June 11th, 2009
Microsoft doesn't win at everything
Rest in peace Microsoft Money. It won’t be the first creation from the software giant to flop and it won’t be the last. And that’s just fine.
There’s a good bit of hubbub about the demise of Microsoft Money (Techmeme). Yes, Intuit is the victor with Quicken, but focus often wins.
The defeat of Microsoft Money at the hands of Intuit’s Quicken marks a rare chapter in the annals of software history.
Intuit is one of the few companies to take Microsoft head-on on its home turf–packaged software–and come out on top. Even more notably, Intuit has managed to do it several times, with Quicken of course, but also with QuickBooks and TurboTax.
Fried adds that Microsoft also is pruning its portfolio in a downturn. But is the demise of Microsoft Money really that big of a deal? It was a side business for Microsoft.
And Microsoft has been ditching many side businesses. To wit:
- Microsoft pulled Encarta;
- Response Point is being rethought;
- The .Net Micro Framework was punted;
- PerformancePoint Server got pinched;
- And Flight Simulator came in for a rough landing.
In the end, focus often wins. The default position for many folks is this: Microsoft enters a market and eventually becomes a winner. This thinking has been cultivated by years of domination: Office, Windows and IE back in the mid-1990s.
But the Microsoft squashes all theory just doesn’t work these days and the software giant’s pruning of its portfolio, moves that make a ton of sense, tells the story. In addition, MSN is hardly a juggernaut and Microsoft is still third place in search.
Simply put, Microsoft will go head to head with VMware, but the two will continue to do battle. Microsoft could have squashed Citrix years ago, but a multiyear partnership ensued. Microsoft competes with a little bit of everyone, but folks are often premature declaring it an eventual winner.
Larry Dignan is Editor in Chief of ZDNet and Editorial Director of ZDNet sister site TechRepublic. See his full profile and disclosure of his industry affiliations.
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