7 ms·

Google is slowly losing the PR war. It starts with the geeks. It may take another two years to propagate to the general public. By then, billions of dollars in

Google is slowly losing the PR war. It starts with the geeks. It may take another two years to propagate to the general public. By then, billions of dollars in ads (think Microsoft) can't undo the damage. I'm watching to see if they are smarter than MS.

mattmaroon 18y ago
Yeah, MS really screwed the pooch. That's why their revenues have climbed steadily year after year to over $60b. Sure hope Google doesn't make that mistake. Only on Hacker News do people think emulating Microsoft (from a business standpoint, that is) is bad.
- evgen 18y ago
  Their revenues may still be climbing, but the rate of increase has dropped significantly. They are losing market share in operating systems, office suites, and browsers; they have an awful PR image and they have not had a "hit" product in more than a decade. It does not take an idiot to see that Microsoft has passed its peak and that the decline has begun.
  - mattmaroon 18y ago
    You know, that's exactly the same argument people made to me 10 years ago when I started comp sci classes and made the mistake of asking some of the grad students why they hated Microsoft so much. Luckily for Microsoft, the other 99.99% of the population never got the memo. At the time I didn't know about Silicon Valley groupthink and I actually believed them. Of course their growth has slowed since their startup days, but for a company of their size it's incredibly impressive. See a chart of it here, noting that the next year after this graph was published it topped $60b: http://www.thevarguy.com/2008/05/21/will-googles-revenue-ever-surpass-microsofts/ http://www.thevarguy.com/2008/05/21/will-googles-revenue-eve... That's about 20% more than the year before it. Show me another company their size that did that last year. They don't have an awful PR image on Main Street, just on social news sites. Despite Apple spending hundreds of millions to tell the world how much they suck, 90%+ of people still use their products and like them just fine. And I think the Xbox 360 is a bona fide hit in anyone's book. I would argue that it does take an idiot to look at a company that went from $51b to $60b in revenues and see decline.
    - axod 18y ago
      "And I think the Xbox 360 is a bona fide hit in anyone's book." That's an odd book you have there. The last I heard was that at least they are profitable now. However, there's 6 years or so of vastly unprofitable to pay back before they actually make any money from the venture. By that time we'll be into the next console war, and who wins that is anyones guess. (Whoever stops using discs for the love of god). People hate MS for a variety of reasons. My top 3: 1. Taste - they consistently implement bad solutions rather than good, elegant solutions. 2. The internet - they show consistently that they do not understand the internet. They loose enough money on it. They don't get advertising, building webapps, browsers, etc 3. Bullying - Squashing the competition and giving users a worse experience isn't nice. It holds back progress. Suing people because they use the FAT format is ridiculous and indefensible. The FAT format is so simple it's trivial. They are irrelevant to most people in any event. Unless you work in the corporate world.
      - unalone 18y ago
        Irrelevant is a tricky word, but I agree with your points. They're irrelevant in that they are no longer leaders. Arguably they still have a creative drive with the 360, but I'd argue that Nintendo is doing vastly more to change the world of video games than Microsoft is.
        axod 18y ago
        Slightly off topic, but what the hell is the point in me buying an xBox360, with a large HDD, so I can store the games on it, if I still have to put each disc in when I want to play them? The next games console that actually solves that issue will do brilliantly. An improvement would be to just distribute the games on memory cards, and make the console have say 64 card slots. Then you can just load in all your fave game cartridges and play them, and the piracy issue is addressed. I agree, Nintendo is really pushing innovation which has paid off for them in terms of profit. My main point @ irrelevant was that most people these days wouldn't really care if their computer came with Windows, Ubuntu, OS X. As long as it has a browser.
- richcollins 18y ago
  I personally don't like microsoft because I think we would all be using superior technology had they not used their position to prevent competition. I don't admire a company's ability to acquire money. I admire their ability to create wealth.

mattmaroon 18y ago

Yeah, MS really screwed the pooch. That's why their revenues have climbed steadily year after year to over $60b. Sure hope Google doesn't make that mistake. Only on Hacker News do people think emulating Microsoft (from a business standpoint, that is) is bad.

evgen 18y ago
Their revenues may still be climbing, but the rate of increase has dropped significantly. They are losing market share in operating systems, office suites, and browsers; they have an awful PR image and they have not had a "hit" product in more than a decade. It does not take an idiot to see that Microsoft has passed its peak and that the decline has begun.
- mattmaroon 18y ago
  You know, that's exactly the same argument people made to me 10 years ago when I started comp sci classes and made the mistake of asking some of the grad students why they hated Microsoft so much. Luckily for Microsoft, the other 99.99% of the population never got the memo. At the time I didn't know about Silicon Valley groupthink and I actually believed them. Of course their growth has slowed since their startup days, but for a company of their size it's incredibly impressive. See a chart of it here, noting that the next year after this graph was published it topped $60b: http://www.thevarguy.com/2008/05/21/will-googles-revenue-ever-surpass-microsofts/ http://www.thevarguy.com/2008/05/21/will-googles-revenue-eve... That's about 20% more than the year before it. Show me another company their size that did that last year. They don't have an awful PR image on Main Street, just on social news sites. Despite Apple spending hundreds of millions to tell the world how much they suck, 90%+ of people still use their products and like them just fine. And I think the Xbox 360 is a bona fide hit in anyone's book. I would argue that it does take an idiot to look at a company that went from $51b to $60b in revenues and see decline.
  - axod 18y ago
    "And I think the Xbox 360 is a bona fide hit in anyone's book." That's an odd book you have there. The last I heard was that at least they are profitable now. However, there's 6 years or so of vastly unprofitable to pay back before they actually make any money from the venture. By that time we'll be into the next console war, and who wins that is anyones guess. (Whoever stops using discs for the love of god). People hate MS for a variety of reasons. My top 3: 1. Taste - they consistently implement bad solutions rather than good, elegant solutions. 2. The internet - they show consistently that they do not understand the internet. They loose enough money on it. They don't get advertising, building webapps, browsers, etc 3. Bullying - Squashing the competition and giving users a worse experience isn't nice. It holds back progress. Suing people because they use the FAT format is ridiculous and indefensible. The FAT format is so simple it's trivial. They are irrelevant to most people in any event. Unless you work in the corporate world.
    - unalone 18y ago
      Irrelevant is a tricky word, but I agree with your points. They're irrelevant in that they are no longer leaders. Arguably they still have a creative drive with the 360, but I'd argue that Nintendo is doing vastly more to change the world of video games than Microsoft is.
      - axod 18y ago
        Slightly off topic, but what the hell is the point in me buying an xBox360, with a large HDD, so I can store the games on it, if I still have to put each disc in when I want to play them? The next games console that actually solves that issue will do brilliantly. An improvement would be to just distribute the games on memory cards, and make the console have say 64 card slots. Then you can just load in all your fave game cartridges and play them, and the piracy issue is addressed. I agree, Nintendo is really pushing innovation which has paid off for them in terms of profit. My main point @ irrelevant was that most people these days wouldn't really care if their computer came with Windows, Ubuntu, OS X. As long as it has a browser.
richcollins 18y ago
I personally don't like microsoft because I think we would all be using superior technology had they not used their position to prevent competition. I don't admire a company's ability to acquire money. I admire their ability to create wealth.