Monday, July 1, 2013

Microsoft Late Again - Under The Microscope

This article first published on Technorati.com
http://technorati.com/technology/article/microsoft-late-again-under-the-microscope/
Published: May 10, 2011 at 6:27 pm

As the news of Microsoft buying Skype for $8 Billion-ish races around the internet, let's take a look under the microscope, and see how many revolutionary events Microsoft has almost missed.

THE INTERNET: Going back to 1993 when the internet was just a seedling, Bill gates almost missed the internet entirely. At one time, he even considered it to be merely a passing fad. Only a small handful of people at Microsoft were working on the Internet Explorer browser, a distant afterthought in the mind of Bill Gates.

Other companies saw the importance of networks long before Microsoft saw the light. By the time he finally realized the potential of the internet, he scrambled together a team and threw obscene amounts of cash at it. Microsoft spend over $100 MILLION per year developing the Internet Explorer web browser in the late 1990s, with other 1000 people working on it by 1999.

Microsoft won the browser war against Netscape because Microsoft had the war chest to fund it.

BLUETOOTH: The wireless technology we all know and enjoy, was shunned. Fact. Microsoft refused to join the Bluetooth consortium until late 1999 because it claimed the group did not have the backing of official standards organizations.

SKYPE: Why am I listing Skype? Didn't Microsoft just announce they were buying it? Yes, about 5 years later. Apparently, around 2006, Microsoft considered, and passed by Skype as an opportunity. Robert Scoble, a tech industry insider and influencer, worked at Microsoft between 2003-2006. Today, via his Twitter account ( @Scobleizer ) said: "It's ironic for me to see Microsoft buying Skype. When I worked there, execs told me it didn't have enough business value to buy."

Luckily for Skype users, Microsoft C.E.O. Steve Balmer, promises they will not ditch Mac, iPhone, and Android Skype users.

Once again, Microsoft is late to the game, some might say they consistently BUY their way in, instead of , INNOVATING their way in.

What do YOU think? I would love to hear your comments.

No comments:

Post a Comment