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Technology Stocks : The *NEW* Frank Coluccio Technology Forum -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Frank A. Coluccio who wrote (17579)	11/2/2006 1:51:27 AM
From: axial	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 46821

Frank, I'm still in shallow water on the Web 2.0 thing. The first thought that occurs is the transitional nature of everything that "is". I'm still catching up on stuff that's already passé. The second thought is that the 'net (in the interactive sense) is a primordial soup of increasing diversity, that is escaping control of monolithic forces. Even though Google (for example) is on the ascendant, and appears to operate consistently with unseen dynamics, who knows what they will be 5 years from now? An internet lifetime may be very short. "Afterthought: Had Microsoft been more aggressive on the idea of Office 2.0 and acquired JotSpot first, it might not be in the position it is now where, to match Google, it may have to figure out how to acquire or bring into the Microsoft-fold something that's culturally incompatible with Microsoft's primary mode of operation. "Acquiring" open source and taking it "closed" is very difficult to do. Moving forward, my sense is that Google, Yahoo and others will force Microsoft to not only consider the acquisition of open source-oriented companies and as a result, but also to leave them as open-source oriented properties. In other words, expect Microsoft to be more of an open source company down the road." Microsoft's ability to control what is happening in many 'net-related areas is decreasing as its ability to co-opt each becomes an increasingly complex task. That's not to say that it can't continue to profit from these areas, however (to make a comparison) each becomes a Mandelbrot bulb, within which lies infinite diversity and repetition. Open Source is a key contributor to that process - one which Microsoft will have to assimilate in some way, from a decreasingly dominant position. The choice will be decreasing dominance or irrelevance: not soon, but eventually. These are impressions only, as I try to catch up. Regards, Jim