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Comment by throwaw12 | Hacker News Reader

from your list, I think only Google has moat and something I would short least.

Google has hardware, software ecosystem, mobile ecosystem, controls browser, has access to 2B+ users, has talent to come up with ideas - perfect spot for AI

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Now Microsoft, them I'd short. In a way I have by starting my own company to undermine their various competitive advantages comprehensively

Microsoft has many of the same advantages but is incapable of judging the quality of the products it makes.

Concur; I am shorting them as well. Your approach is more clever!

The number of companies that default to using Teams shows why MSFT isn't going anywhere.

The only strategy that can work against Microsoft is a full broadside. You can't try beat them in just one niche, you have to go after the whole tech stack they offer. That's what I'm willing to try doing.

Yes, exactly, would I bet that Microsoft’s products are inferior in quality to others. Yes.

Would I bet that other humans would believe that? Nope.

Microsoft bundles enough things at a low enough price that it seems silly not to use Microsoft if you are a corporation, because the alternative is to buy a number of different SAAS products (which are generally superior) at a higher price and have to deal with half a dozen to a dozen vendors.

I will be very concerned for MSFT if small companies start outperforming larger companies. That's when Microsoft's advantage disappears. If AI truly encourages smaller, flatter organizations. IMO large enterprise adoption is their moat.

Installed by default is their moat. Trying to arrange a video conference on other platforms means making sure that everyone has the client installed, which can be a real headache. Teams is the common denominator.

Google Meet doesn't require a client

Wow why has nobody thought of this /s

Microsoft is in the same situation as IBM decades ago. „ nobody ever got fired for buying IBM“ used to be a common saying. If at all you’ll see a slow decline.

Time will tell but that feels foolish. MSFT is a terrible product company (look at copilot) but what they sell is a safe decision which is one of the most important factors for enterprise software. Nobody is close to replacing that.

I'm content for that be the narrative. Nobody is close, and what's more it's not even possible, and even if it was possible nobody would want it, and even if anyone did want it would only be a few people. ; )

You missed the plot. ; )

Microsoft is in a better position (as their b2b ecosystem can realistically be made LLM-agnostic), but Google will be fine.

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