GOOG, AMZN, AAPL are the media distributors, MSFT lost this ability in the DOJ/EU court

February 10, 2010 Dave Ohara

I am back in the bay area for a couple of days coming from Seattle, and it hit me after visiting a company yesterday that Google, Amazon, and Apple are the top companies in each of the areas – Search, eCommerce, Media who combined are defining media distribution. What Microsoft lost in the DOJ/EU court cases is the ability to be in control of Windows as a way to define the user experience on PCs for these areas. If Microsoft didn’t have the consent decree restraints it could be more powerful in search, ecommerce, and media.

But, even if Microsoft had not lost the DOJ/EU court cases would they have moved to Mobile, Search, and e-reader type of devices like its competitors?

Microsoft VP recently left Microsoft to Amazon to work on the Kindle.

Mike Nash, Corporate Vice President of Windows Platform Strategy, will be leaving the company in February. A Microsoft spokesperson confirmed his departure when I asked. From the e-mailed statement:

“We can confirm that Mike Nash is leaving Microsoft in a couple weeks. In his 19 years, Mike made an impact in number of key roles at the company. We appreciate his service and wish him well.”

Update: Nash will be joining Amazon.com to work on the Kindle, I hear. I’ve asked to see whether Nash will be replaced. No word back yet on that one…. Microsoft officials declined to comment (at least for now) on when and if that will happen.

There have been plenty of people who have left Microsoft to go to Google as well.

But, few who leave Microsoft to go to Apple. I know plenty including myself who left Apple to go to Microsoft, but not the other way around.

Google, Amazon, and Apple are all trying to define the new media experience which as much as the content creators are in despair, I think throughout history the distributors, those who owned the channel defined the business model.

The content Publishers used to own the channel, now it is in the hands of Google, Apple, and Amazon. Whoever who can define the best business model will win.

GreenM3 Browser Market Share vs. Industry

February 1, 2010 Dave Ohara

Netmarketshare has a report on the market share of browsers.

Periodically I check what the browser share is for www.greenm3.com based on google analytics.

The number of IE and Firefox users are almost equal at 39% each.

Chrome and Safari usage is almost twice the % on greenm3 vs. the overall market.

Bottom line: www.greenm3.com tech savvy forward thinking audience are using Firefox, Chrome, and Safari more than the rest of the industry. My assumption is at least 95% of the readers know how to pick their own browser.

Is the above an indication of what could happen to IE’s overall market share if the total installed base knew how to switch browsers and was tech savvy like GreenM3 readers.

How will the browser usage shift as IE6 support is dropped?

Browser wars: Google and Government turn on Internet Explorer

Microsoft’s Internet Explorer browser has come under further attack, as both Google and the Department of Health announced that they would be phasing out use of IE6.

By Matt Warman, Consumer Technology Editor
Published: 9:58AM GMT 01 Feb 2010

Comments 11 | Comment on this article

Microsoft has released a software update for Internet Explorer that will patch security flaws -- but should you switch to a different browser?

The ageing version of Microsoft’s browser is still used by some 300,000 health workers, but the Department of Health is now advising that hospitals and other users upgrade to at least version seven of the software as soon as possible. Security flaws are the main reason that has been cited, but poor performance is also a problem for users of IE6.

Google, which is currently marketing its own browser Chrome, has said that it will begin to phase out support for IE6 from March 1. From that point Google Docs, the online word processor, and Google Sites, the website building tool, will cease to offer the bulk of their functionality in IE6. Both currently invite users to upgrade to a more modern browser, as does Google’s YouTube video site. The company has said that it will phase out all support, including for Gmail, from IE6 by the end of the year.

Washington State proposes legislation to restart data center construction, 15 month sales tax exemption

January 29, 2010 Dave Ohara

In Olympia, Washington there are two bills introduced with bipartisan support to allow a 15 month sales tax exemption on the purchase and installation of computers for new data centers.

Legislation to boost rural counties

Wednesday, January 27, 2010 at 5:23PM | WNJ-Editor

Today is a good day. The bills that we support -- SB 6789 and HB 3147 -- were introduced in Olympia with wide bipartisan support. The 13 sponsors of the bills are from all over the state, from Seattle and Spokane to Walla Walla and Wenatchee. And the state Department of Revenue requested the bills.

The bills allow a 15-month sales-tax exemption on the purchase and installation of computers and energy for new data centers in rural counties. As the bills state, they provide a short-term economic stimulus that will sustain long-term jobs. In other words, the exemption will be temporary, but the jobs and tax revenue from the centers will boost rural counties for years and years to come.

DataCenterKnowledge and I blogged on this issue back in Mar 2008.

Mar 19, 2008

Washington State Gov't uses Interpretation of Manufacturing Tax Law to Tax Data Centers

DataCenterKnowledge reports on the action by the Washington State Legislation to tax data center construction, removing a tax incentive all other gov'ts offer.

Legislation in Washington state that would have restored a tax break for data centers won't be passed in 2008, leaving Microsoft (MSFT) and Yahoo (YHOO) to mull the future of their plans to continue building in the state. Last month Microsoft and Yahoo halted construction on their multi-facility data center campuses in Quincy, Washington while state legislators debated the tax bill.

The tax package was drafted after the state ruled that data centers were no longer covered by a state sales tax break for manufacturing enterprises, and thus must pay a 7.9 percent tax on data center construction and equipment. Gov. Chris Gregoire requested an exemption in Senate Bill 6666, which would restore the exemption for data centers. The bill was caught up in tax politics, with media terming it a $1 billion tax break for high-tech giants.

There were local officials who thought the low energy prices would keep data center momentum, but as the press release, says no data center permits have issued in the state since 2007.

But no data centers have been built in Quincy or anywhere in Washington since the decision in 2007 that made the tax climate inhospitable. Can you imagine how the tech companies -- and jobs and tax revenue -- will return to rural counties if SB 6789 and HB 3147 pass?

The unemployment rate in rural Washington has people’s attention as Facebook went to Prineville, OR. Note Oregon doesn’t have sales tax.

Grant County in central Washington, for instance, has a whopping 12.5 percent unemployment rate, one of the worst in the state. Its largest city, Moses Lake, has 15,000 people. But just a couple years ago, the city of Quincy nearby, with just 5,000 people, saw the largest tech companies in the world, such as Microsoft and Google, come to town and build massive data centers.

We’ll see if data center construction comes to the State of Washington soon.

In the short term, maybe Microsoft will bring back some of its servers from Texas.

Aug 05, 2009

Washington State Sales Tax Drives Microsoft Windows Azure Servers to Texas

Mary-Jo Foley at ZDNnet picked up news on Microsoft’s decision to remove USA- Northwest from a deployment choice for Windows Azure.

Tax concerns to push Microsoft Azure cloud hosting out of Washington state

Posted by Mary Jo Foley @ 11:55 am

Microsoft is making preparations to move applications that developers are hosting on its Azure cloud infrastructure out of its Washington state datacenter, due to a change in the tax laws there.

Microsoft warned customers testing their apps on the Azure test release about the planned change earlier this week. Microsoft is readying a migration tool to help testers with the move, company officials said.

Cloud-computing and .Net expert Roger Jennings put together all the various reports and clues into a detailed August 5 post on his OakLeaf Systems blog.

Nielsen says XBox 360 most used console, maybe online experience requiring lots of data center resources is a factor

January 6, 2010 Dave Ohara

Our family has an XBox 360 and a Wii, and I would agree with the cnet news article.

Xbox 360 is most-used game console, Nielsen says

by Don Reisinger

The Wii is not the most-used console, but it has attracted female gamers.

(Credit: Nintendo)

As the game console wars rage on, new findings from Nielsen may give Xbox 360 fans a little more fodder for their bragging rights.

According to the market researcher, Microsoft's Xbox 360 is the most-used console when measured by its share of total usage minutes, capturing 23.1 percent of gaming time. It is followed by the PlayStation 2 with 20.4 percent of usage time and the Nintendo Wii with 19 percent. Surprisingly, the PlayStation 3 didn't make the list top-three list.

My kids actually play games on their iPod Touches more than the Wii, and the cost is significantly less for games on the iPod, so I am not complaining.

One of the comments on the cnet article made me think of data centers.

This comes as no real surprise to me. I'm a PC gamer primarily but I also own a Wii. It sits in the corner and gathers dust. The superior online features of the 360 keep people coming back. Much more than can be said about the Wii's garbage online multiplayer.

I have a friend who works in XBox 360 online operations, and I don’t think the Nintendo or Sony data center operations team come close to the scale of XBox 360. I don’t recall running into any big news on Nintendo or Sony’s data centers so it is hard to find, and in general data center operations for Nintendo and Sony is probably an overhead as opposed to a revenue stream for XBox 360.

Site Selection Data Center Report for Columbia, MO

January 4, 2010 Dave Ohara

I found this site selection report, Data Center Analysis & Evaluation for Columbia Missouri By Angelou Economics from Oct 2007. This report is a reverse site analysis comparing Columbia region to other areas in the US.

As part of the analysis they used Quincy, WA as a case study for the economics development.

For competitive analysis, they compared, Quincy, WA – Lenoir, NC – Pryor, OK – Goose Creek, SC.

The results of the evaluation were.

The following issues raised in 2007 were raised 2 years ago.

Giving timing for the Columbia Regional Economic Development group to respond.

A local development group has acquired over 200 acres of land located adjacent to the convergence of multiple transmission lines, electrical substation, and a gas peaking plant. The Ewing Property offers redundancy of electric and broadband, along with looped water supply. The development group submitted the site as the first application to the Missouri Department of Economic Development’s Certified Site Program, and the site has met all of the requirements for certification. Access information on Missouri's First Certified Site, Columbia's Ewing Industrial Park.

Columbia also has other positive attributes for data centers. The University of Missouri College of Engineering Computer Science and Electrical and Computer Engineering can ensure a qualified workforce. The National Security Administration recently named the University of Missouri as a Center for Academic Excellence in Information Assurance Education. The County of Boone has also developed an incentive package for qualifying data center projects based on the Chapter 100 Revenue Bond Program to encourage new data center investment in Columbia.