Microsoft

We recently had to read a case about Google in class, and Microsoft was mentioned numerous times throughout the case. Although the case focused mainly on Google and it's rise to prominence, i couldn't help but think Microsoft again stole some thunder from the hot shots at Google. Whenever a company rises to prominence and begins dominating a market or industry with it's products, Microsoft always does it's best to try and steal some of that market share away from the market leaders. Although Apple plays second fiddle to Microsoft in both computer and laptop popularity, it's a different story when it comes to the music industry, and portable music players. Apple has the Ipod, a very dominant invention which has been at the top of the food chain since it's arrival. Microsoft seeing that nothing was contesting the Ipod's reign at the top, decided to release their own portable music player. They called the product Zune. Although it was a valiant effort by Microsoft, the product has failed to gain much fanfare and without a doubt Microsoft has lost a nice amount of money funding this product. Another example of Microsofts constant will to beat everyone can be seen in their constant support of their video gaming console the Xbox and Xbox 360. This product was made with the sole purpose of dethroning Sony and stealing some market share. The company has lost millions of dollars over the years funding this project and continue to lose money. Finally the latest battle Microsoft has initiated is the war with Google. Microsoft attempted to purchase Yahoo in order to gain ground on Google in the search engine war, however the purchase was unsuccesful. Although they have failed in the past, i truly believe Microsoft will eventually be successful in purchasing Yahoo and give Google a run for their money as the top search engine. Till next time...

Greetings!

Hey INSY 444,

My name is Dov Aronovitch, i am a third year BComm student at McGill university and I'm majoring in marketing with a concentration in entrepreneurship. Although i am not majoring in information systems like the majority of the class, i decided to take this class because i felt i still had much to learn about this growing industry. Information systems as a program is growing year by year and it's only a matter of time before the programs popularity reaches that of accounting and finance. INSY 444 main focus is knowledge managemnt, and i find it to be an extremely important issue facing every company today. The transfer and sharing of knowledge can single handedly determine the effectiveness and success of an organization. I hope to learn more about the topic as the semester goes on but for now that is all i got.