Microsoft and the Consumer

[Scott McBurney]

These days, I keep wondering what the hell is going on over at Microsoft? They really seem to be totally ignoring the typical consumers (of which millions are running Windows). The only consumer product over there, other than windows, that seems to be semi-successful is Xbox. They seem to be so focused on Azure, they are almost completely ignoring the consumer market. (I'm ok with a focus on Azure, I'm a developer and the company I work for has gone all in on Azure).

First it was windows on phones, they were making great progress in my opinion, but then they bought Nokia and killed everything. Then went the music subscription service. Then the Microsoft Band bit the dust (I loved my Band 2). I enjoy renting movies through the micorosoft store (I use my rewards points usually), but I can't watch them on my Android phone. Cortana was making progress with the HK Invoke and the GLAS thermostat, but now the multi-user feature of the HK Invoke has been removed and Cortana development seems to have ground to a halt. Even development of the Office suite seems to be practically dead.

Now we hear that the Windows 10 releases this year are really just changing things up under the hood, and there will be no significant features. In fact, I used to run insider releases on my laptop, but with the 19H1 releases they could NOT be installed on my HP Spectre x360 - every install freezes at some point, and rebooting causes a rollback. I hear reports that this also happens to a number of Dell laptops. Despite much feedback sent, and some direct communication with Microsoft about the problem, there has never been a resolution.

The biggest nail in the coffin to me was the latest update to Outlook on Android - I used it to get my personal email and my corporate email (via Office 365). It notifies me when I get new email from work, but refuses to display any new emails. Removing the account and re-adding it gets new messages then, but after that no more syncing.

For a company with a huge group of developers, progress on anything but Azure just seems to have come to a complete halt this year. And I'm guessing I'm not the only consumer that is getting entirely annoyed by this. I know Azure is brining in a lot of money, but good consumer products with a little marketing and better availability should be a big priority. So why the seeming complete drop the consumer product market?

 

[Golfdriver97]

So why the seeming complete drop the consumer product market?

My guess is they are resting on their laurels. How many people realize there are options to OS other than MacOS and Windows? Probably 5% of the entire population? MS still has a big marketshare, and they are just betting that people won't switch.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying it's right; just that is probably the way things are. I am a gamer, and I would probably be running a different OS if more games on Steam played well with Linux or SteamOS (most of mine don't).

 

[mtf1380]

I believe there is a BIG transition of technology going on and the people with bigger brains than mine are working diligently behind the scenes getting ready for the inevitable - like going from fosile fuel to electric, manually driving to full automation. I would applaud any company that would: direct through manipulation; imply through lack of choice; or say, "don't invest alot of money on that fossil powered vehcile, but wait, and make due with what you have the best you can... and next year you can buy a fully automated, fully supported, fully economical, fully electical/solor/pedal/whatever flying pod. As opposed to them saying "buy this soon-to-be-obsolete-product now, and wind up regretting the purchase the following year. Just my humble (and optimistic) opinion.

 

[Adventurer64]

I'll use my employer as an example and how the lack of consumer products is impacting IT decisions. First, iPhone is the only choice for company provided phones. In fact most of my coworkers carry two iphones one for work and one for personal. 10 to 15 years ago my company provided Palm, Blackberry, Windows and flip phones. Second, all company issued tablets are now iPads and IT has stopped issuing Windows tablets, including Surface, because of deployment difficulties and other issues. ipad deployment at our company is significant. Each plant has dozens that are used by operators, QC technicians, shipping, etc. Most of our sales agents carry an iphone and ipad. Lastly, I've seen a few Macs deployed at the corporate level for content creators. I'm seeing more and more ipads being used by retailers and restaurants. It's rate to see a windows based device. I think Apples strength in consumer markets is helping Apple gain traction with small businesses and corporations.

 

[Roger Stenson]

Microsoft and Consumers

 

[Roger Stenson]

I have come to the conclusion that putting Outlook on to Mobile Devices is a waste of time.

I don't do Outlook type work on mobiles so it does not matter to me..

Syncing to the mobile -suppliers apps using Exchange sorts out the access to both mail and calendars much better on Apple and Samsung mobiles phones and watches. Until I I did this viewing mail and appointments on my watches was a nightmare with both suppliers

I am hopeful the Duo will sort these problems out in the Android environment.
Roger Stenson

 

[naddy6969]

Microsoft is ignoring consumers because consumers are ignoring Microsoft. Period.

All MS recent consumer products failed. Phones, music, Cortana, etc. Everyone here knows the list.

The fact is, most people hate Windows. Its too old/complicated/slow/difficult/whatever. More importantly, it is perceived as "something you use at work". People can't wait to go home to their phones and ipads.

Windows 10 might have a billion users, but the vast majority of them are business users. So they use Windows 10 for 8 hours a day, and not at all on weekends. MS knows this, thus recent Windows 10 updates are focused on business needs.

Windows 8 was consumer focused, and we all know how well that worked out. MS is simply concentrating on where the money is.

As any well-managed company should.

 

[me just saying]

People are lazy, most couldn't care less about the operating system on their computer. as long as it does want they need it to do, who cares. when windows was first released, I called it the lazy persons operating system. It makes using a computer a whole lot easier. I really did not use it much until win98 because I found it faster to do things in DOS. People today says windows is complicated. How so? it is only complicated because they really don't know how to use it. It is still very simple to use compared to using the command prompt, just got to open a few more windows.mouse clicks.

IMO, Microsoft had some throwaway operating systems. winme, vista, win8 are the three most hated versions of windows. But they were used in order to forced users to get better computers so the next version would be highly successful. for example, winxp, win7 and win 10 are users favorites because by the time they came around, computers had the proper amount of ram and there were drivers available. There are other reasons too but thats for another time. In the past, you had to upgrade the computer to run the newer software and not just talking about windows, so they had to be replaced every couple of years. Now, computers are usable a whole lot longer because of what microsoft did. Yea it is still nice to get a new computer every couple of years but it is not really necessary anymore.

As far as microsoft devices. Microsoft built them but could not get support for them. developers would not work with them like they do with android or apple. but they had the right idea but their timing was off. again they wanted to make it easy on the consumer. why learn several operating systems when one would work for everything.

yes, microsoft has had some bad updates, a lot more lately than in the past but tell me what operating system does not have bad updates. You just hear about microsoft problems because they are so much bigger. around 70 percent of the computers have windows. so of course news of problems are more widely spread and louder. it is not easy to build an operating system that would work on millions upon millions of combination of hardware and software. It is extremely difficult to build a one fit all operating system. even android and linux has the same problem. apple not so much since there are so few models and they refuses to allow their os on non apple computers. that is one way they protect their reputation.

Now before some calls me a microsoft ******, I am a linux user I have windows on one computer in case it is needed but my other four computers have linux on them, no dual booting. I have been using linux for almost 15 years but I see nothing wrong with giving credit where credit is due. I have watched and used windows since the beginning at work and at home.