Microsoft's curious purchase

I have to wonder how Microsoft think they can integrate with companies like Avenue A Razorfish, Amnesia and DNA whilst leaving the creative cultures of those companies intact. As someone who is perennially agency-side, I see what many call 'agency culture' as something fragile and sensitive to corporate influence. The kind of professional risks that a creative agency habitually must take are hard to fit into conservative balance sheets. It takes a rare breed of management that can scale this kind of business whilst retaining creative integrity. And without that creative integrity it's hard to hang on to the kind of people you need in an agency. Bear in mind that, to a much greater degree than most, creative agencies' value lies in their staff. When you empty the people out, there's precious little left at the bottom of the bucket.

Microsoft has a highly questionable track record when it comes to fostering innovation and creativity. Most of their decent products have come through acquisition, and their current forays into new territory have been haemorrhaging money (Zune + Xbox). The labyrinthine nature of their middle-management bureaucracy is fabled. And it's evident Ballmer and Gates wouldn't know good design if they were locked in a room with it. Without Apple as their outsourced user-experience lab, one shudders to think what the state of our PC user interfaces would be today.

Combine this with the usually technology-neutral role of agencies. When a client goes to an agency they want independent advice as to what technology to use. How easy is it going to be for any of these agencies to recommend a Java or open-source based solution for their clients? How long before the zealous sales teams within Microsoft start trying to cross-sell?

I'm really curious how they plan to make this work. I experienced Microsoft first-hand during the original .com boom when they were quietly looking at acquiring agencies in order to push products like IIS and SQL Server into businesses. It didn't work then, I wonder what is different now?

What this deal smells of to me is that Microsoft had to buy the whole company in order to get the product. I know what this reminds me of. And I note with sadness how only sequels (and nothing new) has come from this.

Chalk me up one ticket for the stalls. If it works it will be something new for our industry, but the risks of failure are high.