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Microsoft's Forgotten Mistakes
seattlenerd writes "In light of all of the hype about how much cash Microsoft is sitting on, it's good to be reminded that they do fail. A lot. This piece in Seattle Weekly points out some of the many failures -- from ActiMates Barney to Microsoft at Work to pending disasters in smartphones and interactive TV (despite recent PR-worthy announcements). But like most litter, the failures are swept under the rug in the hopes people don't remember that many 'new' Microsoft ideas are recycled from its own history." Of course, like any big company, Microsoft is not a monolith.
You forgot to mention Windows.
I've had enough abrasive sigs. Kittens are cute and fuzzy.
I could fail and be rich at the same time too.
FP
I'm pretty sure they didn't.
Of course, like any big company, Microsoft is not a monolith.....
Yes, but they do have a heart of stone.
Looks Like Troll Microsoft Day.
The first time I ever got to the Easter Egg in Excel:
"My God, it's full of stars."
And I am sure that Windows 2025 will periodically lock me out of my house and try to kill me with my robotic lawn mower.
It's not the Seattle Weekly's job to point out Microsoft's failures ... that's a job for Slashdot!
You mean Microsoft may actually be working to skew news coverage and public opinion towards the things they've been successful at? And away from technical and marketing blunders?
What an outrage! I'm going to write to my representatives right now and demand a new law that forces companies to educate consumers about both their strengths and weaknesses, and that requires them to spend an equal amount on publicizing past failures as they do on promoting new initiatives.
I'm shocked. Shocked, I tell you. What a failure of the market! What an unconscionable series of dirty tricks from Microsoft! How dare they! Hey, does anyone know what the school assembly is about today?
Cheers
-b
I do actually have a copy of the Microsoft Wine Guide sitting on my desk.
I did a double-take when I saw it at the library.
(It's not on Microsoft's site anymore, but the first Google hit was a review of it).
char sig[120] = "\0"
When I was working at a software store we got one of the Barney's in. We used to cover up the eyes of Barney for a few mintues at a time just to hear the complaints that he would start saying.
Where did you go?
I can't see you.
I'm scared of the dark.
Let's play another game!
Cheap laughs at Barney's expense. We never did sell the thing though.
Well of course not. They use the same logic as sports casters. If you've recently failed a few times, than your "due" for a big payoff!
My copy of Mozilla is so good when you search 'bob' it found 'a cartoony "social interface" to make Windows appear friendlier to the pathologically computer phobic' as a match.
Let us not forget the iLoo, Microsoft's crappiest idea yet.
what about Mrs Bob?
oh wait she went on to make min-Bobs with Bill Gates..
Don't Tread on OpenSource
Ugh! After this article, Slashdot needs a new mod category:
-1, Cliché
Sola Scriptura * Sola Gratia * Sola Fide * Solus Christus * Soli Deo Gloria
If you are afraid to succeed, you will never fail.
Slashdot: Failed Car Analogies. Amateur Lawyering. Anecdote Battles.
Clippy is Microsoft Bob's inbred descendent.
"Yet Microsoft has trouble whenever it tries to grow outside of this core competency"
Is competency really the correct word to use here?
There is no graceful way to eat an egg salad sandwich.
I prefer Links the cat myself. However, I can't stand the hints, so I turned them off. And the responding to F1. Oh, and the assist with wizards option. And the display alerts.
So now he sits on the screen and does nothing but sleep and lick himself, with the occasional meow to annoy me. Just like a real cat.
they certainly weren't a government granted monopoly like AT&T once was.
No, but they're a government granted monopoly now!
Funny, I went to a product launch of Office XP (Ex paperclip?) and the MS reps had put together a promotional video starring Clippy. Just so happens the guy they hired to do the annoying voice of clippy was Gilbert Gottfried. And they did have Gilbert's voice saying: "It looks like you're writting a letter."
That response answers neither question.
Actually I think Clippy might be a distant relative of 'Smilin' Jack Fission' from the Simpsons.
Sometimes Barney Starts Playing Peekaboo on His Own
"And this is my boy, Sherman. Speak, Sherman." "Hello." "Good boy."
Young Mr. Lincoln saved those Clay boys and proved that it was John Palmer Cass that did the stabbing.
If that wasn't an innovative use of the Farmer's Almanac to prove it couldn't have been moon bright, I don't know what is!
as long as there is /.
The Kruger Dunning explains most post on
I was also in a computer lab as a continuing ed class was being given with a bunch of old people. One of them, after opening Word, says "How do I get rid of this damn paperclip."
This is left as an exercise for the reader.
...went through several revisions. First was the Pink Screen Of Pain, then the Tangerine Screen Of Torture. It wasn't until several million dollars had been poured into Windows development that the Blue Screen Of Death finally became the norm.
I work as a sysadmin and the users here treat these things as pets...the dog lover has the dog and the cat lover has the cat. I was once working on someone's PC, got rid of the dog because it was getting in the way and forgot to reactivate it. When she got back to her computer she noticed this and walked to the other end of the office to tell me to put her dog back on her PC.
Everybody dies frustrated and sad and that is beautiful
Maybe it was a huge blunder for UC not to make people pay for that TCP/IP stack.
California taxpayers might have gotten a little relief.
-- Slashdot: When Public Access TV Says "No"
Hey, we're all getting fscked by Bill.
I remember the first (and last) time I saw MS Bob. It was running on a computer at CompUSA. Really annoying.. I asked the nearest sales guy what he thought of if. "Damned annoying. We can't get it to stop."
I uninstalled it.. He thanked me..
End of line..
In my opinion, the penalty for failure at Microsoft is far too severe .
OOGG once try customize Assistant. Pick figure of Einstein. OOGG expect knowledge of general relativity be handy supplement to stone-age physics training.
OOGG soon find Einstein as stupid as paper clip!
Assistant have very important feature, however. No matter how badly stone-age machine thrash due to RAM shortage, Einstein still use machine cycles to rock back on heels, look around screen, generally observing lack of useful work going on.
well, mine is 50 size.
desktop->apperance->caption button->set to 50
you can make it even bigger so it fills the whole screen. you won't miss it!