Erik Stevenson (LCA)
From: Aaron Contorer
Sent: Friday, Febuary 21, 1997 12:47 PM
To: Bill Gates
Subject: Memo material
Owning this platform is *the* Microsoft asset. It is the difference
between growing to twice our current size in the future, or shrinking to
much less than the role we enjoy today.
There are three possible ways to address the threat of the Java platform.
..
For over half a year I have been upset that some people at Microsoft
are apparently working hard on plan 2 to destroy the value of the
Windows API.
..
Switching Costs
In economics there is a well-understood conceot called switching costs
.. There is a name for this: it is called Embrace and Extend.
..
It is this switching cost that has given customers the patience to stick
with Windows through all our mistakes, our buggy drivers, our high TCO,
our lack of a sexy vision at times, and many other difficulties.
People have tried to clone Windows, but it is just too hard to do well.
Customers constantly evaluate other desktop platforms, but it would be
so much work to move that the hope we just improve Windows rather then
force them to move.
..
it is critical to us that application writers choose to take advantage
of features that are (A) part of Windows, and (B) extremely hard to clone.
http://edge-op.org/iowa/www.iowaconsumercase.org/010807/PLEX_5906.pdf
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