MS's Secret Infatuation

[mmorse]

I laugh everytime I come accross this and I just realized we never hit upon it here:
Microsoft's curious infatuation with Zimbra, redux | The Open Road - The Business and Politics of Open Source by Matt Asay - CNET Blogs

I guess microsoft needs to revamp their defense:

Originally Posted by Microsoft

1. Zimbra is a small company.

hm, not anymore!

Originally Posted by Microsoft

Zimbra doesn't integrate as tightly with Microsoft technology as Microsoft's Exchange does.

That's like saying "only I know what I'm thinking"

Well if you stick to a closed architecture...
An Antic Disposition: A File Format Timeline & Open Malaysia: Is VML in or out now, or was that a typo?
(I know, it's not mail specs but humor me)
MS isn't even ready for it's own formats: Steve Caravajal's Ramblings : Excel 2007 Add-in for Syncing with SharePoint

Originally Posted by Microsoft

Zimbra only offers Exchange-to-Zimbra migration.

Oh really!?! Clearly they need to reword-because I guarantee that people here migrated from other products.

Did MS mean to infer "How would you migrate back to exchange?"
Why would I? (stuff is already in standards compliant formats on Zimbra) Are you expecting that Zimbra engineers build Microsoft a converter tool?
MS office formats are not even compatible with their own old or new stuff: An Antic Disposition: Compatibility According to Humpty Dumpty

Are you saying that you think it's a lock-in format? Cuz you have SUCH a proven track record there: http://antitrust.slated.org/www.iowa...00/PX02991.pdf
(You seriously have to read that it's just a paragraph)

This part is great:

Originally Posted by Matt Asay

Speaking of which, Microsoft lists several Zimbra strengths that sound much more compelling than its defense of Exchange 2007:

In short, we, the Microsoft Exchange team, sorely wish that we would have developed Zimbra, because the only thing we've got going for us is incumbency.

Parting zen thought:

Originally Posted by Matt Asay

Exchange will never be much more than it already is, until it's completely rearchitected to be...

...more like Zimbra.

Free Zimbra gear if someone can guess how many MS IP's download Zimbra on a regular basis

[jeepville]

I would guess a couple hundred a day.

Gee do I miss my exchange server.

[whiskey6]

Originally Posted by Microsoft

Zimbra users aren't as handsome as people who use outlook

Well I'll be damned!

[aabreu2005]

Proof that Microsoft Plans to Buy Yahoo? (MSFT/YHOO)

Proof that Microsoft Plans to Buy Yahoo? (MSFT/YHOO) - Silicon Alley Insider

We're going to go out on a limb here and assume that Microsoft division president Kevin Johnson is not a moron. So we are also going to assume that, when Johnson said yesterday that Microsoft plans to grow its search share from 10% to 30% and its online ad share from 6%, he could not possibly be imagining that Microsoft could do this on its own.

So that set us thinking: How could Microsoft actually achieve those goals?

Answer? (And there's only one). Buy Yahoo.

Buying Yahoo would give Microsoft 30% search share instantly. It would also boost Microsoft's ad share close to that 40% goal.

We continue to think that a Microsoft acquisition of Yahoo would be disastrous for Yahoo (not to mention creating an annoying one-time tax hit for us long-term Yahoo shareholders). But what such an acquisition would do to Yahoo is irrelevant. If Microsoft comes in with a Murdoch-like offer, Yahoo won't be able to refuse.

[SpEnTBoY]

Originally Posted by mmorse

Free Zimbra gear if someone can guess how many MS IP's download Zimbra on a regular basis

Ok wait ... what kind of gear are we talking about? I'm a Midrange Architect ... we love swag ... define "regular basis" .. like daily? weekly? monthly? how close do we have to get?

[SpEnTBoY]

... even if we guess wrong can you tell us anyway?

[p24t]

I'd guess 5-10, and most of those probably download multiple copies. After all, that's MS's strategy.. Extend & Embrace. [steal good ideas from zimbra] Are they getting the NE, OSS or both? Should we be keeping an eye on Hotmail's interface?

I don't even want to think about MS buying Yahoo.

[mmorse]

It was more of a joke/jest than an actual competition -sry SpEnTBoY- lol
But I'd imagine that someone somewhere keeps track of download statistics

[mmorse]

Ha! Seems you forgot one, MS strategy is more like: Extend, Embrace, & Extinguish Dissenters

[bmcdonald]

Resistance is futile. You will be assimilated.

Amazingly enough, MS marketing strategies seem to work rather well. I have users that will never give up Outlook even though using it to access Zimbra kills some of Zimbra's functionality. Go figure.