Possible retrenchment from MS

[Polychrome]

Call me an Ayn Rand, but if you go by "faith" in a company you have already lost.

I will say I've lost faith in fansites over the past couple years. Not just mobile nations by any means. I remember similar discussions in Nintendo circles before the Switch came out. Everything from the inevitability of Nintendo turning Link into a girl to going software only and the "next console" being their ONE FREAKIN' LAST CHANCE.

If clickbaity blog articles are anything to go by, every company that has a fan following is DOOMED DOOMED DOOMED. If I wasn't living my life by the code of "there is nothing new under the sun", I might be disheartened. To be honest, I'm almost considering making popcorn when I visit this site to see how the world is ending today. Yes, that's right. This site has gone from being an interesting nerd-diversion to pure entertainment, as have similar pages. I suppose in this respect the clickbait works.

I use my windows phone because I hate Apple and Google's been acting disturbingly evil in their manipulations of search results for their political beliefs. Previously if asked to give up windows phone for one of the two, I would have said android for the customizability, but now I'd have to go Apple despite hating them due to all the snobs I was exposed to back in college. (This makes me sad, as I Looooooooooooove Samsung.) But as things stand, I'm a tech. Workarounds and bugfixes are my life. Apps? I've never had trouble getting something I *needed*. Wanted? Okay, can't sign into pokemon go. But anything I really needed and didn't have an app for, I had a webapp. (Any company that really wants your business will do everything they can do ensure you can spend money on them.) So I have no reason to move from where I am.

If there is a surface phone or likewise in my future I will buy myself a new toy. Otherwise? Life will go on. I get it. It's "cool" to hate microsoft, always has been, always will be. I'm responsible for no-one's enjoyment but my own.

One final addendum:

As far as workplace, coffee shops, etc, the devices I have seen growing in consumer use are the windows tablets, such as the surface. Macbooks and ipads have been in very steep decline. Take that for what you will. It says nothing for phones, but Microsoft may very well be right if their end goal is to stuff the whole PC in your pocket, which has been the goal all along.

 

[Aden Rossinni]

Yeah, I'm not going to complain much about the general state of the OS or what not. I'm, or WAS, a big MS fan, but they've lost me now. The thing that bothers me most is the way they communicate - or DON'T - to their customers about what is happening. Also, how they are, 'managing' what they do, the way they do it mostly leaving customers and OEM's in the lurch because they changed plan or their minds or because they didn't try hard enough. I'm just sick of it all. Groove was the nail in the coffin for me. Have started to pull the plug, and will not support them anymore. The problem is that there is no alternative as far as I can see - which makes me feel that MS has the monopoly, and not Google. Maybe, MS has little monopoly syndrome!!!! I truly dislike Apples high walls and their boring mobile OS. I really dislike their Mac OS, their trackpads and keyboards and the entire system. Android is terrible. So, what choice? MS rests on its laurels and that IS the problem. Google and Apple will eventually pass them on the road, kick more dust in their face and get to the finish line when MS doesn't even know it's in a race.

 

[Aden Rossinni]

I like what you're saying, but it's not faith for me, it's trust. You have to trust in them that they can produce what they say. Look at car companies. You have to trust. Not faith. MS keeps breaking that trust.

 

[Hans Swolfs]

No offense but it's astonishing how people tear down a company which has a proven track record on delivering services like Windows, Office, Xbox,... based on them canceling services...

I wonder what people would have answered here when Groove wasn't canceled or this happened over half a year ago.

Microsoft isn't going to ditch office/windows/Xbox and what not.

Yes they canceled Groove because it made them lose money : common business logic. Many alternatives so everyone should stop whining and get on with it.

Fwiw, I love my surface pro 3, Xbox, Samsung S8, office 365 sub and what else I'm using.

 

[Jazmac]

This is what I've been talking about with this new CEO for years and I took so much heat from members, I had to bite my tongue and simply post less. When Satya arrived on the scene, it was clear he has literally NO interest in anything other than Cloud services. From all the layoffs to the Watch to the phone, loss of personnel and personalities and now Groove. Satya simply is not invested in it. Never has been and doesn't want to be. He doesn't understand the complexity of this market and has shown this rejection time and time again. Next up he will jettison HaloLens.

 

[mobilejk]

"...possible retrenchment..." ??

Where have you been?

Microsoft has been in a defensive posture and retrenching since the antitrust loss. And to make matters worse they made a politically correct engineer with a narrow vision their CEO. Talk about a massive miscalculation. When the sorry history of Microsoft is written it mark the day they made Nadella the CEO the death knell for the company as a major ecosystem. Microsoft will be only a cloud company in the future.

 

[Great deal]

I run a company, earlier today I googled "office alternatives"...why?

The absolute disdain with which MS has treated shown its users and champions. They don't care, why the hell should I?

 

[Paul Wiseman]

I'm an owner of a Lumia 830 ,Xbox one, groove music pass, and a family office 365 pass.

I do still have a 120gig zune in mint condition.

Previous owner of a band 1 and 2. And windows Rt. All busted.

I've been trying to stick with my 830 until the next reboot is released. Todays news regarding groove makes me think I should jump into a new ecosystem. My kids know apple and android from their friends and School (google docs). They don't even know what msft is. For that matter neither do I anymore. if I go to android I will jump into the whole ecosystem. Buh bye OneDrive,Bing, office and Cortana. If msft has a hidden mobile card to play it better be soon while someone still cares

 

[fatclue_98]

This is what I've been talking about with this new CEO for years and I took so much heat from members, I had to bite my tongue and simply post less. When Satya arrived on the scene, it was clear he has literally NO interest in anything other than Cloud services. From all the layoffs to the Watch to the phone, loss of personnel and personalities and now Groove. Satya simply is not invested in it. Never has been and doesn't want to be. He doesn't understand the complexity of this market and has shown this rejection time and time again. Next up he will jettison HaloLens.

You mean HoloLens is still going? I don’t think Nadella is tone-deaf to the market or us users. I think he just doesn’t GAF. Cloud services means lower overhead than physical inventory which in turn means higher profits on the same income. I’m sure shareholders looove his vision of dividends quarter after quarter after quarter. In the same vein, as long as they provide me the products and software I need to make my life and work easier, I don’t GAF either. That’s the definition of a symbiotic relationship don’t you think?

 

[anon(50597)]

You mean HoloLens is still going? I don’t think Nadella is tone-deaf to the market or us users. I think he just doesn’t GAF. Cloud services means lower overhead than physical inventory which in turn means higher profits on the same income. I’m sure shareholders looove his vision of dividends quarter after quarter after quarter. In the same vein, as long as they provide me the products and software I need to make my life and work easier, I don’t GAF either. That’s the definition of a symbiotic relationship don’t you think?

But can’t both be done?
Fans don’t care about overhead and shareholders don’t care about features. Nail both and you’ve got a winner.

 

[naddy6969]

"Possible" retrenchment?

You have to be a major business/enterprise/something to still be all in with Microsoft. Home users/consumers are already shifting away, and for good reasons.

It is no longer a matter of "handwriting on the wall". It is now a 1,000 foot high banner being pulled by an airplane. It is not that Microsoft does not care about consumers. It is that the vast majority of consumers don't care about Microsoft.

It is WAY too late for Microsoft to still be dumping money into music players, music services, phones, watches etc. No one cares. Everyone is already fully involved with their iOS/Android/Amazon devices.

Microsoft was absurdly, comically late to the mobile party. It's all over now, and they know it. Time to focus on their strengths (enterprise/servers/cloud/domain management etc.) and just call it day in consumer products.

The consumer market is a VERY difficult place to be, and - more importantly - the business/enterprise market does not want to bet their business on a company that is also selling watches to teenagers.

There is a reason why the IBMs/Oracles/Ciscos of the business world have zero consumer products. It's about being focused on business/enterprise. Microsoft's leadership has realized that it can't do both, and there is only one path to take. Hence, "retrenchment".

As much as we might hate to realize this, phones/music/gadgets are not the answer for Microsoft. They have never really been a consumer oriented company. Well, maybe in the beginning, when it was computer hobbyists using MS BASIC on Apple 2s and TRS-80s. But ever since Windows/Office/SQL Server/Windows Servers, Microsoft has been pretty much all business.

 

[Tom Slayton]

I use both Microsoft and Apple products. I have a Dell XPS 15 and MacBook Pro 15 and get a lot of screen time on both. For mobile I use a an iPhone 6S. I have been waiting and waiting for Microsoft to come out with a high end phone that works on Verizon. As soon as they do I will buy it. If nothing happens though in the next year I suppose I pickup an iPhone X and that will be it for me for mobile for a few more years. I would like to see MS come out with a nice phone though.

 

[theefman]

https://i.imgur.com/OlLKcZ2.jpg

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Funniest thing I've read today!

Sent from mTalk

 

[ZantReve]

I highly doubt Microsoft would completely pull out of consumer products, only the products that are underperforming. Honestly, this is one of those situations that demand the reservation of judgment and waiting to see what will happen before coming to conclusions.

 

[Awhispersecho]

After 20 years, probably 40k in purchases and despite the 11 Windows devices currently in my house, I am now done. Xbox is great, the Surface devices are fantastic and Windows phone/Mobile with live tiles is incredible. But this company under this leadership simply doesn't deserve support from any consumer let alone someone who has spent this much money and convinced as many people as I have to use windows products only to look like an *****.

I just got a Note 8 to replace my Dual Sim 950XL that I bought brand new for 600 bucks just 6 months ago. I love my Surface Pro 4 but will probably get something running Chrome OS next year to replace it. I went from preordering an Xbox Oone X to possibly passing on it all together. I pay for Office 365 just to have the Onedrive storage but I may go with Dropbox or another cloud service at some point.

When the dust settles, I will probably end up still using Outlook and Windows for my Gaming rig only because that's the only option. Other than that, I have no plans to support this company anymore. I have a few very nice Windows Phones to sell along with a nice laptop I think I want to get rid of.

Can MS get me back, probably. But it will take a dramatic change of direction and more importantly, a dramatic change in their attitude towards consumers. They have literally taken a dump on the people who got them to where they are today and that's something I refuse to support. This coming from someone who despises Google and Apple. Unfortunately, I've been driven into their wide open arms.

I will also add that in the end, I don't think any of this will matter. I have been saying for over a year that MS is done in the consumer space. As it stands now, they could change leadership, net for forgiveness and release some killer products and it would still be too late. Leaving Mobile has done irreversible damage to them and Windows itself and I honestly believe that within 5 years MS and Windows will be irrelevant to consumers.

Windows will be on it's last leg, they will be losing enterprise as well, Xbox will be sold off and MS will be a shell of it's formal self. Leaving the biggest market in the world when they needed to stay in the minds of consumers will be the end of them. No-one under 20 gives a damn about MS or Windows, that's the future.

 

[fatclue_98]

But can’t both be done?
Fans don’t care about overhead and shareholders don’t care about features. Nail both and you’ve got a winner.

Not with the present management.

I don’t know enough about Nadella’s history with the company to determine what makes him tick but it doesn’t appear he has the forward thinking skills to move Microsoft into the next phase of its existence. I do know that putting all your eggs in one basket is inherently dangerous and cloud computing is a ways out from mainstream acceptance. OneCore is a viable theory and may be the glue that keeps mobile together for the foreseeable future. UWP isn’t taking hold as well as he thought it would and retrenchment is the typical response from a leader who didn’t think to have a Plan B in place. I’d love to get him at a card table - I wouldn’t need to get a lottery ticket.

 

[vEEP pEEP]

Well if there is no new phone, I am changing ecosystems. What do I use MS for?

• home desktop,
• WP phone
• O365 for mostly OneDrive

While OneDrive is great for storage. Amazon Drive is cheaper. I would drop 0365 and go with Amazon.

My desktop - just use it for surfing and games. I'd stick with that.

I'd most likely move to Android - and use all their apps, and have no need for MS.
I would use Gmail and all their services, including mapping and search. Yes, I used to use Bing.

Eventually I think MS will become just a cloud provider and ultimately get pushed away by growing Asian markets.

MS has to have a consumer presence of they will just fade away.

They did great work with Windows, Xbox. But Hololens, Cortana - they just can't market.

I hope that changes, because I want to see them with a comeback!

 

[SimonMelb]

The issue is things like Groove, whilst it may not make money itself, makes a consumer "sticky" as they call it, less likely to leave or drop other Microsoft services.
I am one of those, I am really considering ditching other Microsoft services now as there were a lot of benefits with Groove that I just don't see now.
Some used Bing a lot more than Google search for points to pay for Groove, this is just one example. There are other such as music videos on the Xbox One.

 

[fpostrow]

Starting? STARTING ? It's over.

 

[badtzbuzz]

Already transitioned to Android phone for my entire family, we keep our 950XL'd around for legacy games like Minecraft worlds saved locally.

With the announcement of Groove closing, it's a sign I shouldn't spend any more money on MS ecosystem, only to have them abandone us again and again...Lumia's, Band, Windows Mobile, Groove, GroupMe, Home Automation partners (Insteon and Smarthings)...etc.

I'll likely keep Office 365 and outlook.com