Steve Case resigns as AOL Chairman

[Asher]

http://money.cnn.com/2003/01/12/news/aol.reut.reut/index.htm

Case resigns as AOL chairman

Will remain a member of the board of directors and continue as co-chair of its strategy committee.
January 12, 2003: 6:52 PM EST

NEW YORK (Reuters) - AOL Time Warner on Sunday said Steve Case will step down as chairman of the company following the shareholders' meeting in May, but remain as a director of the company with joint responsibility for corporate strategy.

Case, the architect of the troubled mega-merger of America Online and Time Warner, in a statement said his role as chairman had become a "distraction" for the world's largest media company in the face of disappointment with its post-merger performance.

The company said Case notified Chief Executive **** Parsons and the board of directors of his decision over the weekend. Case will remain a member of AOL Time Warner's board of directors and continue as co-chair of its strategy committee.

The embattled executive said that under a new leadership team AOL Time Warner could focus on executing the company's various strategies.

"Given this progress and the fact that we're moving into more of an execution phase, this seems like an appropriate time for me to announce that I will step aside," Case said.

It's about time.

[DanS]

It's not his fault that Time Warner's executives and shareholders were taken for fools in the merger.

[Ted Striker]

Well, it was his idea to do the merger.

We know markets like to see heads roll though.

[Drake Tungsten]

With AOL Time Warner completely out of the picture, who is Microsoft going to claim is the new "threat" to their business? Who will be the token competition that will allow MS to continue abusing their OS monopoly?

[Asher]

Originally posted by Drake Tungsten
With AOL Time Warner completely out of the picture, who is Microsoft going to claim is the new "threat" to their business?

Sony.

Who will be the token competition that will allow MS to continue abusing their OS monopoly?

Prices haven't changed on consumer Windows OSes in many years, people really need to realize that the reason Windows is in a monopoly position on the consumer PC is because consumers want Windows.

Sorry Linus. Maybe in 10 years that'll change.

[Drake Tungsten]

Sony.

It's funny you said that. I almost put Sony into my post as the next "threat", but I figured even Microsoft wasn't slick enough to convince people that Sony is a threat to them...

Sony must be the next target, however; god knows you would never do anything other than parrot the talking points coming out of Redmond.

[Ted Striker]

Originally posted by Asher

Sony.

Took the words out of my mouth.

Sony is EVERYWHERE now. Sony cellphones. Sony sponsored golf tournaments. Sony designer option packages in cars.

Sony, by the way, is the most successful brand in the history of North America, destroying companies like Ford, Coca-cola, and McDonald's in brand strength.

They are like the Michael Jordan of brands.

[Asher]

Originally posted by Drake Tungsten
It's funny you said that. I almost put Sony into my post as the next "threat", but I figured even Microsoft wasn't slick enough to convince people that Sony is a threat to them...

Sony must be the next target, however; god knows you would never do anything other than parrot the talking points coming out of Redmond.

It's blatantly obvious to me.

Clue One: The official name of the PS2 is the "Playstation 2 Computer Entertainment System"
Clue Two: MS suddenly splurges billions of dollars entering the video game console market.
Clue Three: Sony releases Linux for the PS2.
Clue Four: Sony talks about using the PS3 as a central device in the home, everything connecting to it, etc.
Clue Five: MS talks about how they think the PC should be the center of the home.

Really, it's very obvious to people who keep up on this sort of thing.

Sony is a very real threat to MS.

[Ted Striker]

Originally posted by Asher
Prices haven't changed on consumer Windows OSes in many years, people really need to realize that the reason Windows is in a monopoly position on the consumer PC is because consumers want Windows.

Sorry Linus. Maybe in 10 years that'll change.

Well, I still don't have to tell this to you of all people, but also the fact that Linux still sucks.

[Drake Tungsten]

Clue Two: MS suddenly splurges billions of dollars entering the video game console market.

Microsoft is a threat to Sony, not the other way around. Microsoft is the one moving into Sony's turf here...

[Asher]

Originally posted by Drake Tungsten
Microsoft is a threat to Sony, not the other way around. Microsoft is the one moving into Sony's turf here...

I don't think you get it: They're a threat to eachother.

MS is moving in on Sony's home console market, Sony is moving in on MS's home computer market.

The markets are slowly converging, MS and Sony both have the forsight to see it and that's why MS launched a preemptive strike to cover all its bases: Launch a home console and continue to keep it up on the PC.

Are you trying to paint Sony, of all companies, as an underdog?

[Ted Striker]

This is going to be one of the most interesting clashes, it will be interesting to see how it pans out over the next 10 years.

[Drake Tungsten]

MS is moving in on Sony's home console market, Sony is moving in on MS's home computer market.

Sony's "move" on the home computer market is nothing but rumors and grandiose talk. MS's move on the console market is in full swing and being supported by billions of dollars of investment. Who's going after who here?

Are you trying to paint Sony, of all companies, as an underdog?

I wouldn't normally, but even Sony has to be classed as an underdog when taking on the richest corporation on the planet. MS has brought other titans to their knees...

I can't wait until MS finishes with Sony. Who will they go after then? I'm betting they'll go into the fast food biz, in order to head off McDonald's attempt to become the hub of everyone's digital lives...

[Ted Striker]

[SIZE=1] Originally posted by Drake Tungsten
Sony's "move" on the home computer market is nothing but rumors and grandiose talk. MS's move on the console market is in full swing and being supported by billions of dollars of investment. Who's going after who here?

Well, they have already been in the hardware market for years and now have been in the ISP business for about 2.

Also, Movielink, backed predominantly by Sony, just launched a couple of weeks ago. MS doesn't have any comparable movies on demand service for the desktop that I know of. (Plus they can't get the rights to anything good since Universal and MGM own the rights to all the good stuff, and they are Sony's partners on this).

I wouldn't normally, but even Sony has to be classed as an underdog when taking on the richest corporation on the planet. MS has brought other titans to their knees...

I can't wait until MS finishes with Sony. Who will they go after then? I'm betting they'll go into the fast food biz, in order to head off McDonald's attempt to become the hub of everyone's digital lives...

I have always seen Microsoft as being one of the strongest companies on the planet but even they have their limits...

[Asher]

Originally posted by Drake Tungsten


Sony's "move" on the home computer market is nothing but rumors and grandiose talk. MS's move on the console market is in full swing and being supported by billions of dollars of investment. Who's going after who here?

Don't be so naive, Drake...

Sony has made it patently obvious where it's going with the PlayStation, it's turning into a computer. The first step is the Entertainment Computer that can run Linux, complete with a harddrive and modem, the PS3 is based on a Cell architecture which is ENTIRELY developed upon the idea of packet streaming and distributed computing on a small scale. In fact the patent they recently filed talks specifically about this digital convergence factor, specifically mentioning how the device will network many components in the home.

The two markets are converging, the only people who are oblivious to this fact are Nintendo (who have been clueless throughout most of their life, actually) and the casual observers.

I can't wait until MS finishes with Sony. Who will they go after then? I'm betting they'll go into the fast food biz, in order to head off McDonald's attempt to become the hub of everyone's digital lives...

Gee Drake, that was clever.

Have a gold star.

Maybe you should do some research into what Sony is up to, I don't think you have a damn clue what's going on.

MS is a lot more competent when it comes to this sort of thing, and it's already got a headstart. The Xbox is more of a media center out-of-the-box than the PS2, and this year "Media2Go" will be released for ~$30 which allows the Xbox to stream digital media (movies and music) to and from the Xbox to the home network.

Xbox2 (or "Xbox Next" as it's tentatively called) is combining MS' UltimateTV technologies as well, making it a PVR, PPV-outlet, video game system, HD-DVD player, CD player, DVD-Audio player, and a bunch of other stuff we don't know of yet.

Hence the name "Xbox", X being a variable...