ZDNet's David Gerwitz is the next to flame Windows

hotphil

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I gave the article a quick read through. I'm not sure I see the point of it. It can be summed up as "tech guy with cheesy profile picture (taken in front of a Windows logo for an anti-MS aritcle), in control of his own tech budget with no need for workplace collaboration, unable to read straightforward upgrade guidance but with the time to train himself on new systems bought himself some new kit". Well done him.
 

TechFreak1

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I don't sense any hate at all just he moved onto other devices that suit his needs, people need to stop reading too much into the article lol. Like I said in another thread, there are going to be more and more of these articles in the coming months.
 

fatclue_98

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I wouldn't call it flaming. Microsoft doesn't blow his skirt, and that's fine. The problem I find is that he's trying to use a sledge hammer to kill a mosquito. A "respected" tech blogger should know what the features and benefits of any piece of hardware are and how to maximize them to his own needs. Oh well, good luck and good riddance.
 

to_be_announced

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LET IT BE KNOWN!!!!!! ZDnet along with TechRepublic are a bunch of Apple fan boys. So this article is nothing more than a biased piece flaming Microsoft.

I used to subscribe to their mailing lists and get emails with articles on tech topics. The more you read it, the more you realize that they are Apple fanboys. Every Apple article gushes over their newest feature that has been out on other platforms already. Every Microsoft article they publish always seems to have a number of negative things to say.

So take this article with a grain of salt.
 

stephen_az

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ZDNet's David Gerwitz has just written an article called "2014: The Year Microsoft Lost my Loyalty." This is the latest in a string of tech reporters giving up on Microsoft's ecosystem. This one has a harsher tone though.

2014: The year Microsoft lost my loyalty | ZDNet

What's your take? Just a hater in disguise or a writer with valid points?

The person can do what he likes and post his experiences and I hope he is happy with what he uses. The article, however, really doesn't flame anyone. Quite frankly it is too disorganized and meandering to achieve that goal if it was the intent. He may be a Berkley professor, but he would hard pressed to pass the freshman writing classes I used to teach. It reads like stream of conscious blather by someone with a either short term memory problem or a need to either take or change their meds. There is neither rhyme nor reason to the order of the discussion and the repetitiousness is headache inspiring.

With all of that said, people here need to stop taking criticism as if someone kicked your dog (or child). As for those who chime in with conspiracy comments, you really might want to put away the tin foil hats. They are always embarrassing but it is also a few days short of winter in the northern hemisphere and they must get rather chilly. He is entitled to his opinion and some of his comments, particularly those about Microsoft support, are quite valid. Microsoft support is very uneven - sometimes Apple level exceptional and other times Dell level disgraceful. It is also not that the case that support quality is dependent upon specific products or services. The following is an example of my recent experience.

I have been on the phone with Surface support for three days trying to get an exchange arranged for the defective SP3 they sent as a replacement for my original defective SP3 (both killed by an apparent problem with the 11/18 firmware upgrade that affects certain machines - something they have not made public). I got very informed and efficient service the first time around at the start of December but have been stuck in a repeating loop of stupidity, incompetence, and lies the second time.

On Monday while trying to resolve the problem with my rather expensive paperweight received as an exchange, a tech actually wanted me to read back error codes from Windows help and could not understand me when I pointed out that the page was not listing the errors on the machine but was just a link to their own list of error codes and definitions from their web page. I knew where the error codes were to be found on the machine and a supposedly trained technician did not. I was then told they couldn't do an exchange because I hadn't returned the original device - a Microsoft clerical error that was supposedly fixed last week. After losing patience with the incompetence and escalating the case to a manager, I told that person to read the notes and check the FedEx tracking numbers included therein. When he did that he acknowledged the replacement device was clearly defective (lots of notes with more details than they typically have) and they had also obviously already had the original device at the return center for five days. He then said he would call me back within a couple hours with a resolution. It should suffice to say he did not call back. This led to me being stuck with two idiots reading scripts yesterday.

The first, after extended holds to research an already researched and documented problem (and service request number), claimed he had worked out the issue but needed to put me on hold to setup the exchange. Since I was scheduled for a conference call though he would call me back. He then chose to call me during that call and left a message implying it was my fault this was now dragging out since I had not answered the phone, Yes, he knew I was in a conference call. After being forced to call them again, the second person (in the afternoon) put me on hold several times and then (after having had a manager yesterday and the person from the morning confirm this required an exchange) informed me that support was still researching my problem since it seemed "unusual" that two machines would have the same problem.

Obviously machines can have the same problem and that was not even previously subject to debate. Everything had been documented and verified. Both machines failed with WIFI, pen, touchscreen, and Type Cover errors after the 11/18 firmware upgrade failed to install and the problems are not resolvable by doing a clean reset even with a new system image downloaded from Microsoft. Device Manager and Event Viewer both show missing drivers and malfunctioning components that cannot be fixed. Since a reset from a flash drive, deleting partitions, still results in the same well documented errors, there has been no previous argument that there is either a problem with the current packaged driver set (they don't seem to have access to the old one) or the firmware problem triggered a motherboard component to fail. Since there have been numerous reports of problems with each of the last few firmware updates, including threads on their own support forum, there is hardly much mystery about this situation.

Long and short of it is, as I wait for a third day to do something simple, one can lose patience and I can certainly see people walking. This current mess also has a cascade effect since my clients, who are all federal agencies, are aware that problems with Microsoft's premium products (and services) have affected my accessibility for a couple days and delayed a deliverable. How is that for bad PR? BTW, on the unrelated subject of not being to find a number to call at Microsoft, there really was a window back in September when the sales page for Office 365 Small Business offerings and hosted exchange solutions had everything but a phone number. We were shifting our email at that time and I actually had to complain to someone in another Microsoft department to have them look up a phone number for me. I still went with them on price but it hardly inspired confidence....
 
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BobLobIaw

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The article seems fairly benign to me. He basically says he needed to run OS X and Windows apps and now uses OS X more, and that he didn't like Windows Phone so he switched to Android and decided to adopt its ecosystem as well. I'm not sure it's really a useful article as far as its applicability to readers, but I wouldn't say it's a flame article either.
 

neo158

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As far as I'm concerned I like Windows and that's all that matters to me, haven't read it and don't intend to either. Click-bait article is click-bait!!?!
 

Keith Wallace

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I refuse to give these articles clicks because they're usually written terribly, and they often make no sense. Basically, they're usually click bait.

However, on that title itself, it's totally reasonable, and I even agree with it. In 2014, Microsoft's severely hurt my trust in them to a great degree. 2 months after buying into the Xbox One for $500 because they said the Kinect would never be separated, they did just that, and that meant $100 wasted on an unwanted peripheral. With Windows Phone, they skipped releasing a mainstream flagship in 2014, while also saying Windows 10 (the next expected flagship) could be a late-2015 matter. So, after skipping a Lumia 1520 for 6 months to get an AT&T-based 940/1030, Microsoft crapped on that and has now alluded to the possibility that my 920's 2-year investment (and 1-year warranty, haha) might be a 3-year affair because Microsoft is too busy launching a crapload of budget devices (possible 435, 535, 630, 730/735) and painting a budget device as an "affordable flagship" while giving it a near-flagship price tag (830).

So, to sum up: I agree with the title, but I won't give the author the desired click and ad revenue for what I fail to believe will be a well-written article. Microsoft has spent its first year as an OEM being the worst OEM I've ever seen, to the point that I briefly considered going back to Android some day (despite my strong disdain for anything Google). They made many Xbox One early adopters look like idiots as well, and so 2014 was similarly the year Microsoft killed any trust I had in them. Now, I've resorted to looking at every single thing Microsoft does in a negative light, while still clutching my Lumia 920 because Microsoft is just too stupid and incompetent to give me a replacement device.
 

svaethier

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Well Jason perlow posted an 'I'm sick of android' article on ZDNet so at least Microsoft isn't the only one receiving hate on there now.
 

Jazmac

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ZDnet never disappoints. They house the most technically dishonest bloggers known in the universe. Why in gods name is he still running Windows XP in 20 dang 14?? Windows XP?? XP??? Seriously? This cat jumps to ChromeBooks because the best he and his wife could manage is using a browser, maybe. David Nitwitz is a technically dishonest and needs to stay away from all things Windows and we should quit reading his blogs. He isn't mentally fit for Windows 8 and Windows X could cause him to have an aneurism.
 

trekgraham

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Hahaha! I did the opposite. I moved away, far away from anything google to Microsoft. Never tried the fruit co and I refuse to even go there.
I personally have owned a couple Macs mainly MacBook's overpriced machines. Linux is not for the mainstream. Android is so fragmented, having owned a few phones running it. Cheap Android phones suck, expensive Android phones are mediocre. My first Windows phone was a Lumia 521, now on a Lumia 635. Windows is smooth from cheap to expensive.
 
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I don't see myself ever leaving the Windows Platform as a whole....

I certainly wouldn't downgrade to a Chromebook.

I'd at best leave WINDOWS PHONE for an iPhone(did it.....before)

But this ecosystem, flawed as it is, is amazing to me and nothing can compare. It really does seem like these bloggers have something against Microsoft these days.
 

Funky Cricket

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"hi, I am a home user, with limited functionality, and no cross platform support! I use evernote for everything and life rules!"

What ever, he admits he does everything for his real job in MS anyway.
 

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