Matt Rosoff Quotes (31 Quotes)

I think they thought of putting in a more sales-oriented person (Johnson) who talks to customers all the time and really knows what they're asking for.

The question is Will people really store content on the PC, set up a home network and then access content over the network ... That's still a pretty geeky thing to do,

They're putting quite a bit of development effort into Office Live. I think there will be some powerful tools in Office Live even if they're not perfectly baked at the time of the beta. I think it will be a serious initiative in the next couple of years.

The obvious competitor who they're gunning for here looks like Skype,

But maybe those are the kinds of decisions that need to be pushed down and made at a lower level, anyway. The danger is that people get too wrapped up in the technology and cool features and lose sight of what customers are asking for. Sometimes business customers want the boring stuff.

This is definitely being driven by Microsoft's desire to position Windows as a home entertainment hub, and to do that they have to make some concessions, ... They're walking a line, trying to please both sides (content companies and consumers) at the same time.

The Microsoft Research division might get between 150 and 200 million, which is still pretty significant for a pure research group that isn't judged, for example, on how many products they produce. They are judged very much like an academic research organization.

Microsoft's hand was really forced here.

If it gets worse and Microsoft doesn't deal well with it, they have a problem.

He wants to put people in charge who have a lot of customer contact and really know what customers want. He understands the importance of having smart technical people, but I think he views executive leadership as more of a business role. We'll see how that works.

The idea being that, over the life of the business, they make their money off software and peripherals.

They have to prove this year that Xbox 360 is going to be a money maker, because they have put a lot into it. Overall, I don't think there were any big surprises. Windows and Tools are going like gangbusters.

If you think things are not being run well, then yesterday will lend credence to your arguments.

There's room for improvement in areas such as clear product roadmaps and delivering timely updates,

The main thing for Microsoft as a company is to get as much use as possible for the PC as a home entertainment device, and one way to do that is ensure that there is a lot of readily available content. Their concern is that none of the partner services will take off or will be effective, keeping Apple as a dominant platform.

These wheels have been rolling for some time.

Honestly, I'm having a hard time envisioning where this product will fit into consumers' lives. It occupies an awkward position between single-function handheld devices and laptops. I'm not sure a market exists here.

There are some folks who have been there for a long time and who will resent the way things are being run as a bureaucracy. And maybe they were there for the big stock run-up and they're seeing the stock not move now.

It looks like it's another effort to popularize the tablet PC, this time in a smaller form factor.

This could be a chance to inflect that growth rate upward. But it's a challenge for Microsoft to overcome the perception that older versions of these products are good enough.

This initiative is above and beyond what Microsoft was called to do, but it's also just a way for the company to show it is doing its best. This is the trouble when you have regulatory agencies make demands. They sometimes don't understand what's inherent in the demand. Microsoft can't create these documents overnight.

Given the business model for the consoles the more Microsoft can backload those hardware sales, the better it is for them financially,

Microsoft's biggest concern is the precedent whereby a government agency can dictate what it can and cannot put into its core product.

Content owners may not take advantage of what Microsoft is doing They could bypass the PC altogether, or come up with some other type of system.

A lot of the Windows Live services are things that had already been in development by MSN,

Realizing it will take a while to get these documents where the EC wants them, Microsoft decided to buy a little bit of time by releasing the source code while it continues to work on the documentation. I think they are going to have to continue improving that documentation.

It's certainly disappointing for the PC manufacturers that had hoped Vista would help holiday sales, and this is a flagship product that already had been plagued by a number of delays.

Even if they don't violate the letter of the law, if competitors think that it's doing something similar to what's been decided earlier, it could lead to another lawsuit.

Getting to profitability will require a big-name software launch while withstanding a concentrated marketing blitz from Sony. Anything less could mean years of red ink ahead.

That number three job at Microsoft is a tough position to be in.

I wouldn't be surprised if Microsoft could double (its online advertising revenue) in three to five years.