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To: Joe Bonforte
"A pretty balanced article, but it missed a key concept. Microsoft is, at this point, willing to be just "good enough" on the desktop, because they believe strategically that the next round of battles will not be fought there."

Being "just good enough" is another way of saying it sucks. It's that kind of thinking that brought down the big three auto makers.

16 posted on 04/25/2005 8:47:14 AM PDT by elmer fudd
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To: elmer fudd
Being "just good enough" is another way of saying it sucks. It's that kind of thinking that brought down the big three auto makers.

There's a big difference between "just good enough" and "sucks". To put in terms of cars, since you like that territory, most car companies make their handling "just good enough" rather than make it excellent. Only BMW and a few others put such a premium on handling that they make it excellent. As BMW introduces handling features that seem to catch on, and as the cost of developing those things drops, they are then adopted by other manufacturers, and become part of the "just good enough". But would you say that the handling of an Intrepid "sucks" because it doesn't match a BMW M3?

The major auto manufacturers believe the battles for their customers are fought on different territory. Safety, ease of getting children in and out, gas mileage, perhaps reliability, and definitely lower-cost production are where they choose to put their money.

Likewise, Microsoft is trying to figure out where the customers need to be in the future, and investing money in a radical new area. They are not content to just chase Apple with an evolving desktop system, but are instead trying to innovate around the concept of highly connected systems. That doesn't sound much like the auto manufacturers, does it?

18 posted on 04/25/2005 9:07:46 AM PDT by Joe Bonforte
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