The News Review:
- Microsoft ffice Lurches nline
- Report questions value of ESPN’s strategy
- Google plugs along in apps market
- Yahoo Prepared to Stay Solo?
Microsoft ffice Lurches nline
BusinessWeek – Mar 20, 2008
Its suite of services for small businesses ffice Live is a useful if slightly awkward first step. If history is any guide Microsoft will gradually come up with better and more comprehensive Web offerings. The ffice Live name is an unfortunate choice since its pieces have little to do with ffice and are certainly not Web-based versions of Word Excel or PowerPoint. Furthermore Microsoft tends to stick the name "Live" on any Web-based product so the same brand is also used for a range of consumer services including instant messaging and social networking. As with many rival Web offerings the core services that make up ffice Live Small Business are something of a hodgepodge. The elements are of uneven quality and they’re not as well integrated as they should be… Its suite of services for small businesses ffice Live is a useful if slightly awkward first step. If history is any guide Microsoft will gradually come up with better and more comprehensive Web offerings. The ffice Live name is an unfortunate choice since its pieces have little to do with ffice and are certainly not Web-based versions of Word Excel or PowerPoint. Furthermore Microsoft tends to stick the name "Live" on any Web-based product so the same brand is also used for a range of consumer services including instant messaging and social networking. As with many rival Web offerings the core services that make up ffice Live Small Business are something of a hodgepodge. The elements are of uneven quality and they’re not as well integrated as they should be. The biggest weakness is a confusing design that makes it hard to move from one activity to another.
Report questions value of ESPN’s strategy
USA Today – Mar 20, 2008
And yet the PowerPoint — too bad it’s not a “dossier” — is anonymous. A mole at work? A cutout?Trust no one. In one e-mailed copy you could hit “file” and “properties” in the Microsoft file and the author is listed as “Fox Networks Group. That might mean nothing given we’re in a world where ratings are terminated with extreme prejudice. Any agent provocateur wanting to sanitize the document could name Fox — which had no comment Thursday — to prevent blowback. Want to hear more?We’d have to kill you. Tiger drives ratings up like no otherHere’s what usually moves TV sports ratings for networks: Down-to-the-wire games.
Google plugs along in apps market
ARNnet – Mar 20, 2008
Docs later gained a presentations application a la PowerPoint and became part of the broader collaboration and communication suite. Now the buzz has quieted down and Google like any vendor is immersed in improving its applications and remaining competitive. Microsoft is finally Web-enabling its ffice suite via… Now the buzz has quieted down and Google like any vendor is immersed in improving its applications and remaining competitive. Microsoft is finally Web-enabling its ffice suite via. This week as Google announced enhancements to its spreadsheet program IDG News Service chatted with Jonathan Rochelle senior product manager for Google Docs about various challenges like Microsoft’s threat in the hosted space and the difficulty of supporting millions of users. Here is an edited version of the conversation:Google Docs’ users seem very interested in being able to work with the applications when they aren’t online.
Yahoo Prepared to Stay Solo?
Law.com (subscription) – Mar 20, 2008
31 analysts said the move is a bargaining ploy to spur the Redmond Wash. software giant to raise the offer whose current value is roughly $42 billion. “This is another step in the public negotiations with Microsoft” said Clay Moran an analyst with Stanford Group. “Yahoo’s first effort to build this negotiation was to find other suitors who might be interested. That didn’t pan out. Now it’s trying to strengthen its position by putting out an aggressive forecast. We think this is a prelude to private negotiations… Yahoo said the projections supports its view that Microsoft’s offer substantially undervalues its operations. But those who follow the company were skeptical about Yahoo’s estimates. “There’s a heck of a difference between a PowerPoint presentation and how you can get 25 percent revenue growth year-over-year which is almost double the revenue growth the Street is projecting” said Jeffrey Lindsay an analyst with Bernstein Research. “And they’re going to do it in an economic downturn and with the same sales force they have. Saying it is one thing and delivering it is another. “Copyright ©2008 TDD LLC. All rights reserved.