Comments on: Mr. Ballmer, I think you’ve got the wrong tree

By: gail hughes

gail hughes — Tue, 15 Apr 2008 18:21:54 +0000

on the other hand silverlight 2 is a enterprise 2.0 rig up it’s a giant step but i am the giant, hang in there yahoo! keep up the good work google. owner of saas,soa and the internet application software that microsoft uses

By: derk

derk — Tue, 15 Apr 2008 09:12:02 +0000

I think you guys’ comment on Ballmer are spot on. I watched a few talk shows w/ him in there. Almost every time after the host mentioned a competitive product from other companies, his first reaction was to laugh at it as if sth negligible, which conveyed more of ignorance than confidence. And in this match up, Google looks like an ace a step ahead and keeps Ballmer off balance w/ every pitch. That being said, I’d like to ask your opinions on development community b/c I’m not sure Microsoft is slipping here.

What do you think of the latest SilverLight 2? I could be wrong, but I for one think it’s better than any web app development solution out there, including these highly touted AJAX apps. It makes writing web apps as if coding Winform apps, which is huge. Outside of Flex/Flash, no other company has ath this fancy. And even Flex/Flash doesn’t impress me as much.

I just went through a demo showing python controlled web pages at the Google Apps site. Granted it’s more of proof of concept and Google is capable of providing more than that in future, but I still find its html-based approach outdated. If just to produce a drag & drop effect I have to put in a string of javascript hacks, what more hassle do I have to go through to make it really appealing? Not to mention too many hacks degrade the code into a bloated maintenance hell. SilverLight 2 on the other hand can do it like cake walk and capbale of doing LOTS, LOTS more and in an elegant manner.

We all know web apps are tiered, and to deliver a through and through decent app, we need a strong presence at every tier. Google is certainly doing a fantastic job on the business/data tier, but they need way better stuff than html/javascript on the front show off their clouding strength. I don’t know what’s next out of Google’s pocket, may be a GoogleLight or G#, but it’d better be good b/c this SilverLight 2 sure looks like a giant step in the right direction.

By: - Yahoo, Google, AOL Strike a Pose for Microsoft

- Yahoo, Google, AOL Strike a Pose for Microsoft — Thu, 10 Apr 2008 04:44:43 +0000

[...] way, in this deal, heads or tails, Google comes away a winner. If Yahoo goes to Microsoft, the ensuing chaos is going to benefit Google. If Yahoo gives away its search ad business, Google is a [...]

By: Yahoo, Google Strike an Ad Pose for Microsoft - GigaOM

Yahoo, Google Strike an Ad Pose for Microsoft - GigaOM — Wed, 09 Apr 2008 21:28:57 +0000

By: Big ideas behind Google Apps Engine, a bunch of Words, punctuated - by Paul Robertson (http://probertson.com/)

Wed, 09 Apr 2008 19:53:51 +0000

[...] Alec Saunders discusses Google App Engine as an example of the competition between Microsoft and Google, and why Google “gets it” but Microsoft doe…. [...]

By: Markandey Singh

Markandey Singh — Wed, 09 Apr 2008 15:14:41 +0000

This is one of the finest articles I have ever read. I am 100 n 10 percent satisfied with the arguments given. I wish Balmer to read this article.

I like to quote these lines which have the biggest impact.
“He wonders how Apple can “kick Microsoft’s ass” in the smartphone market with a V1, when Microsoft is on V6”

“The real problem is that the developer community, the strong backs upon which Microsoft built its empire, are looking elsewhere to solve the development problems they have today”

By: Aaron Huslage

Aaron Huslage — Tue, 08 Apr 2008 18:09:42 +0000

As a current Microsoft employee (since July 2007), I agree 100% with what you’re saying. This company has, in some respects, lost its way. There are internal “cloud” projects that are just beginning to help with app deployment and scaling, but those projects may never see public release.

The developer focus of Microsoft has not changed with the times, either. Most developers are more happy to work with simple, RESTful APIs than the overblown, monolithic junk that comes out of Microsoft these days. For a company that claims to know developers, they sure have missed the web service boat by a mile.

Yahoo is a last-ditch effort to “catch” Google. What Microsoft has failed to realize is that Google is not a search engine company. They are a broad-based technology company and will not be “caught” the way Microsoft’s “fast follow” strategy has worked in the past.

If Microsoft and Yahoo merge, it is the beginning of the end. Microsoft will continue to be stagnant in its growth and will eventually begin failing. Slowly, over a 10-20 year period, the company will cease to be and some brilliant people will be out of their jobs and find it very difficult to adapt to how the “real world” works.