Comments on: Microsoft still wants to control your wallet

By: Mathew Ingram

Mathew Ingram — Tue, 30 Jan 2007 05:22:05 +0000

John, I’m not saying the points system isn’t working fine. I’m sure it is — for Microsoft-owned and controlled products. My point is whether it will succeed when the company tries to extend it beyond that.

And while Passport started as an identity management system, the company has talked regularly and openly over the years about turning it into a payment scheme or adding a payment process onto it. That’s a fact.

As for the 850 million Windows users, that’s a red herring and you know it. Those people bought a computer that had an operating system installed on it for them, and presumably if Microsoft could think of a way to make using Microsoft Points a default selection with the OS they would use that too.

But I’m not talking about them, as I pointed out to your fellow Microsoft defender above. I’m talking about all the companies that would have to get on board to make the thing work with anything other than Microsoft-controlled services. You may have hard numbers, John, but you have a weak argument.

By: John Obeto

John Obeto — Tue, 30 Jan 2007 04:41:08 +0000

In the first place, the points systems is working fine.

Secondly, for far-flung vendors (in less-developed countries), micropayments removes barriers to trade since it disenfranchises the bureaux de change in those same countries that invariably devalue their (the vendor’s)returns.

Microsoft, despite your assertion, has not been developing a micropayments system for the past decade. It was developing a federated identity authentication system. Period.

Finally, you say no one wants to entrust their information/money to Microsoft. Are you kidding? Or just putting stuff to print in order to get a response?

850 million or so users of Windows, in all forms, beg to disagree.

Even if you come up with the absolutely insane notion that 50% of Windows users are sheep, the remaining 50% would still be about 91% of the PC market.

Since we have hard numbers, just what is your point, Matt?

By: Gene

Gene — Mon, 29 Jan 2007 22:30:44 +0000

Fair enough, and valid points, Mathew.

Thanks for the reply (which is more than I do on my blog…which I’ve told everyone is a monologue, not a dialogue). It’s always nice to come across bloggers who have a more generous philosophy than I.

Gene

By: Mathew Ingram

Mathew Ingram — Mon, 29 Jan 2007 21:54:58 +0000

It may in fact take off, Gene — my point was simply that Microsoft has been trying and failing to get a single Web passport/payment system going for years. There must be a reason why it hasn’t worked before now. And I’m not talking about the man on the street adopting Microsoft’s points as online currency — I’m talking about all the websites and services that would have to jump on the bandwagon before it would work. It works on Xbox because Microsoft controls it.

By: Gene

Gene — Mon, 29 Jan 2007 21:38:30 +0000

“Because people don’t like to play with Microsoft unless they have to, that’s why. In fact, they would apparently rather get taken to the cleaners by MasterCard and Visa.”

This is a really absurd statement. The average person on the street (and no, that doesn’t include the AAPL-cult members) doesn’t even give a second thought to Microsoft, in the “they’re evil and Jobs is a God” sense.

If Microsoft develops the right partnerships and creates online templates that make using their points system as easy as 5 million Xbox LIVE subscribers now think it is, then it’ll take off — and Visa, Mastercard and PayPal are in big trouble; as is the iPod franchise.

Gene from ZuneChannel.com