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For six years, the Internet Nexus served as my technology blog, but I've since started blogging at the SuperSite Blog instead. If you're looking for the blog, please head there. --Paul

Saturday, August 13, 2005

No unifying theme for Microsoft, sorry

In one of those mind-numbing self referential blog thingies where one blogger from ZDNet references a blog posting elsewhere on the Web, and then a second blogger from ZDNet references the first post, we get what passes for "analysis" on the Web these days:

David Berlind referenced this open letter by Eric Norlin in a recent Between the Lines blog post. In it, Mr. Norlin argues that Microsoft needs to present its customers a unifying theme that will fit its disparate products into a cohesive whole.

The need for such a theme is obvious. Microsoft is now involved in desktop and server operating systems, office productivity applications, customer relationship management systems, databases, gaming consoles, cell phone operating systems, hardware (keyboards, mice, even XBox hardware through for-hire manufacturing facilities), handheld operating systems, development tools, television broadcasting software, email systems, etc, etc, etc. What theme runs through all these areas, and how can Microsoft unify them into one compelling message?

The need for such a theme is, in fact, not obvious.

Microsoft doesn't need a "theme" any more than Wal-Mart does. Like Wal-Mart, Microsoft sells a lot of stuff. Much of that stuff is not related per se. And yet, both companies are at the top of their respective field, despite the lack of a "unifying theme."

On the other hand, Microsoft does have a vision statement. And as pukey as the phrase "vision statement" is, Microsoft's actually does apply to all of the products and services that it sells: "Microsoft helps people and businesses throughout the world realize their full potential." You can read all about it on their Mission and Values page. It's really exciting stuff. Ahem.

Back to the point. Microsoft started out as a software company that made languages for programmers. They moved into applications and operating systems over time as PCs became more popular with mainstream business users. Today, software is extending into every facet of our lives. Thus, so too is Microsoft. That's called evolution, and it's both natural and, if the company is to continue being successful, required. In the same way that it would be pointless to try and describe something as complex as a human being with a single pithy phrase, it is impossible to do so for a corporation as complex as Microsoft.

[ Posted at 11:57 AM | Permalink ]