Microsoft Finds Inspiration In Apple, Blackberry

Ray Ozzie points to Apple Computer's iconic music player as a "perfect example" of a product that marries hardware, software and services. He also points to RIM’s BlackBerry, which brings together an e-mail device, server-based software and wireless data service. The individual pieces of the package never get the attention as these are so tightly integrated. Microsoft fresh after announcing reorganization seems to be headed towards such models of offerings. Ozzie conceded that the rise of Google had been a "great wake-up call" and rallying point to get Microsoft thinking about services. The opportunities in front of the giant ranges from hosting software for small businesses that don't want the complexity of managing a server, to adding specialized products for large businesses that already have scores of servers.
As we covered earlier Bandwidth is Microsoft’s enemy and clearly is making Microosft re-evaluate strategies.Microsoft is lucky that currently there is no one alternative that can dislodge it in key arena's - starting particularly in the desktop segment. Microsoft's success has been due in large part to its realization two decades ago that control of the operating system on personal computers would give it a great amount of leverage over PCs. Most companies in the 1980s saw the operating system as a pure commodity product, but Microsoft understood that it held the keys to the kingdom. This dominance of the Windows operating system means that if you're a developer of a major software application, you need to deliver a product for Windows. This means software developers must use the programming capabilities provided by Windows - its API." Microsoft's chief nemesis Google is no pushover. While Microsoft has dominance over the desktop, Google has dominance over the Internet. But as Ozzie correctly highlights services-enabled software really is going to change the nature of how almost everyone uses technology, from consumers to small businesses to enterprises & that the changes will come "in different forms and at different paces." He believes that while cheap and plentiful bandwidth has made it possible for businesses to get their software over the Internet, enterprises will still have to pay for their software in some way, regardless of how it is delivered. Clearly the IT world shall never be the same again.