Hey everybody,
Microsoft is making an attempt at entering the online media realm!
And
they’re taking on the big boys like Flickr and YouTube with an all encompassing digital media
hub.
Yes, it’s true. Haven’t you heard?
Shocking it is that the world has
so far failed to take notice of this revelation.
Much notice, anyway.
As reported in CNET’s Webware
publication
– and not many news outlets elsewhere – Redmond has
let known its
intentions (via a job posting, no less) to make itself a much more
viable competitor in the realm of online media.
A Flickr YouTube Mishmash
Video is a big part of the plan, although photography seems to
be the main focus of attention. It’s
gonna be something of an all-in-one hub for digital goodies. Sort of a
Flickr-YouTube
mishmash, if you will. Only cooler still. Sounds tasty, eh?
No, you’re right, it doesn’t sound all
that impressive. And
“cooler”? Come on, you’re saying, be
real. You and I both know where I
pulled that little buzzer from.
Ain’t no way in heck Microsoft can
churn out something both teens and twentysomethings – all clearly very
much attached to their pocket-sized camera phones these days
– will
flock to. Willingly at least.
(Despite the considerable inroads both
Apple and the creators of Linux derivatives have made as of late in
terms of carving greater shares of the market for themselves, Papas
Gates and Ballmer have still got the vast majority of computing folk
safely inside that oh-so-tight monopolistic bind of theirs. Hey, you
know how it goes. Strong habits and unfair marketing die hard.)
practices
Microsoft = Fun?
But anywho, getting back to Microsoft’s online media
plans. Perhaps
the reason for the lack of enthusiasm in the critical space is, well,
simply that Microsoft doesn’t really capture the imagination
where fun
is concerned. (Apart from the Xbox, of course.)
It’s a far reach to
think the software giant as anything of an outstanding denizen of the
media world. Because it’s…not.
It’s not known for any award-winning still image or
video editing
solutions. It’s not known for any uber-popular Web services
of similar
ilk. Its strengths are in spreadsheets. And word processing. And
presentations.
(Although it must be said, the guys at Infinite Loop now
have a leg up on Redmond in that respect, what with their super-slick
Keynote application.) And lots of other boring suit-and-tie,
nine-to-five businessy stuff.
And, heck, we can’t fault Microsoft for that. Look
at the company’s
revenue stream, for goodness sake. It’s king of the software
space.
That fact is simply indisputable. They don’t need
to focus on fun stuff. (Again, the Xbox is a significant exception.)
Except that they do need to focus on
fun stuff. Now,
anyway. And looking forward. Because the Web’s
a-changin’.
No Longer A Haven Just For Geeks
Instead of
being a haven for readers and IRC-channel-loving geeks, it’s
now a
place everyone goes. Like normal people. Mom and dad. Your
paper-newspaper-reading uncle. Your farmboy stepbrother. The people
that would normally be seen spending their evenings with TV dinners in
front of – what else? – TVs.
They’re going online. And they want to do
stuff. Fun stuff. Like share photos long-distance with family members.
Family members who themselves also recently picked up PCs and purchased
broadband connections for themselves, to do – you guessed it!
– fun
stuff, too.
Microsoft is aware of this shift. And it likes that
it’s happening
very much. Because it means more sales of its OS and things. But it
also could mean that it misses out big on the online media revolution.
Which just started, by the way. Sure, photo hosts have been
around
for a long while, and YouTube’s been serving up user-made
video clips
for years, but there’s still a great
deal of growth waiting to happen in the Web media biz, for sure, and
Microsoft would be a great big
monopolizin’ fool to miss the boat on this lucrative trend.
So it’s trying not to. Whether it
succeeds…is anyone’s guess,
really. But it’s not going to sit on the sidelines. Too much
moolah’s
at stake. (Microsoft is mega-rich, but no deny it wouldn’t
mind getting
mega-richer. Besides, it’s in its blood
to compete. I mean control. I mean compete!)
Too Far Behind The Times?
Of course, its likelihood of coming out a winner on the Web,
in any
particular way, is slim, considering that it is consistently
“behind
the times” and playing catch-up.
And as I’m sure you’ll agree, Yahoo!
(owner of Flickr) and Google (owner of YouTube) won’t play
such poor
strategy as to relinquish their respective holds on segments of the
digital media market.
So I think it’ll be quite interesting to see what
Microsoft makes of itself in the coming months as far as cool
and fun developments go.
What do you think Microsoft’s role in the
realm of online media will be in 2008? Offer your comments below!
Paul Glazowski is a contributing author discussing the social networking world, his work can be found on Profy.com
