Ha, the old chop the relevant half of the sentence out and argue against the remainder technique. Always a classic in internet debate. How many votes that comment has shows the bias here.
The "in that short of a time" part was the qualifier. Microsoft knew going in that they weren't going to take the lead. It's called an investment, and it's the same thing they did with the Zune. Unlike the Zune though, they've captured an impressive amount of market share quickly with the Xbox 360. Even the original console fared well.
"Ha, the old chop the relevant half of the sentence out and argue against the remainder technique."
Isn't that exactly what you did to me, Matt?
I started this thread questioning Microsoft's leadership trying to be all things to all people instead of focusing of their core strength. As any shareholder should. I cited a half dozen examples. You and others chose your favorite example and drilled into it. How is that different?
What has made this thread so interesting is how many downvotes AND upvotes I keep getting. Microsoft's pretty polarizing, huh? I wonder how many of their employees visit this board.
"Always a classic in internet debate."
Second only to "That's not fair." Welcome to the world of Microsoft.
That's not what I did to you at all. You made a list of Microsoft's failures, someone else simply pointed out that one of them was in fact a success. (In fact, a few probably are by any non-hacker's definition, including Windows vs. Linux.) I didn't take it out of context, I simply seconded someone who pointed out that you were contradicting yourself.
The analogy you note between the Zune and the Xbox is maybe more similar than you think. People forget the Xbox first came out 2001. It takes years for an investment in a new market like that to get big, even if executed perfectly. I'm interested in seeing how the Zune looks 3-5 years from now. Mostly because I think J. Allard's a genius.
The "in that short of a time" part was the qualifier. Microsoft knew going in that they weren't going to take the lead. It's called an investment, and it's the same thing they did with the Zune. Unlike the Zune though, they've captured an impressive amount of market share quickly with the Xbox 360. Even the original console fared well.