Should Microsoft get into the Hardware Business?

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Should Microsoft get into the Hardware Business?

Postby jon » Fri Feb 11, 2011 5:06 pm

Should Microsoft get into the Hardware Business?
Win7News Feb. 11, 2011
ref. - http://www.win7news.net/?id=74

Microsoft grew from a tiny two-person company in 1975 to a huge multi-national corporation employing 90,000 people today, primarily by developing and marketing software. It's worked for over thirty-five years - but is it still working? The software world has been changing, with retail packages giving way to online downloads and now the idea of applications that live in the cloud and are sold as services. Microsoft has committed to being "all in" with cloud computing, but is that enough?

Inevitably, the company finds itself compared to Apple. With the iPhone and iPad, and to a lesser extent the Mac, Apple has been riding a wave of success recently. Those products are the darlings of the tech media. Last month, Apple reported record revenues of $26.74 billion, with earnings up 78 percent over last year.
http://www.win7news.net/3T4K9H/110210-MS-Vs-Apple

Microsoft's most recent earnings reports showed revenues up only 5 percent at $20 billion, although they did come in above expectations thanks in large part to the popularity of their new Kinect technology.
http://www.win7news.net/3T4K9H/110210-Revenue

That's not too shabby, but the company is obviously feeling the pressure. Steve Ballmer has been making some major changes in the executive ranks, with the departures of Ray Ozzie and Bob Muglia. Just this week, we learned that more of a shakeup is coming as Ballmer plans to replace more executives with new people who have engineering backgrounds.
http://www.win7news.net/3T4K9H/110210-Planning

There are a number of differences between Microsoft's and Apple's business models. Apple focuses primarily on the consumer market, whereas Microsoft has a huge investment in the enterprise along with the consumer PC space. When it comes to the user experience, Windows offers a much more open ecosystem, whereas Apple's is tightly controlled. This translates to more freedom and many more options for Windows users, but it also results in more opportunity for something to go wrong.

Most of the people I know who prefer Macs say it's because "things just work." They don't run into the sorts of software and hardware conflicts that can cause nightmares for PC users, because Macs run basically one operating system on a few specific hardware configurations. Sure, you have different versions of OS X out there - Snow Leopard, plain old Leopard, Tiger - but you don't have six different editions of each version. And more important, you don't have them running on thousands of different machines, from hundreds of different vendors, many that are "homemade" computers put together by their owners or custom jobs built by mom and pop shops with varying degrees of skill.

When you buy a Mac, you get an integrated package. The hardware and software are made by the same company, which means they've been exhaustively tested together to work out any bugs. It also means that if you do have a problem, there is one company to take responsibility; it doesn't matter whether it's a hardware problem or a software problem - either way, it's an Apple problem. If you've owned several PCs, you've probably discovered that some vendors provide better technical support than others.

The same is true of mobile devices. Apple laptops, tablets, phones - both the hardware and the software are designed, made, supported and controlled by Apple. This makes it far, far easier to deliver a more consistently reliable product.

Apple products are a little like Holiday Inns - you always know what you're going to get. When you buy a PC, it's like booking a room at an independent local hotel. You're never sure what your experience will be like. Your new computer might be a fantastic speed demon that never breaks down, or it might be a piece of junk that will barely run your programs. Same story with Windows tablets and phones; they're made by many different hardware vendors and have different configurations and inconsistent quality.

In fact, hardware vendors bore much of the blame for the bad reputation Vista got at release, by installing it on low powered systems that couldn't handle the demands of the OS, especially in regard to the video adapters. Some have suggested, then, that maybe it's time for Microsoft to emulate Apple and get into the hardware business. By taking over the design and manufacture of the machines on which their software is installed, they could ensure software and hardware functioned properly together.

At one time, this would have been unthinkable. The company would never do that to its long-time hardware partners. But some of those marriages don't seem to quite so solid anymore. HP, in particular, has already been unfaithful by jumping into bed with Palm. When they bought the company, it was assumed they would develop its webOS for tablets and phones, which will compete with Windows tablets and phones. Lately there have been rumors that the company may be thinking of taking it even further, and developing webOS as a netbook or even desktop operating system as well.

With HP getting into the software business (and thus becoming less dependent on Microsoft), does it make more sense for Microsoft to likewise intrude on HP's territory and get involved in making hardware? After all, Microsoft is already a hardware company, on a very limited basis. Microsoft keyboards and pointing devices work well and sell well. The company makes decent web cams (although not, in my opinion, as good as Logitech's). And of course, its shining achievement as a hardware/software company has come in the form of its ultimate consumer device: the Xbox gaming console.
http://www.win7news.net/3T4K9H/110210-Azo-Sensors

So - how can Microsoft be more like Apple? Or should it even try? Do customers want a more Apple-like experience from Microsoft products? Will the cloud make hardware/software compatibility irrelevant, with everything being done through a web browser? I don't think we have to worry about Microsoft becoming a full fledged PC vendor anytime soon. But what about smart phones and tablets? Could they compete better in those markets if they exerted more control over the hardware (as they've done to a small degree with Windows Phone 7 by setting certain criteria for devices that run the OS)? Would you prefer to buy a Windows computer, tablet or phone made by Microsoft rather than by a partner vendor? We invite you to discuss this topic in our forum at
http://www.win7news.net/3T4K9H/110210-D ... 7News-Here
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jon
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Re: Should Microsoft get into the Hardware Business?

Postby jon » Fri Feb 11, 2011 5:13 pm

Intriguing argument. And concept. Provide a bullet-proof hardware/software environment for Microsoft software.

Personally, I think it makes more sense to start at the biggest and work down to the smallest hardware, rather than vice versa as proposed here. And the best way to do that is for Microsoft to buy Dell.

Only one flaw in my logic: over the last decade, Dell has stumbled badly in the high end arena of big Windows servers.

I know this will invite comments about buggy Microsoft software when compared to Apple software. But, I think this could solve that problem by giving Microsoft a hardware platform to direct their energy towards, in the sense of making sure their software worked "perfectly" on the hardware configurations they owned and sold.
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Re: Should Microsoft get into the Hardware Business?

Postby PMC » Fri Feb 11, 2011 6:14 pm

Microsoft is not concerned about Apple... amazing what time does to thought processes and values.... when Apple's were being sold from a garage, Bill Gates wanted things closed....today Apple is closed, and Microsoft is open ;-)

Microsoft is into hardware in many ways already, and I expect it to continue to be open, because it drives innovation !

Someone should ask Michael Dell first about being bought by Microsoft... there could be others that want that pie :)
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