Re: We've seen all of this before, really..
"Google follow the Microsoft playbook almost to the letter."
That's because it's a universal play book for US businesses. IBM used the same tactics as did HP and the wider business community. Businesses as diverse as consumer electronics, medical diagnostics, pharmaceuticals, vehicle manufacturers and paint suppliers all try to achieve the holy grail of locking customers into a closed ecosystem. It's obviously best if the delivery consists of something that can be considered as "hardware" and something that can be seen as "refills" even if the "refills" are virtual.
Hence in pharmaceuticals it is seen as better to produce a palliative rather than a cure. Why cure a disease or condition if there is a lifetime of profit to be made selling pills that have to be taken every day?
Medical diagnostics follows the printer model of sell the machinery cheap or give it away, charge through the nose for refills (the test reagents).
Consumer electronics are quickly obsoleted and have horrific software licence fees (commercial, and now with on-line licences for home users also) or software that is tied to a release or platform that will need updating.
This is what they *do* teach you at Harvard Business School.
Biting the hand that feeds IT
