"Find and Lean on your insider friend, ‘the fox’. Having a trusted MSfriend in the account is critical. Some people (unix Bigots) can think of lots of reasons to not have a MS solution. MS folks may not be the strongest voice but they are true believers (Protect them, make them look good)."

--Steve Winfield, Microsoft

Summary: Microsoft's on-line business declines and VMware comes over to Washington, Microsoft's home state

Microsoft's latest efforts in search have gone nowhere -- and fast! For the second time in one week [1, 2], a Microsoft-independent survey suggests (essentially corroborates) that Microsoft's search is on the decline in the US. Even the Bing-sponsored blog has covered these findings:

The report found that Bing's percentage of searches actually dropped by five percent during the month of September to 8.96 percent of all searches. Google, by comparison, gained one percent to 71.08 percent of all searches. (Chart below).

Once again they ignore the world. They treat the United States as though it's representative of world trends at large. If Microsoft is going downwards, need it build any additional datacentres to cope with decreased demand?

While Microsoft builds search/SaaS datacentres at strategic locations [1, 2], so does VMware (the company which comes from Palo Alto, California) after getting more or less hijacked by Microsoft employees [1, 2, 3]. The same site (as above) covers this:

Given all of the former Microsoft executives now working at VMware, we've joked in the past that the Silicon Valley virtualization powerhouse might just want to consider setting up a new headquarters in the Seattle area. Well, it's not quite the headquarters. And it is not quite Seattle. But VMware has chosen Washington -- specifically East Wenatchee -- for its latest and greatest data center.

VMware -- led by former Microsoft executive Paul Maritz...

Another virtualisation company that Microsoft had captured from the inside followed the same trajectory. XenSource opened a facility next to Microsoft just before it was acquired by Microsoft's partner of the year, Citrix, and after it had received funds from former Microsoft employees. It had also made a Microsoft employee its general manager.

Microsoft and its former employees are seemingly trying to buy and assimilate the entire market, including Microsoft's competitors. It's not necessarily deliberate, i.e. it is not intended to happen by design. But friends help friends and former colleagues. That's just human nature; people -- unlike robots -- have no magic switch in their brain that flips over loyalties overnight. For instance, also see what Microsoft did to Yahoo!, Corel, Novell, and Borland. People must never forget that Novell's management now has former Microsoft executives in it (recent examples include the board level). Novell is likely to get acquired. ⬆

"Ask the partner to give you heads up on customer situations – bribe them!"

--Steve Winfield, Microsoft