back to article Tearing a strip off Microsoft's Brazilian: That's no way to attract mates

It would appear that the Not Invented Here philosophy is still going strong inside Microsoft, with Redmond apparently considering unleashing into the market a rival to mega online shopping juggernauts Amazon and eBay. The Wall Street Journal reports Microsoft had been briefing unnamed people about an effort called “Brazil” – …

COMMENTS

This topic is closed for new posts.
  1. Destroy All Monsters Silver badge
    Trollface

    The naming is off

    That would be project "Aguirre"

    Lots of dead people, internecine struggles, the madness of the leader - and in the end drifting rudderlessly into the unknown.

    1. Captain Hogwash
      Thumb Up

      Re: The naming is off

      But presumably without any beautiful music?

      1. Francis Boyle Silver badge

        But it'd be worth it

        for the scene where Ballmer climbs on a chair and announces "I am your führer".

  2. Tom 7

    why does the phrase "Microsoft Brazillian"

    make me think "Blue Scream"?

  3. fandom

    "The project has since been canned."

    So, contrary to popular belief, there is some common sense present at Microsoft.

  4. Arachnoid
    Thumb Up

    So the Brazilian suffered a waxing OUCH!

  5. Code Monkey
    Headmaster

    "Amazon flows into Brazil"

    Not really - it's more than Amazon drains Brazil into the ocean.

    I'm not entirely sure where that metaphor is going but it's certainly not where Microsoft thinks it's going.

    1. Captain Hogwash

      Re: "I'm not entirely sure where that metaphor is going..."

      Brazil contains the Amazon?

  6. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Taking into account their co-operation with the National Spying Association in America, are we sure 'Project Brazil' wasn't some reference to the Terry Gilliam film?

    1. Francis Boyle Silver badge

      An over-complex infrastructure

      designed to pump shit around? I'd run with the metaphor but I fear I'd be stepping on someone's toes.

  7. Rol
    Pirate

    The Microsoft model

    I assume once MS has gained market dominance all transactions will be in Microbit coins, which change format every three months, with no backward compatibility. The payment screen will eventually morph into a grabbing hand, where only one of the fingers actuates a payment to the vendor, the others are just back door opportunities for ten year old hackers and assorted agencies of evil.

    and finally, after a year, a letter will arrive asking you to renew your subscription to that digi camera you bought or return it. Seems you only rented it.

  8. Roger Greenwood
    Go

    Dear Mr Balmer,

    . please go and invent something new, that people may want, rather than re-imagining what already exists.

    And don't treat us like idiots with artificial lock-ins - make it cross platform.

    You did it before, go do it again.

    If you need to get Bill back for some inspiration, go for it.

    p.s. You may stand a better chance listening to the kids.

  9. tony2heads
    WTF?

    re: brazil

    nuts to that!

  10. BrentRBrian

    Ballmer really needs to retire

    Is there nobody on the Microsoft board that is sober ?

  11. monkeyfish

    I'd actually like a good alternative to eBay and Amazon

    Just to give them some competition, but perhaps not one from MS..

  12. TheOtherHobbes

    Home shopping designed by Terry Gilliam?

    Says the big W about Brazil:

    "...set in a dystopian world in which there is an over-reliance on poorly maintained (and rather whimsical) machines. Brazil's bureaucratic, totalitarian government is reminiscent of the government depicted in George Orwell's Nineteen Eighty-Four,[1][2] except that it has a buffoonish, slapstick quality and lacks a Big Brother figure."

    D'ya think whoever thought up the name...?

    Nah.

    1. Roo
      Big Brother

      Re: Home shopping designed by Terry Gilliam?

      Quoth TheOtherHobbes:

      "...set in a dystopian world in which there is an over-reliance on poorly maintained (and rather whimsical) machines. Brazil's bureaucratic, totalitarian government is reminiscent of the government depicted in George Orwell's Nineteen Eighty-Four,[1][2] except that it has a buffoonish, slapstick quality and lacks a Big Brother figure."

      Funnily enough that's pretty much the impression that I get whenever I come across a workplace that has been taking a long hard pull on Microsoft Kool-Aid for a decade or so. The "buffoonish slapstick quality" bit sums up the current fashion for running 1 app per box and then using VMs to aggregate them all back together again, sometimes it feels as though we haven't moved on since Windows for Workgroups (aka 3.11).

  13. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    I'm impressed

    A company thinks of an idea.

    Runs a pilot and gets feedback.

    Decides not worth effort.

    Cans project.

    .

    New heading.

    MS thinks of project then rejects it.

  14. W. Anderson

    Sheep Merchants and the Microsoft Wolf overseer!

    Crackers would have loved a Microsoft company based eCommerce environment as nirvana, where they could exploit the weaknesses in Microsoft security to extract billions from participating merchants and shoppers.

    Imagine an on-line customer being informed that their Credit Card accounts was successfully charged for $25,000.00 in purchase of a normally $300.00 Windows PC, and the funds already transferred to a foreign bank.

    Microsoft cannot even get control of botnets exploiting their networks and stealing $500 million plus, to end up seeking assistance from FBI.

  15. Herby

    River flow?

    Doesn't the Amazon flow OUT from Brazil (into the Atlantic Ocean)?

    Of course Brazilian has come to mean something entirely different (being very sparse) and maybe that is what they were thinking about, stripped bare!

    Parting comment: Of course, it is Microsoft, so it goes into the "We don't care" category.

This topic is closed for new posts.

Other stories you might like