PP Link

http://www.kean.edu/~gilliard/MicrosoftPP_files/frame.htm

Summary

The argument between Macs and PCs has and will always go back and forth. The same can’t be said about the iPod and the Zune. The iPod is Apple’s portable media player, and with out a doubt the best media player in the market. Ever since it entered the market it has dominated in sales over any other media player. Coming in second place and very far from first is Microsoft’s Zune. Microsoft has evolved it self into a wait and see company. In other words they became conservative; allowing other companies to take the risk developing new things, making sure they were successful before stepping in. Following their wait and see strategy, Microsoft waited to see if the Ipod would be successful and when it was they then decided to put the Zune in the market. This was a bad strategy, for Ipod was so big by the time Zune came out consumers paid it no attention. The Ipod just played downloaded music, the Zune came with FM Radio and a music subscription yet people were not rushing to purchase it. Personal casings were also available for the Zune and still with casings, radio, and mp3 people weren’t rushing to the stores. Microsoft has decided to take another jab at the Ipod and see if it can take charge of the media player market. Microsoft is aware that they probably won’t be able to steal all the Ipod costumers. So instead they will make a product that will bring different type of consumers together. Being that most of the features on the Zune and iPod are quickly being adopted by smartphone manufacturers Microsoft has decided to make a phone of it self. This smartphone, even though still a rumor, is supposed to have all the features of a regular smarphone with all the features the Zune already has and HD video game capability. Yes! You heard it HD video games. They are trying to make games like Halo available using Windows Mobile. If rumors are true this device will be the ultimate package. If they can pull this off they can take over the blackberry and the Iphone market, the portable media market, and on top of all that add the Xbox gamers. A spokesman for the Zune team declined to comment on the specific rumors, but told the Standard "we will deliver progress this calendar year on both hardware and software." Now imagine a phone you could use for work with email and internet, but use as a media player on the way to work, and on the way home from work be playing Halo, HD of course. Seems like Microsoft wants to hop in the drivers seat again.

Conclusion

Today’s technology has evolved a completely different way of doing business. Everything from sales, management, and marketing has completely changed. As a result, business is done much faster and has become much more competitive. Companies like Microsoft and Apple are in the front lines of this revolutionary “war” for not only are these companies responsible for most of the newest technologies but they are also each others biggest competitors. For years consumers have gone back and forth arguing the pros and cons of Macs and PCs and which one is the best purchase. At first Microsoft seemed to have the upper hand based on their simple and easy to use programs. Mac later on took the upper hand by going after the younger and “hip” market, making computers smaller, slicker, and “cooler” looking. Microsoft had then taken the passenger seat in a car where they were the driver for so long. In fact Microsoft became a wait and see company, being really conservative and allowing other companies to take the risk in developing new things, making sure they were successful before stepping in. This was a big mistake for Microsoft. Apple in recent years have produced some products such as the iPhone, iTouch, and other devices that have inspired a new wave of technologies. Regardless of the situation these companies are both huge and successful. To stay on top both need to have a business strategy that works. Well Microsoft has decided to jump in the driver’s seat again and take charge. Like mentioned before Apple had the lead of the two companies based on their marketing and who they were marketing. Now Microsoft wants to take a jab at Apple and see how the consumers react. This article discusses how Microsoft changes not their whole entire business strategy but their marketing one. They have recently made numerous T.V commercials that will be released in future months attacking Apple for over pricing their laptops and lacking customer’s needs. The ads will be known as “Laptop Hunter Ads” and have thrown a powerful punch against Macs long running campaign on coolness. The ads are simple, they pick people in stores who are looking for laptop computers. They say if they find a PC that can offer them everything they are looking for and the price is under $1500 Microsoft pays for it. During the ad you will see the consumers agreeing that the Macs do look cooler, but they argue about their size. Consumers also argue that the Macs has some of the stuff that person needs but not all of it. At the end the consumer find the right size laptop, with the personal needs of the consumer and for about $1000 to $2000 less than a Mac. Unlike Microsoft's past attempts, this new line of marketing has many ad experts taking note and saying maybe, just maybe, Microsoft has finally hit the mark. Apple better look out because Microsoft is bringing to light that Apple is just about looks, Microsoft is about performance

Technology Pt 2

MSN ( The Microsoft Network) is a collection of Internet services provided by Microsoft. The Network debuted as an online service and Internet service provider on August 24, 1995, to coincide with the release of the Windows 95 operating system. The product was ahead of its time and was one of the most popular dial-up Internet service providers. Their domain name MSN.com is still the 6th most visited on the Internet.

Interface:

The Microsoft Interface Definition Language (MIDL) defines interfaces between client and server programs. Microsoft includes the MIDL compiler with the Platform Software Development Kit (SDK) to enable developers to create the interface definition language (IDL) files and application configuration files (ACF) required for remote procedure call (RPC) interfaces and COM/DCOM interfaces. MIDL also supports the generation of type libraries for OLE Automation.

Communication Software & Voice over IP:

Bill Gates, chairman of Microsoft Corp., and Jeff Raikes, president of the Microsoft Business Division, announced the worldwide availability of Microsoft’s unified communications software, taking the first step toward streamlining workplace communications and helping reduce the cost of the average corporate voice over Internet protocol (VoIP) system by half. Joined by customers and partners, the Microsoft executives launched unified communications and VoIP software that includes the following:

Microsoft® Office Communications Server 2007. Software that delivers VoIP, video, instant messaging, conferencing and presence within the applications people already know and use such as Microsoft Office system applications and upcoming versions of Microsoft Dynamics™ ERP products and the Microsoft CRM release due later this year
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Microsoft Office Communicator 2007. Client software for phone, instant messaging and video communications that works across the PC, mobile phone and Web browser
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Microsoft Office Live Meeting. The next version of Microsoft’s advanced conferencing service that enables workers to conduct meetings, share documents, utilize video and record discussions from virtually any computer
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Microsoft RoundTable™. A conferencing phone with a 360-degree camera that captures a panoramic view of meeting participants, tracks the speaker and can record meetings
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Service pack update of Microsoft Exchange Server 2007. The industry’s leading e-mail, voice mail, calendaring and unified messaging platform

Technology

Microsoft sells hardware such as computers, xbox, xbox 360, and the mp3 zune. Microsoft sells labtops and notebooks as well as desktop computers to consumers. The operating software systems used and sold by the company consist of windows based such as microsoft windows xp home, microsoft windows xp pro, microsfot windows vista and access. SUSE Linux is envolved with Microsoft making the company SUSE Linux's biggest reseller. Microsoft uses a bunch of different application softeware with their programs, such as anti-virus software which detects and removes viruses. They have unistaller software this you can use to remove software from your hard disk that you no longer want. Microsoft consists of applications like wordprocessors, spreadsheets, media players and database applications. The man responsible for our software and hardware is Steven Sinofsky he is the senior Vice President of the Windows engineering group. Server and Tools concentrates on licensing products, applications, tools, content, and services that are designed to make information technology professionals and developers more productive and efficient. Server and Tools offerings consist of server software licenses and client access licenses (“CAL”) for Windows Server, Microsoft SQL Server, and other server products. We also offer developer tools, training, certification, Microsoft Press, Premier and Professional product support services, and Microsoft Consulting Services. Server products can be run on-site, in a hosted environment, or in a Web-based environment. We use multiple channels for licensing, including pre-installed OEM versions, licenses through partners, and licenses directly to end customers. We sell licenses both as one-time licenses and as multi-year volume licenses.

Data Mining and OLAP

Microsoft Corp. is using data mining techniques from Digital Resolve Inc. in its Internet browsers to guard against so-called phishing attacks, in which dubious Web sites try to harvest personal information from unknowing victims. The technology focuses heavily on the Web sites of financial companies and e-commerce sites. It looks at 39 characteristics of a site, including IP address, location, domain and the Internet service provider, said Dennis Maicon, Digital Resolve's vice president for financial services solutions. It also checks how long a particular domain is valid based on its registration information.

Many organizations analyze their business-critaical data using OLAP technology. "OLAP-based data mining provides a way to query multidimensional data sets and drill down into the data to find patterns". Microsoft Office Web Components enable Web-based OLAP reporting. This includes PivotTable and Chart components that can be embedded in a Web page and scripted by many programmers.

Data Marts

"Microsoft® SQL Server™ 2000 tools used for a data mart may include any of the tools used for data warehouses depending on how the data mart is designed. If the data mart is created and maintained locally and participates in the organization's data warehouse as an independent contributor, its creation and maintenance will involve all the operations of a data warehouse. If the data mart is a local access point for data distributed from a central data warehouse, only a subset of the tools may be involved."

Technology and DataBases

"The Microsoft Jet Database Engine is a database engine on which several Microsoft products were built. JET stands for Joint Engine Technology, sometimes being referred to as Microsoft JET Engine or simply Jet. Microsoft Access and Visual Basic use or have used Jet as their underlying database engine." The Jet database over teh years has become almsot synonymous with Microsoft Access. So much so that some people mistakenly call it "Access database".

Link

http://www.pocketgamer.co.uk/r/Windows+Mobile/Zune/news.asp?c=12718



http://www.pcworld.com/article/163114/is_microsoft_still_trying_to_challenge_the_ipod.html

Summary

"Information technology becomes a strategic asset when it makes the entire business adaptive and ready for change by connecting people, process, and information in a way that drives results. How we measure results of investments is important because the continuous improvement of any function requires a clear way of measuring performance against goals. The strategic value of IT therefore becomes clearer when we move away from the industrial-age metrics and toward a more holistic assessment of “return on knowledge.” " Microsoft Business Insights.

E-Business

Microsoft uses two ways of e-commerce really well. Business to Business when they are trying to expand their company and business to consumer as when they are selling their products to consumers such has pc and xbox.
Online Services Business (“OSB”) consists of an online advertising platform with offerings for both publishers and advertisers, personal communications services such as email and instant messaging, online information offerings such as Live Search, and the MSN portals and channels around the world.
Microsoft adpoted search engine for their marketing mix. The five reasons for microsoft adopted this concept is that it is user driven, measurable, cost effecttive, it get results, and the messaging system that you use for it. With it being user driven this makes it easy and effective way to reach your customersat the time they are searching for your offerings. It is measurable by it enabling you to directly correlate your cost per click to sales leads. Search engines are cost effective in the sense that you can establish your pay per click budget and only pay for clicks made to your ads. The messaging on search engines are good because keywords and add messages can constantly be tested and improved. Lastly 68% of business find paid seach engines to be a success.
Microsoft has received a patent detailing a new cost structure and purchasing procedure for PCs; just pay for whatever you use, as long as you use it. To support a pay-per-use business model, each selectable item may have a cost associated with it, allowing a user to pay for the services actually selected and that presumably correspond to the task or tasks being performed. An administrator may use a similar user interface to set performance levels for each computer in a network, allowing performance and cost to be set according to a user's requirements. This system is basically like a financial cybermediary since the customer is not using any electronic checks or using a smart card for purchases.

Business Strategy

Microsoft used the Focus busisness strategy.Microsoft began to reinvent itself.It restructured key business units,streamlined decisions,making processes, and realigned itself to become more quicky and easily in producing software. The restructuring iniciative was undertaken at the same time with the company's new diversificationstrategy beyong the personal computers(PC) softare business and into other devices such as mobile phones , television, setup boxes, and game consoles.

To be a successful industry or business the company must know the five different forces and how to balance them accordingly. Microsoft's success is due to their in depth knowledge of these forces and using them to their advantage. First force is buyer power and perhaps their strongest force. People don't have too many choices on what programs and software to place on their PCs. Microsoft has made a type of a monopoly in the sense that they have at least one of their programs in virtually every PC in the world. The second law is supplier power another one that is strong for Microsoft being that they produce their own software so their technically isn't any supplier power, they are their own supplier. Third, is the threat of substitute products which is Microsoft's weakest force. This has to do with technology's development. New technologies and programs are created every day and so it is a growing and moving business. As of now Microsoft is in perfect conditions to stay at the top, but with new inventions and ideas they must keep up with the fast growing pace of technology before someone possibly takes their place. The fourth force is the threat of new entrants which is another one of their strong forces. Microsoft has made themselves a global name and new entrants are basically against impossible odds at taking over. Lastly is rivalry among competitors, another one of their weak points. When it comes to software yes, there's virtually no competitors but when it comes to entertainment and other products, competitors like Apple have a upper hand with products such as the iPhone and iPod. The way they reduce their supplier power is by producing their own products. Microsoft makes and develops everything they make so they are not at the mercy of their suppliers. Like mentioned before they have at least one of their programs on basically every PC in the world, giving them no problem when it comes to buyer power. The entry barrier wasn't really created by them but sort of by luck. They were one for the first to place programs in PCs and grew with the business, as they grew their competitors shrunk and entry barriers almost disappeared. Microsoft has basically closed the window of opportunity for a lot of companies, programmers, or any one of the sort. Microsoft is a prime example of an industry who uses the five forces to their advantage.

The major business initiatives that Microsoft is considering chain management and enterprise resource planning (ERP). These are key tools for achieving envirnomental initiatives in their company. Microsoft is big on the Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) for the company which is a collection of intergrated softwawrefor business management,accounting,finance,human resource mgt,etc. They use a top of the line initiatives because it inclused all technology systems and software in your organization.


They didn't specifically state the organization of IT that was in the book. Microsoft calls their organization the "real- world" approach. Which to them mean time-to-value. They believe in these times that the big top-down approach does not work. WIth their approach they believe it is a critical value measurement and service-oriented architecture which drives more return in the area. This sounds more like they were going for the matrix approach as they call it in the book which is pretty similar in that manner. Microsoft uses the horizontal axis to provide a spectrum of philosophy ranging from organizations that are early adopters of IT. They use the "wait and see" idea. They would not be characterized as to using the vertical axis approach since that is more known for companies that work with the top- down silo approach which Microsoft doesn not beleive works in these times we live in.

Introduction

Microsoft is a multi national computer technology corporation that develops, manufactures, and licenses a large range of computer software. They are best known for their Microsoft Windows operating system and the Microsoft Office software. Although known mostly for their software Microsoft has ventured into hardware and different range of products. They are currently working on entertainment consumer products such as Xbox, Xbox 360, and the Zune. They have also made a presence on the internet with the MSN internet portal and Microsoft Live search, but have not made huge success on these fields quite yet.


Microsoft was started as a small partnership between two friends; Bill Gates and Paul Allen. Microsoft's first year's revenue equaled $16,000. Today Microsoft makes an average annual revenue of $32 billion and has grown to be the largest software company in the world; placing at least one of its products on virtually every personal computer in the world. Microsoft is no longer considered a corporation but an empire. It has even been criticized for running a monopoly, having grown so big, it wiped out basically all competition.


In 1975 Bill Gates was introduced to the Altair Microcomputer Kit. Already having a passion and a love for computers, programs, and software Gates was inspired to work with this new and upcoming technology. Gates and friend Paul Allen ended up writing a program called BASIC for the Altair Microcomputer Kit and ended up being hired by the company who made the machine MITS Computer. Gates and Allen realized their talent and potential with computers and started the partnership Micro-soft. Years later they finally were able to get the name registered and they put their full attention into Microsoft. As time went by they were able to write programs for very small deals and companies until their big break came in 1980. At this time IBM was working on the personal computer or PC and contracted Microsoft to develop the software for the PC. Microsoft accepted IBM's deal and developed the software that became known as MS-DOS. As personal computing became a multi-billion dollar business Microsoft's revenues sky rocketed. Microsoft then continued to aggressively attack the personal computing world and grew to be what it is today, making Bill Gates the most famous and wealthiest business man in the world.


Bill Gates was one of the two founders of Microsoft and was the leading software architect for the company. When Microsoft became big time, he took the position as CEO where he looked over all of the company's projects, and departments. In 2000 how ever Gates decided to step down and named Steve Ballmer the company's CEO. Ballmer joined Microsoft in 1980 as a business manager. He has headed several divisions with Microsoft including Operating Systems Development, Operations, and Sales and Support.


Prior to Microsoft, Ballmer attended Harvard University where he received a degree in mathematics and economics. He worked for two years as an assistant product manager at Procter & Gamble and then moved on to work for Microsoft. For more information on Microsoft you can visit http://www.fundinguniverse.com/company-histories/Microsoft-Corporation-Company-History.html.