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>>The best thing Microsoft could do is to innovate and do something no one's done. Everything they've done of late is in markets where someone has already done

by berntb 16y ago

>>The best thing Microsoft could do is to innovate and do something no one's done. Everything they've done of late is in markets where someone has already done very well in But that is what Microsoft has done historically. The old solution was to use profits from already owned market segments to invest much more in other market segments, until they own those too. I don't know either why it stopped working. Could the problem be a lack of a monopoly leverage? They can't threaten hardware/software makers anymore? Or maybe the problem is just leadership, as others wrote? Or maybe they have just screwed over too many people (to paraphrase an old Netscape executive, too many people has woken up with a bloody computer monitors in bed)?

rbanffy 16y ago
> I don't know either why it stopped working. They no longer can use one monopoly to create another. That's what landed them in trouble in the US and in the EU. Their historical model of growth is no longer possible. I would suspect they rely too much on focus groups to drive product development. There is only so much consumers can tell you about what they need. You can't just round up a bunch of consumers and ask them what will be the Next Big Thing. Well... You can, but you will end up with a Kin or a Zune in your hand.
- berntb 16y ago
  >>They no longer can use one monopoly to create another. I tried to write that in the paragraph starting with: "Could the problem be a lack of a monopoly leverage?". :-) >>That's what landed them in trouble in the US and in the EU. I wonder if that is the reason. They kept ignoring the monopoly laws and paid fines ten years later, when they courts had managed to get to the (then ancient) transgression. >>I would suspect they rely too much on focus groups to drive product development. Hmm.. a point which seems to fit well.
  - rbanffy 16y ago
    Yes. You pretty much nailed it. I believe top management really wants to completely ignore the law and employ every subcriminal tactic available in the books and, perhaps, write a couple new ones in the process. I also believe they don't have the guts this would take, as they believe that their past transgressions brought attention enough for someone to end in jail. That and the lack of balls to design products no focus group wants, but build them because you know people will want them once they see them.

by berntb 16y ago

rbanffy 16y ago

> I don't know either why it stopped working. They no longer can use one monopoly to create another. That's what landed them in trouble in the US and in the EU. Their historical model of growth is no longer possible. I would suspect they rely too much on focus groups to drive product development. There is only so much consumers can tell you about what they need. You can't just round up a bunch of consumers and ask them what will be the Next Big Thing. Well... You can, but you will end up with a Kin or a Zune in your hand.

berntb 16y ago
>>They no longer can use one monopoly to create another. I tried to write that in the paragraph starting with: "Could the problem be a lack of a monopoly leverage?". :-) >>That's what landed them in trouble in the US and in the EU. I wonder if that is the reason. They kept ignoring the monopoly laws and paid fines ten years later, when they courts had managed to get to the (then ancient) transgression. >>I would suspect they rely too much on focus groups to drive product development. Hmm.. a point which seems to fit well.
- rbanffy 16y ago
  Yes. You pretty much nailed it. I believe top management really wants to completely ignore the law and employ every subcriminal tactic available in the books and, perhaps, write a couple new ones in the process. I also believe they don't have the guts this would take, as they believe that their past transgressions brought attention enough for someone to end in jail. That and the lack of balls to design products no focus group wants, but build them because you know people will want them once they see them.