Microsoft Category Archives

protect your investment

30 January 2015 | Google, Microsoft, Software | 2 Comments

интересне кино:

According to a report from The Wall Street Journal, Microsoft will be investing in Cyanogen, Inc., the Android ROM builder. The report says that Microsoft would be a “minority investor” [taking part] in a $70 million round of financing that values Cyanogen in the “high hundreds of millions.”

Cyanogen takes the Android source code and modifies it, adding more features and porting it to other devices. It has also started supplying Android builds directly to OEMs (like the OnePlus One), which ship the software on devices instead of stock Android. Last week during a talk in San Francisco, Cyanogen’s CEO said the company’s goal was to “take Android away from Google.” It wants to replace the Google Play ecosystem with apps of its own, the same way that Amazon uses the Android Open Source Project for its Kindle Fire products but adds its own app and content stores.

продавать Office надо везде, разумеется, — особенно учитывая существенное раздражение производителей, что рано или поздно могут сказать “нет” подобным ограничениям:

Google pushes a lot of requirements on Android OEMs. If they want the Google Play Store, it also forces them to take all other Google products and services. There is also an “anti-fragmentation clause,” which forbids OEMs from selling Android devices without Google Play. Cyanogen’s Android distributions wouldn’t have any such limitations, but then neither would a self-made AOSP build.

что, с другой стороны, определенно напоминает о прибыльности всех этих робото-продаж[1]:

[L]ast quarter Apple’s revenue was downright decimated by the strengthening U.S. dollar; currency fluctuations reduced Apple’s revenue by 5% – a cool $3.73 billion dollars. That, though, is more than Google made in profit last quarter ($2.83 billion). Apple lost more money to currency fluctuations than Google makes in a quarter.

забавно, не правда ли: известная открытость мало того, что сомнительна удобством, не вызывает доверия — так еще и элементарно опасный бизнес.

 


  1. впрочем, у Microsoft, как известно, и там коготок увяз.  ↩

  

скопом

6 November 2014 | Apple, Microsoft, Technology | No Comments

несколько заголовков:

 


  1. в Google Drive есть свои неплохие функции (например) — однако, на мобильных устройствах я все равно обхожусь другими решениями.  ↩

  2. кому как, впрочем.  ↩

  

элементарные подсчеты

12 July 2014 | Apple, Economics, Microsoft | No Comments

пожалуйста:

My biggest fear about trying to use something like the Surface Pro 3 <...> [is] it just not being an outstanding device.

The iPad is an outstanding device, as is my MacBook Pro. So then the only use I would have for a Surface is as a secondary device to remove the need for VMware running Windows.

But then we are talking about $799 for a base model machine and I still have to buy the type cover. So really $928 all in. All that for a device I may not even like.

For less money I can buy an 11″ MacBook Air and install Windows on it (I already own Windows) in a native Bootcamp partition. Even if it turns out I don’t use Windows on the MacBook Air, I still have a MacBook Air.

  

слишком поздно

28 March 2014 | Microsoft, Software | 1 Comment

quote of the day:

I’m not sure how much Office for iPad will ultimately mean for Microsoft. Beyond Excel, what these last several years have shown many of us is that we don’t really need Office for most tasks (thanks again in large part to Microsoft refusing to release Office on devices like the iPad). We found other ways of getting stuff done.

все так.

  

oops!… I did it again

13 October 2013 | Apple, Economics, Microsoft, Software | No Comments

про сопоставления:

[As] William Hurley, a co-founder of Chaotic Moon, a maker of apps for companies including Walt Disney Co, <...> said the company’s most recent game, “Dragon Academy” — which is free to download, with consumers paying for upgrades — generated more in one hour of sales on Apple devices than was made through all of Chaotic Moon’s releases globally for Windows Phone in the past year.

  

on eagles

3 September 2013 | Apple, Google, Hardware, Microsoft | No Comments

впрочем (oh, dear me), есть и сомневающиеся:

Microsoft makes a mobile OS, that the market doesn’t seem to want. Nokia smartphones sales make drying paint seem like a John Woo thriller. It doesn’t matter from which angle you look, the combination of these two companies into a single entity doesn’t add up.

нюанс, однако, в том, что не все так просто:

In the Q2 2012 Windows Phone was the fourth most used OS in Latin America. Fast forward one year and it’s climbed to the number two position, with strong performance in countries like Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Mexico, and Peru. In Colombia it holds a 25.6% share of the market. This data comes from the Mobile Phone Tracker report from the IDC for the second quarter of 2013.

биполярное мышление, win-or-loose стратегии — все это исключительно далеко от реалий окружающего нас мира. важно, наоборот, увидеть свою нишу — и победить там (благо, что и возможности для роста еще остались). глобальное же противостояние все равно не выиграть никому.

  

mergers and acquisitions

3 September 2013 | Economics, Google, Hardware, Jurisprudence, Microsoft | No Comments

итак, давно ожидаемое случилось, Microsoft купил мобильный бизнес Nokia. как говорится, “if this isn’t commitment [to smartphones] not sure what is?” более того, проклинаемый годами Стивен Элоп[1] теперь, похоже, будет одним из основных претендетов на кресло Баллмера.

но вот, что так же бросается в глаза:

The deal structure is the opposite of the Google-Motorola deal: Google acquired Motorola, according to what it told the world at the time, primarily for its patent portfolio and was just required to take over the product business as well because Motorola’s then-CEO told Google that, stripped of its patents, the device business wouldn’t be able to defend itself against patent-wielding rivals. Google grossly overpaid for Motorola’s patents. It currently has only one enforceable patent injunction in place against Apple (in Germany) and none against Microsoft, and the one against Apple will be history long before the end of the year. By contrast, Microsoft merely licenses Nokia’s patents, but the remaining Nokia company, which will keep the HERE mapping and location software (of which Microsoft is expected to become a top three customer) and the NSN infrastructure business, will still own them.

<...>

8,500 design patents are indeed acquired, but not Nokia’s utility (technical) patents. Design patents are typically not licensed to third parties.

<...>

The fact that Microsoft would pay EUR 1.65 billion (almost $2.2 billion at the current exchange rate) for a 10-year license (including the option for a future extension) is a boost for Nokia’s patent monetization aspirations. And Nokia’s patent monetization — which I’ve been watching (particularly the related litigations) for some time now — will obviously continue. Other prospective licensees will deal with a company that is financially strengthened by this deal and can point to yet another “blue chip” licensee that has recognized the value of Nokia’s portfolio.


  1. могу лишь догадываться, что фанаты Nokia думают о нем сегодня.  ↩

  

just a poor product

6 August 2013 | Hardware, Microsoft, Software | No Comments

quote of the day:

I can’t tell you the last time I’ve seen a founder come see us at Spark with a Windows machine. I haven’t seen a Windows phone in the wild in NYC, Boston or SF except in the hands of current Microsoft employees. Former MS execs that I interact with have switched to iPhone or Android.

  

смертельный груз

28 January 2013 | Economics, Hardware, Microsoft | No Comments

Жан-Луи Гассе исследует планируемый выкуп контрольного пакета акций Dell:

To perform painful surgery on its business model, Dell needs to take the company private. Seeing challenges in raising the needed $22B, Microsoft “generously” proposes to contribute a few billions. Is this helping or killing the deal?

показательное:

[N]ote the phrasing above: “Dell is an important part of Microsoft’s plans…” Better vertical integration without having to pay the full price for ownership, the putative “several billion dollars” would give Microsoft a significant ownership, 10% or 15%. This is completely at odds with the buyout’s supposed intent: Getting out of the PC clone race to the bottom.

Or maybe there’s another story behind Microsoft’s beneficence: The investor syndicate struggles and can’t quite reach the $22B finish line. Microsoft generously — and very publicly — offers to contribute the few missing billions. Investors see Microsoft trying to reattach the PC millstone to their necks — and run away.

натурально, интереснее любого детектива.

  

neither side is absolutely correct for everyone

27 January 2013 | Apple, Culturology, Google, Microsoft | No Comments

Марко Армент написал хорошее эссе о природе ненависти к продукции Apple:

Where Apple says “You can’t do that because we think that would suck,” Microsoft and Android usually say, “You can do whatever you want, even if it sucks.” They give users more control with endless possibilities to create problems, and it’s up to the users to tolerate or fix any resulting problems themselves. Google and Microsoft are platform libertarians: you’re generally free to do much more, but you’re on your own when it breaks.

Our technology choices reflect our values. People willing to yield some control to Apple for their needs are more likely to enjoy the benefits that Apple’s products bring by exerting that control. But people who don’t like being told what to do — people who believe they know what’s best for them, want full control over everything, and are willing to accept the resulting responsibilities — will be more comfortable with the alternatives.

все так, да. но задумайтесь так же вот о чем: если неодушевленные предметы вызывают настолько сильные отрицательные эмоции, то может дело, в первую очередь, не только в этих вещах?

ненависть в любом виде бессмысленна и непродуктивна. она ослепляет и ограничивает. и, по-моему, уже этого достаточно, чтобы всеми силами защищать себя от подобных чувств.