Strategy Shift In The Air For Microsoft

mrdaveb writes "In the face of a declining market for MS Windows and MS Office, Microsoft's recent statements and acquisitions point to a future in which .NET is a key driver behind a strategy which will see Windows CE devices taking the limelight. This article explores the problems which Microsoft face in maintaining their stranglehold, and their likely route to keeping Windows on top."

Strategy?

[Ahkorishaan]

Microsoft will never change their strategy.... It's always going to be keep the markets cornered, and allow as little interoperability as possible.

Re:Wear & Tear

[PedanticSpellingTrol]

Find a bunch of the old fogies from Western Electric to help you out with that, please. God, those old monopoly phones were immortal.

Re:Natural and unnatural monopolies

[Macadamizer]

"Other than not having access to USPS mail boxes (which are USPS private property), what is there to prevent you from creating a mail server or using FedEx to mail whatever you want?"

If you want to carry standard, first-class mail, then the "what is there to prevent you" is the U.S. Constitution, Article 1, Section 8, Clause 7: [The congress shall have the power] To establish Post Offices and post Roads;

This has been repeatedly interpreted to give the U.S. authority to create and maintain a monopoly on delivery of mail in the U.S.

But yeah, you could start your own FedEx service if you wanted to -- but they are not delivering mail, they are delivering "parcels." I guess if you wanted to send all of you first-class mail by FedEx, you could...

Re:Do something well.

[Stick_Fig]

It's not a POC (proof of concept), but it is a POC (piece of crap). That's what you get when you keep building layers upon layers like an onion -- except, instead, the onion's rotting from the inside.

Re:"Profits" vs "Market Share"

[ChatHuant]

Actually, while Microsoft may have posted record profits, they've also noted that their sales of Windows have actually declined.

Ok, I read the article you suggested and it doesn't say what you think it says. On the contrary, the Windows for PC division is forecast to have a sale increase of 5 percent in the quarter, and the server division is forecast to increase by 9 percent. You may be confused by the fact that the sales growth is lower (compared to last year's 21 percent).
The Office sales have declined (no new version since 2003), and are forecast to further decline by 5 percent.

Wrong - Windows sales still increased

[Canberra Bob]

Sales GROWTH has slowed to 5.6% - the sales did not decline at all, in fact sales increased by 5.6% for Windows / Office

How can the OSS community accuse MS of spreading FUD when the article was not only FUD but making a totally untrue statement - "In the face of a declining market for MS Windows" - a 5.6% increase is not a decline.

Im no MS fan but it really gets me when the /. crowd just pulls fanciful ideas out of the air and claim them to be facts to support their view of the world.

OK, Ill beat you all to it too - Im a M$ troll astroturfer on the M$ payroll, as is anyone who says anything positive about M$ even if true.

Re:Google!

[mottie]

One of them works in your laptop as you are driving down an unknown road in the middle of no where, and one works when you are sitting at your desk. You are comparing apples to oranges.

Re:Wrong - Windows sales still increased

[Anonymous Coward]

That's NOT what the article stated. A more accurate analogy: Suppose you made $10 the first month, then $20 the second. That's a 100% growth increase. Then in the third month, you make $25. Your growth has now slowed to 50% in the amount you make month over month. Investors generally not only look for growth, but accelerating growth, which in general is hard to do when a company makes as much as Microsoft does.

Re:Back to school for you (YOU FAIL IT)!

[graffix_jones]

Well, you only got a 'C' on your explanation. :)

A natural monopoly occurs when a company (not an industry... that suggests 'several' companies) can only become efficient once it reaches a certain size, meaning that they only become profitable once a certain economy of scale is reached. These are companies with high fixed costs, and anybody that's had some business training know that if you spread out the fixed costs over more units of production there is less fixed cost attached to each unit. In a natural monopoly, there are extremely high barriers to entry (i.e. power distribution grid, phone service grid, cable TV infrastructure, etc.), and extremely large economies of scale, so that it really only makes sense to have one player, but the government keeps tabs on them through regulation.

The main problem with natural monopoly regulation is the fact that the return they are allowed is based on the value of their assets, so it really invites inefficiency... companies spend all their time acquiring new assets rather than finding inefficiencies in their production to raise their profits, as a 'normal' business would have to do.

The government is sometimes quick to change it's tune in the face of new technology, however. AT&T went from being a regulated natural monopoly to seeing the inside of an anti-trust court in a very short time, mainly because technology caught up and there were new ways to transmit telephony data. AT&T tried to restrict access to the new technology since it owned all the current infrastructure, and got itself split up into the Baby Bells.

It's my opinion that Microsoft should be treated as a natural monopoly and be regulated, but that's food for another debate. :D

Re:.Net == .Not

[blueberrry]

Ignorance must not be modded as interesting.

Have you ever tried .NET? This is not VB. .NET is very stable, in fact if all Microsoft applications were written in .NET they would be a lot more stable and secure. I'm really starting to get pissed off about people who haven't even used .NET and talk crap about it.

Remove your tin foil hat and get the facts. I'm not pro-Microsoft, i'm happy not to use their products when I can. However, .NET is pretty rock-solid. I've used it for dozens of projects and I've had a better overall experience than Java (faster, more coherent, less bloat).

Please give some examples to support your claims.