Microsoft lost half a billion on the web last quarter

techcrunch.com

16 points·vaksel··5 comments

Microsoft just doesn't get the web.

Their servers crash from the expectable load when windows 7 is released for download, they can't seem to streamline or synergise any of their web properties, and frankly most of it is simply bad or broken. Just yesterday I sent an application to them and got a server fault after having spent 30 minutes filling in a badly designed form. I sent them a mail and haven't heard anything back. Not that I expected to.

Even their main site, microsoft.com, is broken. The menu is off by a few pixels. Even in IE.

And why should they get the web better than any other bunch of middle-aged business guys? Microsoft is a desktop software company, the web isn't in their DNA. The web is a threat to kill their primary revenue streams!

Goes to show that realizing there is a lot of opportunity somewhere and throwing an obscene amount of money at it is not enough to succeed.

Microsoft's existing management shouldn't get the web, but they should be smart enough to hire people that do. Why is running, say, Django or Rails or any other web framework so difficult on Windows?

They had some kind of cashback deal involving LiveSearch (is that what they call it) and eBay. Up to 20% off, $200 maximum or something like that.

People were signing up for it, buying gold or silver coins in the amount of about $1000, then getting $200 back. They were able to buy gold and silver for far less than the going spot price.

I am not exactly sure how that increased Microsoft's mindshare or their eventual bottom line; but it sure made a lot of gold and silver buyers happy.

Shoudn't those LiveSearchers bid each other up until they hit spotprice + 200$?

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