Embrace and Extend

Link: Rough Type: Nicholas Carr's Blog: Microsoft: the cloud as feature. If anyone believes that Microsoft will be shut out of the Web 2.0 space, or even marginalized to a significant degree, they don't really understand how the "boys from Redmond" work. MS has always been more of a "fast follower" than an innovator.

Embrace, extend and integrate has been the mantra since the early versions of Office. The integration piece was, and remains, MS' greatest innovation--and no small feat. Once this vision was in place, at a company with the market clout to deliver on the promise, the rest was inevitable. MS is not likely to lose its franchise because it will continue to ride Bill's legacy into the foreseeable future (and beyond).

The next obvious extension will be to the cloud. Most of its existing user base will follow it there. As interesting as some of the Web 2.0 office suites look, they pale in comparison to the addiction to MS Office by the masses.

Sure, the monopoly has some serious competition this time, and the marketplace will benefit because of it, but the MS Office franchise is secure--not only is it alive and well, but it will continue to thrive. The real innovation lies elsewhere, and may in fact come from innovative uses of technology than from technology itself.