Most likely they actually thought it was a good game. Internal feedback and a beta test aren't the same thing as what happens when millions of people hit it release and get pissed off. I mean it's not like the game was lacking in terms of polish, it's just that what they had wasn't all that fun.
Time doesn't always give you a better product, just look at Duke Nukem Forever.
An RT only version means that you're targeting a tiny portion of the user base. That's what, Surface RT users only? Not a lot of surprise that it failed given that target market.
Which is pretty much exactly why what the reviewers think doesn't matter.
That said, in this case Microsoft also has to fight against the self-inflicted wound that is PC Windows 8 being confusing and annoying for a very large chunk of their market. Those people are not going to be lining up to buy more Microsoft stuff when they could get something that has the perception of being easier instead (hello iPad!).
Except that the iPad started making its way into the workplace when bosses saw their kids playing with them and said "I want one of those instead of that bulky PC."
Realistically, anybody in the tablet market for something by Samsung or most of the other Android makers isn't in the market for a Surface due to price. The Surface is priced at the top of the market and totally ignores the rest of it. Most Android tablets are not priced at the top of the market.
You can get a Nexus 7 for what, half of what a Surface RT costs? Realistically the target Surface market in terms of pricing is also the target iPad market, and taking on the iPad with a product tied in consumers minds to the less than stellar reviews of Windows 8 isn't exactly an easy task. It's no wonder they're getting smoked.
The only review that matters in the end is what the market thinks. The market doesn't seem to be buying. Saying "the professional reviewers liked it!" is loser talk.
Vista never got close, and it was because corporate users ignored it en-masse. Microsoft still counted sales because new PCs came with it, but they were immediately reimaged back to XP so never showed up in the usage stats. 7 is now passing XP because companies are now shifting to 7 (gradually). Few of them have any interest in switching to 8 due to the expense, retraining, and general lack of things making it worth doing for a large company.
On top of that, with Microsoft's new plan to go to more frequent, smaller OS updates, "8" will only be on sale for a comparatively short period of time before the next update. Are they going to call that update Windows 8? Probably not. 8's reputation isn't exactly stellar in many circles, and they can polish up the rough edges and use the update for a rebrand.
If they fail, it won't be because of Spreadsheets Online.
Eve is a niche game. It caters to its niche really well. It has zero-to-negative appeal outside of that niche. The odds are pretty good that the number of people who want a more arcadey space game (ala say Tie Fighter) and don't like Eve are significant.
I would too, except I went from high res full color imagery in my area to low res greyscale imagery.
Yes, really. It's like going through a time warp. The quality of the app is not bad. The quality of the data and imagery is a travesty compared to what Google offered.
When you offer an early retirement package and there's a mad scramble of people trying to take you up on it, the real danger is that you lose your best and brighttest. While it does get rid of headcount, it runs a real risk of losing people that you can't actually afford to lose.
Plus if the employees all want out, it doesn't say good things about their faith in the future of the company.
It's tough to run what is a legacy business in decline when you can't change your service to suit the new environment due to the law. Case in point: Saturday delivery. It's just not necessary anymore and is hugely expensive, but they can't eliminate it without Congress getting involved.
That's no way to run an agency. Congress should remove all these restrictions and let the USPS modernize.
Outside of the countries where "Software Engineer" actually has a legal meaning and requirements to claim it (while "Developer", "Programmer", or whatever doesn't), the difference is largely that one sounds better than the other. People like to use "Software Engineer" even if they're in fact nothing of the sort, due to the connotation that comes with it.
It's not hard to find people calling themselves Software Engineers that aren't doing anything resembling engineering, just like it's not hard to find people calling themselves Developers that are really doing software engineering. In the end if you're able to do the job well, nobody gives a damn what you're calling yourself.
Windows 8 can fail in the tablet and phone markets. Nobody really expects the PC version to do worse than Vista (or be as popular as 7).
But if Surface fails and Nokia continues to fail? They'll have pissed off all these people with Metro on the desktop for nothing. I doubt Ballmer can survive that, as the market REALLY wants to see MS move into those areas.
Surface phones won't matter at all to anybody other then Nokia. HTC and the like have no real investment in the platform and don't care. They're just making phones mostly to shut up patent issues and to hedge their bets.
Nokia is all in, however. If Microsoft releases a Surface phone, it's a vote of no-confidence in their main Windows Phone partner's ability to get it done. Or in it's ability to survive, given how well WP7 went for Nokia.
Kinect is a success in that it sold a lot of units, but it's a miserable failure at selling games outside the dance genre. This year's release list is littered with Kinect games that bombed in spectacular fashion, as it's just good a good system of control for gaming.
Are they going to fix that, or are they going to just make everything else equally as bad as the gaming experience?
Three year olds have very adaptable brains, and don't have set expectations or things to un-learn.
A sixty year old who has been using the computer the same way for over a decade is going to have a more difficult time adapting simply due to how the brain works. That doesn't reflect on their intelligence at all - it reflects on fundamental biology.
I'm pretty sure at one point Slashdot editors would have known that and not posted something this stupid, but I guess they need to bait people with "my 3 year old is smarter then you" BS to get pageviews.
Slashdot Mirror
Most likely they actually thought it was a good game. Internal feedback and a beta test aren't the same thing as what happens when millions of people hit it release and get pissed off. I mean it's not like the game was lacking in terms of polish, it's just that what they had wasn't all that fun.
Time doesn't always give you a better product, just look at Duke Nukem Forever.
Activision, EA, same thing really.
Call of Diablo will be the next expansion.
An RT only version means that you're targeting a tiny portion of the user base. That's what, Surface RT users only? Not a lot of surprise that it failed given that target market.
Which is pretty much exactly why what the reviewers think doesn't matter.
That said, in this case Microsoft also has to fight against the self-inflicted wound that is PC Windows 8 being confusing and annoying for a very large chunk of their market. Those people are not going to be lining up to buy more Microsoft stuff when they could get something that has the perception of being easier instead (hello iPad!).
Except that the iPad started making its way into the workplace when bosses saw their kids playing with them and said "I want one of those instead of that bulky PC."
Realistically, anybody in the tablet market for something by Samsung or most of the other Android makers isn't in the market for a Surface due to price. The Surface is priced at the top of the market and totally ignores the rest of it. Most Android tablets are not priced at the top of the market.
You can get a Nexus 7 for what, half of what a Surface RT costs? Realistically the target Surface market in terms of pricing is also the target iPad market, and taking on the iPad with a product tied in consumers minds to the less than stellar reviews of Windows 8 isn't exactly an easy task. It's no wonder they're getting smoked.
Who cares?
The only review that matters in the end is what the market thinks. The market doesn't seem to be buying. Saying "the professional reviewers liked it!" is loser talk.
Tons of people use XP still. Where have you been?
It's not 1% of sales, it's 1% of traffic. Considering how massive the installed base is, 1% in a short period of time isn't bad at all.
Nobody's going to say that Windows 8 is burning up the charts at all, but it was never going to get to 10% in two months.
Vista never got close, and it was because corporate users ignored it en-masse. Microsoft still counted sales because new PCs came with it, but they were immediately reimaged back to XP so never showed up in the usage stats. 7 is now passing XP because companies are now shifting to 7 (gradually). Few of them have any interest in switching to 8 due to the expense, retraining, and general lack of things making it worth doing for a large company.
On top of that, with Microsoft's new plan to go to more frequent, smaller OS updates, "8" will only be on sale for a comparatively short period of time before the next update. Are they going to call that update Windows 8? Probably not. 8's reputation isn't exactly stellar in many circles, and they can polish up the rough edges and use the update for a rebrand.
If they fail, it won't be because of Spreadsheets Online.
Eve is a niche game. It caters to its niche really well. It has zero-to-negative appeal outside of that niche. The odds are pretty good that the number of people who want a more arcadey space game (ala say Tie Fighter) and don't like Eve are significant.
I would too, except I went from high res full color imagery in my area to low res greyscale imagery.
Yes, really. It's like going through a time warp. The quality of the app is not bad. The quality of the data and imagery is a travesty compared to what Google offered.
When you offer an early retirement package and there's a mad scramble of people trying to take you up on it, the real danger is that you lose your best and brighttest. While it does get rid of headcount, it runs a real risk of losing people that you can't actually afford to lose.
Plus if the employees all want out, it doesn't say good things about their faith in the future of the company.
It's tough to run what is a legacy business in decline when you can't change your service to suit the new environment due to the law. Case in point: Saturday delivery. It's just not necessary anymore and is hugely expensive, but they can't eliminate it without Congress getting involved.
That's no way to run an agency. Congress should remove all these restrictions and let the USPS modernize.
Apple's share price is way above what it was a year ago: https://www.google.com/finance?chdnp=1&chdd=1&chds=1&chdv=1&chvs=maximized&chdeh=0&chfdeh=0&chdet=1352840400000&chddm=98141&chls=IntervalBasedLine&q=NASDAQ:AAPL&ntsp=0&ei=0miiUJmDJsm50QGPNw
If that's your idea of a "freefall", sign me up. Take a look at Nokia or RIM if you want to see what a real stock freefall looks like.
Outside of the countries where "Software Engineer" actually has a legal meaning and requirements to claim it (while "Developer", "Programmer", or whatever doesn't), the difference is largely that one sounds better than the other. People like to use "Software Engineer" even if they're in fact nothing of the sort, due to the connotation that comes with it.
It's not hard to find people calling themselves Software Engineers that aren't doing anything resembling engineering, just like it's not hard to find people calling themselves Developers that are really doing software engineering. In the end if you're able to do the job well, nobody gives a damn what you're calling yourself.
Not true in Canada. Calling yourself an "engineer" without the appropriate blessing is in fact illegal.
That you, Steve?
Windows 8 can fail in the tablet and phone markets. Nobody really expects the PC version to do worse than Vista (or be as popular as 7).
But if Surface fails and Nokia continues to fail? They'll have pissed off all these people with Metro on the desktop for nothing. I doubt Ballmer can survive that, as the market REALLY wants to see MS move into those areas.
The result of the vote is that he won. The result of the electoral vote is that he won.
This is pretty much the textbook definition of whining about something that doesn't matter in the slightest.
There's only one President, and the guy with the most votes cast for him is there.
How is this NOT representative?
Surface phones won't matter at all to anybody other then Nokia. HTC and the like have no real investment in the platform and don't care. They're just making phones mostly to shut up patent issues and to hedge their bets.
Nokia is all in, however. If Microsoft releases a Surface phone, it's a vote of no-confidence in their main Windows Phone partner's ability to get it done. Or in it's ability to survive, given how well WP7 went for Nokia.
Kinect is a success in that it sold a lot of units, but it's a miserable failure at selling games outside the dance genre. This year's release list is littered with Kinect games that bombed in spectacular fashion, as it's just good a good system of control for gaming.
Are they going to fix that, or are they going to just make everything else equally as bad as the gaming experience?
Nope, you're not wrong. But that's different then being off the network entirely. :)
Three year olds have very adaptable brains, and don't have set expectations or things to un-learn.
A sixty year old who has been using the computer the same way for over a decade is going to have a more difficult time adapting simply due to how the brain works. That doesn't reflect on their intelligence at all - it reflects on fundamental biology.
I'm pretty sure at one point Slashdot editors would have known that and not posted something this stupid, but I guess they need to bait people with "my 3 year old is smarter then you" BS to get pageviews.