Guessing games

At http://www.tekrati.com/T2/Analyst_Research/ResearchAnnouncementsDetails.asp?Newsid=5300 Shared Spaces guru Michael Sampson take Microsoft to task for acquiring Groove Networks in the chosen manner. I have not had the benefit of the full report, but its headlines & conclusion I feel are off target. Let's start with the headline "...Door open to competitors". Er yes, collaboration is a busy & competitive marketplace and personally I would have thought the acquisition would be throwing a gauntlet down to others. And yes I can see a door is closing on others if they do not address their failings. So let us agree that at best the clock is ticking.

Operating close to this technology since stealth mode ended I feel the timing is about as good for MS as it could be. It has obtained a maturing product that can provide good sales extensions to the life of Office with minimum investment & risk. Not only that it now can provide added value to the Windows operating system itself.
Was Groove the right company for MS to acquire? Over the years possibly worthy competitors for acquisition have come and gone. Groove has justified itself to be the appropriate one by aligning itself over time; the result almost became a forgone conclusion.

Finally four years to impact. Well, as they say, Rome wasn't built in a day. And so I can only agree. This project, imo, is redefining planet Internet. I don't expect perfection overnight. And that's the bottom line for me - this "thing" just ain't that simple, otherwise Lotus Notes/Domino would have been a 28meg downloadable 10 years ago, instead of the 28 CDs that Domino seems to distribute with (I exaggerate, slightly)! For another company to catch up is a big challenge.

I hope that others do capture some ground. What moves computing on is companies leapfrogging. But my guess is they will have a job doing it!