Scott Porad

A quick missive on Microsoft…

People are talking about the Goldman Sachs report on Microsoft.  Long story short, Goldman says that something needs to change at Microsoft.

The original mantra of Microsoft was “a computer on every desktop”.  That goal has been achieved.  What’s next?

In my view, it should be “a computer on every set top“.

What is a “set top”?  It’s a TV.  In other words, a computer connected to every TV.

The thing is, Microsoft was almost there, but couldn’t put it together.  At one point they owned four household “boxes” and three of them were on the “set top”:

• desktop computer
• Ultimate TV
• WebTV
• Xbox

But, they missed the boat on this stuff.  The problem with the whole darned thing is that Microsoft suffers from a strategy tax—in their world, the desktop computer is the hub, the centerpiece of the system from which everything else emanates.  Phone, Zune, tablet, everything…they all sync to the desktop.  But, that’s 1990 thinking in a 2010 world.  The desktop is sitting in a corner now, relegated to work-duties.

So, here’s what Microsoft could do:

First, make the Xbox the centerpiece of your consumer solution.  Make it so that people do all their computing through the TV.  Read the Internet through the Xbox.  Stream media to the Xbox.  (Do you know how disruptive it would be if TV networks could do an end-around on the cable companies to get their content in homes?  I’m giddy just thinking about it!)

Next, push Xbox as a centerpiece further by making the existing devices—Zune and Windows Phone—sync to the Xbox, not the computer.

Then, develop a viable tablet that syncs with the Xbox and not the computer.  Some computer-ish things, like reading e-mail, will be somewhat harder on the TV, so a tablet with a bluetooth keyboard can solve that problem.  (The keyboard will also connect to the Xbox).

Of course, Azure would back all this stuff up, so that users could keep all their shiznit in the sky.  And, Windows Online plus MSN plus Hotmail (or whatever they call it these days) could provide the basic productivity services that 99.99999999% of home users need.

Finally, bundle all of these up for $1000 and sell them as a package.  Imagine if you could get your entire “home computing package” for that price.  If it worked seamlessly, it would be a slam dunk!!

Personally, I’d take all these things and spin them off into a separate company.  Keep Windows and Office and the server technologies inside of Microsoft to service the corporate business.  Send this stuff out on it’s own to service the consumer.  I guess there’d be a little overlap with the Azure and Windows Online pieces, but those are implementation details…

…the point here is a “a computer on every set top”.  That’s the winning strategy.