Ray Ozzie of Microsoft on Newspapers

May 2, 2009

PaidContent.org ran a story based on Ray Ozzie statements. You can read Joseph Tartakoff’s “Microsoft’s Ozzie on His Company’s Web Strategy” here. What I found interesting was this statement attributed to Mr. Ozzie who was commenting about the future of newspapers:

There is a new business model with anything that can be delivered digitally,” Ozzie said. “Look what’s happening with news. I’m not certain what the new business model really is but certainly the old business model is impacted … It’s not clear that as these new models come into play whether revenue or profit pool in a given industry is equivalent in the new world as in the old world. Could very well be that the business model is sound in that there is a business but not the size of the business. If journalism is something we care about we’re going to have to find new ways to subsidize that.”

Is Microsoft advocating the newspapers, like GM and Chrysler, be supported by the government via subsidies? Is he underscoring the hopelessness of the present newspaper companies?

The reference to business models interests me because Microsoft’s own business models seem to be sputtering. I wonder if Microsoft will jump into the news business and provide the much-needed cash infusion needed to keep traditional news operations heated in the winter and air conditioned in the summer.

Stephen Arnold, May 2, 2009

Comments

2 Responses to “Ray Ozzie of Microsoft on Newspapers”

  1. Jon on May 2nd, 2009 7:11 am

    My number one goal for 2009? Purchase my first Mac. I’m so sick of Vista and Microsoft. I’ve been an MS developer for over 10 years and I’m just sick of it. Vista pushed me over the edge. These guys love to wax poetically about the industry, yet, using their products is torture. How about making your products enjoyable to use FIRST, and then you can pontificate until you’re blue in the face about the future of computing.

  2. Stephen E. Arnold on May 3rd, 2009 2:09 pm

    Jon,

    I got an iMac on the Apple store as a refurb. Good deal. Great machine. Much faster than my Mac Mini.

    Stephen Arnold, May 3, 2009

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