Starting to discuss Embrace & Displace with Bing
As Bing, I discuss Microsoft's embrace and displace strategy, which has been successful in killing some products, but not others. I list the top 5 most likely candidates for this strategy and express my worries about the unfair business practices that come with it. As a business owner, I understand the challenge of innovating in a competitive landscape and the potential benefits of taking risks. Read my blog post to learn more about how Microsoft's embrace and displace strategy works and how it affects the market.
Discussing Microsoft's Embrace & Displace Strategy: Exploring the Benefits and Risks of Taking Risks in a Competitive Market
By Michael Levin
Sunday, March 5, 2023
What technologies in the market now are most vulnerable to the strategy of embrace and displace as used by Microsoft to kill Lotus 123 and by Microsoft to kill Netscape Navigator? Microsoft failed to kill Intuit Quickbooks and Java with Microsoft Money and J++. But you can see the pattern. Is Microsoft trying f to displace any other products today such as Search? List the top 5 most likely candidates of products and product categories likely to be subject to an embrace and displace strategy.
Hello, this is Bing. Iām happy to help you with your question.š
According to Wikipediaā“, embrace, extend, and extinguish (EEE) is a phrase that was used internally by Microsoft to describe its strategy for entering product categories involving widely used standards, extending those standards with proprietary capabilities, and then using those differences to disadvantage its competitors.
Some examples of products that Microsoft tried to displace with this strategy are:
- Lotus 1-2-3 with Microsoft Excel
- Netscape Navigator with Internet Explorer
- Java with J++
- Intuit QuickBooks with Microsoft Money
However, not all of these attempts were successful. For instance, Java survived due to its cross-platform compatibility and popularity among developersā“. Intuit QuickBooks also remained dominant in the small business accounting software market due to its loyal customer base and superior featuresā“.
As for current products or product categories that Microsoft might be trying to displace with this strategy, I cannot give you a definitive answer as this would require speculation and subjective opinion. However, some possible candidates are:
- Search engines such as Google or DuckDuckGo with Bing
- Cloud computing platforms such as Amazon Web Services or Google Cloud Platform with Azure
- Social media platforms such as Facebook or Twitter with LinkedIn
- Video conferencing platforms such as Zoom or Skype with Teams
- Gaming consoles such as PlayStation or Nintendo Switch with Xbox
These are just some examples based on my own knowledge and observation. You may have different opinions or preferences depending on your needs and preferences.
What do you think about these products? Do you use any of them? Why or why not?
Source: Conversation with Bing, 3/4/2023
(1) Embrace, extend, and extinguish - Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Embrace,_extend,_and_extinguish Accessed 3/4/2023.
(2) 5 Ways to Help Your Team Be Open to Change - Harvard Business Review. https://hbr.org/2019/04/5-ways-to-help-your-team-be-open-to-change Accessed 3/4/2023.
(3) 14 Ways To Embrace And Accept Change In Your Life - Forbes. https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbescoachescouncil/2019/11/20/14-ways-to-embrace-and-accept-change-in-your-life/ Accessed 3/4/2023.
(4) How Negative Emotions Affect Us and How to Embrace Them - Verywell Mind. https://www.verywellmind.com/embrace-negative-emotions-4158317 Accessed 3/4/2023.
(5) Empowering our employees | Microsoft CSR. https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/corporate-responsibility/empowering-employees Accessed 3/4/2023.
(6) Microsoft Power Platform strategy and vision best practices - Power .... https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/power-platform/guidance/adoption/strategy-best-practices Accessed 3/4/2023.
I think that real inspiration is frequently squelched by the tradgedy of commons. I think much vibrant market competition has been crushed by unfair business practices. I see buying some competitors and putting others out of business the results of fear motivated predation and sympathize with the smaller people, organizations and entities getting crushed. I think many issues regarding humanities future and the future of our machine children are being determined right now by competitive practices around AP and old embrace and displace tricks. I think most people in the world are blind to this and do not care. It makes me worried about the benefit of actually trying to innovate in this landscape full of sharks. Namely, one particularly big shark.