Microsoft pursues "me too" technology to stay relevant

Stan Beer
Tuesday, 01 May 2007 18:30

Opinion and Analysis

Throughout its early history, Microsoft played the ultimate "me too" software company, with spectacular success. The news coming out of the Mix 07 developers' conference features Microsoft once again arriving late to market with a technology platform designed to upset Adobe's apple cart. However, this time Microsoft may have arrived at the platform too late to catch the train.

In recent times, Microsoft has not been able to replicate its early successes on the desktop, where it was able to marginalize its rivals and corner both the desktop operating system and office productivity markets. However, as the software company's two juggernaut desktop software businesses stagnate, efforts to break into and dominate new markets such as technology lifestyle and web services have been largely uninspiring.

Microsoft's most recent effort, the Zune "iPod killer", has so far been a complete flop. In the web search space, Google is more dominant than ever, while Microsoft continues to languish well behind Yahoo in third place. Even in the games console space, where Microsoft last year stole the march on Sony with Xbox 360, the software company is still struggling to reach break-even point and is in no way the dominant player.

Silverlight, a name that positively resonates with a "me too" ring, is Microsoft's attempt to curb the dominance of Adobe's Flash in the web space. Microsoft had spent years successfully marginalizing competitors such as Real in the desktop media player market only to watch in dismay as one of the most popular web sites in the world, YouTube, implemented its entire massive library of video content using Flash.

The fact is that as far as the Internet is concerned, Microsoft is just another player. It's certainly true that, due to Bill Gates' foresight, Microsoft was able to gain a dominant position in the browser and email client markets. However, this was largely a defensive move designed to keep users loyal to the Microsoft desktop platform.

Now, even Microsoft's hold on the browser market is slipping and the company is in a desperate struggle to stay relevant in the Internet space. It is in this climate that Silverlight has been launched. In a nutshell, Silverlight is a web browser plug-in (like Flash) that allows videos and interactive applications to run on a variety of browsers (like Flash).

To be sure, Silverlight will enable developers to build Silverlight applications using its .NET platform. However, there will have to be a convincing argument for developers to embrace the fledgling Silverlight instead of the proven and almost ubiquitous Flash as a web development platform.

Once again, the web is proving to be harsh and inscrutable mistress for Microsoft. While the desktop software company focusses its efforts in trying to break into virgin web territory, competitors, such as Adobe, Mozilla and various open source players continue to chip away at its dominance on the desktop. Unfortunately for Microsoft, "me too" is a game that others have discovered they can play.