Microsoft Becomes Sponsor of Open Source Initiative

Posted Sep 28, 2017 21:12 UTC (Thu) by frostsnow (subscriber, #114957)
In reply to: Microsoft Becomes Sponsor of Open Source Initiative by Xanadu
Parent article: Microsoft Becomes Sponsor of Open Source Initiative

I think it's more because the fundamental purpose of computing has moved from empowering individuals through computational tools (the PC) to extracting personal data for marketing purposes. With this change the tech. industry has shifted from an industry driven by its consumers, to an industry driven by its sponsors, and the power dynamic has shifted from the individuals using the device to the corporations that extract and analyze the data. It's more like the tech. industry has become a puppet of the advertising industry and is being played like a fiddle.

Microsoft Becomes Sponsor of Open Source Initiative

Posted Sep 28, 2017 22:48 UTC (Thu) by roc (subscriber, #30627) [Link] (1 responses)

That's far less true for Microsoft than for Google and Facebook. The bulk of Microsoft's revenue still comes from selling software and services to businesses.

Microsoft vs. Google and Facebook

Posted Oct 2, 2017 7:48 UTC (Mon) by oldtomas (guest, #72579) [Link]

Empowering individuals vs. exctracting data
[frostsnow] I think it's more because the fundamental purpose of computing has moved from empowering individuals [...] to extracting personal data for marketing purposes.

[roc] That's far less true for Microsoft than for Google and Facebook.

I think Microsoft is pivoting their buisness model right now. I've been watching the introduction of Office365 in a sizeable company, and they are pretty successful at reaching through the corporate layer to the captive individuals (Apple is even better at that tho).

It's just that their starting position makes them better at holding whole companies hostage (they've learnt the last 35 years how to talk to "decision makers"), but they have understood that it's their employees they ultimately want to control.

Google and Facebook started off the other end of the fishing pond.