Dear Harvey Norman: When you sell someone a new computer and tell them that “everything’s on there”, please explain that you’ve only dumped a copy of their old hard drive onto it, and that it’s still a few hours’ work to download and install software, put data in the right place and generally configure things. You might also like to explain that the “student and teacher” editions of Microsoft Office you’re trying to push aren’t actually able to be used by people running a commercial business.
Who owns what on the Internet
Amy Webb (now there’s an aptonym!) has updated her diagram of who owns the new media landscape. It’s also available as a PDF file.
Coming soon, a widget and RSS feed to help you track acquisitions and mergers in media.
I must admit, I’d much rather see this sort of data presented as a directed graph of ownership relationships, rather than simple lists — something like this diagram. The size of the nodes could represent the companies’ market capitalisation, and width of the lines the percentage ownership or something.
Still, it’s a handy-enough reference.
Hat-Tip to Lee Hopkins.
Even better commentary on Microsoft/Yahoo! merger
My commentary on a Microsoft/Yahoo! merger was sarcastic, but Fake Steve Jobs has even better visual imagery. “The Borg-Yahoo merger won’t work. Here’s why. It’s like taking the two guys who finished second and third in a 100-yard dash and tying their legs together and asking for a rematch, believing that now they’ll run faster.” And “Imagine a circus act in which two enormous, clumsy, awkward elephants that don’t really like each other are supposed to mate while riding on skateboards.” Hat-tip to Mark Pesce.
Message to Microsoft: You can’t buy cool
My commentary on Microsoft’s bid for Yahoo! has been published in Crikey. It’s behind the paywall, but a free trial is available. I’ll write a public piece tomorrow.
Bill’s last day at Microsoft
This video about Bill Gates’ last day at Microsoft would be even funnier if it wasn’t for Bono’s pathetic attempt at relevance. Still, nice to see Mr Gates manages to self-promote to the very end.
2007: Social media goes mainstream (except for business and politics)
If 2006 was the year of Web 2.0 then 2007 is the year of social media. For individuals anyway. Australian businesses and politicians generally don’t get it
Social media is mainstream. Two million Australians have Facebook pages and 3.5 million read blogs. MSN Messenger has 7 million users here, and even Ja’mie King says “I’ll MSN u 2nite” without explanation.
But few businesses use social media. Why? I suspect there’s two reasons, apart from an endemic inability to adapt and change. One is about the tools, the other is about business culture.
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