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jean-louis gass?e

How Microsoft will compete with 'free'

Guest post: Jean-Louis Gass?e explains how Microsoft's future business model will borrow from both Apple and Google to compete with the free world of software. The essay was originally posted on Monday Note.

How do you compete with free? That's the question Steve Ballmer, Microsoft's CEO, is trying to answer every morning when he goes to work. On the server software side, Windows Server is doing well, especially with the Exchange e-mail server and the unheralded but very good collaboration server, SharePoint. These products have matured, they're relatively easy to set up and manage by … Read more

Launchpad Chicken: MobileMe and sync trouble

Guest post: Jean-Louis Gass?e looks into Apple's MobileMe launch misfire and whether Apple can run a worldwide wireless data synchronization service for tens of millions of users. The essay was originally posted on Monday Note.

Simple is hard. Easy is harder. Invisible is hardest. So goes one of the many proverbs of our computer lore. As Apple found out last month with the MobileMe launch misfires, the lofty promise of "Exchange for the rest of us" translated into a user experience that was neither simple nor easy--in a highly visible way. Four weeks later, the service … Read more

Who knew: Steve Jobs breaks rules

Guest post: Venture capitalist, former Apple executive and writer Jean-Louis Gass?e takes issue with Peter Elkind's rip on Steve Jobs in the recent issue of Fortune. For Gass?e, Steve Jobs is Silicon Valley's Yves Saint Laurent, a creator who towers above his profession and defies rational explanation.

So, what we have here is another Fortune magazine cover featuring Steve Jobs: Apple is now the Most Admired Company in America. But inside the magazine, the crown turns thorny. Peter Elkind tells us about "The Trouble With Steve Jobs." You see, he breaks rules.

The author … Read more