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Microsoft's Third Coup
Microsoft is a sore loser. The company hates seeing anyone else win-especially when big prizes are at stake. In the '80s, it took control of the PC business from IBM. In the '90s, it stole the graphical operating systems market from Apple. In both cases, the folks in Redmond did it by leveraging their installed base, giving away compelling freebies with the operating system, and supporting the platforms with applications and developer tools. Don't look now, but they're doing it again.
In the decade ahead, Microsoft plans to grab control of e-commerce from America Online and others by using the same strategy. As you'll see in our cover story, the Internet offers great business services. And Microsoft plans to make the Microsoft Network (MSN) the Mother of All Business Web Sites. Here's Microsoft's secret seven-point plan:
1. Leverage Windows. OK, this part is no secret. Over the next few years, watch Microsoft further join its operating systems until they're virtually inseparable.
2. Make MSN the biggest portal on the Net. Have you been to MSN lately? Microsoft has been begun building, buying or hosting alluring bait, such as Sidewalk, Hotmail, Egghead, Merrill Lynch and hundreds of other top-shelf services.
3. Leverage ISP role. A combination of annoying, AOL-style CD distribution and, importantly, pushing DSL services will help Microsoft compete with AOL as an ISP. It will use that customer access to point people to Microsoft services.
4. Re-engineer MSN for next-generation devices. The future is connected portability: Microsoft recently launched a massive effort to make MSN compatible with microdisplays on cell phones, CE devices and pagers.
5. Lure businesses into Microsoft's e-commerce embrace. The company plans to get a million businesses online with its series of e-commerce initiatives, including BizTalk (an e-commerce framework based on XML) and Microsoft's Commerce Server and Small Business Commerce Services, all tied into MSN and Windows 2000 Server variants.
6. Think globally, act globally. The e-commerce contest is a global race. MSN has a broader reach than AOL or any other player, with 31 country-specific portals-and its existing worldwide customers already use Microsoft's multilanguage products.
7. Outspend the competition. And if all else fails, Microsoft is prepared-as always-to buy success through more acquisitions, more advertising and more giveaways. Microsoft plans to leverage its cash, reach and operating systems dominance to control e-commerce. If successful, Microsoft will be able to skim a penny off just about every online transaction, dictate online standards, and grow far more rich and powerful than it now is.
As always, the media, the public and the Department of Justice will hammer Microsoft for this. As always, they'll be wrong. If Microsoft does gouge us, invade our privacy or abuse our trust, we should take our e-commerce business elsewhere. There will always be alternatives. But if the company gets richer and more powerful by helping small businesses get online and providing great services-especially free ones-then I'm all for it. |
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