h*d
发帖数: 19309 | 1 http://www.vanityfair.com/online/daily/2012/07/microsoft-downfa
Ed McCahill, who worked at Microsoft as a marketing manager for 16 years,
says, “You look at the Windows Phone and you can’t help but wonder, How
did Microsoft squander the lead they had with the Windows CE devices? They
had a great lead, they were years ahead. And they completely blew it. And
they completely blew it because of the bureaucracy.”
According to Eichenwald, Microsoft had a prototype e-reader ready to go in
1998, but when the technology group presented it to Bill Gates he promptly
gave it a thumbs-down, saying it wasn’t right for Microsoft. “He didn’t
like the user interface, because it didn’t look like Windows,” a
programmer involved in the project recalls.
“The group working on the initiative was removed from a reporting line to
Gates and folded into the major-product group dedicated to software for
Office,” Eichenwald reports. “Immediately, the technology unit was
reclassified from one charged with dreaming up and producing new ideas to
one required to report profits and losses right away.” “Our entire plan
had to be moved forward three to four years from 2003–04, and we had to
ship a product in 1999,” says Steve Stone, a founder of the technology
group. “We couldn’t be focused anymore on developing technology that was
effective for consumers. Instead, all of a sudden we had to look at this and
say, ‘How are we going to use this to make money?’”
A former official in Microsoft’s Office division tells Eichenwald that the
death of the e-reader effort was not simply the consequence of a desire for
immediate profits. The real problem for his colleagues was the touch screen:
“Office is designed to inputting with a keyboard, not a stylus or a finger
,” the official says. “There were all kinds of personal prejudices at work
.” According to Microsoft executives, the company’s loyalty to Windows and
Office repeatedly kept them from jumping on emerging technologies. “
Windows was the god—everything had to work with Windows,” Stone tells
Eichenwald. “Ideas about mobile computing with a user experience that was
cleaner than with a P.C. were deemed unimportant by a few powerful people in
that division, and they managed to kill the effort.” | s******v
发帖数: 4495 | 2 这样的故事不奇怪，类似的故事在IBM和其他公司都发生过。现在看起来是很stupid，
在当时就是非常make sense。所谓high tech no.1 rule，就是昨天的成功就是今天的
失败。
【在 h*d 的大作中提到】
: http://www.vanityfair.com/online/daily/2012/07/microsoft-downfa
: Ed McCahill, who worked at Microsoft as a marketing manager for 16 years,
: says, “You look at the Windows Phone and you can’t help but wonder, How
: did Microsoft squander the lead they had with the Windows CE devices? They
: had a great lead, they were years ahead. And they completely blew it. And
: they completely blew it because of the bureaucracy.”
: According to Eichenwald, Microsoft had a prototype e-reader ready to go in
: 1998, but when the technology group presented it to Bill Gates he promptly
: gave it a thumbs-down, saying it wasn’t right for Microsoft. “He didn’t
: like the user interface, because it didn’t look like Windows,” a
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