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Businesses Microsoft Software Technology

Wunderlist Founder Wants To Buy His App Back (venturebeat.com) 31

Posted by BeauHD from the Ctrl-+-Z dept.
More than four years after selling his company to Microsoft, 6Wunderkinder cofounder Christian Reber wants to buy the core product back from the software giant. VentureBeat reports: Reber helped start 6Wunderkinder out of Berlin back in 2010, and alongside his 5 cofounders they managed to create one of the most popular productivity apps on the market in the form of Wunderlist, raising some $35 million in investors' cash along the way. Fast forward to 2015, and Microsoft came a-callin', snapping up the startup for a figure reported to be in the region of $100-$200 million. As is typical when any popular independent service is acquired by a corporate giant, the Wunderlist community soon wondered whether Microsoft would kill or otherwise ruin the app, with rival Todoist going all out to lure over worried Wunderlist users. Users' fears were justified -- Microsoft announced in 2017 that it would eventually retire Wunderlist, as it transitioned its best features to a new productivity app called To-Do. No time frame was ever given for this transition, and there were some technical complications with this transfer of features between the apps -- as recently as a few days ago, Wunderlist was still unable to provide a date for its final demise.

Now, however, Reber has taken to Twitter to ask Microsoft and even CEO Satya Nadella to sell the Wunderlist app back to him. "Still sad @Microsoft wants to shut down @Wunderlist, even though people still love and use it," he said. "I'm serious @satyanadella @marcusash, please let me buy it back." It's unclear what Microsoft's near-term plans are for Wunderlist, or whether it would really consider helping one of the original creators rescue the app from the scrap heap.
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Wunderlist Founder Wants To Buy His App Back

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  • Anticompetetive Microsoft SOP (Score:5, Insightful)

    by Chromal ( 56550 ) on Friday September 06, 2019 @06:47PM (#59167498)
    The software industry and market according to Bill Gates and company: Why develop a technology when you can tilt the level playing field anticompetetively, flex a few dollars, and acquire anything resembling competition (and shut them down). Why develop when you can dominate instead? They're as intellectually bankrupt as they are unethical and have done much over the decades to undermine free markets and promote defacto monopoly over many sectors, contributing heavily to the mass extinction of what was once am much more diverse (and interesting) free market of software. I'm endlessly disgusted by Microsoft, they're a poster child for a corporation that should have been split into many small pieces decades ago, if the US FTC would only do the job it was created for.

    • Re: (Score:1, Flamebait)

      by LordWabbit2 ( 2440804 )
      No one forced him to sell. And I am not saying he sold out. He was given a good offer for his product and he chose to sell it. Nothing wrong with that. Nothing wrong with Microsoft buying it either. I do think it sucks that they decided to push their own product instead, but that's corporate politics for you. Google, Apple, AMD, Intel, Tesla, Uber, have all done this sort of thing. Why are you getting all ass tight when MS does it?

      they're a poster child for a corporation that should have been split i

      • Re: (Score:1)

        by Chromal ( 56550 )
        Microsoft, Google, and Facebook are vastly different situations. Google isn't particularly anti-competetive and they don't use underhanded tactics to reshape the market like Microsoft, they just do their core technologies well and innovate. Facebook shouldn't even exist, it's purpose is to consume its users in some unholy pact.

        • Google isn't particularly anti-competetive and they don't use underhanded tactics to reshape the market like Microsoft...

          Are you trying to make a joke? Google is anti-competitive?

          https://mashable.com/article/g... [mashable.com]

          https://www.cnbc.com/2019/06/0... [cnbc.com]

          https://www.washingtonpost.com... [washingtonpost.com]

          Underhanded tactics?

          https://www.engadget.com/2019/... [engadget.com]

          Listen, I like Google. I've been using the search engine since the late 90's.

          But think about what you are saying, or at least read what you wrote after typing.

          • Re: (Score:1)

            by Chromal ( 56550 )
            You expect me to cry a tear over practices related to Internet advertising? When I got on the Internet, there was not advertising, it was not a thing, it was culturally unacceptable. If I want something, I'll search for it, please don't try to reprogram me with a desire to purchase and your crap. It won't complete me, it won't make my life better, it won't make the world a better place. Stop manipulating people. Advertising is unnecessary, people know what they want and don't need to be instructed.

        • Big Brother Google is known far and wide for their anticompetitive business practices and abuse of their monopoly power. They bought up more than 200 of their potential competitors. And googlenazis have been filmed bragging about plans to use their effective monopoly on search to manipulate federal elections.

          https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/... [wikipedia.org]

          https://www.wired.co.uk/articl... [wired.co.uk]

          But take heart - the ghost of Thurman Arnold has been sighted in Mountain View...

  • $100M for a fucking todo list (Score:5, Insightful)

    by melted ( 227442 ) on Friday September 06, 2019 @06:50PM (#59167508) Homepage

    Man, I'm working on the wrong things.

    • 13 million users and growing (Score:4, Insightful)

      by raymorris ( 2726007 ) on Friday September 06, 2019 @07:21PM (#59167580) Journal

      Microsoft paid $100 million for the 13 million users and more on the way. Developing the app cost thousands of dollars. Acquiring millions of users is the hard part.

      • Exactly this, it's the user base that they bought. Which is probably why they are retiring the program, they bought the users, not the software. They think their shiny is better. I wouldn't know if it is, but they way they are handling this shift sucks balls.

      • Re: (Score:3)

        by melted ( 227442 )

        "Users" are only worth $7.69 a pop if you can charge them money for stuff. The moment you start charging for something like Wunderlist, people will move to one of 10000 other todo apps on the App Store.

        • They won't be charging for the replacement, probably.
          The replacement integrates with Office 365 and their whole ecosystem. That's where the money is - another reason to get / keep Office 365 for $10-$20 / month, which then plugs into all of their other stuff. They want Microsoft users, people immersed in their ecosystem, which are worth a couple hundred bucks per year.

        • Re:13 million users and growing (Score:4, Interesting)

          by Aighearach ( 97333 ) on Friday September 06, 2019 @09:14PM (#59167812)

          "Users" are only worth $7.69 a pop if you can charge them money for stuff.

          No, users are only worth $7.69/ea if they generate an average more than that much over time.

          And you don't have to charge them anything, they're the product, not the customer. Their data is likely worth much more than $7.69.

          • Their data is likely worth much more than $7.69.

            I'm starting to think I might be an exception. I can't see how anyone could monetize "dude plays too much minecraft and spends about 1/3 of his waking hours shitposting to Mastodon", particularly since ublock saves me from seeing most web advertisements.

            • Sorry, you're right. I neglected to add the words "on average" at the end. Thank you for your correction.

              uBlock Origin probably makes my own data worth less, too. And with uMatrix, they don't even have very much. Most sites are too lazy to extract it from their own logs, without the third party trackers they have no clue.

      • Which is why his attempt of buying it back will fail miserably, no way they want to allow all those users to keep on using the old service that is not under their control.
    • I would pay for a fucking todo list, especially if it worked.
      Who would be on the top of your fucking todo list?
      Or perhaps more scarier.... who would be on the bottom?

      • You can do that now, she doesn't give a shit what her name is tonight, or what the costume is. Those are routine addons.

    • I'm working on the wrong things.

      Well, that's why todo lists were invented - too keep track of that. It seems like you need one?

  • The Microsoft Way. Good to see they haven't lost their roots.

  • Giving them the finger? (Score:1)

    by Anonymous Coward

    Sure. Buy it back. Add a dollar more.

    Put in all the things it's been missing.

    Re-launch. And best of luck to you.

    You'll be making history, IMNSHO.

  • Huh. I was using Wunderlist at some point. I remember it started having lots of little issues and slowdowns. I wonder if that's around when MS bought it and applied their special charm and polish.

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