Slashdot Mirror
Sony More Trustworthy Than Microsoft
DesertBlade writes "Forrester Research examined the trust that American households place in PC and consumer electronics. Sony, Dell and Bose all recieved a ranking of A+ while Microsoft recieved a C (I know most of you would say it is closer to a F). "Microsoft faces big consumer defection risk. One measure of consumers' dissatisfaction with Microsoft is seen in the 5.4 million households that give it a brand trust score of 1 [distrust a lot] or 2 [distrust a bit]. Compared with all Microsoft users, these at-risk users have higher income, are much more likely to be male, and are bigger online spenders.(see endnote 7) These households know they run Microsoft software but would be just as happy to leave it behind -- if they could." Does Microsoft face that big of a risk?"
I must say, I'm shocked, with all my personal experiances with them.
Behind Dell, Gateway (?), IBM (!?)--who at home aspires to buy something from IBM?
Neither of which earned my trust truth be told.
Sony is obvious, but Dell, besides the lack of quality in certain parts (which could be directly correlated to cheap prices), loads their new computers with tons of bloatware - you have to sit there and remove programs for an hour to get the speed you expect from your new computer and then still, remnants are left.
This might be standard among the big boys in the PC industry, but last time I got a Mac - I was pretty amazed by the lack of crap (wonders if that will change with Jobs being part-owner of Disney)....
They don't even have to fuck up the technology that much. I mean look at the delayed Vista, its been five years and no one has been able to touch them. Microsoft knows that. That is why their software really only has to *just* work and *just* be useable enough. Their domination is based on that amazing business model they are in, nothing else.
The question is what are YOU going to do about it ? Are you going to keep paying the fee ? If you're an OS maker, are you going to work, not only on the technology, but on the all important business relationships, including working on disrupting MS's relationships ?
I think it would be useful to provide our views on various companies, as a sort-of Slashdot corporate barometer:
Companies that can do no wrong:
Companines that can do no right:
Companies that are currently back in the fold:
Companies where there's a question-mark over our allegience:
I can't think of any strong collective slashdot feelings towards other companies - although, of course, there are plenty of individuals with a beef against particular companies (e.g. that sorehands guy who really didn't like Mattell). Am I missing any?
...about as far as I can throw them. There was a time when I thought their software was easy to use and learn stuff with, right around the Win98, Office 97, Visual Studio 6 days. I found the interfaces simple, usable, and didn't get in my way. Of course, this was all when I first started learning about computers and how to write software, so all of this was a new experience for me.
But as new versions came out, the interfaces got clunky and bloated, with features I didn't need, and the software felt less reliable, got in my way more, and generally irritated me. Meanwhile, Microsoft was stretching out and developing new software for other areas of the software market. And it seems like the more products they try to make, the worse the general quality becomes.
And then of course, I learned about all of the anti-competitive practices they had used to get to their current market position. FUD tactics, OEM discounts for using their products, using their Windows monopoly to give an advantage to their other software. Bleh.
So why should I trust anything from Microsoft? They're not focused on getting solid reliable products out to the customer. They're only trying to shove their way into any market they can and push everyone else out. Should I trust a company with that kind of motives?
Respect the laws of physics, for the laws of physics have no respect for you.
Remember when Apple entered that market. They did blow it away in 1975.
-jcr
The only title of honor that a tyrant can grant is "Enemy of the State."
Microsoft on the other hand freakin gets slammed every 5 minutes by a different media source, small and large. For crying out loud, Slashdot simply scoffs and says "ANOTHER security update? Dupe!" when theres a new security alert. Of course customers/consumers are going to be paranoid of them.
Heck just look at the different responses between the rootkit fiasco and government reaction to Windows. Sony gets off with a slap on the wrist and a few reports on the major news networks. Microsoft on the other hand gets dragged into court for YEARS, gets sued in MULTIPLE countries, its basicly told to butcher its own work only to have consumers ignore the hack job versions AND it gets threatened AGAIN when they try to ship a new version of Windows with anti-virus software. Which of the two do you think is going to be more popular even for the educated, news following, tech savvy person?
I don't like Microsoft as much as anyone else (Goddamnit Microsoft quit spreading yourself out and focus on a product line so they're all not crappy half-done pieces of work) but saying Microsoft is pure crap compared to Sony is like saying a terrorist is SO MUCH worse than a murderer. They both kill people, the only difference is one gets a wider, and thus worse, reputation for his actions.
Sony, Dell, and Bose receive A+ ratings? I believe this mainly shows the ignorance of those being polled.
The main problem with Sony is twofold.
a) Quality, they centralized their support structures with desastrous results. In the past a vendor network was making the support, and they got high ratings in quality (just like apple still does) The centralized support saved them money but they now have a lousy support reputation which kills off their sales. The vendors are not very eager to push their stuff as well, due to low margins, while sony still has high prices so no incentive to buy their stuff over the price point either.
b) Sony media slowly kills sony electronics while small companies take over. Most of the idiocy hitting sony electronics came from sony media (DRM, strongly enforced region codes while chines play all under the sky players were sold for 50 bucks next), rootkits etc... This is all stuff coming from the movie division and is hitting the electronics division hard, really hard. The current event showint this is that their UMD disk now is partially declared dead as movie format, the UMD never could take over due to strongly enforced DRM and the price hike coming with it (Speaking of endless greed) which made it significantly more expensive than DVDs.
Perhaps it helps to think of Sony as a consumer version of IBM as it was 10 years ago. The left hand doesn't know what the right hand is doing, and even when it does, left hand is quite prepared to fuck the right hand over in some way. The net result is a schizophrenic company which sells cool products that are hobbled by DRM or use stupid proprietary formats or storage and consequently don't sell very well.
All the companies mentioned have put out their share of crap. Just the same, each of them has put out at least ONE decent product as well. Really though, the article is all about consumer brand preferences, and isnt a fair measure of quality. (BOSE for example) Myself I like Sony, and I dont buy CD's so that whole rootkit thing hasn't bothered me. Just the same, I have had a few junky Sony products. (How about a Clie that only does about half of what it says it can on the box, or a discman that begins playing cds at about half-speed two weeks after the warranty is out.) Best strategy. Look at the product in-store if possible. Never buy something you cant return, and examine every feature, every structural component. How many of you have ever resorted to using electrical tape to hold your remote control batteries in? Guess what, the one you bought wasn't built to last, just look pretty.