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).
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