Birthday Memo leaked on Purpose?
November 12, 2005 1 Comment
Robert X. Cringely thinks the birthday memo may have been leaked on purpose. Some of the reasons he gives really make sense. Is Microsoft using this as a PR stunt meant to both entice Wall Street while painting Google as the bad guy (and itself as the good guy)? Here's a snippet from the article: These Microsoft memos look like a plan to do the same thing Microsoft “thinks” Google will be doing. By publicly stating their plans and putting those plans in the hands of Wall Street, Microsoft is giving the perception they are doing the same things as Google, so Microsoft will be as good an investment as Google.
The real questions to me are: 1) Is Microsoft sincere in its focus change (whether the memo's were leaked on purpose doesn't matter in this context) and 2) If it is sincere, will it be able to execute. Don't forget that, historically, Microsoft is not willing to do anything that even has a remote chance of in any way damaging their cash cows – Windows and Office. What are others saying about this? Scoble has a summary post. I find it interesting that mini-MSFT has been completely silent on this topic.
Microsoft
–jeremy
Jeremy's Blog 
I saw a post online (apologies, I can't recall where) which said that if this is a campaign, it's further proof that Microsoft “don't get it”. They leaked an emailed memo so that the print press will take it up.
If it is a campaign, they are a few years too late. By now we are all (bloggers, reporters and everyone else) well used to taking every line that Microsoft write and pulling it apart to see what we think it means. 5-6 years ago it would have worked perfectly, now, I'm not so sure.