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Microsoft's Worst Enemy
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| 2002-12-27
| Joel Hruska
Posted on 12/30/2002 11:36:56 AM PST by shadowman99
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To: Nick Danger
What? Are you basically 'fessing up here that Microsoft does this, and offering as the solution that people lie about who they are?
Passport lets you disclose whatever information you want. It doesn't force you to disclose anything you'd prefer to keep secret.
What about all those wonderful benefits of being able to buy things with my Passport? You figure the credit card charges are gonna through with a bogus name & address in there?
Passport allows credit card transactions. The advantage is being able to provide a single logon; however, Passport also protects your privacy at the same time. When you login through Passport, your email and password are authenticated with the Passport site -- not the vendor -- and an encrypted cookie comes down on your machine. The vendor site calls into the Passport Manager API which decrypts the vendor portion (each vendor has a unique key); however, the only thing that the vendor is able to determine is that (a) you're authenticated with Passport and (b) you have a 64-bit PUID (a unique user ID). But it has no idea of your email address unless you specifically chose to share it (sharing is turned OFF by default). There's no way for the vendor to link the PUID with an email address. So, consequently, unless the vendor requires you to provide an email address and/or phone number, they have no way of contacting you. This is no different than Ebay or Amazon or whoever.
Your customer base will therefore trend toward only those who use more than the average. Others will gradually leave you, since they do not believe they are getting value for their money (which they aren't). This is just simple common sense.
Not true. Licensing 6 is primarily aimed at businesses buying volume licenses -- the same customers that are more likely to upgrade over time. Individual customers can still opt for buying upgrades every few years. The difference is that they're not going to get a volume discount. Which they wouldn't be looking for, anyway.
IBM is full of master marketers, too, but they still had a PC Junior, and you still had Bob. It happens to all of us.
C'mon, Nick. Are you seriously trying to equate IBM PCjr/Microsoft Bob with Windows or Office?
21
posted on
12/30/2002 11:51:30 PM PST
by
Bush2000
To: AFreeBird
My company is taking its sweet time upgrading.
Well, pardon me. I had no idea that yourrrrrrrr company was the standard-bearer for the industry. LMFAO! /SARCASM
22
posted on
12/30/2002 11:53:19 PM PST
by
Bush2000
To: shadowman99
He doesn't care. He's not going to listen. You can't tell him wrestling is fake. You can't tell him Elvis is dead. You can't tell him there is no spoon. He will always take the other side.
Try saying something other than "Linux and open source cure cancer -- taste great, less filling!" and we might agree.
23
posted on
12/30/2002 11:56:19 PM PST
by
Bush2000
To: Bush2000
Are you seriously trying to equate IBM PCjr/Microsoft Bob with Windows or Office? See, this is why people write to me and tell me not to bother with you because you're a jerk. But I don't think you're a jerk; I think you're a Munchkin. I think that because I've seen every Stupid Munchkin Trick there is a hundred times, including that one, dating back to the days of the Canopus forum.
You told me that MSFT are "master marketers." Well, even master marketers sometimes make mistakes. Two of them are named PCjr and Bob; a third one is the new licensing scheme for Office and Windows. I know it's your job to pretend it's not a mistake, and to throw arrows in random directions when it's clear you're hosed, but it's still gonna be a mistake when you're done. You've got sizeable governments, all around the world, seriously considering bailing out of your product line over it. Governments talk about these things; the private companies that are planning their exit aren't telling you it's coming. They're just going to do it, and they're going to surprise you with it. It's a big bet to think they won't. You've heard the buzz out there; it's not just about money. It's visceral. They hate it. They're mad. And those are your customers.
To: Nick Danger
See, this is why people write to me and tell me not to bother with you because you're a jerk.
They certainly do have thin skins.
Two of them are named PCjr and Bob; a third one is the new licensing scheme for Office and Windows.
Your analogy is fundamentally flawed. PCjr and Bob were brand new products with zero market share. Office and Windows are market leaders in their categories. Granted, time will tell whether the licensing details were ill-advised. But I wouldn't assume that MS is standing still on these issues if I were you. Very little is cast in stone in the tech industry. You know that.
25
posted on
12/31/2002 12:35:05 AM PST
by
Bush2000
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