Quote of the day…

My dad always used to say, “…when your only tool is a hammer, every problem looks like a nail”. Seems like this is true whether your a carpenter, or the world’s biggest software company. Could it be true of the worlds most popular sports league?

Here’s the quote – pay special attention to the stuff in bold

From Business Week article (April 2, 2007): Where is Microsoft search?

“…Microsoft’s search problem reflects its approach to new markets in general.It spends little time on timy, ermerging niches…but these are precisely the markets that can quickly blossom on the Net into meaningful businesses…”

“Bill (Gates) and Steve (Ballmer) and the leadership don’t undertsand the value of small things,” says Robert Scoble, a former Microsoftie whose blog recently took the company to task for its Web missteps. “That cripples their entire Internet strategy from the start.”

When I read that quote I thought of Clayton Christiansen’s, “Innovator’s Dilemma, when new technologies cause create firms to fail.”

And I thought of the NFL.

At the risk of sounding like a back seat driver, if Scoble is right about Microsoft (and plenty of people would question his statement), if Microsoft can really be “bested” by Google (a relatively young company started by a couple of grad school hackers), then isn’t it possible that the NFL, which has lived off TV revenue, could be threatened by a media landscape that isn’t focused entirely on TV?

I’m not saying that the NFL won’t end up winning both the battle (short term) and the war (long term). I have no idea what they’re planning at 280 Park Ave. I’m just hoping we’re not blinded (or perhaps paralyzed) by the “mass media” mindset.

Wikipedia on “disruptive technology”