| Friday, January 25, 2002 |
13:37 - Corporate Innovation, Reagan's Memoirs, and Other Oxymorons
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On the way to lunch today, Kris and I heard Dean "Segway" Kamen on NPR talking about how not only do large corporations tend not to innovate, they're actively hostile to innovation. The reason they're big, after all, is that what they're doing works. So why change?
Microsoft can crow all they like about "Freedom to Innovate", but the fact is that like any huge corporation, they have to build a business case around doing one thing that sells well for a long period of time. Innovation threatens the ability to do that. The only reason Microsoft would change their software is if they're threatened with being tarred as "behind the times" by a competitor who does innovate. Hence their long history of following in Apple's footsteps.
"But Microsoft does innovate," some will cry. They'll point at the optical mouse, TrueType fonts, "Smart Tags", .NET... yeah, okay, you know what? I have this to say to you: http://www.vcnet.com/bms/departments/innovation.shtml.
Just about the only thing they can be shown to have come up with on their own is "Microsoft Bob". Yeah, we'll give 'em that. Oh, and "Clippy" too. Congratulations. You must be so proud.
Another worthy link: Microsoft "Innovation" by Harvard's Tom Fine.
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