In 2014, the State Administration for Industry and Commerce of China launched an investigation into Microsoft over its monopoly issues. To this day, the matter is still unsolved, highlighting the legal challenges and persistent regulatory conditions faced by multinational technology companies when operating in the country.
The long road to antitrust investigations
Recently, the State Administration for Industry and Commerce once again launched an inquiry into Microsoft and its head of Greater China, requiring them to explain major issues reflected in the electronic data obtained during the investigation. This shows that the antitrust investigation against the company has entered the stage of in-depth verification of key evidence, and this process may be quite complicated.
Since the case was filed in 2014, this investigation has lasted for several years, which is far longer than the investigation cycle of general antitrust cases. This state of affairs that has lasted for such a long time not only demonstrates the complexity of the case itself, but also reflects the cautious attitude of law enforcement agencies when investigating large multinational technology companies. The final result will have a profound impact on domestic and foreign companies.
Cross-platform layout of technology giants
There are signs that it is focusing on developing the version of its desktop application For Mac in order to fill the shortcomings in the user experience of the web version. The launch of the official Mac client will help consolidate its position in the field of desktop communications and attract more cross-platform users.
This trend is in line with the general strategy of technology companies to improve their product ecology. Although there is currently no official comment on this, by covering more operating systems, it can not only increase user stickiness, but also compete more directly with existing desktop communication giants such as Microsoft.
The enterprise storage market is being disrupted
Some reports predict that in 2017, sales of related enterprise-level solid-state drives will exceed mechanical hard drives for the first time. The significance of this turning point is that within the fields of data centers and servers, SSD is gradually transforming from its original supplementary role to the preferred storage solution to replace traditional storage methods with its obvious performance advantages.
Enterprises are adopting SSDs on a large scale in pursuit of faster database response speeds and transaction processing speeds. This substitution is not a simple complement, but a comprehensive transcendence driven by performance requirements. This marks that enterprise data storage infrastructure is undergoing a complete innovation.
Diversified transformation of chip giants
Intel is actively moving towards the smart wearable and Internet of Things markets through cooperation with multiple parties. The RealSense technology camera it announced is quite representative. This device can acquire and render 3D images, giving IoT devices more powerful environmental perception capabilities.
The series of measures Intel has made are aimed at reducing its dependence on the traditional PC chip market. The number of connected devices in the Internet of Things market is extremely large, which has created new growth space for chips, and low-power, highly integrated dedicated technologies will become the key to competition.
Expanding the functional boundaries of social platforms
It is understood that it will consider significantly relaxing its message length limit to 10,000 characters. This change may turn its 'long message' function into an embedded news or article publishing platform, where the content can be read directly in the application without jumping to external links.
This type of model is similar to "", which causes long-form content to exist natively within the social platform. This will not only improve the coherence of users' reading, but may also change the distribution strategy of content creators, thereby extending the functional boundaries of social applications toward content platforms.
A new low-power consumption track for wireless technology
Officially released by the Wi-Fi Alliance, it is the 802.11ah standard called HaLow. This standard works in the frequency band below 1GHz and has the characteristics of longer communication distance and lower power consumption. It is specifically targeted at smart homes, medical monitoring, etc., those IoT scenarios that require long-distance, low-power connection.
The HaLow standard was launched, which filled a gap in the market that existed between the high power consumption of traditional Wi-Fi and the short communication distance of Bluetooth. It provides more suitable wireless connection solutions for emerging applications, including smart agriculture, industrial sensor networks, etc. It is expected to promote the popularity of the Internet of Things in more segments.
Through the long-term investigation carried out by Microsoft and the fierce competition between companies in the storage field, the Internet of Things field, and the social field, which one do you think will have the most direct and profound impact on the lives of ordinary users in the next three years in terms of technology or market changes? Welcome to share your views in the comment area, and please like this article and forward it so that more friends can join the discussion.
