Slashdot Mirror
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'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.
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.
Let us not forget the iLoo, Microsoft's crappiest idea yet.
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.
"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
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 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.