The 10 Biggest Microsoft Surprises of 2005
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So many Top 10 lists, so little time. And when your beat is Microsoft, the Top 10 options are as numerous (albeit, only sometimes as humorous) as David Letterman's. Here at Microsoft Watch, it was a tough choice. Should it be "Ten Reasons Microsoft Is Still a Monopoly"? Or the Top 10 Hires Microsoft Made in 2005"? (Too hard.) The "Ten Most Important Microsoft Defectors"? (Easier.) "Ten Justifications for Throwing Caution to the Wind and by Continuing to Use Internet Explorer"? Or maybe "Ten Odes to .Net Developers"? In the end, we chose the more well-traveled "year in review" path – but with a twist. We opted to itemize the 10 Microsoft-specific developments that gave us the biggest jolt in 2005. (And having watched Microsoft for more than a decade, this Microsoft Watcher doesn't surprise easily.) In no particular order, here's our list:
2. MS 'gets' RSS: While some folks were less than overjoyed that Microsoft was tinkering with the "little orange RSS box," Microsoft ended up looking like a company with a clue when it came to outlining its company-wide RSS strategy in 2005. RSS support will be built into not just Internet Explorer 7.0, but also Outlook 12 and Windows Vista itself. Almost all Microsoft blogs and sites have RSS feeds these days. RSS is gospel in Redmond these days. 3. WinFS bits go out early: For some strange reason, the Redmondians refused to admit they shipped the Beta 1 bits for the Windows File System (WinFS) earlier than they originally said they would. Microsoft maintained WinFS Beta 1 was right on time. On-time or early, we were stunned when the actual code debuted in late August. 4. Ray Ozzie takes the Red Pill: Sure, Groove and Microsoft were partners. Microsoft even took a stake in Groove amounting to $51 million, back in 2001. But did anyone really expect Ray "Lotus" Ozzie to become a Softie? And, eventually, the CTO who penned Microsoft's most strategic missive ("The Internet Services Disruption" memo) just a few months after commencing his bicoastal life as a Microsoft employee? We didn't see it coming. 5. Microsoft refuses to take the EC seriously: The U.S. government's antitrust department rolled over for Microsoft. The European Commission did not. But Microsoft seemed to equate the two bodies for some odd reason. After unsuccessfully trying to foist the "Windows XP Reduced Media Edition" name on the version of Windows dictated by the European regulators, Microsoft continued to drag its feet on making interoperability information available to competitors. Now the EC is threatening the company with a $2.37 million (U.S.) per day fine. Wonder if that will lead the Redmondians to change their tune. 6. Microsoft refrains from snatching up a major app vendor: With the continuing ERP/LOB consolidation this year, one might think Microsoft would buy something in this space. But it turned out there was no SAP in Microsoft's future. Nor was there a Siebel or Salesforce.com merger in the cards. 7. Redmond still can't find a way to shake its shoddy security image: In 2005, Microsoft spent lots of time, energy and Webcasts detailing its plans to improve security. But at the end of the year, as security expert Bruce Schneier put it so succinctly: Internet Explorer sucks. Here's hoping Windows Vista and Internet Explorer 7.0 improve things a bit.
8. The Office team opens up (a little): More and more members of the Office team are blogging. Microsoft is pushing its Office 12 XML file formats through the ECMA standardization process. Steven Sinofsky still thinks he is running Fort Knox, rather than a product development team that is supposed to be more open to customer and tester feedback. And Microsoft still isn't talking about supporting ODF. But we definitely saw some surprising progress on the Office transparency front in 2005. 9. No one says no to the marketers: After redefining "Project Green" as a strategy rather than an end-point, Microsoft marketers couldn't stop themselves. Now almost all the Microsoft business applications are being rechristened as "Dynamics." And most of the MSN applications and services are being switched to "Live" (as in Windows Live Messenger, Windows Live Search, etc.). That's an awful lot of rebranding to pull off all at once. Just ask Microsoft's confused partners, customers and press corps.
10. Hailstorm reins again: Speaking of Live, Microsoft found a way to dust off its old .Net My Services (a k a "Hailstorm") strategy and make it new again. Windows Live, Office Live, CRM Live, Visual Studio Live – all of the current and pending "software as a service" offerings in the pipeline from Microsoft will be extensions of the company's packaged products. We thought Microsoft had dumped Hailstorm once and for all back in 2002. Looks like those green Softies managed to recycle, instead. Got any other candidates for the biggest surprises on the Microsoft front for 2005? We're sure we're forgetting more than a few juicy items. Submit them using the Talk Back below. Or write me at mswatch@ziffdavis.com and |
Comments (4)
But did anyone really expect Ray "Lotus" Ozzie to become a Softie?Yes. Since about 1990 or so. The real surprise is that it took 15 years.Next question?
Posted by Doug Knowles | December 27, 2005 11:37 PM
I remember going to a Micro$oft event in 2004 and sitting in on the "Security" briefing and listening to the Softie talk about how secure M$ is, all the while my friend and I were hacked into the presentation. We even changed a slide, ever so slightly, mind you, and they never even knew it! Not to mention all the WinCE PDAs and cell phones we could track. From what I can see, everyday, nothing has changed - not even the fanatical rhetoric.
Posted by James Grant | December 28, 2005 4:37 PM
1. In the browser market, Internet Explorer still lags behind Opera and FireFox. One could suppose that Microsoft is continually hiring little Dutch boys to stick their thumbs in the dike holes of Internet Explorer’s security instead of actually having a thought and adding features to IE. Unfortunately the company that in the late 80s and early 90s that could rapidly respond to the market as opposed to their competitors, (like the ever lethargic IBM), has now turned into IBM themselves.2. Everyone at Microsoft literally sat on their hands throughout 2005 for a wide variety of reasons, most notably the shipment of SQL Server 2005 and the future shipment of Windows Vista aka Windows Katrina. Product managers seem to have sat around and said “we can’t ship ours until they ship theirs first.” Let’s face it folks: 2005 sucked for new product releases from Microsoft, with the exception of Visual Studio 2005 and SQL Server 2005, both of which have a scarcity instead of a robustness of new features. 3. Microsoft purchases Groove. SharePoint, despite having the worst product team at Microsoft, has become the de facto collaboration server for the Department of Homeland Security at both the Federal and state levels as well as for the Ministry of Defense in the UK. The other piece of software found in that same market is Groove. For Microsoft to get 100 percent of the pork barrel money spent in this market they needed to acquire Groove. Now they need to hire someone to actually make SharePoint and Groove work together. Ray Ozzie appears to have been hired to keep from having to pay him unemployment benefits and to incorporate him into the Department of Propaganda to write the fluffy, phony “Internet Services” memo which was “leaked” to the press.4. The entire concept of ERP still escapes Microsoft. Instead of consolidating their enterprise products such as Axapta, CRM, Great Plains into a deliverable ERP product, Microsoft takes the low road and renames all of their business products under the moniker of “Dynamics”. Obviously the clue train has never stopped at the Microsoft ERP station.5. Google. Enough said there. Does anyone at Microsoft actually have Internet access? Is it possible that there will come a day when Microsoft hires some visionaries that can conceive and deliver innovative products? Or shall we just see the end of 2006 arrive as another year when nothing happened, as Microsoft maintained its own status quo?Bah. Humbug.Happy New Year!
Posted by Mike Drips | December 29, 2005 2:15 PM
0nly 10 mistakes? I think the lsit should expand to 20. That would get them all. Maybe? Anyway, Microsoft still has the following issues:1. Too much greed, not enough innovative new products.2. Too many of their products are not secure. 3. See numbers 1 and 2, keep repeating until you send yourself to sleep.4. The stock is crappy, and how can the analyst keep saying, buy!! it's time to buy! All the while MS stock is staying the same or dropping.Need I go on? Zzzzzzz.
Posted by benjamin hines | January 30, 2006 11:26 AM