Why do you choose Microsoft products?

[MyNL822]

I fell in love with the tiles.

 

[smoledman]

Inertia. Was on the early Windows 3.0/95 bandwagon and had no reason to switch until iOS stuff came out.

 

[Jose_Rey]

Because they work and are a cheaper alternative to Apple. I have tried Android stuff and no matter the specs, it always seems to just lag or freeze or whatever. Plus, I really LOVE 'em TILES!

 

[killer rin]

To be completely honest, I'm not sure why I ended up with Microsoft. Though If I had to guess, it all stated back when I got an Xbox Original for Christmas when it initially came out. I fell in love with Halo and all the games and enjoyed them much more than what I had on the PS1. Then I've pretty much always have used Windows, and when it came time to get a phone, it only took one look at Windows Phone, and I was sold with its Xbox integration and how its designed around you.

..Funny thing now is that I rarely even play games on my phone, But I love the look of the OS and will probably never change unless I'm forced to.

 

[Dantekai14]

Depends I guess. I think 8.1 has improved windows phone dramatically and the surface is good for certain people.

Yep, it improved.
But again MS didn't forget to make wp8.1 extra special for USA only.

 

[oviedofreak82]

I've been a loyal Microsoft user since 2006 when I bought my first smartphone, the Samsung Blackjack i-607, Samsung Blackjack II, LG Incite, Samsung Jack, HTC HD7, Nokia Lumia 521, now 925. Except for the LG Incite, I have always used Microsoft smartphones and have loved every minute that I had it. I also love my Surface RT 64 GB, still trying to get the rest of my family on board with Skype on their iPads, who knows I might end up converting them to Microsoft products & services besides their desktop computers or laptops. But for me, Microsoft had always had user friendly products that are widely known and their support its great. I don't plan on using any other platform other than Microsoft.

 

[Oliverspin]

I love Microsoft products. To tell you the truth, I love most products despite the company. I like technology in general. The defining factor is the image Microsoft puts out. A product isn't too simple, but it's not horribly complicated, it looks great, it runs great, and it's modern. I know that their products are powerful and diverse, you have powerful programs, and good visuals. Microsoft advertises heavily for business and I'm not a part of a business, but that image is attractive to me because businesses are fast, effective, and important.

 

[CrossedFaith]

There's a few things when it comes to my Lumia.

1) It just works right out of the box. Boom.

2) Metro UI. On a touch interface, the UI is AMAZING. It's so sleek.

3) the apps/integration with my microsoft account. Very nice.

As far as their OS goes, the OS is stable. It doesn't get viruses, really, unless you do something you shouldn't. Frequent updates, it works out of the box, etc. (As much as I love Linux, sometimes stuff doesn't work right away and takes a good bit of tinkering.)

on the point of viruses...there was a meme I read somewhere that described it perfectly.

People blame the computers as if the computer downloaded and installed the virus intentionally, where in actuality its people seeing something like "totally legit bikini girls riding a moose into the sunset.exe" and..yeah. *end random thought*

TL;DR:

Good products (Not you, Vista.), good support, surprisingly robust, etc.

 

[TLRtheory]

Mostly because the alternatives disappointed me.

Tablets: Tried the iPad, went through tons of Android tablets... they were all... little toy OS tabs. Surface tops them all in a way that makes it more versatile than the Macbook it's so commonly compared to, any of those media consumption tablets... or any laptop for that matter.

Console Gaming: After a big blowout with me and Microsoft's trigger-happy billing dept, I'd gone to PS3... sunk in a lot of money to ultimately end up bored with it... it was always just "that system without Left4Dead" to me. I'd sit on the sideline enviously watching as the other end of the battlefront got Lost Odyssey, got countless versions of fighters that had more reliable netcode and better communities... then even have my fires stomped out when PS3's Vesperia got canned. After learning that I could make XBL Gold my ***** with the plentiful offers of low-cost 1yr subs, I found myself back on the winning team.

Media: I love when Charter calls trying to offer me their stupid cable package because at the end of the day... no one that understands Windows 8 will pay for cable. A little $60 N281 has been my "Roku" and I pretty much get to watch whatever I want from sources that are virtually endless. W8 is beautiful on the big screen, and it plays well with air mouse remotes.

Home Computing: I'm always open to the idea of trying out something new... but the moment I have to add on a virtualization layer to get Windows, that's pretty much admitting the alternative blows. Everyone with a job that involves computers has pretty much admitted their Mac is a multi-thousand dollar brick until it's Bootcamped. Linux scores hella geek cred with the neckbearded contrarians, but the end result of Linux is a bunch of distro fragmentation, dependencies that make Linux needier than the neediest high school girl you know... and a whole ****ing lot of terminal. I've also found Linux communities to have the worst forms of elitists...

Smartphone: This was moreso just completing the ecosystem more than anything. My PC, laptop, tablet, game console were all Windows, so I figure it was time to rid my life of force closes and make WP my daily driver. I wanna say the ecosystem has catching up to do, but honestly I can't find one thing that I did with my iPhone/Android that I just can't on my WP...and knowing that alternatives to what I used exist allowed me to appreciate a lot about Windows Phone. It gets a fair bit of customization putting it ahead of Apple's dinosaurUI, and what it lacks in customization compared to Android, it has in reliability.

 

[Sport Driver]

Well I have been wit MS from my computer beginnings. At home we always had Windows PCs, started with 95 than XP, 7 and now because of WP 8.1 I updated my PC on 8.1 love tiles and metro IE. Why WP? Because of Nokia, at least in the first place. I was being loyal to Nokia but I also love to see how OS develops and MS has done a great job in one year. I love integration with one drive, it saved me once in school .
Will also be switching to Surface in year or two, I'd it becomes Available in Slovenia.

Sent from my Nokia Lumia 820 using Tapatalk

 

[three_thoughts]

I like the Modern UI

That's basically it. I started liking MS when I got windows 8 because I could see they were trying to move things forward, and I think it looks new, clean and well... modern...

After that I looked into windows phone, outlook.com and onedrive and haven't looked back. Next up is a 930 and a soon to be announced surface (can't decide if it will be the mini or a full size version yet, will have to wait and see.)

Very happy in the MS world at the moment.

 

[Durahl]

Mhh... I guess I enjoy building PC's myself which is pretty much impossible using an Apple PC and Linux ( Apple too! ) is too much of a hassle when it comes down to getting certain Applications run on the Eco System unless you're using an emulator which kind of defies the purpose for me in not using the original OS which it was programmed for.

Other than that I guess I just like the brand.

 

[Laura Knotek]

I prefer Microsoft products mainly because they offer the most programs/apps/services that I need. For example, I needed Visio for a college project: Windows only--no Visio for OS X or Linux. I like gaming: many Steam games are Windows-only, no Linux or OS X versions available. The majority of enterprise and consumer software is available for Windows, whereas alternatives in other desktop platforms are lacking.

 

[RavenSword]

I prefer Microsoft products mainly because they offer the most programs/apps/services that I need. For example, I needed Visio for a college project: Windows only--no Visio for OS X or Linux. I like gaming: many Steam games are Windows-only, no Linux or OS X versions available. The majority of enterprise and consumer software is available for Windows, whereas alternatives in other desktop platforms are lacking.

Gaming is a main reason I will probably always have a PC for my desktop. However, I don't know if I see myself going to WP from my iPhone or a windows tablet from my iPad. I don't know, they just don't seem as good from a app standpoint. I liked WP 8.1 quite a lot, but again it's the app ecosystem that kills it for me. It's not numbers of apps, it's number of quality apps. I see myself going android if I ever switched from iOS. But IOS 8 is adding a lot of what I've wanted as far as interoperability.

I don't, however, want to feel like I need to get a Mac if I stay with iOS. I'd rather have a choice of going PC if that works better for me. (Wether desktop or laptop)

 

[Great deal]

Very interesting question!

For me I was in a transitional period of implementing David Allens GTD (Getting Things Done) and had an old mac. I tried ALL the GTD Apps cross platform at that time and the ones on the Apple OS were just beautiful and worked. So I got an iPhone to have it on the move. I then worked for a company with bespoke software and running Windows, I tried to make the system work by using all these different workarounds (pugins, cloud etc) and got it working via 2 different addons, one of those failed one day and I was screwed. At that point WP wasn't really an option due to lack of any GTD apps so I switched to Android after speaking with a techie mate of mine, looking back I wish I hadn't! Android IMO is a dream for people that like to 'tinker' with things, its not the best, its Google so support is crap and in the back of my mind ive always had this thing that they are taking info for the sole purpose of presenting me with what they think are good advertisements, anyways, after WP8 came out I switched my GTD system to one the used OneNote and Outlook as its core, with a WP I thought that's it, no issues with compatibility and the major Apps will be there.

Today I am happy with the switch/s i made. Windows platform is stable, will get more and better apps ONLY if MS gain more market share. How can they do that? Well throwing a lot of money in advertising and promotion behind an amazing product (they have something big to announce, maybe that's it!) also by under promising and over delivering, its the best way to keep existing people happy.

 

[RavenSword]

Very interesting question!

For me I was in a transitional period of implementing David Allens GTD (Getting Things Done) and had an old mac. I tried ALL the GTD Apps cross platform at that time and the ones on the Apple OS were just beautiful and worked. So I got an iPhone to have it on the move. I then worked for a company with bespoke software and running Windows, I tried to make the system work by using all these different workarounds (pugins, cloud etc) and got it working via 2 different addons, one of those failed one day and I was screwed. At that point WP wasn't really an option due to lack of any GTD apps so I switched to Android after speaking with a techie mate of mine, looking back I wish I hadn't! Android IMO is a dream for people that like to 'tinker' with things, its not the best, its Google so support is crap and in the back of my mind ive always had this thing that they are taking info for the sole purpose of presenting me with what they think are good advertisements, anyways, after WP8 came out I switched my GTD system to one the used OneNote and Outlook as its core, with a WP I thought that's it, no issues with compatibility and the major Apps will be there.

Today I am happy with the switch/s i made. Windows platform is stable, will get more and better apps ONLY if MS gain more market share. How can they do that? Well throwing a lot of money in advertising and promotion behind an amazing product (they have something big to announce, maybe that's it!) also by under promising and over delivering, its the best way to keep existing people happy.

How has the GTD system worked out for you? I heard lots about it, but didn't know if it was for me since, really, I'm not sure I do enough to benefit from it, you know?

Regarding android, part of me does appreciate its openness and flexibility, but I think I appreciate a good out of box experience more. My only remaining detractor to going WP is app selection and support. If WP doesn't get a lot of market share and fast, I fear for the state of the platform. And it sucks because I do think the platform is good. But I can't commit a contract to it. I could get off contract, but thats expensive.

 

[Great deal]

How has the GTD system worked out for you? I heard lots about it, but didn't know if it was for me since, really, I'm not sure I do enough to benefit from it, you know?

Regarding android, part of me does appreciate its openness and flexibility, but I think I appreciate a good out of box experience more. My only remaining detractor to going WP is app selection and support. If WP doesn't get a lot of market share and fast, I fear for the state of the platform. And it sucks because I do think the platform is good. But I can't commit a contract to it. I could get off contract, but thats expensive.

GTD - do it! It changed my life, literally. I had time to set up and launch 2 companies, never stressed, never forget anything, it just works!...heres the link on how to optimise Onenote and Outlook for GTD in case anyone's interested....

GTD with Outlook 2010 and OneNote 2010 – Series Links | Dynamic IT | A Blog by Michael Wheatfill on Microsoft Technologies and Productivity

MS have an Ace up their sleeve, if all goes to pot then they can release a Surface Phone (similar to the way Apple have their iPhone) and can focus and push that, I think were a long way from that point, lets see what happens when MS release something they have conceived, designed and manufactured themselves.

 

[NokianWP]

Perhaps I just always had the idea that windows laptops are always just sort of junky or break down and crash. Is that true or does it depend how much money you put into it? The acer S7 looks very nice.

Also, perhaps it podcasts I listen to, but I hear people say windows isn't stable and get viruses all the time and etc. is this a issue that's real?

Not since 8.x Defender (security) built in to the software.

 

[NokianWP]

For some reason I had it in my head that windows was kinda junky, but I've honestly always owned a a PC because that's what the family has always had. We never had a mac.

Would it even make sense to use Microsoft apps and services on apple products or do they work alot better on windows?

They work ALOT better on Windows IMO.

 

[maxpower818]

Started on Windows 98 then Xbox then Windows XP Then Xbox 360 then after that i accepted i just have loyalty towered Microsoft so i just went all Microsoft after and i couldn't be happier.