Late last night, the GigaOM blog published an article written by Alistair Croll delineating Microsoft’s supposed “defense strategy,” which can sensibly be partitioned into three unique models: consumer, enterprise, and development. Some points made are taken with an ample dose of logic and reason. Others are not so fortuitous when held under the proverbial heat lamp. I’d like to focus on two particular items discussed by Croll.
First, there’s Croll’s postulation that Microsoft needs to bring its various devices into a single melding pot of synchronic software-mating bliss. Whether it is a consumer’s Vista PC, Xbox, Zune, or any Windows Mobile-based smartphone, everything is supposedly going to be having lots of nice, seamless group chats somewhere down the line.
I, frankly, find this concept a near impossibility for the company to accomplish at present. One only needs to consult a fresh New York Times piece by Randall Stross to see that Microsoft isn’t moving to a meshtastic (or would you prefer mashtastic?) reality anytime soon. The company is far too scattered to ever arrive at some sort of pseudo-singularity.
The second item I wish to put forth in response to Crolls assertions is the subject of Web development, specifically the area of Web applications and open source.
It is true, Microsoft has moved to open its doors to the world outside. Several newly announced efforts have garnered considerably bullish reviews from critics and analysts. Which is good. That stuff definitely helps on the PR front. But Microsoft is nonetheless late to the game. The company is continuously playing catch up - especially out in the cloud. Which isn’t good.
Sure, it’s got the brand recognition to make massive impressions online as far as consumer- and enterprise-class software and services, even after years of playing it cool. But things are moving quick these days on the Web, and if you appear to be falling lockstep behind your more agile, fast-moving competitors for too long, you may begin to lose that historic influence. The Microsoft name alone is showing less strength today than it did 5-10 years past. That can’t be a favorable outcome for the suits in Redmond.
Whether it is the Web app market or the recent revelations of source code and other data pertaining to some of the company’s assets, Microsoft is simply not taking a “leading role.” It has only begrudgingly been swept up in the current popular demand, and it is only doing now what it should have done many seasons ago. For the largest software manufacturer in the world to metaphorically be considered an elephant in sheep’s clothing is perhaps a label that it will not be able to shrug off all too quickly.
This isn’t to say Microsoft is headed for a slow death because of, for lack of better phrasing, excessive slowness. On the contrary, it will live quite a long life still. But it is going to have to prove willing to make a successive number of very significant changes to its developments and the process with which those developments are made so that, in a few years’ time, it is no longer beholden to this title of “follower,” but can really be thought of as a true innovator. (Or something that can be passed off as synonymous with the term.)
Over the course of a number of years, Microsoft has gradually relinquished its role as an industrial mover/shaker. It is now solely a mover. Time to seriously get to shaking again. (Or something else that doesn’t sound ridiculous on its face.)
译文:
微软是故作姿态的防御吗?
昨晚，GigaOM博客网发表了Alistair Croll的一篇文章。其中，详细描述了微软所谓的“防御策略”。这项策略合理地分为独特的三块：顾客，公司和发展。有些观点用了夸张的理由进行逻辑分析。另外一些尽管在众人的关注下，却没有详细地论证。我想就Croll特别提出的两点谈下自己的看法。
第一，Croll认为，微软应该制作把具有不同功能的产品做成一个与软件匹配且同步的完美组合。不管是vista个人电脑，Xbox游戏机，ZuneMP3，或其他Windows系列的移动式智能电话，都应有多种功能，像实现线下无处不在的群聊。
说实话，我觉得这个理念是现在微软几乎不可能实现的了的。你只要参考写纽约时报，Randall Stross的一篇文章，就知道微软不可能实现Meshtatic（或者你喜欢mashtastic来形容它？）。这家公司的产品太过不同，从未有过某种类似多合一的产品。
第二，我希望就Croll提出的关于网络发展，特别是网络应用程序和公开源码方面的设想谈一下。的确，现在的微软已经向外界敞开了大门。已经有一些为大众所知的努力得到了回报----收到了评论和分析中很多相当不错的建议。这些绝对帮助了微软的公共关系。但是，无论如何，它的起步已经晚了。它一直在持续不断地扮演追赶的角色。
在个人和公司用线上软件和服务方面上，微软这个品牌有着很大的影响力，即使在以后几年里也同样如此。但是这几年，网络发展非常迅速，假如你还不寻求改变，落后在那些发展速度快，灵活多变的竞争者后面太多的话，你一定会失去你以往的影响力。如同现在，就微软这个牌子来说，已经不如5-10年前有竞争力了。同时，对Redmond的董事来说，这也不是让人满意的结果。
无论从网络程序占有率，还是最近公布的源码及有关公司资产的其他资料来看，微软只是不再是行业的领军人物。它只能无奈地顺应当今流行的市场需求，只能做几季前就应该做的。对于这个世上最大的软件制造者来说，披着羊皮的狼，这个比喻也许只是表示，它还不能马上就甩开所有竞争对手。
但这并不是说微软会因缺乏表达自己，太过迟钝而慢慢衰退。相反，它还会生存很长一段时期，但必须证明自己愿意做一些重大且成功的改变，并且真正进行实践，那么不久后，他就不会是“追随者”，而是真正的创造者。（或者其他诸如此类的形容。）
经过几年的时间，微软会逐渐放弃业界大亨的头衔，尽管他现在仍单单是这样一个角色。看来我们要拭目以待了。（或许有些事听起来并不荒唐。）