> ...it's whether or not MS can build an ecosystem with enough buy-in from companies to build apps and services.
I think there might be a titanic fight shaping up in the economy to build out and secure ecosystems in a more Net-centric future. The WalMart diktats to truckers to not drive Amazon loads are just opening salvos in this war, for example.
I see healthy, vibrant ecosystems with a bidirectional value exchange as a way for very large companies to mitigate much of the damage inflicted by their own size. Unfortunately, most large companies are trying their damnedest to build out ecosystems as command and control bot networks, and see it only as a profit source to unidirectionally squeeze. That's tempting because it's so easy, but it means your command and control decisions must be better and more timely than the ecosystem's wisdom of crowds, or you'll suffer the consequences.
I think there might be a titanic fight shaping up in the economy to build out and secure ecosystems in a more Net-centric future. The WalMart diktats to truckers to not drive Amazon loads are just opening salvos in this war, for example.
I see healthy, vibrant ecosystems with a bidirectional value exchange as a way for very large companies to mitigate much of the damage inflicted by their own size. Unfortunately, most large companies are trying their damnedest to build out ecosystems as command and control bot networks, and see it only as a profit source to unidirectionally squeeze. That's tempting because it's so easy, but it means your command and control decisions must be better and more timely than the ecosystem's wisdom of crowds, or you'll suffer the consequences.