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You keep telling us it's some mysterious thing hidden within Microsoft that no one can describe and you can't show us but trust us, it's there...
How the hell do we pay attention to something that doesn't exist?
Ah, yes, the perpetual: take our word for it, we've got good stuff, it'll come out some day (though it never does) bullsh!t!
You know why people love Apple events? They demo something off, the demo is over, and now the item is immediatly avilable.
So far I congradulate the company for keeping Live hidden from any leaks. That in itself is amazing, but what would have been awsome would have been a working demo, with services avilable immediatly after the presentation was over.
People don't like the whole dangling carrot in fron of their faces ploy, then slapping a launch date three+ months in advance.
Next time there is a major announcement, it should end with: "Now feel free to go check out the product yourself, it will be avilable for use/purchase by the end of this show."
That will turn heads, that makes good PR, that gets users to try out software and keep using it.
That said, Virtual Earth is an example of an interesting service. Soon we'll ship a new version of that. It's awesome. Audience thrilling awesome.
It may have some uniqueness on the edges, but (so far) the main parts of it has too much "me too" in it.
You are just copying your competitors, imitating their products. That is the same thing you have always done. I guess this time the difference is you can't afford to outright buy out Google...
As a shareholder who lives in Seattle and, therefore, benefits greatly from a healthy, prosperous MS, I'm concerned. The frequent major re-orgs, all-hands meetings and hyped pronouncements about "new strategic directions" are beginning to look suspiciously like a company that doesn't know where it's going. I have an awful lot of friends at MS who are jumping ship to the Google operation in Kirkland...
It's coming out soon and it will revolutionize everything! Now it's coming out much, much later and has features that Apple was able to do years before a much larger Microsoft.
Just what do those 61,000 people DO every day to earn their keep (besides tell each other and us how brilliant and hardworking they are).
Quick back of the envelope calc:
Google = 5,000 employees / 1.6 billion in quarterly revenue = $320,000 per employee.
Microsoft = 61,000 employees / 9.7 billion in quarterly revenue = $159,000 per employee
Are we to infer as hardworking and brilliant MSFT's people are, Google's people are twice as much so?
I hope so, for your sake...
I think maybe you've seen a few too many "my documents" icons...
I understand that your focus is much broader what you wanted to show yesterday but so far - disaster.
MS is an application company trying to use a web to preserve their golden eggs (Office and Windows). That's the whole story. It's not about services - it's about how to tied up web AND golden eggs together.
IMHO I would say your statement is bold to say the least, perhaps even foolish. If it was that simple, why didn't Bill Gates say it that plainly?
You've got a very big megaphone Robert - it can do one of two things - make you a big problem, or make you a valuable asset. Right now you are an asset, be careful not inadvertently switch sides
Windows/Office Live is absolutely right. I'll use it, once you've built it :) Let's hope MS saves the day and stops us all turning into google slaves.
Hosting exchange servers wont compete w/ google. All dogs have their day - today it's google.
I think it's relatively easy to get attention by offering something that people want and doing it in a nice and easy, stable way. But the secret is keeping that attention. Nurturing it. Growing it. Being nice to it. Respecting it.
Indeed, we need to trust those who are doing that to us. They need to respect that we are the people driving their vision (and let's not forget - business). Eventually you become friends and who knows.. lovers? ;)
If Microsoft can pull that off, then they'll generate a whole lotta love for a whole lotta time of a whole lotta people.
And I for one, wish them the best of luck instigating the love affair!
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I'm looking forward to trying out the new messenger and VOIP. It's a shame, I am assuming, that it won't be able to record calls as MP3 - WMA possibly. We shall see. But I know which would generate the most L.O.V.E
You mean... Has anyone noticed that GOOGLE blatantly ripped off the personalized START.COM interface (which does work in Firefox and Live.com will soon too).
Soon we’ll ship a new version of that. It’s awesome. Audience thrilling awesome.
Hahahah, always 'awesome' one version in the future. So silly, so lunkheaded, and not how you market, but yet you walk into it, time and time again.
PS - Wow, Brandon, I think I have found someone actually more blindly stupidly shrillish than Scoble. That takes talent, congrats.
When Microsoft rips something off, they turn it to crap...
In the end, while both companies are crooks, Microsoft is turning into a bunch of incompetent crooks. Way to go man, dig that Web 2.0 that only works with IE on Windows.
Could you look any dumber? I don't see how.
That way, you work in both Microsoft's incompetence at judging its audience, (crappy beer and MD 20/20), and its inability to do even simple tasks correctly, (the spillage).
I think it could be a hit.
And now your cage handlers have made you aware of the supposed big big picture? And you are blaming us for 'not getting it'?. Amazing arrogance.
Gates' lame slides: http://writersblocklive.com/?p=47
Those slides do look like crap!
http://writersblocklive.com/?p=38
Can you fix what already ships today? I have Hotmail accounts that are sucked down to Outlook using a 3rd party utility (since MSN rudely shut off the direct feed) and I have the junk mail filters turned on for both systems. How come Hotmail lets through messages that Outlook marks as spam? If anything Hotmail's filters should be fresher than Outlook's.
If you want me to move to new online services instead of desktop apps, show me you can make them work as well first.
So I'm a little confused that after you make a big thing about posting http://scobleizer.wordpress.com/2005/11/01/ross... Ross Mayfield's problems with MS, you then wonder why people are less than enthused about a new service which breaks number 7
"On clients, they want to choose the highest-reach platforms. That doesn’t mean a Windows app. Or even an app that runs only in IE. It must run on every variant of Linux and Macintosh too."
very badly. "Coming soon in Firefox" is a load of crap, you've just announced to the world that once again you only really care about IE. Firefox will probably come in 6 months or something, while us Opera users are still left in the dark, are we going to get supported or not? I've read around to see if it works in Safari or anything.
So after trying to say that you want to do something about the list of problems, people are then nagging at you because this big new thing you've launched breaks "5) That Microsoft doesn’t care about small businesses(markets, those browsers with less market share for example)", "7) On clients, they want to choose the highest-reach platforms.", "10) More security.", and they are jsut the easy to argue ones.
I ignored gmail untill it worked in Opera. I'll ignore this until it does as well.
I didn't know about the existence of start.com until I read his post, but as far as working, useful and customizable portals with a good user experience, start.com is far more appealing to me than live.com.
If I were looking for a customizable portal, I might use something like this. But I'm not looking for a customizable portal. Portals are lame. Google's portal is lame. I don't want RSS feeds on a webpage -- what's the point when I have a newsreader? And is going to a webpage to read news directly really that much of a hassle? Is it going to kill me to load boingboing.net rather than just look at the feed, especially considering how feeds often lag?
Del.icio.us might be the closest thing to a portal that I'm ever going to use, but it's giving me something else: community, and the opportunity to discover and explore my interests.
Oh my god...that's what MS's corporate graphics team turns out? What, you hire 7 year olds? Pale white text on a light blue background?
Christ, when it's Bill Gates, you'd think you'd want it to look professional.
In your case, Robert, we see in your condescending tone regarding the "woman's touch" which Jenny Lam brings to MS products, and which (lucky her) your wife brings to your house a very important clue as to what you think about the work you do.
All it needs is a "touch." A restyling. A staging, even. And then we'll automagically and finally "get it."
But maybe it's crap from the beginning? Maybe it's founded on crap assumptions, a desperate response to a situation which is evolving away from your control? I can't even decide which of your twinned displays of ignorance is more offensive to me...although if I was a MSFT shareholder the answer would be crystal clear.
BTW: I finally gave MSN Desktop Search a try and it's pretty cool. Regardless of what direction the ship is turning.