Comments on: Thou dost protest too much, Robert http://www.mathewingram.com/work/2006/02/11/thou-dost-protest-too-much-robert/ ... at the intersection of media, technology, business and the web Thu, 04 Dec 2008 01:26:41 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.6.2 By: Mathew http://www.mathewingram.com/work/2006/02/11/thou-dost-protest-too-much-robert/#comment-406 Mathew Sun, 12 Feb 2006 03:34:01 +0000 http://www.mathewingram.com/work/index.php/2006/02/11/thou-dost-protest-too-much-robert/#comment-406 That's a good point, Stuart -- hiring 10 PhDs a day, or whatever it averages out to over the last year, and accumulating a market cap like that has a way of putting a strain on a company. Maybe that explains things like Web Clips :-) That’s a good point, Stuart — hiring 10 PhDs a day, or whatever it averages out to over the last year, and accumulating a market cap like that has a way of putting a strain on a company. Maybe that explains things like Web Clips :-)

]]> By: Stuart MacDonald http://www.mathewingram.com/work/2006/02/11/thou-dost-protest-too-much-robert/#comment-405 Stuart MacDonald Sun, 12 Feb 2006 02:38:35 +0000 http://www.mathewingram.com/work/index.php/2006/02/11/thou-dost-protest-too-much-robert/#comment-405 I feel compelled to add here...you can't forget that most of the folks at MSFT are among the smartest human beings on the planet. Seriously. Scary smart, accomplished individuals, among the very best at whatever it is that they do. And for the most part, they are extremely well intentioned. It's just that, damn it, they do a remarkable lousy job of (a) getting out of their own way and (b) really comprehending and responding to what consumers (I can't speak to corporate clients) want. The other thing worth noting? GOOG is looking down the barrel of the *exact same thing*. Maybe even worse, short term, because while they might not have bureaucracy, they are fighting the management of colossal employee growth, phenomenal expectations, and an incredible strain on their culture. No easy task. -- Stuart I feel compelled to add here…you can’t forget that most of the folks at MSFT are among the smartest human beings on the planet. Seriously. Scary smart, accomplished individuals, among the very best at whatever it is that they do. And for the most part, they are extremely well intentioned. It’s just that, damn it, they do a remarkable lousy job of (a) getting out of their own way and (b) really comprehending and responding to what consumers (I can’t speak to corporate clients) want.

The other thing worth noting? GOOG is looking down the barrel of the *exact same thing*. Maybe even worse, short term, because while they might not have bureaucracy, they are fighting the management of colossal employee growth, phenomenal expectations, and an incredible strain on their culture. No easy task.

– Stuart

]]> By: Mathew http://www.mathewingram.com/work/2006/02/11/thou-dost-protest-too-much-robert/#comment-404 Mathew Sun, 12 Feb 2006 02:14:09 +0000 http://www.mathewingram.com/work/index.php/2006/02/11/thou-dost-protest-too-much-robert/#comment-404 I agree, Vinnie. Random8r has a point -- Google is cool because it's stuff is simple, and it just works. Even the betas are better than Microsoft's "finished" products. Surely with all that money, Microsoft could come up with some cool stuff -- stuff so cool we could get past the "Microsoft isn't cool" stigma. But they are too smothered by the bureaucracy of being a giant entity. They're like the phone company now. And how cool is that? And Stuart is right too -- Microsoft is like a production machine, designed to promote the production of software machinery. Marketing seems to be about as lively, and as much an afterthought, as it is for the government. Big, plodding, stodgy, boring -- uncool. I agree, Vinnie. Random8r has a point — Google is cool because it’s stuff is simple, and it just works. Even the betas are better than Microsoft’s “finished” products. Surely with all that money, Microsoft could come up with some cool stuff — stuff so cool we could get past the “Microsoft isn’t cool” stigma. But they are too smothered by the bureaucracy of being a giant entity. They’re like the phone company now. And how cool is that?

And Stuart is right too — Microsoft is like a production machine, designed to promote the production of software machinery. Marketing seems to be about as lively, and as much an afterthought, as it is for the government. Big, plodding, stodgy, boring — uncool.

]]> By: Stuart MacDonald http://www.mathewingram.com/work/2006/02/11/thou-dost-protest-too-much-robert/#comment-403 Stuart MacDonald Sun, 12 Feb 2006 02:13:56 +0000 http://www.mathewingram.com/work/index.php/2006/02/11/thou-dost-protest-too-much-robert/#comment-403 You bet there's something to Vinnie's comment. And, as I said over on Rob Hyndman's blog, fact is MSFT doesn't actually *do* Marketing. They have a bunch of folks charged to Sell The Damn Thing after Planning and Dev have decided to ship it, and after the decisions have wormed their ways through the analysis/paralysis, everybody-gets-a-say and political infighting phases of the years-long process involved with getting anything out the door. -- Stuart You bet there’s something to Vinnie’s comment. And, as I said over on Rob Hyndman’s blog, fact is MSFT doesn’t actually *do* Marketing. They have a bunch of folks charged to Sell The Damn Thing after Planning and Dev have decided to ship it, and after the decisions have wormed their ways through the analysis/paralysis, everybody-gets-a-say and political infighting phases of the years-long process involved with getting anything out the door.

– Stuart

]]> By: Alexander Hutton » Blog Archive » Brand Prejudice http://www.mathewingram.com/work/2006/02/11/thou-dost-protest-too-much-robert/#comment-402 Alexander Hutton » Blog Archive » Brand Prejudice Sun, 12 Feb 2006 01:42:13 +0000 http://www.mathewingram.com/work/index.php/2006/02/11/thou-dost-protest-too-much-robert/#comment-402 [...] I was just as amazed at Robert Scoble’s response to the coverage of Google’s “Live Domain” announcement, and Scoble’s (who is perhaps THE Microsoft apologist) post wondering why the press fawns all over Google (or Apple for that matter, I’m sure) and ignores the exact same announcements from MSN. My first reaction (like others you might findwas to respond to Scoble’s sidebar points, stuff about Google Ad Sense, etc… [...] [...] I was just as amazed at Robert Scoble’s response to the coverage of Google’s “Live Domain” announcement, and Scoble’s (who is perhaps THE Microsoft apologist) post wondering why the press fawns all over Google (or Apple for that matter, I’m sure) and ignores the exact same announcements from MSN. My first reaction (like others you might findwas to respond to Scoble’s sidebar points, stuff about Google Ad Sense, etc… [...]

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