Microsoft, failing to own the main internet, may try to buy a new one

Posted on May 22, 2008 by Thomas Purves

From Scoble today: Why Microsoft will buy Facebook and keep it closed

That Microsoft will buy Yahoo’s search and then buy Facebook for $15 to $20 billion. Add that to all the news that Microsoft is buying Yahoo’s search and that gets very interesting…

[Facebook] can’t be seen if you don’t have a Facebook account. It’s NOT open to the public Web. Google’s spiders CAN NOT REACH IT…

Google is locked out of the Web that soon will be owned by Microsoft. We will never get an open Web back if these two deals happen.

This has created HUGE value for Microsoft and has handed Steve Ballmer an Internet strategy which brings Microsoft from last place to first in less than a week.

Boom!

Now Microsoft/Yahoo search will have access to HUGE SWATHS of Internet info that Google will NOT have access to.

Data and social graph portability is dead on arrival.Microsoft just bought itself a search strategy that sure looks like a winner to me.”

This is a monster of an idea. Out of desperation you could see MSFT going for it. They have far more cash than is healthy for any company to be sitting on. They’ve failed pretty spectacularly at owning the consumer internet like they own(ed) the deskgtop. When it comes to consumer-facing services, in recent years Google and just about any other startup (facebook included) have walked circles around microsoft, seemingly with a fraction of the effort.

So much so that sending 15-20B to buy a big chunck of the future social web is actually cheaper or more efficient than Microfts efforts to build anything equivalent themselves. But there’s a few ways this strategy could go wrong. Mostly related to putting a lot of eggs in one basket.

facebook has to continue to stay relevant in the social web. Something else could come along.

facebook has to grow up and offer an environment catered to a broader demographic, especially in the US.

MSFT has to not sit on facebook for 5 years with no enhancements while they work on the fabulously overwrought vista of facebooks…. Can you hold your breath for Windows Live BookFacePoint 2013 Ultra Edition?

Posted in Archive, facebook, microsoft, social media | 4 Comments

Foush Reports on CaseCamp7

Posted on May 16, 2008 by Thomas Purves

Rahaf Foush has a new video blog series called the Foush Reports in which her first report she covers CaseCamp7. Or rather the CaseCamp7 afterparty. Watch for my sound bite on the camp phenomenon about half way through. The CaseCamp7 afterparty was so much fun it made my nipples glow. (not pictured here) Stay tuned to the casecamp.org site (or this blog) for news of the next casecamp event.

Posted in Archive, casecamp | Tagged | 1 Comment

Back in town, almost recombobulated

Posted on May 13, 2008 by Thomas Purves

DSC_0364

Sorry for the lack of posts and general lack of comments around here, I was in a better place. Just now getting caught up on emails, posts, ideas and a lot of work to catch up on. If I haven’t responded to you, I should by the end of the day.

As a side note, it turns out we noticed there’s wifi all about the British Virgin Islands. Tall mountains and long horizons being, as you might guess, fairly optimal for wireless signal propagation. So you can signal from the deck of your boat either through edge/3G/Wifi from the deck your boat.

But it’s really hard to want to turn it on. Which may (maybe?) explain why the hell it is we work from wherever we do, instead of someplace like this.

This photo by David Anders [more]

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