Has Microsoft Turned Into The New IBM?

Surfing the web today, I came across a very interesting interview on SeattlePi with Don Dodge, who was Microsoft’s Director of Business Development for the Emerging Business Team until getting laid off last month. During the interview, he revealed his opinions on Microsoft, their current situation and where they’re heading. He also revealed that he thinks “Microsoft is a lot like IBM was in 1985”, going on to say that “after 20 years they are losing the innovation edge.” This got me thinking; has Microsoft lost the ability to innovate after being the most dominative force in computing since the late 1980’s? And if so, why?

I think a key to the solution is the sheer amount of things Microsoft does. When you think of the number of markets Microsoft compete in, you can understand that it’s extremely difficult, maybe impossible, to dominate every market. Not only do Microsoft develop and maintain the Windows OS, they also compete in the market for smart phones with Windows Mobile; the gaming market with the Xbox 360 and internet search with Bing.

Microsoft only dominate one of these markets with Windows – even with competition from Mac OS X and Linux, 88.5% of the world’s population uses Windows on their PC’s, which is beyond monopolisation… Despite this, 62.2% of computer users are using Windows XP, which completely supports Dodge’s accusations that Microsoft aren’t innovating as much as they were before. Rightly or wrongly, Vista was never a favourite of consumers as it had a lot of bad press on and off the web. In my opinion,
Windows 7 is a solid operating system, and when I’m using Windows, I use Windows 7.

When comparing the progress of Windows to its nearest competitor, how has it advanced since Windows XP was released in 2001? When Windows XP was introduced to the world, Apple had just released Mac OS X 10.1, and compared to Microsoft’s monopoly, Apple wasn’t in a good position with many criticising 10.1 for its bad performance. The next time we saw a consumer OS from Microsoft, however, was in January 2007, and the results weren’t worth the 6 year wait for many…

In the same time, Apple had released Mac OS X 10.2, 10.3 and 10.4, with Leopard coming 6 months later. So what were Microsoft doing in those 6 years? To the average user, there wasn’t much reason to upgrade from XP to Vista, because people were all too familiar with XP – why switch to have software incompatibilities and an unfamiliar interface?

On the mobile front, having used all three main players in the smartphone market right now (Windows Mobile 6.5, iPhone OS and Android), I’d only consider using iPhone OS or Android. Microsoft’s got a lot of catching up to do, and has fallen behind Apple and Google in terms of innovation and ease of use.

Navigating around a Windows Mobile device often feels far too long winded, with menus and menus of choices it’s simply not as user friendly as the iPhone or Android, even with HTC’s custom interface. Add this to the numerous delays of Windows Mobile 7, there’s no way I’d buy a Windows smartphone right now.

Having gone from the innovator to the company playing catch up with every other major player, Microsoft needs a new direction to wow people again. They’re very much in the gaming market with the Xbox 360, and hopefully we’ll see some pushes towards a better search with Bing in 2010 – how about a consumer friendly surface-like device? Competition for Apple’s tablet anyone?

Wipro, Microsoft, Intel, Infosys get maximum H-1B visas in 2009

By Moira Herbst
Even as job losses in the US mount, employers have stepped up the hiring of skilled workers from abroad, according to data from the US Citizenship & Immigration Services. The acceleration in recent weeks has put companies close to exhausting the 65,000 visas allotted each year for foreign hires under what's known as the H-1B program. Some 61,500 visas had been used as of Dec. 8, and the last visas are likely to be claimed within weeks. Once that happens, companies won't be able to use the program to bring in additional workers until October, the start of the government's fiscal year.

"The numbers are surprising, considering the state of the economy," says Ron Hira, associate professor of public policy at Rochester Institute of Technology. "With 15.4 million people unemployed in the U.S., employers should be able to find qualified workers here." The H-1B program allows employers to sponsor skilled workers from overseas for up to three years, with the possibility of extending for additional years.

DECLINING NUMBERS

The mix of companies receiving work visas is changing in ways that could dull at least some criticism of the program. In past years outsourcing companies, including many based in India, have received a substantial chunk of the visas. That's led opponents to charge that the program was being used to send American jobs abroad, since many H-1B employees train at client sites in the U.S. and then rotate back to their home countries to handle similar tasks. But the number of visas received by many non-U.S. outsourcers is declining. Of the top 200 recipients of H-1B visas in fiscal 2009, ended in September, offshore outsourcers got about 22%, or 5,663, down from 38% in fiscal 2008.


Non-U.S. outsourcers still claimed 6 of the top 10 places in fiscal 2009, although the numbers were off for the largest operators. India's Infosys Technologies (INFY) topped the list in fiscal 2008, with 4,559 visas, but last year got only 440. Wipro (WIT) was the largest visa recipient in 2009, with 1,964, down from 2,678 in 2008. Sridhar Ramasubbu, Wipro's chief financial officer for international operations, says the drop is the result of lower demand caused by the recession and changes in the company's workforce. "We're now operating in 58 countries," he says.

U.S. companies have become more active in the program. Of the top 200 recipients in 2009, American businesses accounted for 49% of the visas, up from 43% in 2008. Microsoft (MSFT) was No. 2 on the list with 1,318 approvals, while Intel (INTC) ranked No. 3 with 723. The chip giant says it's using the visas to recruit for high-skill posts in software and component design. "We only use visas for job categories with a [domestic] skills shortage," says spokeswoman Lisa Malloy.

With the Obama Administration struggling to create jobs, politicians are debating whether the visa program needs fundamental change. On Nov. 19, Senators Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and Charles Grassley (R-Iowa) introduced a bill to bar major companies that lay off U.S. workers from hiring foreign labor through H-1B and other programs. The legislation, which faces significant hurdles, would apply to companies that have cut 50 or more employees within the past year. "We have a responsibility to ensure that companies do not use the temporary guest-worker program to replace American workers with cheaper labor from overseas," says Sanders.

Herbst is a reporter for BusinessWeek.