Microsoft is re-inventing itself again. This time around internet services. A memo from Microsoft's new CTO, Ray Ozzie gives some indication as to where Microsoft is heading...
Link: The Internet Services Disruption.
And the work of these startups could be improved with a 'services platform'. Ironically, the same things that enable and catalyze rapid innovation can also be constraints to their success. Many hard problems are often ignored the most significant of which is achieving scale. Some scale issues are technological and result from the fact that they are generally built on application server platforms rather than high-scale service platforms. But new services also need to build user communities from scratch generally by word of mouth. Many fund their sites using syndicated ads, but have a difficult time transforming their services into higher levels of commerce. Some seek to incorporate client software into their user experience, but then need to reinvent software deployment, update, communications and synchronization mechanisms. User identity and cross-service interoperability mechanisms are still needlessly fragmented. Intuitively there seems to be a platform opportunity in providing such capabilities to developers in a form that retains the speed, simplicity and loose coupling that is so very important for rapid innovation.
What this memo details is an ambitious undertaking whose targets will be quickly changing. The fast rate of internet technology innovation leads me to believe that many assumptions underlying this strategy will have changed several times before Microsoft figures out how to deliver it's first iterations. I wonder if Microsoft can pull this off. Cringley is more critical.
Link: Microsoft Is Leaking Internal Documents to Make Us Think They Have a Plan.
Looking at Ray Ozzie's memo, it is rich in generalities and lacking in specifics. I found it helpful to again step into the shoes of the consumer or corporate IT buyer. What APIs and what services would Microsoft offer that I'd be willing to buy? The internet has provided us many new ways to do business. But are there even more big untapped business ideas out there? If Microsoft could break open a new market, that would be exciting. But is there a new market to be opened?
Cringley says "Gates and Ozzie HUGELY over-estimate the role of advertising". Maybe we techies underestimate the role of advertising. This article (http://www.paidcontent.org/pc/arch/2005_11_16.shtml#052424) says internet ad space is at a premium and there is a demand for more.
But I agree with Robert X. that the memo is short on specifics. Microsoft may not know how to use advertising, and it seems they are still hoping Windows will be the underlying platform for the world's computing needs. One of the big reasons companies are tied to Windows is because they need users to share MS Office documents. If someone can develop a usable internet service that saves documents in an open format, a big requirement for Windows software disappears.
Posted by: Brian King | November 18, 2005 at 02:47 AM
Oops, actually this article: http://online.wsj.com/public/article/SB113211517116198670-20_3gq6_s2wN6T_IIvxPMiWth1s_20051216.html?mod=blogs
Posted by: Brian King | November 18, 2005 at 02:50 AM