Microsoft and hardware don't mix, unfortunately

"El Relámpago(LZone) - Humanity First!" (lightningzone)
12/16/2018 at 18:28 • Filed to: None

With the exception o f the Surface, Microsoft’s past is filled with miserable failures, like Lumia, Band, Zune or Kin.

DISCUSSION (36)

HammerheadFistpunch > El Relámpago(LZone) - Humanity First!
12/16/2018 at 18:33

I feel the same way about Sony and Software - Killer hardware, the absolute worst software.

The Dummy Gummy > El Relámpago(LZone) - Humanity First!
12/16/2018 at 18:34

It’s also filled with a ton of success too.

AestheticsInMotion > El Relámpago(LZone) - Humanity First!
12/16/2018 at 18:35

Xbox?

I wish I could justify a high-end S urface. Absolute joy to work/draw on.

If only EssExTee could be so grossly incandescent > El Relámpago(LZone) - Humanity First!
12/16/2018 at 18:37

Well duh, it’s calle d Micro soft . Not Microhard.

TheD0k_2many toys 2little time > El Relámpago(LZone) - Humanity First!
12/16/2018 at 18:38

Zune was amazing

farscythe - makin da cawfee! > AestheticsInMotion
12/16/2018 at 18:40

xbox is pretty not bad... tho i gotta say the mobile phone like interface bugs me...

best controller tho

random001 > El Relámpago(LZone) - Humanity First!
12/16/2018 at 18:42

Windows phone was the best phone OS, and I stand by this.

random001 > AestheticsInMotion
12/16/2018 at 18:43

I LOVE my Book

JawzX2, Boost Addict. 1.6t, 2.7tt, 4.2t > El Relámpago(LZone) - Humanity First!
12/16/2018 at 18:45

I’d argue that m ost of the Lumia hardware was actually pretty good.

Jetstreamer > random001
12/16/2018 at 19:03

Agreed, up until 8.1. Windows 10 Mobile fucked things up.

Patrick Nichols > El Relámpago(LZone) - Humanity First!
12/16/2018 at 19:10

I think a lightweight version of Win 10 could be put on some killer hardware for a phone OS, then they could just do what Google did to start out. Farm out the first few iterations of a flagship to a hardware vendor that is a little lesser known like Huawei or even Asus (like HTC was for google), then have a bigger name create a competing flagship produce their own (since you still get licensing and app store revenue) like nVidia (aiming at Shield users) , Intel (expanding the Nuc line) , or AMD (taking advantage of the 7nm chips) . Then by the 3rd or 4th iteration you bring the lesser name flagship in house as the Surface phone.

The way to get people hooked would be to offer some level of customization that the “PC master race” evangelizes for. I’m thinking some insane processors with upgradable RAM (SODIMM or optane so easily available ) and thunderbolt 3 ports.

The Crazy Kanuck; RIP Oppositelock > random001
12/16/2018 at 19:10

Great OS, but crap app support .

Jordan and the Slowrunner, Boomer Intensifies > El Relámpago(LZone) - Humanity First!
12/16/2018 at 19:15

A. I’m sure if I found my Zune, it would still work.

B. If it weren’t for the lack of apps, I’d still have a Windows phone. I’ve had Android and Apple since, and Windows was so much better.

Monkey B > El Relámpago(LZone) - Humanity First!
12/16/2018 at 19:17

The Zune was criminally underrated . I loved it. It gave me such high hopes for the Lumia phones. They were just too late and even my trying love for them wasn’t enough. Everything about the Zune at the time bested the iPod/iTunes experience, but it was a turn of the tables (Windows being the go to for so long). Apple grabbed the masses first.

Jetstreamer > El Relámpago(LZone) - Humanity First!
12/16/2018 at 19:18

It’s not that the hardware was bad most of the time. Just the way it was handled by Microsoft. Limited releases, complete lack of focus, ignoring the markets where people were actually buying their devices etc.

Microsoft Kin, OK, yeah, flop.

Zunes, good hardware, good interface, Microsoft just never fully committed to the platform

Lumias, amazing phones. Best cameras and post processing in the business on the high end models, usually best in class on the lower end as well. My shelved Lumia 950 XL still takes better looking pictures than my iPhone XS Max in anything but low light , mostly due to a much more natural post processing. Super smooth and intuitive OS, innovative you could even call it. Sparked a load of redesign in Google and Android camps. Platform abandoned by Microsoft two times over. First by ditching pretty much all the good things with the introduction of Windows 10 Mobile, and then by ditching development for Windows 10 Mobile for consumers. Also, platform never really pushed hard enough to get devs on board, and way too much focus on the US while they were gaining a lot of traction in Europe. Had they switched gear and focused a bit more international, they c ould have gained a decent market share here.

Microsoft Band, again, really good hardware. First model suffered from a weak strap though, the second model much less. Had it for a good time and one of the few “smart/fitness” watches that you could create your own little apps for. Ditched instead of further development into a sleeker generation.

Basically, they tend to make a good thing, refine it into something even better that is starting to win people over , then decide to either start over or give up.

Patrick Nichols > AestheticsInMotion
12/16/2018 at 19:18

Got a refurb Surface Book with maxed out specs for under $1000 and couldn’t be happier. I honestly believe it is the spiritual successor of the last generation of MacBook Pros before convertibles became the standard.

lone_liberal > TheD0k_2many toys 2little time
12/16/2018 at 19:19

And the software was infinitely better than the iTunes of the time.

aquila121 > Monkey B
12/16/2018 at 19:21

My Zune is an unkillable brick. I fully expect that the aliens which destroy our civilization will find that thing centuries from now and listen to my 80 gigs of music just like in "Guardians of the Galaxy."

aquila121 > Jordan and the Slowrunner, Boomer Intensifies
12/16/2018 at 19:22

Same. But after four years or so, the battery on my Lumina was toast.

Monkey B > HammerheadFistpunch
12/16/2018 at 19:23

Sony should be the Android standard...not Samsung. If Sony and Google paired to make pure Android phones they would absolutely be the top choice. with premium hardware. Sony software for anything ever has never been better than anything else available. Sony has a dream and it has never worked...it started with beta vs. VHS.

This is c oming from someone who prefers the PS4 over XBOX.

HammerheadFistpunch > Monkey B
12/16/2018 at 19:42

everything Sony I’ve ever owned followed this trend. hardware is all “ WOAH!” software is all “huh?”. some days i want to lick myself for buying a Sony bd player against my better judgement

C62030 > random001
12/16/2018 at 19:47

Couldn’t agree more.

Captain of the Enterprise > El Relámpago(LZone) - Humanity First!
12/16/2018 at 20:08

I had the Halo 3 edition Zune

Jordan and the Slowrunner, Boomer Intensifies > aquila121
12/16/2018 at 20:28

I found my Zune after sitting for 2 years once. It still had 20% battery.

404 - User No Longer Available > random001
12/16/2018 at 21:11

Kinja'd!!!

ADabOfOppo; Gone Plaid (Instructables Can Be Confusable) > aquila121
12/16/2018 at 21:28

Technically, that was my Lumia that I had used daily for two years before I gave it to you. So almost 5 years of daily use. Nokia fucking ruled at making hardware.

winterlegacy, here 'till the end > HammerheadFistpunch
12/16/2018 at 21:31

The only sony device I have is an alarm clock.

I t’s the best damn alarm clock I’ve ever had, outside of having to set the time, which requires an interesting button combination and a strange claw grip.

Monkey B > aquila121
12/16/2018 at 22:57

The Book of Eli, can’t remember if it’s a Zune or an iPod. I had a brown 32gb...how very Jalop. Still the best music player.

phenotyp > AestheticsInMotion
12/16/2018 at 23:02

Surface Book, especially the bigger 2– yes.

Surface Pro 3– I went through three. 2 were fucked up from the get-go, third’s battery connection died, but I got a little over 2 years out of it.

Monkey B > HammerheadFistpunch
12/16/2018 at 23:02

everything Sony I have still works. Add easy to understand UI’s to anything they’ve done and you have the perfect answer to Apple’s dominance in the market.

chuck07 > Monkey B
12/17/2018 at 00:03

I s till have my brown brown brick, and two black ones as a backup. Still works great, sounds great, and looks great.

facw > Jetstreamer
12/17/2018 at 03:01

I think one huge mistake MS made with their phones in the US was making most of them AT&T exclusive. I’m sure they were both hoping that an exclusive deal would give them more focused marketing, and also follow the successful path of the iPhone, but the market was different by that point, and it seemed that all the carriers were putting pretty much their entire marketing budget to sell the iPhone, regardless of what exclusives they had. If you are trying to get big quickly to attract app developer support, you need to make sure you are widely available. Windows Phone was a good OS, but not good enough that anyone was going to switch carriers for it, especially in the days of weak app selection.

Also, platform never really pushed hard enough to get devs on board

MS did push pretty hard on this. But there’s a limit on how much they can do unless they want to fully fund development in perpetuity . Focusing on cross-device Windows 10/Windows Phone development was never really going to be a solution though, since even though you can reuse a lot of code, you still need a completely different interface.

facw > El Relámpago(LZone) - Humanity First!
12/17/2018 at 03:14

Counterpoints:

X Box (RRo D notwithstanding)

Mice/Keyboards

Surface Pros

SideW inder controllers

Also the Lumia devices and the Zunes were perfectly good devices, they just both arrived too late, if you want to break into a market, it’s not good enough to be roughly as good (or even slightly better), you need something to stand out, and “squirting” was not going to be it.

Also, via xkcd, my way of remembering SI prefixes for negative powers:

M icrosoft M ade N o P rofits F rom A nyone’s Z unes

https://xkcd.com/992/

BaconSandwich is tasty. > Monkey B
12/18/2018 at 08:42

I still use my Zune HD nearly daily.

Jetstreamer > facw
12/18/2018 at 19:14

Kinja'd!!!

Just got this lovely pair in from eBay because I love Lumias too much, haha. Man, I wish they made more plastic phones in funky colors again.

facw > Jetstreamer
12/18/2018 at 20:59

They might be coming. The current crop of 5G antennas is supposed to be placed around the edge of the phone like so:

Kinja'd!!!

That’s not going to work with the way phones are currently designed, so we might see a move back to plastic, and if you are doing that, you may as well offer more colors.