Surface Andromeda Support Garnered on Change.org

[anon(10458357)]

Noticed a petition started today on Change.org today, by a certain Zach H., to garner support for the Surface Andromeda 3-in-1 device. I signed it! Curious just how many others will. I suppose a lot depends on discoverability. Maybe some tech news sites will pick it up? Nevertheless if you've ever posted a comment in favour of the device please consider signing it too.

https://www.change.org/p/all-the-people-who-would-buy-the-phone-show-microsoft-the-demand-for-the-surface-phone-or-andromeda?recruiter=664590479&utm_source=share_petition&utm_medium=copylink&utm_campaign=share_petition&utm_term=share_petition

 

[covfefe]

Oh dear... you know the purpose of that site, right?

 

[anon(10458357)]

Well the kid's getting signatures already with zero advertising. Beats sitting around doing nothing.

 

[TechFreak1]

I'm in two minds about this... change.org is for pushing change / garnering momentum for pressing issues that impact everyone.

Well the kid's getting signatures already with zero advertising. Beats sitting around doing nothing.

I just checked... it's got 0 signatures...

I don't think that is the right platform to get Microsoft's attention, their own might be better... https://microsoftforums3.uservoice.com/forums/5343-general

they apparently had microsoft.uservoice.com but that's no longer functional.

 

[anon(10458357)]

Just checked the site myself and he's up to 2,069. That's just in the first 24 hours.

Also, yeah, if you started something on uservoice I think that's probably a good idea. I'd happily sign/upvote that too. Interesting your find about the forums3 thing though. I had assumed they'd closed the entire uservoice down and were just relying on that mess of a Feedback app... which is a complete utter mess... no organization whatsoever.

BTW I get being nervous about an open forum on this, but MS has been dinking around on this for some time, ever since 2015 really, when Lumia was cancelled. I can't fault this kid for trying something new. Trying to show Nadella that the device has supporters. I think the timing actually ties in nicely with Jez's article yesterday and Dan's article today about taking a risk, jumping in, and just making it work, whether it's Dan's way of a HoloLens type "transparent", small batch release, or a coming out guns a blazing release. As Dan said today, the problem of apps disappearing from the store is only going to get worse, not better, the more time goes by on this thing.

BTW Pokemon Go got 115,000 signatures on change.org 2 years ago to date when that whole craze was happening. This is actually a worthier cause than that by far. So I'm personally not so worried about the forum. I think this is an acceptable forum.

All I know is this kid Zach H. started the thing, I signed it, and I'm happy I did. I hope more folks will. But you'll have to decide if it's something you'd like to participate in. Hope you will.

 

[nate0]

It'll get 2500 signed easy...

I signed

 

[fatclue_98]

I wish this person the best but even getting 25,000 votes wouldn't be enough to move the needle. Now if he thinks this device would go for $800-$900 that's being delusional. This type of tech will easily command $2k.

 

[anon(50597)]

I wish this person the best but even getting 25,000 votes wouldn't be enough to move the needle. Now if he thinks this device would go for $800-$900 that's being delusional. This type of tech will easily command $2k.

Agree completely.
People will sign anything before they have to put their money where their mouth is. If it ever comes out, it will be very expensive device.
This is a complete waste of time (though harmless) as far as I’m concerned.

 

[anon(10458357)]

A waste of time. Quite possible. Even probable. But I also feel that way every time I give Feedback on the Feedback Hub. That thing is an absolute disastrous mess, that I'm quite sure nobody is reading. Well, maybe some "AI" bot, but certainly no human.

I also really doubt however that Microsoft spends much of their time reading tech site comments and looking for what their fans actually want either. I mean, we all secretly hope they do, but it's very unlikely they give a terd about what is said on any internet forum of any kind.

Should they? Yeah... I absolutely think they should, on both accounts. If I were Nadella I would pay attention to a petition and I'd also read the comments on tech sites probably even before I asked my VPs for advice. But I don't think Nadella thinks that way.

So en lieu of these I'm just viewing this petition as another form of Feedback. In fact that's specifically what the kid said its purpose was. And well... hoping for the best. It took me all of 5 minutes to sign up for Change.org, click the button, and offer a few words of why I was signing it.

I may chip in a few bucks to the campaign, I may not, haven't decided yet, but you know what I'd probably waste that $5 to $20 bucks on Cappucinos or Lattes anyway.

Would be sweet to get 100,000 signatures. Heck the Pokemon Go petition got that many! But of course that's back when people still actually had Windows mobile phones. But yeah... that would be cool!

I'm still actually fairly impressed about the interest so far. I've read a lot of the comments posted as to why people have signed, and there are people literally from all over the world signing this thing. And that's pretty much so just based off a grass-roots effort. No serious funds flowing into this campaign. No big backers. I'd like to see what it could do with an experienced campaign manager at the helm.

 

[nate0]

It is all good. Still cool to interact, whether folks think it is a waste of time, pointless, moronic or whatever. Life is good man!

 

[Jcmg62]

This is pretty much the only chance, albeit slim, that we are heard. It beats the hell out of moaning and groaning in the forums all day. At least it feels productive.

In the years leading up to mainstream electric vehicle production, there were dozens of polls and petitions, some of them created by manufacturers and technology firms, but a lot of them created by enthusiasts who wanted to see electric vehicles on the road.

Elon Musk said in an interview with Fox news last year that he took a very personal interest in those polls. He spent a lot of time considering the data that those petitions created, and used that data to launch the Model 3 on a pre-production programme, that allowed him to generate over $2Billion cash before he even started building them.

Companies do take note of these petitions

 

[Jcmg62]

I wish this person the best but even getting 25,000 votes wouldn't be enough to move the needle. Now if he thinks this device would go for $800-$900 that's being delusional. This type of tech will easily command $2k.

It won't be cheap, for sure. $2000 at least. Maybe more. But they should still bring it to market. They've done the work, created the OS, built the software, constructed templates, etc

25,000 votes....10% of signatories buy it at $2000 a go. That's $5Million. Sure, doesn't make it a success, but goes some way to paying the research & development bill.

Besides, hardly any surface devices sell on a massive scale, apart from the Pro range. I'd be willing to bet that surface hub, studio and book have pretty low sales figures, but MS will keep pushing out new versions.

Why is Andromeda any different?

BTW, it's over 4000 signatories. Shows some level of interest

 

[Mark Kaplan]

It's almost at the needed 5k. I support this. It's not doing any harm. Even if it is just a small voice speaking up.

 

[anon(10458357)]

Have watched it grow all the way from 8 signatures to 5K just this morning. Kinda cool for a completely grassroots effort. I would venture to say there's at a minimum at least 100 times actual interest in Andromeda out there, accounting for the fact that this thing has no big backers to help spread the word, and no experienced campaign manager at the help, just a kid on his Surface Pro... HP x2 Envy... Yoga... whatever it is he's using.

 

[Mark Kaplan]

I like the idea WC is floating. Call it a hardware preview group. Sell the hardware at a profit to anyone that wants it. See where it goes. If it takes off great! If not, it dies a more quiet death.

 

[anon(10458357)]

Kudos too to some in the tech journalism business who have taken a chance and run a story on this. I know that's probably not easy, but I'm sure this kid from Virginia, Zach Hinski, really appreciates it.


Gordon Gottsegen of C/NET

Omar Sohail of WCCF Tech

Ian of the Indian Express

Chuong Nguyen of Digital Trends

Surar of MS Power User

Napier Lopez of the Next Web

Bogdan Popa of Softpedia News

Mark Wycislik-Wison of Beta News

Mayank Parmar of Windows Latest

Usama Jawad of Neowin

David Nield of Tech Radar

Thanks guys!

 

[Jcmg62]

5500 signatories...bloody good going, considering it's anyhting but a mainstream petition. Windows Central, Thurrott and MSPU probably don't get more than a few thousand daily readers combined, and they're the only ones that actually know this petition exists.

 

[mtf1380]

I like the idea WC is floating. Call it a hardware preview group. Sell the hardware at a profit to anyone that wants it. See where it goes. If it takes off great! If not, it dies a more quiet death.

@Mark Kaplan, good to see you I hope you and your family are doing well. I posted the following on the 3rd of July:

"Of course, Microsoft could introduce a Beta device testing program that could be assessed by the willing - at a reduced price and a promise to make good on meeting the future end goal (I would buy in)."

Because I would like to help develop the new format, but I have already done the full price for beta product thing with the 950XL. I feel MS could offer a discount to their loyal supports for being guinea pigs for this go round, with a promise to work it through or offer credit toward other MS products, if they abandon the project. That way there would be no sour grapes on the flip side.

Of course, I would be quite content to wait for them to iron out the wrinkles before release, too.

 

[Drael646464]

I think the panic they won't release it is probably unfounded. They've invested a lot in it already - and they have not a lot to lose (production costs), and a lot to gain (mindshare, and a foothold in the future graphene phone-tablet market via early adoption and development).

I think they are just reviewing the timing. Windows on arm, and PWA can both help build the app platform, but are too early to have done so. The OS itself needs to be well crafted, solid. And they might want some in house apps to boost things along.


So if I had to guess, I'd say all that's happened is they pushed it back to next year. I think it'd honestly be commercially stupid not to try. They won't develop a hybrid OS, cross platform system without non-desktop devices. And they need to open markets for those forms as soon as viable.

 

[Ryujingt3]

Once MS sees how many signatures this gets (IF they look at it), why not put it on Kickstarter? That way MS gets their funding nearly all taken care of. Similar to how Shenmue 3 (a videogame that has been much anticipated for over a decade) is finally now seeing the light of day thanks to croudsourced funding and backing from Sony. MS could do the same with Andromeda easily.

Someone who is on Twitter should also tweet the link to the partition to Panos Panay, Satya Nadella and all other bigwigs at MS - what harm can it do? It's all to raise awareness so shove it directly in their faces. Sadly, I don't use Twitter, otherwise I would have done it already.
@OnTheSurface, it turns out OnMSFT also covered it:

https://www.onmsft.com/news/petition-aims-to-show-microsoft-the-demand-for-a-surface-phone