Comments on: Gates memo warns of 'disruptive' changes

In a memo to top company executives, the software giant's chairman ponders the challenges posed by a host of online competitors.

[Panamon]

What about the Microsoft Partners

I keep hearing about this great move of Microsoft Live. What I want to know is how Microsoft Partners are going to make money. If the customer chooses to have his data online and managed by Microsoft, then what is the Microsoft Partner going to do for the customers? It sounds like MS is going to undercut the MS Partners. These are the same partners that have pushed their solutions and products. These partners have been very loyal to them. They have used inferior products for quite a long time, and now when Microsoft finds away to undercut them, they do it in a heartbeat. It they do not make $$, then why would they continue to push M$ products? It sounds like the M$ Partners need to find another OS to use and support. It sounds like to me that the M$ Partners need to deploy open source solutions.

If Microsoft is going to undercut the vary people that have made Microsoft great, then why should those partners be loyal to Microsoft anymore?

Am I the only one that sees it this way?

The one that controls the data is the one that controls the $$.

Microsoft can lose its partners very quickly if they do not make this transaction smoothly. There are many partners that are feeling very uneasy about this paradigm shift of who controls the data.

We all know that Bill Gates loves to compete and win at any cost. He wants to remain number one at any cost. Even if he undercuts the group of people (M$ Partners) that are responsible for 94% of their income.

Microsoft has a huge army of partners that have fought in the trenches for them. You would think that Microsoft would leverage this army to create a Win Win solution for both the partners and Microsoft.

If Microsoft does not come up w/ any win win program for the partners soon, they may join another army.

The silence from Redmond is deafening?

[Panamon]

A few changes...

I keep hearing about this great move to Microsoft Live. What I want to know is how Microsoft Partners are going to make money. If the customer chooses to have his data online and managed by Microsoft, then what is the Microsoft Partner going to do for the customers? It sounds like MS is going to undercut the MS Partners. These are the same partners that have pushed their solutions and products. These partners have been very loyal to them. They have used inferior products for quite a long time, and fed them free suggestions to make their products better. Now that Microsoft feels the heat from Google, they come out with MS Live and Office Live. With this move, Microsoft undercuts its partners. It the partners do not make $$, then why would they continue to push MICROSOFT products? It sounds like the MICROSOFT Partners need to find another OS to use and support. It sounds like to me that the MICROSOFT Partners need to deploy open source solutions.

If Microsoft is going to undercut the vary people that have made Microsoft great, then why should those partners be loyal to Microsoft anymore?

Am I the only one that sees it this way?

The one that controls the data is the one that controls the $$.

Microsoft can lose its partners very quickly if they do not make this transaction smoothly. There are many partners that are feeling very uneasy about this paradigm shift of who controls the data.

We all know that Bill Gates loves to compete and win at any cost. He wants to remain number one at any cost. All we hear from Microsoft is how they need to make this move. We are not hearing on how the partners are going to make $$ in this new environment.

Microsoft has a huge army of partners that have fought in the trenches for them. You would think that Microsoft would leverage this army to create a Win Win solution for both the partners and Microsoft.

If Microsoft does not come up w/ any win win program for the partners soon, the partners may join another army.

The silence from Redmond is deafening?

[ronniefussell]

It is time to go back to work...

Business relationship like personal ones requires work, alot of work. The parnership I am sure you are referring to is fairly one sided by now with Bill Gates and Microsoft carrying the bulk of the load.

If you are to survive then you need to embrace change, look for opportunites as Mr. Gates is obviously doing by charging his subordinates to think outside their boxes and find new opportunites and embace change not worry that the "sky is falling" as you seem to advocate.

Business visionaries set a direction in uncharted waters, as a MS Partner you have riden the Microsoft wave, now it is time to reinvest in the partnership or become obsolete.

This may seem harsh, but it is reality. Change, evolve and grow or become obsolete in a hurry. I hope you opt for evolution to obsolescence.

[Dachi]

Different design focus.

Google tries to design products that people find useful, if they happen to find a way to make money on it later on, good.

MS seems too focused moving into this thing on generating ad hits to really build anything people are going to want to use.

The method Google is using seems more successful because (surprise!) people are more focused on using something useful than finding an ad system with features.

Maybe MS needs to put down the numbers for long enough to come up with ideas that might actually be appealing to people.

I have said before that MS should create a "freeware" group (maybe under the new network services division) and just let them go.

services developer tools

Hmmm...Microsoft releases developer tools so folks can create
service applications to be delivered over the internet.

How will Microsoft make money here? If the application is used
through a web browser, where does Windows fit in?

Oh, right, it requires IE 6.0 or better to use.

[rturner2]

Yeah, Yeah...

Microsoft "claims" they have competition but really they are leaps and bounds ahead of the competition.

The have to say this so that people think that they do not take their leadership position for granted but really they are laughing all the way to the bank!

They talk about Google as a competitor. What crap! As if Google is about to bring out an OS and get 90% of the computers running Windows to switch. And OpenOffice is not about to debunk Office anytime soon. Google has simply beat Microsoft in two areas - search and profiting from ads.

Microsoft after gaining almost 100% of the browser market with IE, they have stalled development of future browser versions deliberately in order to allow their .net platform to catchup and take over in terms of the ability to build powerful applications. This then allows them to attract more developers to program .net apps (which are Windows only) instead of pure web apps (with are cross platform). Microsoft understands the mind of a developer which thinks purely about which language he or she can use in order to make the best application. 99% of developers do not even consider that they are falling right into Microsoft's plans and therefore assuring Microsoft's future as THE platform (and as "little people" we really don't have much choice)!

[Betty Roper]

Bingo

This "leaked" memo has PR written all over it. It's MSFT's way of telling the market: "We're on the problem."

A company with a market cap of $300B and 90% of the world's desktops (even higher in the enterprise space) is not really competing with a Bubble 2.0 company that provides search results, email and an online map.

MS just needs to integrate their offerings better to hold onto their existing customer base. Granted a little more ad-generated web service revenue would be nice...

[Llib Setag]

OH, the tide is turning... Seattle Times Newspaper

READ IT & WEEP CITIZEN GATES...

Monday, November 7, 2005 - Page updated at 06:40 AM
E-conomy

"Mac takes bite out of Windows" By Paul Andrews
Special to The Seattle Times

Hardly a week goes by that I don't hear from a friend or
colleague with a monumental Windows problem.

I tell them I'm glad to help, on one condition: Next time they buy
a computer, they agree to consider a Macintosh. A year ago,
after a particularly trying week of spyware, adware, viral attacks,
lock-ups and reboots, I changed my primary computer to a Mac.
I've dabbled with Macs since the late 1980s but never felt a need
to change from Windows.

For the first couple of months after the switch, while I
transferred e-mail and contacts to Mac programs, I was firing up
Windows almost daily. Gradually, though, I found fewer reasons
to go back. It was a snap to export text and data files to the
Mac, then convert them to Mac applications. And programs such
as iTunes, iMovie, Safari and iPhoto, which came with the
Powerbook, were easy to learn and use.

The exception was e-mail and contacts. There are ways to get
the data from Windows to a Mac, but they're cumbersome and
not always successful. Gradually, though, the important
correspondents and contacts got into the Mac mail and address-
book programs simply through daily use.

When I made the switch, I thought I was a relative rarity. After
all, we're constantly reminded of the Windows desktop monopoly
and how little market share Apple has.

But what I found surprised me. A lot of techies I know, including
some former Micro-softies, have switched. Among holdouts, I
kept hearing their next computer would be a Mac.

"There's huge awareness among the general public about how
much [Windows] PCs have been compromised," said Tony Bove,
author of a new book, "Just Say No To Microsoft" (No Starch
Press, $24.95). "My mother knows about it, and she's not even a
computer user."

Note that we're talking mostly about personal use, not
corporate. Most newspaper reporters and other enterprise
workers I know use Windows because their employers supply
them with Windows.

Custom Windows applications also keep users from switching,
Bove said. But he expects many apps will become Web-based
over time, meaning any computer can access them.

How much switching is going on? Commenting on Microsoft's
recent quarterly earnings report, some analysts speculated the
Redmond giant might be losing market share to Apple.

If that's the case, it might be a historical first. I can't think of any
time Apple stole share from Microsoft (as opposed to Apple
users simply upgrading).

For now, anecdotal evidence suggests something is going on.
Bove likes to tell Windows sufferers, "It's not your fault. But it is
your problem."

The easiest fix is simply to change brands.

Seattle freelance writer Paul Andrews has written about
technology for more than two decades. He can be reached at
[e-mail].

Copyright © 2005 The Seattle Times Company