Comment Clayton Christensen's The Innovator's Dilemma (Score 1) 387
Microsoft's problem is explained in Clayton Christensen's The Innovator's Dilemma with some possible ways out of the dilemma with last fall's The Innovator's Solution by Christensen and Raynor.
Microsoft's biggest problem is that it has paid attention to its customers for the past 20 years. This has propelled its products into solutions that are far too complex, too expensive, and way more than what the only new customers need.
They try to attack new customers but they keep dragging all the Windows baggage along, because _they_listen_to_their_customers_ but the people they need to pay attention to are not their customers.
Talk to a Windows customer and say "what do you want in a cell phone so can make money selling software for cell phones". It is no surprise that the answer will be "Windows".
But ask the cell phone developer and his answer is "easy to integrate, really cheap royalty, etc." Gee, why can't Microsoft win any cell phone design-ins ;-)
Microsoft tried to go up against Sony, an established player in the game box market with a windows platform. Talking with their customers, this had to be a winning solution. Hmmm, it wasn't a winner.... Why was that? Hmmm, it turns out that 99.999% of the people buying game boxes didn't care that it ran windows.
In fact, the biggest problem that Microsoft has is the people who want the xbox to run Linux. Hmmm, why don't they listen to those customers??? Has the day of losing billions to gain market share really gone?
Microsoft's biggest problem is that it has paid attention to its customers for the past 20 years. This has propelled its products into solutions that are far too complex, too expensive, and way more than what the only new customers need.
They try to attack new customers but they keep dragging all the Windows baggage along, because _they_listen_to_their_customers_ but the people they need to pay attention to are not their customers.
Talk to a Windows customer and say "what do you want in a cell phone so can make money selling software for cell phones". It is no surprise that the answer will be "Windows".
But ask the cell phone developer and his answer is "easy to integrate, really cheap royalty, etc." Gee, why can't Microsoft win any cell phone design-ins
Microsoft tried to go up against Sony, an established player in the game box market with a windows platform. Talking with their customers, this had to be a winning solution. Hmmm, it wasn't a winner.... Why was that? Hmmm, it turns out that 99.999% of the people buying game boxes didn't care that it ran windows.
In fact, the biggest problem that Microsoft has is the people who want the xbox to run Linux. Hmmm, why don't they listen to those customers??? Has the day of losing billions to gain market share really gone?
