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I am behind Notch on this. A strategic move for Microsoft might be: (1) Build an eco-system around their app store by providing benefits to users through it (
by lhnz 14y ago
I am behind Notch on this.
A strategic move for Microsoft might be:
(1) Build an eco-system around their app store by providing benefits to users through it (some natural and others artificial).
(2) Impose an increasing level of control over what developers on their system can do.
And then once this power-relationship is established, you do this to maximize profit:
(3) Lock out non app-store members from developing.
(4) Take rightful dictatorial control over the developers in their market. What they can sell, how they promote themselves, what prices they can sell at, whether the money goes directly to them, etc.
(5) Ensure the stable dominance of the big app development studios by negotiating them preferential agreements.
Control over the means of distribution is power. This is the natural progression of people optimising for wealth.
- iy56 14y agoThat's a horrible strategic move for microsoft. Do you have any idea how many shitty homegrown apps their huge business customers use?
- lhnz 14y agoActually the existence of shitty business apps is one of my points. They improve the quality of those 'shitty' homegrown apps for their huge business customers (the cheese is that if you want to be seen in Metro you have to play ball) and then over time they get a cut of sales of all of these apps. There is an economic impetus for creating a walled garden. Businesses aren't investing money here just for intrinsic benefits. Owning the market is powerful as you can control how other people get their money.
- iy56 14y agoWhy would a company want all its employees to have to buy their outlook calendar-based time logger doohickey? They just distribute it on new hires' computers and be done with it. And that's not even getting into the ones that actually have proprietary data/trade secrets. Forcing all windows 8 programs to go through a Microsoft-curated app store is just not going to happen unless it's for some very limited "starter edition".
- finnw 14y agoI'm sure there'll be a special edition of Windows for those customers that will allow them to keep their homegrown apps. For only an extra $10000 per core.
- iy56 14y agoBecause forcing all their customers to move to one of their competitors would be a fantastic business decision?
- ajanuary 14y agoWould be a radical departure from their current strategy of "make sure all the crappy old software works so our customers can continue to pay us money for new releases"