Market Dynamics

Acquisitions won't solve SOA problems

The SOA (service-oriented architecture) marketplace has been a morass of vendor-speak, focused on selling software stacks instead of addressing the core issue, which is how to develop a cohesive architecture that will scale with your organization.

The more acquisitions, the more product confusion and the less ability for an end-user to figure out if the products serve their needs.

Over at InfoWorld, Dave Linthicum highlights five things that SOA vendors should know. 1. Make sure your product works. 2. Make sure you know what SOA is. 3. Get wise about the approach to SOA. 4. Don't sell yourself as &… Read more

Unexpected MacBook Air benefit--reduced carpal tunnel pain

For those of you who are MacBook Pro users, you too may have felt the pain from the somewhat oddly placed keyboard. From day one I thought it was too far away from the bottom of the machine. And while thin, the MBP doesn't have the ergonomic profile that you get with a Thinkpad. Enter the MacBook Air and you will see immediately that your wrists get to relax a bit more and don't strain nearly as hard to stay on the keyboard.

A week into the MB Air and I can honestly say that I have almost … Read more

Yahoo undecided on Microsoft offer (yawn)

Yahoo CEO Jerry Yang said today that the company is considering "a wide range of potential strategic alternatives," but it's hard to see an equitable ending for both shareholders and employees..

I wonder if Microsoft's attempt to acquire Yahoo will instead sink both companies? They are both working to defeat the Google-verse and one could assume that there is logic and synergy in the acquisition. Yet somehow it doesn't quite make sense. If it did, Yahoo would have said yes right away, or at least gone back with a counter.

A better tactic for Microsoft … Read more

Novell ready for acquisitions?

Novell got a nice influx of cash when they made their deal with the devil (er, Microsoft) and BusinessWeek says that the company is now ready to start spending some of that cash on acquisitions.

The problem is that there aren't a whole lot of companies that are complementary in a meaningful way.

Raven Zachary at 451 Group suggests that Novell might be interested in one of the open source system management vendors like Hyperic and Zenoss. This makes sense but won't bring meaningful revenue--and both of those companies will be worth a lot more down the road (… Read more

Microsoft+Yahoo=AOL/Time Warner?

It's clear that Yahoo is struggling against Google, and it's clear that Microsoft wants nothing more than to be important in the online services world. But the combination of these two behemoths, neither of whom have been particularly innovative with technology or customer acquisition of late, is the next AOL/Time Warner debacle.

Does anyone think that the merger of AOL and Time Warner was a success? Does the marriage of two companies that have no clear strategies ever make sense?

Microsoft hasn't proven that it can take advantage of this scale of web property and has wasted a huge amount of time and dollars with all the Live.com junk. Yes, MS should move into new markets and look to the future but Yahoo is a massive undertaking with a completely different culture. … Read more

Microsoft blames IBM for all of world's evils (or at least the failure of OOXML)

Considering that IBM sells an awful lot of Microsoft software, I find it hard to believe they would "single-handedly" attempt to sink OOXML.

Microsoft executives have accused IBM of single-handedly leading an effort to block the software giant from having its Office Open XML standard approved by the International Organization for Standardization.

Beyond the argument (which really sounds like whimpering) I find it amazing when the Microsoft PR machine lets guys say things like this:

"They have made this a religious and highly political debate," Tsilas said. "They are doing this because it is advancing … Read more

Microsoft stock: Bull or Bear

This morning I received Jason Maynard's (Credit Suisse) note on Microsoft's outstanding financial performance. I never find it surprising when Microsoft makes its numbers. It's a well-known fact that company is great at cash management, (though innovation is a whole other story.) Over on Motley Fool there is an interesting point/counterpoint on the demise or not of the MSFT stock.

Dueling Fools: Microsoft Bear

This was supposed to be Microsoft's final feast, the major last hurrah for its Windows Vista operating entry and its Office 2007 suite of applications before the inevitable embrace of cheaper open source operating systems and Web-based apps. Very true, Vista has failed to wow, but the impact of that hasn't been felt yet. As the Bull retorts, early adoption doesn't really matter as it's the long tail (ugh) of Windows that keeps paying the bills.

… Read more

Microsoft remains evil--attempting to charge sites to import your MSN messenger contacts

You have to admire the guile (stupidity?) of a company has already faced so much anti-trust heat and still do crazy things like this. Essentially, Microsoft is saying that the contacts that users put into MSN messenger belong to MS, not the user. And if that user wants to import those contacts to a social networking site, the site should pay them. Bizarre and stupid.

The problem typically arises when a social network, say, offers its users the ability to import the list of contacts they've accumulated on Microsoft Hotmail.

Since the summer, my friends tell me, Mister Softie … Read more

Take a ride on Open Season Episode 10 with Marten Mickos and Rich Green

It only took 10 episodes of our illustrious podcast series for us to get the big-dog interview. That's right, Matt Asay, me, and Ashlee Vance spent an hour with Marten and Rich to figure out just what the heck happened and why it didn't happen to us!

Open Season Episode 10: The MySQL acquisition forces us off our respective couches.

I wish someone would give me $1 billion after a five week courtship.