Turner Embraces Disruption

It’s always refreshing to see Microsoft be honest about where they are in this market:

We’ve embraced this disruption, we are really in a leadership position.

It’s big of them to admit that the Software + Services was not a vision or a direction for Microsoft, but rather a competitive response to the newfound dominance web apps have started to create and diminish the Microsoft’s monopoly power over the adoption of new consumer and business applications. It’s hard to stifle something that doesn’t run on your turf, so Microsoft built a business model on top of it and found a way to offer, market and commission it. As poorly executed and beta quality as it may be, this is a huge undertaking for Microsoft with almost unimaginable complexity..

… for the company that big to embrace it that quickly and move in such a different direction is nothing short of amazing. Congratulations to the Microsoft management on that one.

But then he fell back to the same ol’ Microsoft deception:

The leader in the commercial software + services space is Microsoft. We are not #1 in consumer software + services, we are strong third.

The strong third really made me laugh, I was expecting the “I’m a Mac” to jump out and join in on the dilusion of market dominance.

In case you’re wondering what “strong third” means take a look at the April search dominance Microsoft has – at 9.1% and declining!

What Kevin Turner knows, but is not discussing for obvious reasons, is that the consumer choices drive business direction. What you use at home tends to be what you want to use at work.

Why Vista?

“It is more secure today than Leopard, Linux, … and fewer patching means less cost” goes back to the message that Microsoft has been emploring it’s partners this week to do for Microsoft – please help us smash the myth that Vista is not great:

“We want to help find a way to help you evangelize and deploy Vista” begging for someone else to address it and not abandon it: “Any investment you make on Windows Vista will serve you well when the next Windows comes out” so please “Give the facts a megaphone and drive deployment!”

This makes me scratch my head a little and I just don’t get it.

Who does Kevin Turner think is his enemy here? People that don’t want Vista?

Last time I checked, customers have never heard of Vista – they only know Windows. People rejecting Vista? IT consultants, IT departments, CIOs and enterprise customers. The very stronghold of Microsoft’s evangelical choir, which is responsible for the actual deployments. Don’t look at partners, look at your advertising budget.

He even took a moment to take a shot at Oracle and imply they are in financial trouble.

Few unfounded swipes at Linux.. nothing new there.

He also took a swipe at Google: “You have to wonder about a company that has to remind itself of their slogal ‘do no evil'” and they have no partner ecosystem. Well, guess what, at 6% a month Kevin – neither does Microsoft. Not a complaint, OwnWebNow and my entire team thank you for that.

Finally, he went on to talk about how Microsoft (an expensive product by all accounts) can grow in a tough economy. For a COO he sure has to be aware of the term called “budget” and it being the key for why people are moving to cheaper or alternative solutions. To sum it up, here is what Microsoft wants from it’s partners:

Classy keynote all the way – but boy, what a giant, giant miss.