5 ms·

Just because you suck at something doesn't mean you should automatically give up. I think it's to Microsoft's credit that they're continuing to go after search

by aneesh 17y ago

Just because you suck at something doesn't mean you should automatically give up. I think it's to Microsoft's credit that they're continuing to go after search. And they're making progress with Bing, albeit very slowly. I don't see anyone else attacking Google in search.

dotcoma 17y ago
as said in the article, attacking Google in search is not going to get them anywhere. Facebook, or Apple, or Nokia (with its free GPS service on its smartphones) may steal a bit (or a lot, perhaps) of the show from Google, but I doubt Microsoft ever will.
- Niten 17y ago
  But why? Really, is there any fundamental reason we should expect Google to remain perpetually on top of the search engine business? I think the difference in quality between Google and Bing search results is negligible; at this point it's just a matter of mindshare as to whether people, on average, go to www.google.com or to www.bing.com when they want to look something up. There's no vendor lock-in propping up Google, to the extent that there is behind the Windows or iTunes monopolies. Mindshare can be altered, Microsoft just needs to figure out how to do it.
  - Lazlo_Nibble 17y ago
    I don't expect Google to remain perpetually on top of the search engine business. But neither do I believe that Microsoft, as we know it today, is capable of being the company that knocks them down.
  - jimbokun 17y ago
    "But why? Really, is there any fundamental reason we should expect Google to remain perpetually on top of the search engine business?" In technology, it is rare that a leader loses it's place in the market. More often, a new technology is pioneered by a new company that makes the old technology less relevant. IBM never lost the mainframe market, but did not dominate the PC market. Google did not take over PCs, but dominates search. There are many more examples like this.
    - jussij 17y ago
      There was a company called AltaVista that once domminated web search. There was also a company called Novell that pretty much invented the business of networking PC's, but where are they now?
      - lftl 17y ago
        While not explicit in the parent post, I think his major point was about a leader in a mature technology field not often being replaced. Google supplanted Altavista largely because they made huge strides in a rather new field. While it's definitely possible, it's a little hard to image someone coming along with a web search that's impressive enough to supplant Google. It's more likely that "search" would evolve into something not entirely comparable to today's search, and replace them.
  - dotcoma 17y ago
    For starters, Google mints its own money via Adwords, while Microsoft still depends on Yahoo Overture, which Yahoo itself (and everybody else in the industry) acknowledged being greatly inferior to Adwords, to the point that they wanted to use Adwords to make more money out of the Long Tail of search...
scrrr 17y ago
For quality search results theres also still http://www.ask.com http://www.ask.com and http://www.alltheweb.com http://www.alltheweb.com . I wonder why we hear so little about those.
- krakensden 17y ago
  I've been let down by Ask so many times over so many years (... more than 10?), I do not even think about them.
- wgj 17y ago
  On ask.com I have to scroll the page to even reach the first organic result after the block of sponsored results. If you use it on a regular basis, don't you get tired of doing that?
- jbrennan 17y ago
  Don't ask.
brandonkm 17y ago
I agree. Around 2000, I remember reading all these articles in video game magazines talking about how microsoft will never be a major player in consoles. "Microsoft is not a video game company, its not in their dna". Fast forward a bit and look at the console landscape now. 5.5 million xbox 360s were sold in the 4th quarter of 2009. The xbox can now be considered a runaway success, despite the numerous setbacks that have occured (red ring of death). With search the landscape is a bit different, but we shouldn't be so shortsighted as to count microsoft out of the game or think that bing will never gain >50% marketshare. We could look at articles like this in 3-4 years and laugh out how off the mark it was, just like the articles in game magazines bashing the xbox in the early 2000's.
- absconditus 17y ago
  Has the Xbox division been profitable over its lifetime? I realize that they are supposedly profitable now, but have their recent profits exceeded the previous losses yet?
  - jordyhoyt 17y ago
    Immediately profitable <> successful. They're pushing console gaming to the next level, and you can bet that their next iteration will be wildly popular. Turning a huge profit at the expense of not providing significant value is how to remove yourself from future competition.
    - mattmanser 17y ago
      you can bet that their next iteration will be wildly popular No, you really can't. Look at PS3 compared to PS2, GameCube versus nintendo 64, Saturn versus megadrive. In fact it's practically an industry rule that you always fail after a successful generation of console! A betting man would reckon on the Xbox 3 being a flop.
      - msc 17y ago
        I wouldn't bet on it being a flop. In my opinion, the only unsuccessful Nintendo console was GameCube. NES, SNES, N64, Wii, all a success. PS1 was a success, so was PS2. I'm not really convinced of this industry rule you're talking about. Wii reached an audience no console ever reached, thanks to the titles and controllers. I'm betting Project Natal will take over a big slice of that market, unless Nintendo really steps it up.
rabidgnat 17y ago
On the other hand, do big companies ever get BETTER at something? Large companies tend to walk off their own skyscrapers. Microsoft toppled IBM with the "PC on every desk" mantra. In turn, Microsoft never won on the Internet, because they just never understood that humans network. Phone+cable+Internet companies are begging for a sassy upstart to eat their lunch when competition opens up. American car companies missed game-changing trends in consumer automobiles towards fuel efficiency. Should Microsoft abandon search? Probably not, but they're more likely to make money if they attack markets that only have awful products. Attacking a market with strong loyalties and gold-standard type products seems like a fool's errand

by aneesh 17y ago

dotcoma 17y ago

as said in the article, attacking Google in search is not going to get them anywhere. Facebook, or Apple, or Nokia (with its free GPS service on its smartphones) may steal a bit (or a lot, perhaps) of the show from Google, but I doubt Microsoft ever will.

Niten 17y ago
But why? Really, is there any fundamental reason we should expect Google to remain perpetually on top of the search engine business? I think the difference in quality between Google and Bing search results is negligible; at this point it's just a matter of mindshare as to whether people, on average, go to www.google.com or to www.bing.com when they want to look something up. There's no vendor lock-in propping up Google, to the extent that there is behind the Windows or iTunes monopolies. Mindshare can be altered, Microsoft just needs to figure out how to do it.
- Lazlo_Nibble 17y ago
  I don't expect Google to remain perpetually on top of the search engine business. But neither do I believe that Microsoft, as we know it today, is capable of being the company that knocks them down.
- jimbokun 17y ago
  "But why? Really, is there any fundamental reason we should expect Google to remain perpetually on top of the search engine business?" In technology, it is rare that a leader loses it's place in the market. More often, a new technology is pioneered by a new company that makes the old technology less relevant. IBM never lost the mainframe market, but did not dominate the PC market. Google did not take over PCs, but dominates search. There are many more examples like this.
  - jussij 17y ago
    There was a company called AltaVista that once domminated web search. There was also a company called Novell that pretty much invented the business of networking PC's, but where are they now?
    - lftl 17y ago
      While not explicit in the parent post, I think his major point was about a leader in a mature technology field not often being replaced. Google supplanted Altavista largely because they made huge strides in a rather new field. While it's definitely possible, it's a little hard to image someone coming along with a web search that's impressive enough to supplant Google. It's more likely that "search" would evolve into something not entirely comparable to today's search, and replace them.
- dotcoma 17y ago
  For starters, Google mints its own money via Adwords, while Microsoft still depends on Yahoo Overture, which Yahoo itself (and everybody else in the industry) acknowledged being greatly inferior to Adwords, to the point that they wanted to use Adwords to make more money out of the Long Tail of search...

scrrr 17y ago

For quality search results theres also still http://www.ask.com http://www.ask.com and http://www.alltheweb.com http://www.alltheweb.com . I wonder why we hear so little about those.

krakensden 17y ago
I've been let down by Ask so many times over so many years (... more than 10?), I do not even think about them.
wgj 17y ago
On ask.com I have to scroll the page to even reach the first organic result after the block of sponsored results. If you use it on a regular basis, don't you get tired of doing that?
jbrennan 17y ago
Don't ask.

brandonkm 17y ago

I agree. Around 2000, I remember reading all these articles in video game magazines talking about how microsoft will never be a major player in consoles. "Microsoft is not a video game company, its not in their dna". Fast forward a bit and look at the console landscape now. 5.5 million xbox 360s were sold in the 4th quarter of 2009. The xbox can now be considered a runaway success, despite the numerous setbacks that have occured (red ring of death). With search the landscape is a bit different, but we shouldn't be so shortsighted as to count microsoft out of the game or think that bing will never gain >50% marketshare. We could look at articles like this in 3-4 years and laugh out how off the mark it was, just like the articles in game magazines bashing the xbox in the early 2000's.

absconditus 17y ago
Has the Xbox division been profitable over its lifetime? I realize that they are supposedly profitable now, but have their recent profits exceeded the previous losses yet?
- jordyhoyt 17y ago
  Immediately profitable <> successful. They're pushing console gaming to the next level, and you can bet that their next iteration will be wildly popular. Turning a huge profit at the expense of not providing significant value is how to remove yourself from future competition.
  - mattmanser 17y ago
    you can bet that their next iteration will be wildly popular No, you really can't. Look at PS3 compared to PS2, GameCube versus nintendo 64, Saturn versus megadrive. In fact it's practically an industry rule that you always fail after a successful generation of console! A betting man would reckon on the Xbox 3 being a flop.
    - msc 17y ago
      I wouldn't bet on it being a flop. In my opinion, the only unsuccessful Nintendo console was GameCube. NES, SNES, N64, Wii, all a success. PS1 was a success, so was PS2. I'm not really convinced of this industry rule you're talking about. Wii reached an audience no console ever reached, thanks to the titles and controllers. I'm betting Project Natal will take over a big slice of that market, unless Nintendo really steps it up.

rabidgnat 17y ago

On the other hand, do big companies ever get BETTER at something? Large companies tend to walk off their own skyscrapers. Microsoft toppled IBM with the "PC on every desk" mantra. In turn, Microsoft never won on the Internet, because they just never understood that humans network. Phone+cable+Internet companies are begging for a sassy upstart to eat their lunch when competition opens up. American car companies missed game-changing trends in consumer automobiles towards fuel efficiency. Should Microsoft abandon search? Probably not, but they're more likely to make money if they attack markets that only have awful products. Attacking a market with strong loyalties and gold-standard type products seems like a fool's errand