tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20769129.post52265205816440917..comments2023-10-15T06:55:57.488-07:00Comments on Computing from Out in Left Field: Microsoft SilverlightSavianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17299246950932791515noreply@blogger.comBlogger3125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20769129.post-26144656984558248412008-11-19T06:29:00.000-08:002008-11-19T06:29:00.000-08:00This reminds of an old blog post on "Joel on Softw...This reminds of an old blog post on "Joel on Software" how there was always tension at Microsoft between the MSDN camp (always new features) and the backwards compatibility camp. As you can guess, the MSDN camp won. Good reading here:<BR/>http://www.joelonsoftware.com/articles/APIWar.htmlAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20769129.post-17507433231527552008-03-21T15:37:00.000-07:002008-03-21T15:37:00.000-07:00Great post Alan. The plumbing should be included ...Great post Alan. The plumbing should be included and has been a serious impediment to SAS growth at many customer sites. Ideally, customers want to pay for the items of value not lots of add-ons. Nothing seems to steam customers more than being forced to buy add-ons that seem secondary to the buying reason (think underbody coating from car dealers- who doesn't want their car to rust, etc.)<BR/><BR/>Having heard Dr Goodnight slam Microsoft yet again at SAS Global Forum, I can say that SAS could learn a lot about pricing, packaging, and compelling value from Microsoft. Noone made customers buy SQL Server or SharePoint, but these two products alone outstrip all SAS product sales per year because of integration, value, and compelling feature sets. This highlights the strength of the Microsoft approach when there are clearly so many competitors in the database and portal space, an area where the old "monopoly" story does not play at all...<BR/><BR/>That said, anonymous stated there has been no major innovation at SAS in the past 5 years, I would argue otherwise with EM, Forecast Server, and EG and the Add-In adding new value to the product line at SAS. Still, SAS has to modernize and upgrade which means simplification of product line (integrated products) and much more aggressive packaging and pricing.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20769129.post-43319235308840331132008-03-07T08:37:00.000-08:002008-03-07T08:37:00.000-08:00SAS Institute is the epitomy of a proprietary soft...SAS Institute is the epitomy of a proprietary software. They are also well known for predatory pricing which we've seen on the mainframe and on the servers.<BR/><BR/>One thing that I have seen is a lot of interest by current SAS customers to get off the merry-go-round. What has SAS brought to the table that is new and unique in the last five years? I can't thing of anything that is revolutionary.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com