Comment Re:What truly compelling thing has MS done recentl (Score 1) 903
"Microsoft makes almost all of their profits on sales of XP and Office. I would argue that both of these products are adequate, but neither compelling nor great."
Leaving Outlook/Thunderbird out of the mix, what Office suite (spreadsheet, word processor, and presentation package) have you used that is superior? I've used StarOffice and OpenOffice on my home PCs for about 4 years and they are still far inferior in terms of speed, quality and features to Office. OoO is getting better with every release, but MS Office is still superior.
"2. Search. Google is kicking their butt back and forth and truly innovating on a regular basis. I never realized how piss-poor the Windows search functionality was until I tried Google Desktop Search. It is a revelation to get results immediately that would take several minutes or hours of searching to find with the MS provided pap. And have you seen the other stuff coming from Google Labs like the new Maps? Great stuff."
In my own testing, Google Desktop Search is less robust and less accurate in results than virtually every other desktop search product. Have you tried Copernic, Yahoo Desktop Search (X1), or MSN Desktop Search? They are all able to index more document types (Google doesn't index .pdf for example), support scheduled indexing, and Copernic and Yahoo Desktop search include document preview, too.
I'm a huge fan of what Google's doing in other areas - Gmail is a revelation! - Maps are cool, and they're continuing to innovate, which I love. But don't blindly bash what Microsoft/MSN has done here - their desktop search product is better than Google's right now.
By the way: Invention and innovation are two different things. You're criticizing Microsoft for not coming up with any great innovations, but I think what you're really claiming is that they haven't invented anything new.
I would ask you this: Did Google invent web search? No, of course not: AltaVista was there first. Did Google invent web-based email? Of course not, Yahoo and Hotmail were there long before. Did Google invent desktop search? Of course not: X1, Lookout, and Copernic were there long before. Did Apple invent the MP3 player? Did Sony invent videogame consoles? Of course not: Nintendo was there long before.
More important than invention is innovation, the process of important but non-revolutionary improvements that make a product more appealing, useful, cheaper, etc. It's not who comes up with an original concept, but who better implements the concept that wins.
4. "Gaming. The XBox seems like a contender, but only because it has been propped up by the profits from other divisions." Did you know that Sony's stock fell by 50% because of Playstation 2 underperformance issues in 2000? That the division was only "propped up" by the rest of Sony? See [news.bbc.co.uk] "Playstation woes hit Sony profits"
Full Disclosure: I worked as an intern at Microsoft last summer. I'll be starting work full time at Google this summer.
Leaving Outlook/Thunderbird out of the mix, what Office suite (spreadsheet, word processor, and presentation package) have you used that is superior? I've used StarOffice and OpenOffice on my home PCs for about 4 years and they are still far inferior in terms of speed, quality and features to Office. OoO is getting better with every release, but MS Office is still superior.
"2. Search. Google is kicking their butt back and forth and truly innovating on a regular basis. I never realized how piss-poor the Windows search functionality was until I tried Google Desktop Search. It is a revelation to get results immediately that would take several minutes or hours of searching to find with the MS provided pap. And have you seen the other stuff coming from Google Labs like the new Maps? Great stuff."
In my own testing, Google Desktop Search is less robust and less accurate in results than virtually every other desktop search product. Have you tried Copernic, Yahoo Desktop Search (X1), or MSN Desktop Search? They are all able to index more document types (Google doesn't index
I'm a huge fan of what Google's doing in other areas - Gmail is a revelation! - Maps are cool, and they're continuing to innovate, which I love. But don't blindly bash what Microsoft/MSN has done here - their desktop search product is better than Google's right now.
By the way: Invention and innovation are two different things. You're criticizing Microsoft for not coming up with any great innovations, but I think what you're really claiming is that they haven't invented anything new.
I would ask you this: Did Google invent web search? No, of course not: AltaVista was there first. Did Google invent web-based email? Of course not, Yahoo and Hotmail were there long before. Did Google invent desktop search? Of course not: X1, Lookout, and Copernic were there long before. Did Apple invent the MP3 player? Did Sony invent videogame consoles? Of course not: Nintendo was there long before.
More important than invention is innovation, the process of important but non-revolutionary improvements that make a product more appealing, useful, cheaper, etc. It's not who comes up with an original concept, but who better implements the concept that wins.
4. "Gaming. The XBox seems like a contender, but only because it has been propped up by the profits from other divisions." Did you know that Sony's stock fell by 50% because of Playstation 2 underperformance issues in 2000? That the division was only "propped up" by the rest of Sony? See [news.bbc.co.uk] "Playstation woes hit Sony profits"
Full Disclosure: I worked as an intern at Microsoft last summer. I'll be starting work full time at Google this summer.
