Portfolio Magazine on the Microsoft Fast Problem
October 25, 2008
Portfolio Magazine has a solid, interesting story about the police raid on Microsoft Fast in Oslo, Norway, earlier in October 2008. You can read the full text of the story here. A quote from the addled goose found its way into this story. I must admit that my observation that when the police raid a company, seize data, and scurry back to their secure facility, the company has lost control of its future. If I had been the editor on the story, I would have sent my remark to the bit bucket. The Portfolio story summarizes a number of important actions prior to the police raid. These range from board members squabbling to allegations of improper financial dealings to a precipitous drop in revenues without warning shareholders or Wall Street. I know something about Fast Search & Transfer Enterprise Search Platform. I know less about what Microsoft plans to do with that amalgamation of aging code, open source, and acquired technologies. I do know that Microsoft thought it was a great idea to spend $1.23 billion for a vendor whose files and other information are now in the capable hands of Norwegian police. I have some experience with police and intelligence officials in Scandinavia. My impression is that the reputation for investigative and intelligence excellence is well deserved. Microsoft has its hands full with Google. Now the company has to deal with its Google-killing acquisition spending time giving depositions, digging through email for information, and facing the astounding costs of litigation. Microsoft has to close the search gap between itself and Google. Any distraction from this mission is a benefit to Google. I wonder who did the due diligence on this deal for Microsoft. If you know, let me know. I would like to try and interview the person. I bet I could learn something useful.
Stephen Arnold, October 25, 2008
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