Microsoft

Quick Thoughts on Microsoft-Skype

By Mark Evans in M&A 5 Comments Tags: , , ,

There’s been a flurry of coverage on Microsoft’s $8.5-billion purchase of Skype so here are some quick thoughts:

1. Microsoft, whatever you do, don’t screw up Skype. Big companies have a reputation for turning chicken into chicken salad so please don’t try to Redmond-ize Skype, which is a different beast.

2. I wonder how much Canadian taxpayers made from deal given Canada Pension Plan Investment Board was one of the investors when Silver Lake led a group that purchased 70% of Skype in 2009. At the time, Skype was valued at $2.75-billion.

3. How does eBay feel after finally cutting ties with Skype? It’s been six years since eBay made its curious decision to acquire Skype for $2.6-billion. At the time, it was a strange, out-of-left field move. At the end of the day, eBay made $4.3-billion – a nice return on investment but it was strategically and tactically distracting.

4. How quickly and deeply will Microsoft integrate Skype into Windows and its other products? I would suggest that after a short honeymoon, Microsoft Telecom (powered by Skype) will appear on the scene.

5. Does this open the door for a competitor? Now that Skype is owned by Microsoft, it’s no longer cool or rebellious, which was a big part of Skype’s appeal. Will Facebook and Google buy or build something to compete against Skype?

Is the Desktop Really Dying?

By Mark Evans in Google, Microsoft, Uncategorized 5 Comments Tags: , ,

Everything is going into the cloud. Or is it?

If you listen to Google, the Web browser is becoming everything when it comes to how people use their computers. With the Chrome OS hitting the market soon, Google is ramping up its efforts to convince consumers that the need for desktop applications is disappearing because anything you want to do with a computer can happen online. This quote from Linus Upson, Google’s v.p. of engineering, makes this belief clear as a bell:

“Everything’s happening on the Web. All of the companies and all of the services that people are using — Facebook, Twitter, Amazon, eBay — all of the applications and services that people are using are Web-based. The desktop ecosystem has basically stopped.”

If you’re Google, this is a no-brainer approach given the major growth of the Chrome browser and Google’s the number of online services such as Google Docs, Picasa, Google Calendar and GMail. In the Google world, there are fewer reasons to use desktop applications and, of course, reduced need for Microsoft’s operating system.

The question is whether the desktop is actually dying amid the tsumani of cloud computing. As more applications going to be online will there be little use for desktop applications, or has the enthusiasm about cloud computing become over-heated and frothy?

There is little doubt that cloud computing is becoming more common but I don’t think it means desktop applications are going to disappear.

There may, in fact, be some users who can and will rely exclusively on online services but, at the same time, there will be many people who will continue to rely on using software that is off the grid. Yes, Virginia, there are people who aren’t online all the time and/or don’t want to use an application that stores all their data in the cloud.

Personally, I continue to use desktop applications. This includes Microsoft Office, Tweetdeck, DayLite, iTunes and 1Password. At the same time, I’m an enthusiastic user of Google Docs, GMail, Dropbox and WordPress.

What it means is I marry the best of what both worlds – the cloud and the desktop – have to offer. For some activities such as working with clients, cloud computing makes a lot of sense. For other activities, a desktop application works really well. It’s just a matter of picking the right application for the right job.

Are you still using desktop applications? Could use see giving them up completely?

Could a Google Backlash Materialize?

By Mark Evans in Google 1 Comment Tags: , , ,

The Globe & Mail’s business section had an interesting feature story yesterday about how Google taking “aim at everything” – a thesis driven home recently with the launch of the Nexus mobile phone.

With Google seemingly everywhere and anywhere, it starts to beg the question about whether trying to all things to all people is too much, and whether, at some point, consumers will push back against Google’s dominance. Sure, Google offers great services – most at no cost – but are we getting sucked in too much into the Google empire.

At one point does being too much of a Google user start to get dangerous? And at what point will consumers start to realize that it’s unhealthy to have too much Google in their lives? If that every happens will the pendulum start to swing back to other players?

In some respects, Google is starting to become a lot like Microsoft in that millions of people use its products and services even though they might want, in theory, to use alternatives. You don’t have to necessarily like Google or Microsoft but that doesn’t stop you from buying or using their products and services.

What do you think? Could a Google backlash materialize given the company’s ultra-aggressive strategic goals?

Is Twitter’s Data a Goldmine?

By Mark Evans in Social Media No Comments Tags: , , , ,

The blogosphere was abuzz yesterday when it was disclosedt that Twitter is having discussions with Google and Microsoft about giving them access to the firehose of data generated by Twitter users, including links.

There were enthusiastic discussions about whether these potential deals would finally mean Twitter would be able to create a viable business model given Google and Microsoft may be willing to pay millions of dollars for access to the data. My first thought was that Google pays Firefox millions of dollars in referral fees to drive traffic so striking a data deal with Twitter could see the same kind of financial return.

While a deal with Google and/or Microsoft is definitely interesting, a far more intriguing story comes from Silicon Valley Insider, which reports that Twitter is already selling its “firehose” of data, typically between $1,500 to $3,000 a month.

If you think about all the companies that have been created within the Twitter ecosystem that have Twitter data at the heart of what they do, selling data – even to small customers – could be a good source of revenue. It’s a volume business but Twitter controls the keys to the kingdom so it could also be lucrative.

Maybe selling data is Twitter’s financial salvation – much like Google stumbled upon the idea of AdSense while it was searching for a way to make money. (Truth be told, Google borrowed the concept from Overture).

In the past, I’ve suggested Twitter should/could charge high-volume users of its API – a concept that always generated healthy pushback. Data, however, could be a more appealing and palatable option.

Toronto Company Kills Word Sales

By Mark Evans in Microsoft 2 Comments Tags: , , , ,

From the hard-to-believe file, a Texas judge has ruled that Microsoft can’t sell its popular Word product in the U.S. because Microsoft is allegedly violating a patent involving XML owned by Toronto-based i4i Inc. (For the news story, check out Seattle PI.)

Judge Leonard Davis, of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Texas, ordered a permanent injunction that “prohibits Microsoft from selling or importing to the United States any Microsoft Word products that have the capability of opening .XML, .DOCX or DOCM files (XML files) containing custom XML.”

In addition to the injunction, which takes affect in 60 days, Judge Davis also awarded i4i damages of $290-million.

So, who’s i4i?

According to its Web site, i4i is a ” world leader in the design and development of collaborative content solutions and technologies” that was founded in 1993 by Michel Vulpe.

If you’ve never heard of i4i, you’re probably not alone.

That said, i4i was thrust into the spotlight in May when it received a $200-million patent verdict from the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Texas, Tyler Division.

After an eight?day trial, the jury agreed with i4i that certain versions of Microsoft’s Word 2003 and Word 2007 products use “extensible mark?up language”, or XML, in a way that infringes i4i’s U.S. Patent No. 5,787,449.

i4i filed the lawsuit in March 2007, seeking an injunction and damages. The Eastern District of Texas is known for being a haven for patent litigation.

More: CNet did an interview with i4i chairman Loudon Owen, who notes that the injunction only affects Word that features the company’s customer XML technology.


Surprise, Surprise (Not): A Google OS

By Mark Evans in Google, Microsoft 8 Comments Tags: , , , ,

Last night, I was thinking about some of the products I’d like to see Google develop (e.g. a blog publishing tool and iPhone apps for Google Reader and GMail).

In mentally considering other possibilities, one thing that I didn’t thing about was an operating system. So, it was interesting to wake up this morning to discover Google has unveiled plans to launch a new (and free) operating system, Google Chrome OS, next year.

My thoughts:

1. If the battle between Google and Microsoft was heated before, it’s even more intense now. Instead of politely jabbing at Microsoft, Google has taken off the gloves and intent on punching Microsoft where it hurts.

2. It was really only a matter of time before Google launched an OS given it’s been moving into Microsoft’s turf with a Web browser, e-mail service and productivity tools.

3. For consumers, another OS is only a good thing to encourage Microsoft and Apple to continue to innovate. Given Google Chrome OS is an open-source project, it should be good news for Linux by validating the viability of an open-source OS.

Here’s what Google had to say about Google Chrome OS:

Google Chrome OS is an open source, lightweight operating system that will initially be targeted at netbooks. Later this year we will open-source its code, and netbooks running Google Chrome OS will be available for consumers in the second half of 2010. Because we’re already talking to partners about the project, and we’ll soon be working with the open source community, we wanted to share our vision now so everyone understands what we are trying to achieve.

Speed, simplicity and security are the key aspects of Google Chrome OS. We’re designing the OS to be fast and lightweight, to start up and get you onto the web in a few seconds. The user interface is minimal to stay out of your way, and most of the user experience takes place on the web. And as we did for the Google Chrome browser, we are going back to the basics and completely redesigning the underlying security architecture of the OS so that users don’t have to deal with viruses, malware and security updates. It should just work.

So, would you abandon Windows or Mac to use Google Chrome OS?

More: Here’s what TechCrunch has to say about Google Chrome OS.

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