Keeping pace with Microsoft

Imagine being a restaurant where you no longer charged your patrons for the food they ate–but you made your revenue from the advertisements that you included in your menu, on the walls, on the table cloth, the napkins, the plates–even the uniforms of your wait staff. At what point would the customer find the advertising intrusive? How could the advertising be made to be seen as being complementary or helpful?

This is precisely the challenge that Microsoft “and every other major player in the online world” is facing. With the announcement of the Windows Live approach to software delivery, development, and monetization–and the growing reach of MSN, Messenger, and Spaces, advertising is no longer a peripheral issue for the Redmond software giant.

Over the last few years the team at EASCI has been working to help create strategic alignment in the core business areas that will make the biggest difference for Microsoft globally. Their standards for performance are clear: our work must be scalable, global, and executed flawlessly. Suffice to say, we have learned a lot over the years. The good folks at Microsoft (not unlike many of our Navy SEAL friends) are very quick to tell you precisely where thing could improve.

My hit is that Microsoft is a great example of a company that is investing to win–and they are more willing than ever to shoot the sacred cows that were key to their company’s success 20 years ago. They are relentless and tenacious. Sure there are a number of players in the market that enjoy clear domination in certain areas–Apple, and Google to name the obvious two. But Microsoft is looking to change the game entirely and redefine the marketplace in a way that will span boundaries, time, and limiting ideas.

See some of the new cool stuff happening with our client at www.live.com. Check out our famous Microsoft Spaces interview with Kenny Salvini.