May 2009
14 posts
12 tags
D7 Ushers in Web 3.0 Era
Web 2.0 is dead, dead, dead. Thank God!
Last night, in Carlsbad, Calif., D7 Conference organizers Walt Mossberg and Kara Swisher declared: “The Web 2.0 era over.” Hell, it’s about time someone did, and why not at a big, splashy conference?
What? You’re still living Web 2.0? Walt and Kara write:
What’s the seminal development that’s ushering in the era of Web 3.0?...
9 tags
The Keyword to Microsoft's Search Success
Too many people are wasting too much energy writing about the name for Microsoft’s new search engine—assuming there is going to be one, rather than made-over Windows Live Search. Kumo, Crapo, Frapo, Wacko—who cares? Microsoft could rebrand search Bill Gates, Steve Ballmer, Bozo the Clown or the Muffin Man. Right now, the name shouldn’t matter to anyone, nor will it make much difference...
10 tags
Microsoft Finally Finds a Lifestyle It Can Sell
The most successful companies share several attributes in common. Among the most important: They sell a lifestyle. Apple has effectively done this with multiple products, which is unusual. There are separate, yet related, iPod, iPhone and Mac lifestyles. But many buyers pay a premium price to join the Mac club.
There are plenty of other examples. The Harley Davidson lifestyle is the graying,...
5 tags
Antitrust Primer: Google and Microsoft
Have you wondered why Microsoft quietly accepted yet another two years of government oversight? Simply put, Microsoft doesn’t want to end up with the problems looming over Google.
There has been much buzz over the last couple weeks about the US Justice Department looking closely at Google. The rumors used the “A” and “M” words, antitrust and monopoly, to describe how...
12 tags
Why Apple Succeeds, and Always Will
Simply put: Apple doesn’t play by the rules. It reinvents them.
The March 11, 2009, The New Yorker magazine features story, “How David Beats Goliath.” Writer Malcolm Gladwell could easily have written about Apple; his examples are 12-year-old girls basketball and T.E. Lawrence.
Malcolm tells how obvious losers can be winners if they don’t play by the rules:
David’s...
5 tags
Is Twitter @replies Change Ashton Kutcher's Fault?
My immediate reaction is “yes,” after reading Dare Obasanjo’s post “Why Twitter’s Engineers Hate the @replies feature.” OK, so maybe CNN and Oprah, also members of the “million-followers club,” share the blame.
Like many other Twitter users, I’m unhappy with the Twitter @replies change announced earlier this week, later half-backed off by the...
7 tags
Officethemovie: The Confessional
Yesterday, a seemingly official Microsoft Twitter account fooled popular blogs and mainstream news sites to write that Microsoft would introduce a new Zune platform in June. But the account wasn’t from Microsoft.
Allegedly, David Z from Haklab set up the account. I e-mailed Haklab today asking:
I love guerrilla marketing, and know how to recognize it, which is why I didn’t get sucked into the...
5 tags
The Problem with Real-Time Journalism
There’s not enough emphasis on real-time accuracy. Yesterday’s “@officethemovie” pwning is about the worst example yet of new news media gone wrong. In the quest for clicks—and the feeble ad rates they pay—bloggers and old-time journalists rushed to write about a new Zune platform coming in June. Apple is rumored to be unveiling the new iPhone the same month. Additionally, the E3 gaming expo...
5 tags
Mac Price Cuts Are Inevitable
If the economy doesn’t force Apple to lower Mac prices, ultra-low voltage processors will. So claims Stephen Baker, NPD’s vice president of industry analysis. Stephen foresees a dramatic sea change coming in late 2009, as ultra-low voltage processors move more into the mainstream laptop market.
The Intel Atom processor common among low-cost netbooks is one example of the ultra-low...
4 tags
I was Wrong About Laptop Hunter Sheila
She is an artist, and, on second consideration, Sheila certainly does look like a filmmaker.
Sheila Dvorak is star of Microsoft’s newest “Laptop Hunters” commercial, which is currently airing during U.S. prime time. I saw the ad last night, I believe during Fox’s “Fringe,” which I had previously recorded.
On Monday, I asked: “Did Laptop Hunter Sheila...
5 tags
Microsoft Layoffs: Let the Healing Begin
As if today’s Microsoft layoffs aren’t bad enough, some of the blogging/reporting makes matters worse, by emphasizing that more are coming. Oh yeah? May you doomsayers stub a finger on the M, S, F and T keys.
Recap: Around 5:43 a.m. PDT, CEO Steve Ballmer sent out email “Realigning Resources and Reducing Costs” to Microsoft employees announcing more layoffs.
“This...
8 tags
'I'm a PC,' Says My daughter
Today is moving day for my teenage daughter. She will be switching from a Mac to a PC running Windows 7 Release Candidate. My PC buying experience for her could have been a Microsoft “Laptop Hunters” commercial.
My daughter, who online goes by “Morripopp,” had been using the higher-end aluminum MacBook. I knew she would be giving it up. On Wednesday, April 29, I told Apple...
10 tags
Did Laptop Hunter Sheila Find Treasure?
Microsoft’s newest “Laptop Hunters” commercial, embedded below, is the most ambitious yet and perhaps most misleading. The buyer’s budget is bigger and her laptop criteria slaps Apple where it hurts: Among core constituency of artists, designers and filmmakers.
Shelia is searching for a computer with a “fast processor, big screen, and I really need something...
5 tags
Joe Wilcox: A New Beginning
My job as editor of Microsoft Watch concluded on April 30. From that ending starts a new beginning and repurposing. Can people really make a living by blogging? I plan to prove they can, but not in the way most bloggers pursue.
There is a place for tried-and-true principles of publication-reader relationships that the search engine obsessed new-old media has ignored. SEO doesn’t stand for...