When Microsoft can't do Windows

Microsoft, the software giant, is not having an easy ride in the software market at the moment. Hit by the antitrust motion, and the ever-strengthening market for its open source competitor Linux, the company is struggling to maintain its dominance. With competition from open source developers becoming more intense, product innovation was surely the best chance for the company to hold on to its leads. The Longhorn version of the windows operating system was intended to bring the much awaited breakthrough. With the WinFS technology, Microsoft was looking to bring innovation in data storage, overcoming the incompatibility between applications and in the process giving a big boost for itself in the market. Microsoft touted WinFS as the future technology that could transcend the barriers between applications, which were thus far incompatible due to their data storage formats. No doubt that this innovation widely regarded as "Holy Grail of data storage" [Martin Lamonica, 2003] was bound to put Microsoft back on the high pedestal. But events proved otherwise and the company delayed the release of the Longhorn version by more than two years. (Slated to be released by the end of 2006).

Under normal circumstances, such delays in product release would not be such a big deal. But in Microsoft's case the huge product propaganda was not followed by product development. As Allan Paller, research director of the SANS institute quoted "The priority is more on marketing than development,." [Greene, 2004] It is clear that the marketing hype and the subsequent failure in product launching has not only created a very bad reputation for the company but also has given the chance and time for it rivals to design and release their competing products. This delay is sure to dampen the hopes and the advantages that the company sought to obtain by way of innovation as competitors not only have the time but also know the direction to proceed.

The glaring defect is that the delay in product launch is now a recurrent problem for Microsoft. Looking back, the delay in release of Windows NT 5 and Windows 2000, the repeated delays in the release of service pack 2 for Windows Xp and now the uncertainty in the release of Longhorn, all prove to illustrate the repeated failure of the software giant in delivering the products after a huge pre-launch marketing drive. [Ina Fried]. Unmistakably, Microsoft's big mistake lies in creating such a huge pre-launch publicity without following up with the product release. Only when marketing and product development go on even heels will the marketing initiative bear the expected outcome. Otherwise it would only backfire, casting doubts on the company's credibility, which eventually translates into loss of customers. [Greene, 2004] There is no doubt that Microsoft is doing one thing really wrong; they are promising too much too early.

As a consultant, my first priority would be for Microsoft developers to speedup their process development cycle. Also, it is necessary that more care be exercised when developing the feasibility reports and the time constraints for individual phases of the project. Cross-functional teams hold the key in smooth integration of the different aspects of development. There is an urgent need to achieve better coordination between the different development groups involved in a particular project. Therefore, more focus will be placed on reengineering and reducing disjointed functioning within the project group. Microsoft's marketing approach has so far relied on an extensive pre-launch campaign. Over the years there have been several instances where the company has failed to deliver it products as agreed upon in their marketing manifestos. The WinFS technology, for example, was left off the Windows Vista (previously codenamed Longhorn) project completely, while it was the core of the longhorn project when it was initially planned. WinFS represented "the next-generation storage platform for Windows (that) manages data for organizing, searching and sharing." [Martin Lamonica, 2003] Without, this important component, the release of the windows Vista operating system would definitely lack the reception it would otherwise receive. Microsoft is still tentative about the inclusion of the WinFS in its server release slated for early 2007, which again shows the prevailing uncertainty in product development cycle.