Great article discussing why MS's newest tablet was a complete disaster.
QuoteThe rollout of the Microsoft Surface was as badly-botched as any product launch I've ever seen. The Internet was shouting "Shut up and take my money," but, astoundingly, Microsoft wouldn't take its money: the company did not announce a price or a release date or a pre-order website for the Surface until an absurd four months after the event; by the time they did, all of the buzz behind the Surface had died down, all of the excitement had fizzled and so many articles had been written dinging the armor of the Surface and questioning its appeal that far fewer wanted to buy one than on the night it came raging out of the darkness. Couple that with a disastrous advertising campaign featuring the cast of Stomp -- an ad campaign far less appealing than the teaser commercial above -- and the Surface was as doomed as a stick of dynamite.
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/it-s-official--microsoft-s-surface-rt-launch-was-one-of-the-worst-of-all-time-205724965.html
When you absolutely, positively need something screwed up, Microsoft is the company you want. They're masters of stepping on their own feet and snatching defeat from the jaws of victory.
Screwing things up...just look at the disaster with their Xbox One (a.k.a Xbox 180) presentation.
Microsoft should really invest into a new marketing department - their consumer research is horrible ("let's abolish the Start button in Windows 8", "let's introduce always-on and DRM in the new XBox"), and when they bring new products on the market, they regularly fail to explain these products to the consumer, publish confusing and contradictory information, and they don't have their official speakers under control ("deal with it", "Buy a XBox 360").
Surface was certainly an interesting product (I laid my hands on it on the CeBIT), but the pricing was ridiculous compared to the competitors.
Quote from: Martok on July 19, 2013, 01:21:36 AM
When you absolutely, positively need something screwed up, Microsoft is the company you want.
One of my favorite internet quotes of all time...
"The day Microsoft makes something that doesn't suck is the day they start making vacuum cleaners."
that's probably more perception than reality, but still funny :)
Microsoft took the name of an existing product for their new tablet. The old Windows Surface is now called Pixelsence
Had Microsoft only released ONE product in a single configuration (i5 with Windows8) this might have had a chance. Adding ARM/Windows RT to the mix made the Surface destined to fail.
- Retailers sold Windows RT and Windows 8 versions to end users without explaining the difference
- The RT version included office, but wouldn't run any other core Windows software
- The keyboard was an optional upgrade, not included. Also there were two different keyboards Touch and Type.
I have to say this: Windows 8 is the first OS that makes opening a closing a laptop a breeze.
There's a lot not to like about Win8 but they finally figured out how to treat a laptop properly.
Maybe I'm doing it wrong then because I find having to click the little tab in the bottom right, then settings, then power, then shutdown is more cumbersome than using the old Start/shutdown option.
The MS Sidewider 2 Force Feedback joystick was awesome, so naturally they stopped making it.
Quote from: Silent Disapproval Robot on July 19, 2013, 06:41:14 PM
Maybe I'm doing it wrong then because I find having to click the little tab in the bottom right, then settings, then power, then shutdown is more cumbersome than using the old Start/shutdown option.
The MS Sidewider 2 Force Feedback joystick was awesome, so naturally they stopped making it.
You're doing it right. 95% of my time is spent just closing the lid. It rarely travels more than a room over. So for me this works well - just put it to sleep. Amazingly, it works. Every time. And wakes up really fast.
Wow, that's just so cool. Why hasn't Apple though of that?
(Oh, wait... the 90's are calling on the other line... )
Quote from: Silent Disapproval Robot on July 19, 2013, 06:41:14 PM
Maybe I'm doing it wrong then because I find having to click the little tab in the bottom right, then settings, then power, then shutdown is more cumbersome than using the old Start/shutdown option.
Before I added Stardock's Start8 (which I love BTW) I discovered you could create a shortcut (http://www.pcworld.com/article/2038647/how-to-create-a-windows-8-shutdown-tile.html) for that. I'll never understand why they thought having you go through so many moves just to shut down was a good idea.