I’ve already spent a lot of space covering the financial issues at Fast Search & Transfer. In part that was because, prior to the Microsoft acquisition, we competed fairly often with Fast, particularly in our publishing practice. Part was because the company reminded me of MicroStrategy, against whom we had to compete at Business Objects. Part was driven by my personal interest in international software companies and the issues that un-level the reporting playing field (e.g., GAAP vs. IFRS reporting).
Anyway, I took a crack at a post earlier today based on a story in a Norwegian business weekly, Dagens Næringsliv, that in turn has prompted posts from CMS Watch to TechCrunch to Stephen Arnold to Curt Monash.
I burned several hours, posted something, got in the car, drove home, and deleted the post just after I arrived. Somehow, despite considerable effort, I couldn’t find what I thought was a satisfactory and appropriate way to editorialize.
Ergo, I decided simply to present the story. You can see it by pressing this link or looking at the Scribd iPaper below.
Disclaimers: I don’t speak Norwegian and can’t attest to the quality of the translation. I don’t know either Norwegian culture nor Norwegian business publications so I can’t vouch for either the legitimacy of the source publication itself or for any cultural slant present in the story.
Beneath the translated text are images of the original story with Norwegian body copy.
FYI, critical coverage of Microsoft's acquisition of FAST is now in the ECM trade press as well. Here is a story in the September 2008 issue of EContent magazine:http://www.econtentmag.com/Articles/ArticleReader.aspx?ArticleID=50347&Query=FAST%20microsoftIt retreads some of the blog coverage but it's fairly brief and worth the read. The gist of it can be summed up in a quote from Adrian Bloem of CMS Watch: "[Microsoft] bought a shiny convertible that looked really good in the showroom at full price; they should have gotten it at the junkyard for its parts." Ouch.