microsoft | Ian M Rountree

What Microsoft is Buying with Skype

May 10, 2011 by Ian Leave a Comment

Microsoft bought Skype this morning.

I expect the deal has been in the works for some time, but I think it’s a good move; market potential for new versions of Windows and Office is dropping due to saturation and consumer comfort with ever-better versions of both (I’ll be hard pressed to move off of Windows 7, and Office 2007 has done very well for me compared to previous versions). XBox is going strong, sure – but it’s not where Microsoft’s core history has been.

So why does Skype make sense?

Because Microsoft isn’t just about business, it’s about business communications. They’re competing not just with Apple for mindshare and consumer’s hearts, they’re also competing with companies like RIM (BlackBerry), a plethora of productivity apps, an ecosystem of application developers, and more, to do what it initially intended; help people get the things they want to do, done.

Getting things done is important to Microsoft. See the XBox community and it’s achievement system. See Sharepoint, Outlook, and any number of other applications core to Microsoft’s service offerings. There’s a lot Ballmer and the crew can do with a communications infrastructure.

Some things Microsoft may choose to do with Skype include;

Adding better features to Live Messenger, and rolling the IM clients together entirely.
Hooking in to Windows Phone to deliver native VoIP capability
Bolting on to XBox live community to allow those in-game to communicate with those out of the game.

Sure, Microsoft could have done this expansion on their own, but consider the cost. Adding Skype’s existing infrastructure to Microsoft’s makes a lot of sense; even if the massive price tag is a convenience fee in part, the cost of not only building a network, but building a service and a community around that network is very large. While Microsoft might be seen as “sinking” some of their capital into Skype’s acquisition, they’re purchasing something invaluable along with the network; time. Now, no matter what MS chooses to do with the new toy they’ve bought, they’ve got the time (and, by extension the agility) do make choices and course corrections they could not have made while committing themselves to building their own, ancillary network beside (but not on top of) Skype’s existing market share.

This was a very shrewd move – and I hope it helps those of us who spend our lives communicating do a better job at that.

What else do you think Microsoft’s getting with this purchase?

Is Google The First Domino Falling Against China?

January 12, 2010 by Ian 16 Comments

News hit the techiverse today that Google may be shutting down Google.cn in response to a “massive infrastructure attack” on its servers in December. Within a half hour of the news breaking on the Google Blog, the tech community rallied. So far Mashable, Search Engine Land and other blogs have the biggest stories – but admirably, the New York Times and USA Today also have good stories up.

All of them focus on one thing; because of these attacks, Google is no longer willing to censor its Google.cn search results and, because of the way law works in that country, might be forced to shut down its operations in China, including Google.cn and its Chinese offices [from the Googleblog]. This is a perfectly valid thing to worry over; Google is big business on its own, and the shift in power creates a vacuum that its Chinese competitor, Baidu, is already moving into – according to Reuters, Baidu’s stock is rising while Google’s is fallig, just because of the announcement of the possibility of El Goog’s moving out [from Reuters]. Of course, the New York Times story about this “Google e-Mail breach” and Mashable echo these trajectories. The USA Today story being tossed about is actually about Google’s apology to Chinese authors regarding its book digitizing, and actually focuses on French President Satrkosy’s insular attitude and protection of its culture.

Again, all valid angles, but there’s something bigger going on here. Here are a few sentiments from Twitter within minutes of the story breaking:

@eston – Friend in Shanghai: “Wow, did the Chinese govt just block access to Google? I’m getting GFW’d.” ( @scobleizer, know ne1 that can conf/deny?)
@scobleizer – I am meeting with @sagiraju & @prabhe Their reaction to Google news? “Google always does what is right.” “They still act like a startup.”
@marshallk – if Google is just using censorship as excuse to fight corp espionage, that’s super cynical & they’d deserve no praise but effect same
@stevenjayl – After GOOG, will US gov stand up for US biz against Chinese IP attacks and thefts? How about some “21st Century Statecraft”?

Can you see it? There’s not just business sentiment here. There’s cultural sentiment. And it’s a big, big deal.

Google, like any business dealing in the grey area of international culturally affecting commerce, has no choice but to stay out of human rights debates until they directly affect its business. This did. For whatever reason, someone hit Google, and these other businesses, looking for information about Chinese human rights activists. Regardless of how much or little information they actually gleaned, Google has no recourse but to take drastic action. This much is a given. What isn’t is how much impact this will have elsewhere in the technology sphere.

What Google is doing is necessary, but it’s also getting some press for appearing to be a humanitarian action. Regardless of their previous cooperation with Chinese censors, and their continued cooperation with censorship in other locales, this visible blow struck against the proliferation of cultural insulation looks really good on El Goog. It’s natural – we see a bully knock over the little kids, and when someone – anyone – steps up and says “I’m not putting up with this any more” even if the display amounts to taking their ball and going home, we applaud.

But what if no one else does it?

This is a potentially huge place to gain ground. What if Microsoft steps up and has Bing remove all censoring leans globally? What if Yahoo! shuts down everywhere that refuses total egalitarianism of information? Take it the other way: What if Google turns this into a massive initiative, and everyone else… Just fails to.

Who are we going to back? Certainly not China, with its massive record of oppression. Google? Sure, if this is anything more than just an espionage reaction. Anyone else? Maybe. If they step up.

When you don’t control your PR, you can’t make the play companies have in the past and say you’re “looking into” something for months on end, and expect people to take the pill lying down. You need to react, and react fast. If not, the research geeks activate, and your thinly veiled attempts at grey-speech are whipped off like the curtain from the Wizard of Oz.

So is Google making a play against censorship, or defending its property?

Will other information giants step up and mimic the action?

And, moreover, aside from the human rights issues, does it matter here in North America?

Photo by Bernt Rostad.

Children's Games and Social Media

January 8, 2010 by Ian 1 Comment

I was always crap at Simon Says. I was the kid who could only ever think of three things to have people do – stand up, sit down, run in place – and I’ve learned to mark this down to both an inability to develop internal go-to lists, and a dislike of having to issue mindless rapid-fire commands. Yet as I watch people tweet their lives away sometimes I wonder exactly how useful these skills are in real life? Like learning trigonometry, I had always figured it was something to get good at or avoid, but now I’m not so sure.

Like it or not, Social Media is here to stay. I hope someone comes up with a better, permanent term for what’s going on, because I dislike that buzzword, but there you are. I’m fortuitous to be getting into networking just now, because I have a nearly three year old son, and while considering the things we need to make sure he learns, at the same time I’m watching the foibles of high-powered people online, and seeing a lot of parallel.

One of the many things I dislike about Twitter’s ecosphere is the MLM phenomenon. It sounds like a pyramid scheme on the outside (and runs like one) but the behavior of the people involved, or at least the visible output of the bots, looks an awful lot like Simon Says. Rapid fire information with little available content driving people who are unlucky enough to get sucked in to useless products or a hookup to the scheme. It’s a social failing, but it’s one of those pendulum behaviors – those who understand just enough are exploiting those who don’t yet know.

How many pundit blogs do you read? I don’t specifically mean political pundits, I mean Apple and Google and Microsoft fanboy blogs as well. Notice anything about their habits? Suggesting certain new products, dropping bombs on others. For some reason this always reminds me of Red Light, Green Light.

The less said about Michael Arrington’s apparent tabloidism the better – but the entire leak culture feels like one big game of telephone.

Corporate recruiting feels a bit like Red Rover.

It’s amazing how often this kind of thing happens. Perhaps it’s early training, rearing it’s head on our adult lives. On the other hand, like just about anything, when you know just enough about how these habits form, you can exploit them. And when that gets old, you can become a benefactor and teach others either to exploit the habits, or how to avoid having these habits exploited.

Until you know where your habits come from, and what the tells are, how are you going to ensure you’re not being taken advantage of?

Otherwise, it’s duck-duck goose, and someone’s got their eye on turning you into the next goose.

Photo by Mykl Roventine

We're Not Those Guys!

August 12, 2009 by Ian Leave a Comment

I came across an interesting thing today in my ambling over the internet. It’s a service called Plurk, and it claims to be the unTwitter.

Now, most of you probably know what Twitter is. Lots of you likely have Twitter accounts. I do, you can feel free to follow it, it’s @WhyRTM – simple, right? I love Twitter. But I don’t love Plurk, and I didn’t even sign up.

If you visit Plurk’s front page, the first thing you see is the bold question; “Tired of your existing social networks?”

Am I the only one this irks?

This tells me that the basis of all of Plurk’s identity is saying “But We’re Not Them” which is so faulty it hurts. Microsoft did the same thing with its rebranding of the Live Search engine, turning it into Bing. What does bing stand for? “But It’s Not Google” – and whether Microsoft intended this or not, this is the story that got out, and it’s what people will believe. Even now, with tales rolling in of Bing’s searches coming up massively pro-MS and anti-Apple, it’s easier to believe that this was intentional.

Best Buy has been running “We’re Not On Commission” ads for years now, and the effect is the same. It tells people not that your staff are better, that your prices are lower, that your store is more fun to shop at – it says nothing except “Oh, we’re not in that crowd” which is no incentive at all.

How does this not make sense? Failing to develop your own identity and leeching the popularity of others by sharking the people annoyed with them is diminishing. This means, as a business or as a person, you’re not making the most of your You-ness, you’re bashing the competition (unprofessional) at the same time as you’re telling people that you’re exactly what they are – but you’re not them.

Who cares if Plurk is better? Hundreds of thousands of people post hundreds of millions of tweets daily, and if I’m networking, I’m going to Twitter, because that’s where the people are.

Who cares if Bing is awesome? It’s not Google, according to my social awareness, which tells me that it’s exactly what google is, but with a different banner at the top.

Say it with me, now, it’s the motto of the day: I Want To Be Different, Just Like Evrbody Else.

Too Zune To Make Assumptions?

August 8, 2009 by Ian Leave a Comment

Ian’s Note: Hann is a web developer and designer I’ve worked with for a few years, who’s spent time both behind, and in front of the counter. In short, he’s a geek with his eye on gadgets, the know-how to get the best stuff on the market, and the patience and persistence to collect information on why something’s worth buying.

Microsoft. We hear that name and we both rejoice and shudder collectively. Windows and XBox are two big terms that come to mind when we think of the worldwide corporation, but do enough of us also think of the Zune? While some people have likened the digital media player to nothing more than an iPod knockoff, when compared to its more popular predecessor, the Zune actually scores just as high in usability and features, and offers a worthy alternative to Apple’s product.

Strangely, this is not true in Canada.

While on the hunt for the Zune last month, I became aware that it suddenly and recently became an elusive product; major retailers like Wal-Mart, FutureShop/Best Buy, and even Amazon.ca were out of stock. Customer service had no answers as to when they would be restocking. Some stores even removed the Zune product displays completely. Microsoft’s official consumer news site makes no mention of this bizarre turn of events. So, what does this mean?

Since I wasn’t getting the information I needed directly from the horse’s mouth, I did some digging underneath the official channels. A thread on the official Zune.net forums made mention of Microsoft pulling Zunes out of Canadian retail outlets, for possible reasons such as non-compliance with the CRTC, failing to bring the Zune marketplace to Canada, and preparing for the release of the Zune HD. People on anythingbutipod’s forum have garnered similar responses.

My question is – why hasn’t Microsoft issued a public statement in regards to this?

It’s too soon to make premature assumptions, given that there are no press releases or news reports pertaining to the Zune’s fate in Canada. However, one cannot help but wonder while Microsoft remains silent.

Do you own a Zune? What are your thoughts on it? Would you buy another one or recommend it as a worthy purchase?