4 ms·

This is more significant than you might expect from a first glance. the media writes about companies or technologies that are innovative, game changing, cool,

by mixmax 16y ago

This is more significant than you might expect from a first glance. the media writes about companies or technologies that are innovative, game changing, cool, popular, controversial or scandalous. Companies that are feared, loved or admired get press - companies that aren't don't. If you look at the press Microsoft is getting relative to its size (whether you choose turnover, profits, number of employees, market cap or any other metric) it's even worse. Microsofts market cap is $214 billion[1] and twitters is $1 billion[2], yet twitter receives twice as much press as Microsoft. If you factor in the fact that almost every technology consumer on earth has some sort of exposure to Microsoft (thus making it an obvious company to write about for the press) it's even worse. This is a strong indication that Microsoft is neither feared, loved or admired. It seems like a company past it's prime. [1] http://finance.yahoo.com/q/ks?s=msft http://finance.yahoo.com/q/ks?s=msft [2] http://tech.mit.edu/V129/N39/long2.html http://tech.mit.edu/V129/N39/long2.html

pyre 16y ago
On the other hand, it could just be that they've faded into the background. People don't often spend hours discussing something that is 'the default.' Windows isn't going anywhere for a long time.
- orangecat 16y ago
  Windows isn't going anywhere for a long time. True in multiple senses.
- mixmax 16y ago
  That's a good point - you don't hear much about IBM either. Though Microsoft is much more consmuer oriented, and thus more known to the average Joe.
jwecker 16y ago
Interesting, but more telling to me is the fact that Microsoft is rarely brought up in Silicon Valley (yes, I'm sure it is some places and I know they have a campus in the valley). That is, rarely brought up in terms of innovation. I don't know anyone who talks about how to get hired by Microsoft, I don't know anyone who talks about what they're releasing or what research they've done aside from fixing vulnerabilities. Occasionally I or someone will boot into Windows 7 to see if something works correctly and say "hm, doesn't look too bad. wouldn't use it for real though." I ride caltrain into SF every morning through most of the valley. Lots of laptops on the commuter trains. Maybe 1 in 5 is running windows. To me, this is a much bigger indication that, as mixmax put, the company is past its prime.
fierarul 16y ago
>This is a strong indication that Microsoft is neither feared, loved or admired. It seems like a company past it's prime. It also means that Microsoft might have become ubiquitous and is thus easily ignored. People don't write about the wonders of refrigerators or toothbrushes -- yet they are everywhere and people are spending money on them.

by mixmax 16y ago

pyre 16y ago

On the other hand, it could just be that they've faded into the background. People don't often spend hours discussing something that is 'the default.' Windows isn't going anywhere for a long time.

orangecat 16y ago
Windows isn't going anywhere for a long time. True in multiple senses.
mixmax 16y ago
That's a good point - you don't hear much about IBM either. Though Microsoft is much more consmuer oriented, and thus more known to the average Joe.

jwecker 16y ago

Interesting, but more telling to me is the fact that Microsoft is rarely brought up in Silicon Valley (yes, I'm sure it is some places and I know they have a campus in the valley). That is, rarely brought up in terms of innovation. I don't know anyone who talks about how to get hired by Microsoft, I don't know anyone who talks about what they're releasing or what research they've done aside from fixing vulnerabilities. Occasionally I or someone will boot into Windows 7 to see if something works correctly and say "hm, doesn't look too bad. wouldn't use it for real though." I ride caltrain into SF every morning through most of the valley. Lots of laptops on the commuter trains. Maybe 1 in 5 is running windows. To me, this is a much bigger indication that, as mixmax put, the company is past its prime.

fierarul 16y ago

>This is a strong indication that Microsoft is neither feared, loved or admired. It seems like a company past it's prime. It also means that Microsoft might have become ubiquitous and is thus easily ignored. People don't write about the wonders of refrigerators or toothbrushes -- yet they are everywhere and people are spending money on them.