Article: "Time to Cut Microsoft Some Slack; Surface 2 Shows They Understand Mobile"

[Pete]

It's like listening to Trevor....

Windows RT may fail, that's true. Microsoft is no stranger to innovating themselves into a one-way street. But, they have the guts to innovate and to move their vision forwards where others are (quite frankly) stagnating. I'm investing in the platform because Windows RT suits my needs more than the other competing platforms.

Apple succeeded because the innovated first. They then managed to continue that by improving their core products over time. People got used to buying a whole new device every 18 months - they had to because all their friends were doing the same (being seen with a previous generation iPhone is a source of embarrassment). That's what Apple did so brilliantly. Android has done the same thing, but cater for people who want the Apple feeling without spending Apple prices (and having the luxury of a bewildering array of devices (some working better than others).

Microsoft are so far behind because they're so late to field their products and the products they've released to the field are radically different to what's already out there. A Donkey in the Kentucky Derby kind of different.

But, this Donkey does what I want it to. I don't care if it wins, I don't even care that much if it finishes.

 

[JKing106]

Good luck when they kill it, and pull support, then. Ask Zune HD folks how they feel about that.

 

[martinmc78]

Everything I wrote is fact. Microsoft is completely clueless when it comes to the consumer market, as evidenced by the colossal failure of the RT, which will be repeated by the S2, unless they completely revamp their marketing strategy.

Some of you seem to think I'm a Microsoft hater. You're wrong. I want the Surface and Windows Phone to succeed. I want the competition. I'm criticizing Microsoft's astounding stupidity and arrogance when it comes to marketing and intuiting what the consumers will accept
It's as if they're trying to fail.

Well, I will agree with you on the marketing they do suck at that. The RT vs ipad ads are a good start but they are a year late. They should have been running those from the surface announcement event not 10 months into the product lifecycle. I think your point about the acceptance of Apple and android devices is a little off though but its still down to MS dropping the ball and not modifying the range of windows slates that were already running for enterprise into consumer devices. Apple created a new market for themselves with consumption touchscreen devices and Android followed them into it. Until we were told we needed one by Steve Jobs everyone was still playing with netbooks.

 

[Abe Vinjamuri]

The criticism is fine, maybe the tone could be a bit more mellow.

As one of the MBAs who might do some work for the very guys you praise and criticize, especially around future products and tech, I believe MS is ahead of Apple in terms of product capabilities - the key one being product convergence and building computing around the consumer (which has always been Apple's thing). Google in my opinion given their organizational structure is at the top in this regard. Now where MS continues to struggle is fast execution. I personally think they are about a year and half behind where they should be. Hopefully the reorg will help speed up this process.

On a side note, the 9 million iPhone thing - when the entire world was going nuts about Apple had peaked out and the launch was a non-starter, I had good enough reasons (and info) to believe otherwise - and we're seeing that play out. (I still have a wager that Apple's stock will not go down compared to the launch at the end of the year)

Everything I wrote is fact. Microsoft is completely clueless when it comes to the consumer market, as evidenced by the colossal failure of the RT, which will be repeated by the S2, unless they completely revamp their marketing strategy.

Some of you seem to think I'm a Microsoft hater. You're wrong. I want the Surface and Windows Phone to succeed. I want the competition. I'm criticizing Microsoft's astounding stupidity and arrogance when it comes to marketing and intuiting what the consumers will accept
It's as if they're trying to fail.

 

[Robert Novak1]

You know, if RT had a more robust app selection than no one would question the validity of the OS.

You know if MS would have just created one NEW version of Windows CE, they could have had the unification from the get go....Windows RT should have been WP - the dialer.

 

[Reflexx]

Everything I wrote is fact. Microsoft is completely clueless when it comes to the consumer market, as evidenced by the colossal failure of the RT, which will be repeated by the S2, unless they completely revamp their marketing strategy.

Some of you seem to think I'm a Microsoft hater. You're wrong. I want the Surface and Windows Phone to succeed. I want the competition. I'm criticizing Microsoft's astounding stupidity and arrogance when it comes to marketing and intuiting what the consumers will accept
It's as if they're trying to fail.

I have a problem with you saying that everything you wrote is fact, when it's pretty much all OPINION.

You have the right to that opinion. You may think that it's a we'll supported opinion. But it's still opinion.

That always rubs me the wrong way when people think their opinions are facts. It makes me question their whole argument when they can't get that simple thing straight.

 

[JKing106]

$900 million with of unsold inventory backs up my "opinion."

 

[Reflexx]

$900 million with of unsold inventory backs up my "opinion."

And? Your post was about your opinion as to why that happened. Not about what the numbers are.

So again, you gave a long winded opinion and stated that it was "fact."

Why should I trust your logic or analysis when you couldn't get that straight?

smh

 

[JKing106]

Like I said, denial isn't going to change Microsoft's problems. Shake your head all you want. The RT is an abject failure due to Microsoft's incompetence, and it looks like history is going to repeat itself with the S2. It's a shame. They're nice devices. I plan on getting an RT for $99 on Black Friday.

 

[surfacedude]

Well, that's a long post, but the only real complaint you had about the surface was that the keyboard sometimes doesn't appear upon waking. Hardly a ground-breaking issue, and I've not seem hoards of people complain about that. Compared with Apple's debacle regarding their maps app, and their ineffectual lock screen security, it's small beans.

Hardly anyone prefers Internet Explorer? A quick look shows that it holds over a 20% market share (second behind Chrome). IE is the standard internet browser for most businesses.

i also said that i could go and i'll take your invitation and do just that. re: internet explorer, you should work for microsoft given that you're on the kool aid, too. these charts say it all:

Browser Statistics

if you think that's not alarming, then...well i'm not sure what to say because it obviously alarming. if those same charts were about profits, lots of people would have been fired. re: businesses, i work at a business and no one uses explorer. i take that back. there are a handful of people that use IE and they are all, everyone one them, 50 or older. what's let of IE is generational. anyone trying to sell the message that microsoft didn't squander an opportunity w/ IE is drinking that stuff. you can't look at the decline of IE and say, "yeah, that's the kind of success we want!"

other issues i'e had w/ surface rt and pro...still love the devices, but these are just sloppy problem. in addition to the log-in keyboard, here are some other sloppy issues that disrupt the user experience.

the volume is too low even when maxed; the micro car slot under the kickstand sometimes doesn't work; sometimes i have plug in the rt to get it wake up even though the battery is charged; on rt, some apps are too intense to run smoothly (xbox music, for example); on the rt, often there's a visible lag between typing and characters appearing on the screen; sometimes there's a lag between the words someone is saying on screen and their mouths even though i'm on a very fast wireless network; lots of connectivity issues; the battery life on the pro is atrocious (just being honest. it's a portable computer that requires being near an outlet); often the auto-sync between devices w/ music just doesn't sync properly; skydrive app often doesn't recognize that i'm me and only on the rt or pro...desktop and phone work fine; screen resolution on the rt is way too low for a tablet at that price point; standby battery life is pretty terrible...i've had m ipad 4 on sleep mode for at least two weeks after fully charging it and only woke it up recently to upgrade to ios7...had something like 69% of the battery life left...surface rt dies while asleep even on a full charge after about 4 days. that may seem small, but i don;t think i've ever reach for my ipad and found it dead. i have done that often w/ my rt and pro.; the way the power cord connects to the surface tablets is terrible because it's not secure and can easily scratch the finish...it's just a poor design there; the camera quality is pretty awful for tablets are the surface price point...even if you don't take pictures w/ a tablet, the bar is just higher than that; there are also lots of little tings like certain app or background flashing through when another app is opening...again seems small, but it disrupts or prevents you from having a seamless experience; why can't microsoft design the desktop and the metro interface to transition seamlessly? again that's just sloppy. even if you use identical background or wallpaper, they look different when going from metro to desktop for some reason. again user experience. you may think it's nitpicking, but i think it's sloppy to just leave it like that when you could fix it. that attention to detail make a difference.

i can go on if you want. for example, the photo editing software w/ windows 8.1 is terrible on the rt. maybe they'll fix that when the full 8.1 is update, but it seems like a resource issue to me. most of these thigns are hardware related or optimization related. i can list more and haven't even really gotten into the software slop.

but again, i'm not so disatisfied that i'm moving away from windows. overall, i prefer the microsoft product. i just wish they would focus perfecting their products rather than letting great stuff die. the zune was a better product than the ipod and so was the zune music store. microsoft didn't even give it a fighting chance. they came to the market late and tried to offer the device as a straight up competitor w/ the ipod. people are already invested. you need to offer them a deal they can't refuse OR do something revolutionary. the zune and the surface are exceptional devices, but they aren't revolutionary. and microsoft isn't offering a deal that too good to pass up. it's a recipe for failure, i think, but i hope i'm wrong.

 

[tgp]

Do you write for a tech website? Sounds exactly like the filth they come out with.

Why exactly do you call it filth? Because he wrote something you don't agree with? It's interesting how an article like this one is reverenced here, but an article speaking against Microsoft is full of lies and the publisher is iPaid and the author laid down his iPhone for 3 minutes while he begrudgingly picked up the device for review and wrote while his brainwashed head was up his backside. Go over to iMore or AndroidCentral, and the opinions on the same articles are flip flopped. Who's right?

 

[JKing106]

Why exactly do you call it filth? Because he wrote something you don't agree with? It's interesting how an article like this one is reverenced here, but an article speaking against Microsoft is full of lies and the publisher is iPaid and the author laid down his iPhone for 3 minutes while he begrudgingly picked up the device for review and wrote while his brainwashed head was up his backside. Go over to iMore or AndroidCentral, and the opinions on the same articles are flip flopped. Who's right?

Well, I just got a mod warning for "insulting" other members. Seems some people take criticism of their interests as a personal insult, which was not my intent. Like I said, I want to see the Surface succeed. I'm just not a Kool-Aid drinker, and never will be. If I see something wrong, I say something about it, not fall in line.

 

[surfacedude]

I have a problem with you saying that everything you wrote is fact, when it's pretty much all OPINION.

You have the right to that opinion. You may think that it's a we'll supported opinion. But it's still opinion.

That always rubs me the wrong way when people think their opinions are facts. It makes me question their whole argument when they can't get that simple thing straight.

come on, man. you're trying to undermine his point my parsing the word "fact"? disagree w/ him if you want, but i think what he's saying is true. the truth is what we say about the facts. if you went into a board meeting at microsoft and said: "i have this idea for us to build awesome tablets that under-perform in important ways. i also have this a great marketing idea. let severely restrict access to the number of ways you can buy these tablets and several months from the release date, lets make the tablet broadly available just to miss whatever hype the release might have created. oh yeah, and lets build a ton of these things to go along w/ this marketing strategy. something to the tune of $900 billion in excess inventory. so yeah, that's the plan and i personally think it's a winning strategy. who is w/ me?"

i have someone would have to channel donald trump and say: "yer fired."

to suggest that microsoft really needs to change their marketing strategy true. if you think that's an opinion, fine, but it seems like a fact, right? there initial strategy failed costing microsoft nearly a TRILLION dollars. yeah, they need to not do what they did the first time and that's a fact. let prove it. what ceo in their right mind would actually disagree w/ this: a marketing strategy that instead of generating profit actually cost the company nearly a trillion dollars is in fact a poor strategy in need of changing. maybe ballmer, but it appears that he's being forced out. who else? anyone? anyone?

 

[Pete]

i also said that i could go and i'll take your invitation and do just that. re: internet explorer, you should work for microsoft given that you're on the kool aid, too. these charts say it all:

Browser Statistics

if you think that's not alarming, then...well i'm not sure what to say because it obviously alarming. if those same charts were about profits, lots of people would have been fired. re: businesses, i work at a business and no one uses explorer. i take that back. there are a handful of people that use IE and they are all, everyone one them, 50 or older. what's let of IE is generational. anyone trying to sell the message that microsoft didn't squander an opportunity w/ IE is drinking that stuff. you can't look at the decline of IE and say, "yeah, that's the kind of success we want!"

The fun thing about statistics is that you can easily find web sites to support your theory. The page you linked to only has statistics for that one site. Read the note at the bottom that points out how statistics can be misleading and that the technical nature of the web site attracts the kind of people who actively make choices about their browser.

For a more balanced view, try this one.

StatCounter Global Stats - Browser, OS, Search Engine including Mobile Market Share

Statcounter is embedded into 3 million websites worldwide, tracking 15 billion hits per month.

 

[cckgz4]

Blind bashing has always been the trend. If everyone supports one thing, you look like a rebel supporting the company that no one takes a look at, despite how great they may be. Does Microsoft have it all together? No. But Windows 8/Windows Phone is a GREAT product. People seem to confuse that with their own personal preferences, so a bias is sure to be apparent. iOS and Android (tablet or phone) doesn't work for me, but I don't think they are "weaker" OS. I see their tablets to be an absolute waste of money if I own their phone, so for me it's like owning a bigger version of the mobile piece. And as far as the phones go, that's a personal preference. Windows Phone fits my needs better in the mobile space, and their tablets go BEYOND being just an extension of their mobile space. It works as an actual computer, which is something I've waited for a company to do. Yeah it might be fun to play games on a big screen but if I'm going to shell out 400 for something, it needs to replace a device in my house, not add to the clutter.

 

[cckgz4]

The fun thing about statistics is that you can easily find web sites to support your theory. The page you linked to only has statistics for that one site. Read the note at the bottom that points out how statistics can be misleading and that the technical nature of the web site attracts the kind of people who actively make choices about their browser.

For a more balanced view, try this one.

StatCounter Global Stats - Browser, OS, Search Engine including Mobile Market Share

Statcounter is embedded into 3 million websites worldwide, tracking 15 billion hits per month.

How soon do we forget this?

 

[vertigoOne]

The article was well balanced. It also points out that there are many areas where improvement is necessary. No Kool-Aid drinking going on there.

Like I said above, the subject is touchy because people that have already invested their money/time/self in other products do not want to hear anything but negativity about the competition. Funny that THAT Kool-Aid is strong enough to bleed into a "Windows Phone Central" forum topic about one article that breaks the mold, in a forum specifically about that device.

 

[Michael Alan Goff]

I know this is a cliche thing to say nowadays, but it still holds true. If Apple had released OS X RT, two things would happen. Everybody at WPCentral would be pointing out the flaws while everybody else would be buying the newest model even if they already have the first one. :|

 

[HeyCori]

Since so many people can't seem to stay on topic, thread closed.