Microsoft, lets talk....

A Consumer's Prospective: 

Bane - Do you feel in charge?

Microsoft - I have over 90% of the PC market!
Bane- And this gives you power over me?

I glanced at an article recently outlining Microsoft's new approach to Office and my initial reaction was; I think everyone at Microsoft needs to meet Bane. The product now comes with two choices of ownership; $100 per year for Office 365 Home Premium and $150 per year for Office 365 Small Business Premium. Outside the subscription model Office Home & Student cost $140 , Office Home & Business ($220) and Office Professional ($400).


Now why would I make such a statement? Meet Bane? One would argue that the Office suite is a well respected and is an unmatched set of productivity tools. I would not argue against this assertion but my problem doesn't stem from the quality of the product but the presentation and pricing. Allow me to explain.

Problem #1

'Could the sales of tablets surpass desktop PCs by the end of 2013? That's the prediction from Antoine Leblond, the head of Windows Web Services at Microsoft'- Source: Neowin. When I read this piece of the article I was baffled that there is someone at Microsoft who realizes tablets are on the rise. What I'm trying to figure out however is, does Microsoft realize it has practically no foothold on that market?

Problem #2

Windows 8, beautiful and innovative in my humble opinion. Microsoft found a way to bring the PC market kicking and screaming into the era of touch. Now someone from the Windows team needs to go over to the Office team and whisper "we are doing touch now so please lets be on the same page". How can a company urge developers to make their applications more touch friendly while releasing in 2013 a 'core' product that's clearly not built with touch in focus. This puzzles me.

Problem #3: The Google Problem

In an interview with AllThingsD, Amit Singh, a Google VP and head of its Enterprise unit, said “Our goal is to get to the 90 percent of users who don’t need to have the most advanced features of Office” - Source: Forbes. Now Google clearly understanding the importance of a solid Eco-system has declared war on Microsoft Office. Office is not just productivity tools but it is an essential part of the Windows Eco-system and Microsoft needs to understand that.

Bringing it together.

Microsoft is missing the ball, they understand where the world is going but the company seems divided. The Windows team has one direction and the Office team has another. Office being so important and Microsoft's position being so weak, the price of this software should be much lower. It is in fact a step in the wrong direction, Microsoft should be so embarrassed that it offers it for a deeply discounted price. Now lets step over to the competition, the Google threat is real, I'm sure that Google will be making a huge step to gain that 90%, Google's current productivity services leaves much to be desired but 2013 may mark the year it changes all of that.

Microsoft do you still feel in charge?