My girlfriend, Robin, ordered a copy of Powerpoint from Microsoft's web store. She got a notice from Microsoft that the order would be delayed and was on backorder. "Can you believe MS has Powerpoint on BACKORDER?", Robin asked. "What does it take to produce a disc of a two-year-old piece of software?" (I told her she needs her own blog so I wouldn't have to rant for her.)
It is amazing that a company with a monopoly position and remarkable profits (which just increased 24% YOY, even though revenue "only" increased 6%) can't keep a stock of boxes with CDs in them to ship immediately.
What's most amazing in a world of AJAX and Web 2.0 is that Microsoft still requires ordering a CD that has to be assembled into a box and shipped to the customer. Why can't Microsoft redesign all of its software so that it can be delivered via broadband, which is now in more than 60% of American homes (and higher percentages in other countries)? Why can't the software be designed to minimize the client side and use resources via the Web when they are needed, rather than parking huge amounts of software and data on the local hard disk and pushing aside the customers' data?
big man, chill! :)
Posted by: tony conrad | October 31, 2005 at 04:15 PM