Every time Microsoft challenges an established tech player in the software field, I have to giggle a bit...and then start scrutinizing the software behemoth's move. Microsoft has a habit of launching "me too" products that duplicate (and sometimes, enhance) the functionality of existing tools. Why? Well, to try and make its products a de-facto standard so that it will have a recurring revenue stream for years to come. The problem is that many of these efforts by Microsoft fail (miserably). It's the same old story: It's incredibly hard to unseat whoever has the first-mover advantage. Microsoft has it with the desktop operating system licensing model from the 1990s. Google Inc. (NASDAQ: GOOG) has it currently with the web search and advertising market. Adobe Systems Incorporated (NASDAQ: ADBE) has it with its Macromedia tools used as web and document standards across computing platforms (PDF, Flash, etc.).
Once a company creates an ecosystem, it's very hard for someone else to come and disrupt that -- even a company as large and dominating like Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ: MSFT).
In the latest episode, Microsoft's new "Silverlight" software is aiming at an established piece of competitive software from Adobe Systems -- Adobe's Flash Player. This is the standard that enables full audio/video advertising on the web these days. Anytime you see a video ad (with or without sound) on almost any webpage you visit, chances are it's using Adobe Flash technology.
With the web turning more into a multimedia experience rather than a text experience, Microsoft's move is pretty understandable. My question is: can Microsoft again try to take a huge first-mover advantage to its advantage? It'll have some tough convincing moves in the year ahead if it wants to make Silverlight any kind of standard going forward.
[Disclosure: I own MSFT shares as of 4-17-07]
With the web turning more into a multimedia experience rather than a text experience, Microsoft's move is pretty understandable. My question is: can Microsoft again try to take a huge first-mover advantage to its advantage? It'll have some tough convincing moves in the year ahead if it wants to make Silverlight any kind of standard going forward.
[Disclosure: I own MSFT shares as of 4-17-07]
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
4-17-2007 @ 3:42PM
gary said...
Correction - Google was not the first established search engine. Yahoo! was. Google had displaced Yahoo! by offering a better functionality and less garbage. Microsoft displaced WordPerfect and Lotus. It is possible to displace an existing dominant player provided 1. you give away your software for free and the established vendor is so arrogant to think everybody will keep paying premium (Lotus) 2. Your product is easy to get a hold on - best if it comes pre-installed. Microsoft Money has not displaced quicken but carved out a nice niche. So, it is quite easy for MS to at least carve out a big chunk of Adobe market. Watch for "free" integration of Silverlight into MS tools and see.
4-19-2007 @ 3:30AM
Zep said...
There is always room for Microsoft, if they fail they can always be used as a bad example, if they succeed they bring competition and push the others to work harder. Where would Apple be without MS and vise-versa, where would Apple get the ideas how not to do things and who else MS would copy. This time it might take time for MS to create their next killer app, if ever, but we are waiting.
5-27-2008 @ 10:19PM
Sam Stone said...
There is no doubt that Silverlight is gaining momentum. Of course Flash has many hearts and minds in its camp and it is very easy to bash Microsoft for trying anything new, but Silverlight's latest is a worthy release.
To showcase Silverlight, Microsoft Australia are running an interesting campaign demo-ing MS Office 2007 and raise money for charity at the same time. Users watch a 30-second clip of Aussie kids explaining Office 2007, and Microsoft donates one Aussie dollar to a local charity, The Smith Family.
It's a well-polished Silverlight site for a good cause.
http://www.microsoft.com.au/donatenow is the link