Microsoft and their anti-consumer practices

[HeyCori]

Contact Microsoft and let them know that you will not stand for their anti-consumer practices. It was only a year ago when Nadella's new mantra was "mobile first, cloud first." Since then, the only thing they've done for consumers is limit cloud functionality, reduce cloud storage, and allowed their mobile phone business to fall by the wayside. That is not a mobile first, cloud first company. It seems the only group Microsoft tries to please anymore are their business customers. It's time to remind Microsoft that they are not too big to fail.

Satya Nadella CEO
Email: satyan@microsoft.com (could be wrong)
Twitter: https://twitter.com/satyanadella

OneDrive
https://twitter.com/onedrive

Scott Guthrie Cloud and Enterprise Group
https://twitter.com/scottgu

 

[Spectrum90]

The new plans are more in line with their competitors'. I think you're exaggerating a bit here.

 

[MarCou]

Why bother? They are independent company and they can do what ever they want to. Customers choose do they like or not companys products and services. If you don't like choose another product.
Capitalism is a wonderful thing that wipes incompetent companies away over the time.
So simple is that.

Posted via the Windows Central App for Android

 

[elindalyne]

I was under the impression this was the plan all along? Yeah this change is going to step on some people's toes, but I'm sure they ran some numbers before announcing this decision. $2 a month is practically nothing and most people won't even blink. If you're using office 365 1 TB is more than enough for most people and businesses. People that hoard multiple TB worth of files in online storage aren't the norm.

Was the unlimited OneDrive storage with office 365 too good to be true? Absolutely.

 

[Ten Four]

The problem is now it makes using OneDrive feel like you've fallen for the "deal" at a sleazy used car dealer. It was the classic bait-and-switch move. I am not a heavy user at all--mainly uploaded photos from a couple of 5mp Windows Phones and I can see the 5GB of free storage is almost used up. I have no need of or desire to purchase Office365 for home use, when there are free office suites that do everything any home user could possibly need. Essentially, it just hands a huge number of phone customers to Google for free. Maybe MS considers this the low-end of the market with little in the way of profits, but I thought budget phones for the masses was part of their grand plan? Budget phone buyers and users all over the world are going to compare: free storage for photos vs. paid storage. Easy choice.

 

[AgentMulders]

I don't think Satya will be replying to my tweet, but I'll just add my voice to the thousands already shouting about this

 

[elindalyne]

The problem is now it makes using OneDrive feel like you've fallen for the "deal" at a sleazy used car dealer. It was the classic bait-and-switch move. I am not a heavy user at all--mainly uploaded photos from a couple of 5mp Windows Phones and I can see the 5GB of free storage is almost used up. I have no need of or desire to purchase Office365 for home use, when there are free office suites that do everything any home user could possibly need. Essentially, it just hands a huge number of phone customers to Google for free. Maybe MS considers this the low-end of the market with little in the way of profits, but I thought budget phones for the masses was part of their grand plan? Budget phone buyers and users all over the world are going to compare: free storage for photos vs. paid storage. Easy choice.

$2/month is practically nothing. Should they have kept the camera roll bonus? Probably.

 

[jmshub]

I think this iteration of Microsoft is the most consumer friendly they have been, perhaps ever. Cross platform compatibility all around is something that Microsoft has never attempted before. I feel like they are truly innovating and competing again in the open market.

What has Microsoft done to limit cloud functionality or cloud storage? OneDrive may some bugs they have yet to work out, but they have a decent amount of free storage, on-par with the competition.

Windows Phone is in transition. Perhaps they did allow the development cycle to cause a lull in the market for too long, it is too early to say they have allowed it to go by the wayside.

You seem very upset, but you really don't have any solid explanation as to why. With recent rollouts of Windows 10, the well regarded Band 2, the new Surface Pro 4 and Surface Book, and the new phones coming soon, it feels to me like a good time to be a Windows user.

 

[Pete]

What has Microsoft done to limit cloud functionality or cloud storage? .

You may have missed the news that Microsoft is cutting the size limit of OneDrive accounts.

But with everything else, you're right.

 

[jmshub]

I hadn't caught up to the news yet this morning, and had missed the news. It is a disappointment for OneDrive users. But overall, it still seems like a little bit of an overreaction to call MS anti-consumer over this one flub.

 

[Pete]

Personally speaking, I should just remove some junk from OneDrive, but I can see how people have stored their photos/music/videos on there so they can be used by many devices. Then again, I don't really mind spending a quid or two a month for storage.

 

[Ten Four]

I hadn't caught up to the news yet this morning, and had missed the news. It is a disappointment for OneDrive users.

It essentially writes off the average phone buyer as a customer. They want unlimited photo backup, and Google offers it for free. The high end phone market will never be pried from Apple's grasp, and I highly doubt they will be able to get traction with Enterprise and phones which takes years and years of trust and work. So much for phones. Yes, maybe high-end Surface buyers will spring for paid storage, but not the average person--why pay when you can get more storage for free on other services? They are conceding the mass market to Google.

 

[Reflexx]

I'm mainly unhappy about the removal of the camera roll bonus.

A large portion of my OneDrive account is pictures and video taken using my Windows Phone devices.

 

[Pete]

It essentially writes off the average phone buyer as a customer. They want unlimited photo backup, and Google offers it for free. The high end phone market will never be pried from Apple's grasp, and I highly doubt they will be able to get traction with Enterprise and phones which takes years and years of trust and work. So much for phones. Yes, maybe high-end Surface buyers will spring for paid storage, but not the average person--why pay when you can get more storage for free on other services? They are conceding the mass market to Google.

To put this in perspective (and your claim that Google offers unlimited cloud storage):

* Google Drive only offers 15Gb free, anything above that, you have to pay for
* iCloud only offers 5Gb free, anything above that is also paid for

In comparison, Microsoft has literally given away far more storage. Something which has been taken for granted, and therefore completely ignored.

 

[HeyCori]

I hadn't caught up to the news yet this morning, and had missed the news. It is a disappointment for OneDrive users. But overall, it still seems like a little bit of an overreaction to call MS anti-consumer over this one flub.

Let's not forget Microsoft's original online-only plan for the Xbox One. The only reason they reversed that decision was because of consumer/retailer outrage. And as an old school SkyDrive user, I've seen my storage drop from 25GB to 5GB. I have 9GBs of work files on there that I will likely have to upload to a different service. I can understand wanting to be inline with competitors (though Google now has them at 15GB > 5GB), but why not grandfather in the people that had 25 or 15 gigs? It's not like we signed up for a promotion and then the promotion ran out. We signed up at the minimum level of service.

Microsoft has made great strides in becoming a consumer friendly, platform agnostic company. But every so often they make a decision that is mindboggling. As a consumer that has purchased several of their products and services, I have the right to call them out on it.

 

[elindalyne]

Who knows, they'll probably change some of the decision with all the outrage. Or they'll just lose the relatively small number of customers actually affected by this change and make far more money on the backend when the $1.99/month starts rolling in.

A business exists to make money. Yeah Microsoft has been really great in terms of innovation and perks lately, but at the end of the day it exists to make money.

 

[anon(8532178)]

Why bother? They are independent company and they can do what ever they want to. Customers choose do they like or not companys products and services. If you don't like choose another product.
Capitalism is a wonderful thing that wipes incompetent companies away over the time.
So simple is that.

Posted via the Windows Central App for Android

Here here.

 

[Pete]

Let's not forget Microsoft's original cloud-only plan for the Xbox One.

I don't believe that the Xbox One cloud storage forms part of your OneDrive allocation.

 

[anon(8532178)]

Who knows, they'll probably change some of the decision with all the outrage. Or they'll just lose the relatively small number of customers actually affected by this change and make far more money on the backend when the $1.99/month starts rolling in.

A business exists to make money. Yeah Microsoft has been really great in terms of innovation and perks lately, but at the end of the day it exists to make money.

I agree.

 

[elindalyne]

If you think about it, the free tier change and the 100 gb -> 50 gb change incentivizes more people to use Office 365. Not only do they get office, but they'll also get 1TB of storage(more than enough for the average consumer). I can absolutely see my parents using it.