Nokia is not enough? MS wants 2 losing phone Operating Systems. BlackBerry is useless to MS. MS should quit the mobile phone business altogether.
Blackberry, being first corporate & security savvy mobile devices manufacturer, must have quite solid library of patents around Blackberry server and QNX. Full integration of BB server tech into MS Exchange could be quite interesting from corporate side, for example. If the asking price is right.
Why don't you just use Adobe Reader for PDF's, eBook reader, try Calibre. I don't think they will fail, in fact I think their getting a lot better. I absolutely adore their Office online apps, free to. OneDrive is still the best cloud storage service that I've used to date. The Surface is also a good product, I'm actually hooked on them and can't wait for the Surface Pro 4. In fact I would much rather have a Surface Pro than a MacBook Air.
It is quite awesome, Surface Pro 3, isn't it. The best laptop/tablet crossover, imho. Other OEMs just cannot get rid of laptop legacy. Yoga, Helix, most other tablet convertibles I had chance to try are just trying too hard to remain as close to laptop concept as possible.
I don't believe this rumor. They first have to throw out the existing CEO of BB and replace him with a has been from Microsoft. Balmer would be perfect. Then once he has driven BB into the ground, announce that BB will be switching to Microsoft Phone OS.. and shortly there after acquire BB for pennies on the dollar. That worked quite well last time.
Nokia is not enough? MS wants 2 losing phone Operating Systems. BlackBerry is useless to MS. MS should quit the mobile phone business altogether.
Blackberry, being first corporate & security savvy mobile devices manufacturer, must have quite solid library of patents around Blackberry server and QNX. Full integration of BB server tech into MS Exchange could be quite interesting from corporate side, for example. If the asking price is right.
I hear what you're saying, but being first means they have some old ideas built in that they can't design out... Times change and the infrastructure needs to address current enterprise needs. This is the crux of the value of the IBM/Apple partnership -- BB was once solidly inside and the position was theirs to lose, which is what happened. Now that they are outside the pendulum won't swing away from Apple/IBM for a while... if ever in the coming decades. A squandered position by a one-trick pony is likely not ever to be repeated.
I don't believe this rumor. They first have to throw out the existing CEO of BB and replace him with a has been from Microsoft. Balmer would be perfect. Then once he has driven BB into the ground, announce that BB will be switching to Microsoft Phone OS.. and shortly there after acquire BB for pennies on the dollar. That worked quite well last time.
Ballmer would be perfect, but Elope has the stripes. The position calls for a polecat.
1. I love Office online. Great apps. I use on Chromebooks and iPhone 6+.
2. One drive is awesome. I love how it segregates out artifact types into appropriate categories
3. Surface is a great product from a "desktop" perspective.
I like iBooks and Goodreader for PDF reading. I want a mobile OS to be an mobile OS and not both. f
To dovetail these two items, Windows 8.1 GREATEST failing is not having it act like a mobile OS. Basically, if you add Google Drive to your 32 GB device, it will "blow up". That is, Google Drive will think you have a desktop/laptop computer with massive drive space and fill up quickly as it tries to replicate.
The other big problem is that when you have a tablet, you want all of the controls in the tablet view. Problem is that you have to revert to desktop view which is tiny. Try to use Chrome OS on a Windows tablet? It's okay, but you feel like you are using a Frankenstein device.
Anyway, Windows 8.1 OS is awesome and beautiful and wonderful and useful beyond what Apple iOS has in a lot of ways. I want this all to be a three legged race of OS for competition. And sorry, Android is a poor copycat of iOS.
Window OS vs. iOS/iOS X is like the Beatles vs. Beach Boys. Each one upping the other and inspired by the former.
Like any cloud storage service, you can select which folders you want synced. I have a local folder simply called Gdrive with subdirectory called upload, I than grab the contents from upload once everything has been synced, using the web client and stick the files into their proper places, documents, photos, etc. Its the only folder that is synchronized, the folder also resides on a 128GB SD Card along with my other cloud storage folders so it never touches my internal storage. You can still access all of your content like normal but using my method doesn't create a perfect synced folder on the system, which is just a waste of space.
I hear what you're saying, but being first means they have some old ideas built in that they can't design out... Times change and the infrastructure needs to address current enterprise needs. This is the crux of the value of the IBM/Apple partnership -- BB was once solidly inside and the position was theirs to lose, which is what happened. Now that they are outside the pendulum won't swing away from Apple/IBM for a while... if ever in the coming decades. A squandered position by a one-trick pony is likely not ever to be repeated.
Honestly, I wouldn't know... just thinking out loud; no idea what patents' stable Rim has, and how important are they today. Back in the days, I do remember hearing story about things MS cannot do in Exchange because of (then) Blackberry patents, but never got details... so it might have been just a rumour.
QNX does seem to be quite solid - and popular - product. How much would it be worth to MS, that's completely different story.
Either way, there must be SOMETHING interesting for them.
It is 'cute' that because as a consumer, you personally aren't using Microsoft that you consider them a 'dinosaur' or that they are a 'relic'. Microsoft is the 4th most valuable company in the world, and they're basically one of only 2 companies competing in cloud services, which is what all businesses are transitioning into. Apple is #1, and they do deserve the success they have earned, but to think everyone wants to use an iPhone (or a Mac) is absurd. Apple has only a 13% marketshare in smartphones, and a 3% marketshare in PCs.
Windows 10 is the last version of Windows, ever, and is free. They’ve given up. It’s over.
In the same way that a building burning to the ground is interesting.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Relic
It's only free for those who have Windows 8.1. I like the direction MS is heading with Windows 10 and I truly believe it to be the best version so far but if they do go forward with a subscription service I won't be purchasing a plan. If it comes with a laptop that I'll just use it until the plan runs out.
I see Skil has been scanning headlines, and only some of them. Yes, they said it's the last version, and it is free, but both are just marketing ploys.
It's only the last "version" like OS X. And it is free only for upgraders, and also only for a year.
They don't want the fragmentation of their OS like they have always had, they want to have everyone jump as quickly as possible, just like they do with Apple's OS now. Limit the barriers, and get the biggest base they can to start the momentum.
Other news articles have stated that MS is making the upgrade free for the first year, so they still have plans to charge for it again down the line.
I've never liked Microsoft much, and after being a joke for many years now with their "innovations" they may actually have some traction again with the newest Surface, Office, and Windows 10. Apple got their traction with less than that.
Remember, this isn't Ballmer anymore, so you can't just go with the safe assumption that they will screw everything up.
Blackberry, being first corporate & security savvy mobile devices manufacturer, must have quite solid library of patents around Blackberry server and QNX. Full integration of BB server tech into MS Exchange could be quite interesting from corporate side, for example. If the asking price is right.
I could see Microsoft getting the tech and incorporating it into Exchange for secure email. They could then maybe get some license fees for the more secure side from companies that want to use it and get handset makers on board at no cost. The handset brand would get tossed.
Actually, John Chen has a very clear strategy for BlackBerry- Enterprise and IoT. Hardware is just bridging the gap until they transform into a full on software company. The BES 12 EMM/MDM offering is best in class for security and manages ALL devices. BlackBerry has over 44,000 patents (most of them security related) and has the lions share of the Connected Car market with its QNX division. Microsoft lost out its Ford business to...QNX. BlackBerry's recent acquisitions of Moivirtu allows the to offer a "dual sim"- two numbers on the same phone. Its Secusmart acquisition allows them to offer secure Voice calls and the recent acquisition of WatchDoc gives them document level control on devices and in the cloud. It would be a smart move by any big player to grab BB while at this stage but it seems of all the players that MSFT would be the best match. John Chen has a proven track record at Sybase of being a turn around specialist and his moves in the short time he has been at the wheel at BlackBerry have been impressive.
Quote:
Originally Posted by KurtW
Ford gave MSFT the boot and went with QNX. Big reason for MSFT to acquire BB for that reason alone- QNX is in 50 million cars and counting...MSFT is shut out of a market set to explode in Connected Cars
Quote:
Originally Posted by KurtW
BlackBerry is actually a great fit for Microsoft.
BES 12 EMM/MDM is best in class enterprise device management and cross platform.
BB own QNX - which is the embedded RTOS in 50 million Connected Cars (the leader)- Microsoft lost its Ford business to BlackBerry.
BlackBerry has 44,000 patents in the mobile space.
It operates a global NOC network.
Some people just think its a crappy phone company....
Totally not weird at all....
Quote:
Originally Posted by Macky the Macky
Wow! 1.6 million! ... that's like... um... er... like one every now and then!
This news item reminds me of comments made by Thomas Penfield Jackson while he was judge in the Microsoft antitrust case:
Quote:
The code of tribal wisdom says that when you discover you are riding a dead horse, the best strategy is to dismount.
[However, businesses will] often try other strategies with dead horses, including the following: buying a stronger whip; changing riders; saying things like, `This is the way we have always ridden this horse'; appointing a committee to study the horse; arranging to visit other firms to see how they ride dead horses; increasing the standards to ride dead horses; declaring that the horse is better, faster and cheaper dead; and finally, harnessing several dead horses together for increased speed."
I fail to see how MSFT will benefit from the purchase of Blackberry.
While Blackberry has a treasure trove of patents and a solid presence in the enterprise and government markets, their sales are pitiful and cannot leverage economies of scale to put together a compelling product at a competitive price point. Apple will mercilessly outsell the Passport with the new watch.
Though Blackberry serves an Enterprise niche that Apple's iOS does not, that won't be the case going forward. IBM has the enterprise expertise and the partnership with Apple will transform iOS into a far more capable platform.
MSFT has lost mobile and their hardware initiatives outside of the XBox have been unsuccessful. Even with the XBox, it took a fair amount of time before they were able to successfully monetize the platform. They were only competing with Sony and Nintendo at the time. They are now competing with Apple. And while MSFT is is worried about trying to gain a foothold in phones and tablets, Apple goes out and designs a new processor, the S1 and puts it into a watch and launching a new platform while MSFT and INTC are trying to gain traction in phones.
Purchasing Blackberry won't enhance Microsoft's ability to compete in mobile. MSFT is already dominant in the Enterprise setting. They lost the consumer market. And Blackberry has not shown any ability to compete in the consumer market either. It's precisely where both companies are taking a bath so to speak.
I just don't see how purchasing Blackberry will benefit MSFT where it counts, the consumer market.
MSFT will continue to produce phones and tablets for x86 which is a slowly dying platform while Apple provides state of the art ARM based CPUs that totally outclass INTC offerings. When the A8X performs on par with the Core M at a similar power profile, but the CPU is less than a tenth of the cost, x86 is in serious trouble. INTC has no ability to match ARM and stay profitable in mobile. MSFT has shown no ability to move off of INTC CPUs either.
GOOGL, MSFT, and INTC have all identified mobile computing as a critical market. None of them are really able to compete well in this market and all of them are in trouble. Not in the near future, but over the next several years, they are all going to fall on hard times. Google's day of reckoning is at hand. I can see MSFT purchasing them outright or perhaps purchasing Android as a stand alone product. It will allow MSFT to stay relevant for some time and allow them to move off of x86. However, by that time, AAPL will be dominant.
QNX will be a casualty of Apple's automobile efforts and focus going forward.
Again, I don't see the Blackberry purchase as anything of any significance to MSFT.
I fail to see how MSFT will benefit from the purchase of Blackberry.
While Blackberry has a treasure trove of patents and a solid presence in the enterprise and government markets, their sales are pitiful and cannot leverage economies of scale to put together a compelling product at a competitive price point. Apple will mercilessly outsell the Passport with the new watch.
Though Blackberry serves an Enterprise niche that Apple's iOS does not, that won't be the case going forward. IBM has the enterprise expertise and the partnership with Apple will transform iOS into a far more capable platform.
MSFT has lost mobile and their hardware initiatives outside of the XBox have been unsuccessful. Even with the XBox, it took a fair amount of time before they were able to successfully monetize the platform. They were only competing with Sony and Nintendo at the time. They are now competing with Apple. And while MSFT is is worried about trying to gain a foothold in phones and tablets, Apple goes out and designs a new processor, the S1 and puts it into a watch and launching a new platform while MSFT and INTC are trying to gain traction in phones.
Purchasing Blackberry won't enhance Microsoft's ability to compete in mobile. MSFT is already dominant in the Enterprise setting. They lost the consumer market. And Blackberry has not shown any ability to compete in the consumer market either. It's precisely where both companies are taking a bath so to speak.
I just don't see how purchasing Blackberry will benefit MSFT where it counts, the consumer market.
MSFT will continue to produce phones and tablets for x86 which is a slowly dying platform while Apple provides state of the art ARM based CPUs that totally outclass INTC offerings. When the A8X performs on par with the Core M at a similar power profile, but the CPU is less than a tenth of the cost, x86 is in serious trouble. INTC has no ability to match ARM and stay profitable in mobile. MSFT has shown no ability to move off of INTC CPUs either.
GOOGL, MSFT, and INTC have all identified mobile computing as a critical market. None of them are really able to compete well in this market and all of them are in trouble. Not in the near future, but over the next several years, they are all going to fall on hard times. Google's day of reckoning is at hand. I can see MSFT purchasing them outright or perhaps purchasing Android as a stand alone product. It will allow MSFT to stay relevant for some time and allow them to move off of x86. However, by that time, AAPL will be dominant.
QNX will be a casualty of Apple's automobile efforts and focus going forward.
Again, I don't see the Blackberry purchase as anything of any significance to MSFT.
Apple will never be the dominant mobile OS until they start producing phones for under 100 dollars, heck 50 dollars and we all know that will never happen. Microsoft will also never purchase Android and Android isn't going anywhere soon. I'm not sure where you've concocted your ideas from but their either fanboy wishful thinking or just delusional. There are other countries outside of the US and most of them can't afford an Apple product let alone ever seen one, so your actually saying that Apple will forgo it's huge margins just to capture the rest of the world's mobile markets, yeah, again, will never happen. Apples has 18.3% share of the global smartphone market, Android has 83% and this is just smart phones, the only mobile market Apple is in, the dumbphone market is a lot larger by a enormous proportion. Still think Apple is going to take over the world anytime soon. The iPhone is good phone and all but outside of America, Europe and few, Middle Eastern, Asian markets, which isn't where most of the people of the world live, the other parts don't buy iPhones or even smartphones in general.
Also Microsoft makes phones with ARM processors not Intel, they use Qualcomm, where did you even get Intel from. Yes their tablets use Intel processor's but that's all. Also how is Microsoft competing with Apple with the Xbox, Apple doesn't make a gaming console. Actually everything you've said makes zero sense, sorry I had to say it.
Comments
Wow! 1.6 million! ... that's like... um... er... like one every now and then!
It is quite awesome, Surface Pro 3, isn't it. The best laptop/tablet crossover, imho. Other OEMs just cannot get rid of laptop legacy. Yoga, Helix, most other tablet convertibles I had chance to try are just trying too hard to remain as close to laptop concept as possible.
I don't believe this rumor. They first have to throw out the existing CEO of BB and replace him with a has been from Microsoft. Balmer would be perfect. Then once he has driven BB into the ground, announce that BB will be switching to Microsoft Phone OS.. and shortly there after acquire BB for pennies on the dollar. That worked quite well last time.
I hear what you're saying, but being first means they have some old ideas built in that they can't design out... Times change and the infrastructure needs to address current enterprise needs. This is the crux of the value of the IBM/Apple partnership -- BB was once solidly inside and the position was theirs to lose, which is what happened. Now that they are outside the pendulum won't swing away from Apple/IBM for a while... if ever in the coming decades. A squandered position by a one-trick pony is likely not ever to be repeated.
Ballmer would be perfect, but Elope has the stripes. The position calls for a polecat.
Perhaps they just need some new ideas ...?
MS has plenty of ideas , its just that the culture ain't so great on execution. I imagine they want BB mail to boost exchange server and the patents
Like any cloud storage service, you can select which folders you want synced. I have a local folder simply called Gdrive with subdirectory called upload, I than grab the contents from upload once everything has been synced, using the web client and stick the files into their proper places, documents, photos, etc. Its the only folder that is synchronized, the folder also resides on a 128GB SD Card along with my other cloud storage folders so it never touches my internal storage. You can still access all of your content like normal but using my method doesn't create a perfect synced folder on the system, which is just a waste of space.
QNX does seem to be quite solid - and popular - product. How much would it be worth to MS, that's completely different story.
Either way, there must be SOMETHING interesting for them.
Windows 10 is the last version of Windows, ever, and is free. They’ve given up. It’s over.
In the same way that a building burning to the ground is interesting.
It's only free for those who have Windows 8.1. I like the direction MS is heading with Windows 10 and I truly believe it to be the best version so far but if they do go forward with a subscription service I won't be purchasing a plan. If it comes with a laptop that I'll just use it until the plan runs out.
I see Skil has been scanning headlines, and only some of them. Yes, they said it's the last version, and it is free, but both are just marketing ploys.
It's only the last "version" like OS X. And it is free only for upgraders, and also only for a year.
They don't want the fragmentation of their OS like they have always had, they want to have everyone jump as quickly as possible, just like they do with Apple's OS now. Limit the barriers, and get the biggest base they can to start the momentum.
Other news articles have stated that MS is making the upgrade free for the first year, so they still have plans to charge for it again down the line.
I've never liked Microsoft much, and after being a joke for many years now with their "innovations" they may actually have some traction again with the newest Surface, Office, and Windows 10. Apple got their traction with less than that.
Remember, this isn't Ballmer anymore, so you can't just go with the safe assumption that they will screw everything up.
Blackberry, being first corporate & security savvy mobile devices manufacturer, must have quite solid library of patents around Blackberry server and QNX. Full integration of BB server tech into MS Exchange could be quite interesting from corporate side, for example. If the asking price is right.
I could see Microsoft getting the tech and incorporating it into Exchange for secure email. They could then maybe get some license fees for the more secure side from companies that want to use it and get handset makers on board at no cost. The handset brand would get tossed.
Actually, John Chen has a very clear strategy for BlackBerry- Enterprise and IoT. Hardware is just bridging the gap until they transform into a full on software company. The BES 12 EMM/MDM offering is best in class for security and manages ALL devices. BlackBerry has over 44,000 patents (most of them security related) and has the lions share of the Connected Car market with its QNX division. Microsoft lost out its Ford business to...QNX. BlackBerry's recent acquisitions of Moivirtu allows the to offer a "dual sim"- two numbers on the same phone. Its Secusmart acquisition allows them to offer secure Voice calls and the recent acquisition of WatchDoc gives them document level control on devices and in the cloud. It would be a smart move by any big player to grab BB while at this stage but it seems of all the players that MSFT would be the best match. John Chen has a proven track record at Sybase of being a turn around specialist and his moves in the short time he has been at the wheel at BlackBerry have been impressive.
Ford gave MSFT the boot and went with QNX. Big reason for MSFT to acquire BB for that reason alone- QNX is in 50 million cars and counting...MSFT is shut out of a market set to explode in Connected Cars
BlackBerry is actually a great fit for Microsoft.
BES 12 EMM/MDM is best in class enterprise device management and cross platform.
BB own QNX - which is the embedded RTOS in 50 million Connected Cars (the leader)- Microsoft lost its Ford business to BlackBerry.
BlackBerry has 44,000 patents in the mobile space.
It operates a global NOC network.
Some people just think its a crappy phone company....
Totally not weird at all....
Wow! 1.6 million! ... that's like... um... er... like one every now and then!
1/74 isn't that bad right?
Almost certainly, though it might depend on the outcome of the upcoming Canadian federal elections.
This news item reminds me of comments made by Thomas Penfield Jackson while he was judge in the Microsoft antitrust case:
The code of tribal wisdom says that when you discover you are riding a dead horse, the best strategy is to dismount.
[However, businesses will] often try other strategies with dead horses, including the following: buying a stronger whip; changing riders; saying things like, `This is the way we have always ridden this horse'; appointing a committee to study the horse; arranging to visit other firms to see how they ride dead horses; increasing the standards to ride dead horses; declaring that the horse is better, faster and cheaper dead; and finally, harnessing several dead horses together for increased speed."It's the last one that seems apropos here.
It's only the last "version" like OS X. And it is free only for upgraders, and also only for a year.
But that’s nothing alike.
While Blackberry has a treasure trove of patents and a solid presence in the enterprise and government markets, their sales are pitiful and cannot leverage economies of scale to put together a compelling product at a competitive price point. Apple will mercilessly outsell the Passport with the new watch.
Though Blackberry serves an Enterprise niche that Apple's iOS does not, that won't be the case going forward. IBM has the enterprise expertise and the partnership with Apple will transform iOS into a far more capable platform.
MSFT has lost mobile and their hardware initiatives outside of the XBox have been unsuccessful. Even with the XBox, it took a fair amount of time before they were able to successfully monetize the platform. They were only competing with Sony and Nintendo at the time. They are now competing with Apple. And while MSFT is is worried about trying to gain a foothold in phones and tablets, Apple goes out and designs a new processor, the S1 and puts it into a watch and launching a new platform while MSFT and INTC are trying to gain traction in phones.
Purchasing Blackberry won't enhance Microsoft's ability to compete in mobile. MSFT is already dominant in the Enterprise setting. They lost the consumer market. And Blackberry has not shown any ability to compete in the consumer market either. It's precisely where both companies are taking a bath so to speak.
I just don't see how purchasing Blackberry will benefit MSFT where it counts, the consumer market.
MSFT will continue to produce phones and tablets for x86 which is a slowly dying platform while Apple provides state of the art ARM based CPUs that totally outclass INTC offerings. When the A8X performs on par with the Core M at a similar power profile, but the CPU is less than a tenth of the cost, x86 is in serious trouble. INTC has no ability to match ARM and stay profitable in mobile. MSFT has shown no ability to move off of INTC CPUs either.
GOOGL, MSFT, and INTC have all identified mobile computing as a critical market. None of them are really able to compete well in this market and all of them are in trouble. Not in the near future, but over the next several years, they are all going to fall on hard times. Google's day of reckoning is at hand. I can see MSFT purchasing them outright or perhaps purchasing Android as a stand alone product. It will allow MSFT to stay relevant for some time and allow them to move off of x86. However, by that time, AAPL will be dominant.
QNX will be a casualty of Apple's automobile efforts and focus going forward.
Again, I don't see the Blackberry purchase as anything of any significance to MSFT.
Apple will never be the dominant mobile OS until they start producing phones for under 100 dollars, heck 50 dollars and we all know that will never happen. Microsoft will also never purchase Android and Android isn't going anywhere soon. I'm not sure where you've concocted your ideas from but their either fanboy wishful thinking or just delusional. There are other countries outside of the US and most of them can't afford an Apple product let alone ever seen one, so your actually saying that Apple will forgo it's huge margins just to capture the rest of the world's mobile markets, yeah, again, will never happen. Apples has 18.3% share of the global smartphone market, Android has 83% and this is just smart phones, the only mobile market Apple is in, the dumbphone market is a lot larger by a enormous proportion. Still think Apple is going to take over the world anytime soon. The iPhone is good phone and all but outside of America, Europe and few, Middle Eastern, Asian markets, which isn't where most of the people of the world live, the other parts don't buy iPhones or even smartphones in general.
Also Microsoft makes phones with ARM processors not Intel, they use Qualcomm, where did you even get Intel from. Yes their tablets use Intel processor's but that's all. Also how is Microsoft competing with Apple with the Xbox, Apple doesn't make a gaming console. Actually everything you've said makes zero sense, sorry I had to say it.