused on the end-user (specifically the consumer) and their products are ground breaking, of high quality, incredibly intuitive and altogether cool.
I am afraid that if Microsoft continues to try to be all things to everyone and every company, their lack of focus will continue to erode the value they think they offer. I am sure, that Apple doesn’t mind Microsoft’s lack of focus for it has allowed them to dethrone them in terms of valuation. The numbers don’t lie.
Well so much for my planned “bake-off” between the Apple iPad and the Microsoft Courier…I really had high hopes for this one. Bill Gates has indicated that although the Courier has been cancelled, there are other ‘tablet based’ projects in the works.
I have to admit that I am a bit perplexed as to why Microsoft would simply target Politicians for TownSquare, but if I know Microsoft…this is only the tip of the iceberg:
Twitter and Facebook have become important platforms for politicians and public figures to connect with their constituents and fans. Today Microsoft is unveiling TownHall, a social media platform designed to further serve the needs of these political figures.
TownHall is part of Microsoft’s new Campaign Ready suite of tools and it’s essentially a plug-and-play web-based platform — hosted on Windows Azure — that can be used to build sites that support user engagement around campaign topics and encourage fan participation.
The target audience is government officials looking for ways to collect feedback and gauge the interest of their respective communities.
Those that employ TownHall can use the platform to support login via Facebook Connect, include poll questions, give visitors the ability to ask and answer questions, and reward participation with badges. The platform is designed so that the topics with the most traction bubble up to the top. On the backend, users are able to run reports and search within community discussions.
The code for TownHall was released to the public earlier today at the Politics Online Conference, but the technology is already powering NASA’s Be a Martian project and can also be seen in this demo site. We’re especially curious to see if politicians put TownHall to use and whether or not it will make Microsoft more relevant in the social media space.
