Goose Quack: Microsoft Fast Ripples
October 20, 2008
I am sitting in a so so hotel in London, killing time before hitting the British Museum today (October 18, 2008). I woke up and jotted down some thoughts that surfaced before I guzzled my Orangina and allergy pill. I think I must have dreamed about Norwegian police in navy blue jackets bursting into the foyer of Microsoft Fast and asking politely to collect financial records and other information possibly germane to the alleged pre sell out financial chicanery. After I recorded my early morning ideas, I realized I did not record much about Microsoft Fast. The key points were about the possible ripples that would make other search vendor row boats bog and spin. A few might capsize forcing their occupants to dog paddle to keep their brain stuffed heads above water.
The ripples I identified were:
- Venture capital and angel investors get scared. The logic is little more than “if it could happen to a company like Fast Search & Transfer, might it happen with my search investment”. Some people with money are like sheep. Once the herd starts to move, the rest fall in line with a border collie handling the strays.
- Customers become cautious. Big organizations move slowly and some of the ones with the most success are quite conservative. Search vendors who don’t reveal their financial picture might be excluded from a procurement. Even when the vendors trot out their numbers, conservative outfits might not believe the data. Why should they if “the Google of the north” pulled some rabbits out of their tuque.
- Competitors hop on the Fast Search pony and whip the beast. I am already tired of the email and phone calls I have been getting about this alleged malfeasance. I don’t know what Fast Search did or did not do. I do know that if vendors offer “safe harbors” or special deals to protect a Fast Search customer, the issue gets clouded. We don’t have too many facts yet.
My suggestion to myself is that I seek other topics. Perhaps when more facts come to light I can get excited about this affair. Right now all I know is that if I woke up with fading memories of big people in navy outfits knocking on my door at 8 am, what must the Microsoft Fast people (past and present) be dreaming and thinking. Hopefully these folks sleep like babies, clear consciences, no worries, and visions of sleek geese flapping through the cloudless blue sky.
Stephen Arnold, October 20, 2008
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2 Responses to “Goose Quack: Microsoft Fast Ripples”
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Go and see the Sunflowers at the national gallery, and the Tate modern is a great experience as well 🙂
Sorry, I went to Cyberdog to look at the future of retail. I did not get a Cyberdog hat or a piercing. Maybe next time.
Stephen Arnold, October 20, 2008, Atlanta airport, 5 30 pm Eastern