Microsoft maintains ‘copycat’ leadership

Posted By on September 19, 2006

Soapbox beta
As usual, Microsoft (for which I reluctantly am still a shareholder), continues to maintain its lead in technology ‘copycatting.’ I will forever remain mystified as to how this company ever was able to capture the lions share in operating systems and software business in operating the way it does? Perhaps the ‘Walmart-ish’ operating strategy and financially crushing power has much to do with it … but its obviously not their technology, at least in recent memory. In a press statement today, Rob Bennett, general manager of MSN’s entertainment and video services, announced that Microsoft would begin beta testing its own YouTube-like Internet video service called Soapbox.

YouTube is the undisputed leader of user supplied online video at this moment … followed by Google, Yahoo, Time Warner Inc.’s AOL unit and News Corp.’s social networking site MySpace and Sony’s newly acquired video-sharing site Grouper.com. Microsoft have offered considerable owned content through its partnerships, but this will be their push into user video. It will be interesting to see how this crowded bandwidth intensive and costly online segment pans out.

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Desultory - des-uhl-tawr-ee, -tohr-ee

  1. lacking in consistency, constancy, or visible order, disconnected; fitful: desultory conversation.
  2. digressing from or unconnected with the main subject; random: a desultory remark.
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