Forbes: Microsoft Is Fast Turning Into A Sideshow

[Rickkins]

So, now it?s clear: Windows 8 did not blow the doors off during the holiday. In context, this tepid launch is just one of a litany of failures fast relegating Microsoft to the status of incidental spectacle in the information technology business.

If Windows 8 is Exhibit A, Exhibit B is Windows Phone 8. Nokia has started discounting recently launched Lumina phones, indicating that they?re not exactly moving like hotcakes. Microsoft makes excuses and says these things take time, but even a fool can tell a torrid introduction from a lukewarm launch.

http://www.forbes.com/sites/rogerkay/2013/01/02/microsoft-is-fast-turning-into-a-sideshow/

[Joshie]

Saw Forbes, didn't read.

[Boz]

This explains it all.. when a company is ran by an idiot like this

There's nothing else to be said and certainly doesn't come as a surprise they are a joke

[Dot Matrix]

Trolling article is trolling.

[LookitsPuck]

What a bunch of worthless drivel.

[redfish]

Other articles on Forbes.com, btw.

Why Windows 8 Is a Great Operating System

The truth of the matter is, the world has become so anti-Microsoft that they can?t help but look past Ballmer?s mishaps both ridiculous and egregious. Windows 8 might actually approach being the future of a desktop operating system, and it sucks that we?re all too proud to admit it. Mac OS is undoubtably powerful, but still lacking in user-friendliness. And I?ll be damned if I didn?t wish I had a capacitive touchscreen on my Macbook Pro Retina.

Fear Not Windows 8, But Embrace It

Once I figured that out, suddenly Windows 8 became very cool. Using the main interface screen, you can access what you need much more quickly, plus you can dispense with keeping armies of icons on your working space or creating endless toolbars for shortcuts. To access the main screen, you just slide your pointer to the lower left-hand corner and click, and you?ll quickly find the program you need. The bottom line: Windows 8 rocks.

Just sayin'.

[LaP]

This explains it all.. when a company is ran by an idiot like this

http://www.youtube.c...h/v=KMU0tzLwhbE

There's nothing else to be said and certainly doesn't come as a surprise they are a joke

Video doesn't exist

[Boz]

Video doesn't exist

[Praetor]

Forbes eh? right.... :rolleyes:

[Noir Angel]

Trolling article is trolling.

Replace the word "Microsoft" with "Google" and most of Neowin's members would be on it like stank on poop. Last time I checked Neowin was a tech forum not a flagellate Microsoft forum so I see nothing wrong with these articles. They're no worse than the anti google BS that makes regular visits to Neowin.

[paulbeattie87]

I think the article is pretty fair. Microsoft are fast becoming a sideshow. They've no new OS for enterprise customers, let's be honest Windows 8 is very consumer focussed and not really business friendly with the changes implemented. On the flip side it does have one of the most compelling touch interfaces around but the execution of it is poor when you're bumped out to the desktop, even on the Microsoft designed surface.

Consumers expect a fluid experience with their products, just look at how quickly Apple and Google are taking over the consumer space. Microsoft need something compelling there as well, they don't have that.

The weird part of this is most of the issues seem management related, Microsoft research stuff is mostly solid and on the ball but it just doesn't seem to make it into consumer products at the rate it really should.

[Dot Matrix]

I think the article is pretty fair. Microsoft are fast becoming a sideshow. They've no new OS for enterprise customers

U.S. Dept. of Defense disagrees.

[Quillz]

This explains it all.. when a company is ran by an idiot like this

There's nothing else to be said and certainly doesn't come as a surprise they are a joke

How does him showing enthusiasm for developers make him an idiot?

[COKid]

U.S. Dept. of Defense disagrees.

The DoD doesn't exactly have a history of spending money wisely. $640 toilet seats, anyone?

Don't get me wrong, I have happily used Microsoft hardware and software products for decades, but I'm afraid their best days are behind them. Will they be around in 50 years? Probably. Hell, IBM survived the down times. Why not Microsoft. But they will never be the dominant player they used to be.

And guess what? It's ok. There is life after Microsoft. People's tastes in tech evolves like everything else. New companies will come along and be the next darlings for a while. And on we will go. I'm just enjoying the ride.

Good grief, this was entertainment when I was growing up:

We forget how spoiled we are these days. :rolleyes:

[DavidM]

U.S. Dept. of Defense disagrees.

Not the greatest point ever made....

1) Everyone knows how the licensing agreements work. The UsDoD did NOT ENDORSE Windows 8, they purchased the ability to use Windows 8, Office <insert newest release here> and several other Microsoft products. Neowin News.

You posted about said new item,

"Still shows the validity of the OS. If it's good enough for our government to use, it's sure as hell is good enough for private business."

My father used to say "good enough for government work", when he did something halfassed, and also said "close only counts in horse shoes, hand grenades and government work". Having a mother and a sister work for the government, and seeing their policies and spending, I have to agree with my father.

2) USDoD spent $640 for a toilet seat, and couldn't account for more than a trillion dollars in financial transactions, not to mention dozens of tanks, missiles and planes. Source.

EDIT: Got beat to the $640 punchline by COKid... :(

EDIT 2 : Dammit, I miss that game, I was never as good as my younger brother, but I'd love to hear that beeping again.

[Dot Matrix]

Not the greatest point ever made....

1) Everyone knows how the licensing agreements work. The UsDoD did NOT ENDORSE Windows 8, they purchased the ability to use Windows 8, Office <insert newest release here> and several other Microsoft products. Neowin News.

You posted about said new item, My father used to say "good enough for government work", when he did something halfassed, and also said "close only counts in horse shoes, hand grenades and government work". Having a mother and a sister work for the government, and seeing their policies and spending, I have to agree with my father.

2) USDoD spent $640 for a toilet seat, and couldn't account for more than a trillion dollars in financial transactions, not to mention dozens of tanks, missiles and planes. Source.

EDIT: Got beat to the $640 punchline by COKid... :(

EDIT 2 : Dammit, I miss that game, I was never as good as my younger brother, but I'd love to hear that beeping again.

Still, purchasing 70 some MILLION dollars worth of licenses? You bet they'll be deploying it. My point still stands.

[Yogurtmaster]

This explains it all.. when a company is ran by an idiot like this

There's nothing else to be said and certainly doesn't come as a surprise they are a joke

Knee jerk reactions and hyperbole. I should expect nothing less coming from you.

Some people won't like MS no matter what they do, this is a fact. If Windows Phone 8 was introduced by other companies out there (you figure out those other companies), it would be a huge improvement and innovative. People would be lining up at the stores to buy one. It's all about who makes it and Microsoft isn't cool in the phone world and they never will be no matter what they make and that isn't their fault.

I would make Windows Phone 8 free for a while at least so phone makers would adopt it. However, that still won't change the fact that people will still be against them.

I am still buying a Surface Pro. I don't have to have people like me and think I am cool. I have to get real work done and I can't do that on a simple touch tablet.

[DeadEndAccount]

Other articles on Forbes.com, btw.

Why Windows 8 Is a Great Operating System

Fear Not Windows 8, But Embrace It

Just sayin'.

ROFL: Love this piece "Mac OS is undoubtably powerful, but still lacking in user-friendliness" - Yeah, sure.

The fact that anyone would give Forbes the time of day tells me just how doomed we are as a species.

[MikeChipshop Member]

Saw Forbes, didn't read. Saw it was posted by Rickkens, especially didn't read.

[Alwaysonacoffebreak]

Forbes...Right...thanks but I'd rather do something else than waste my time on those idiots.

[HawkMan]

Replace the word "Microsoft" with "Google" and most of Neowin's members would be on it like stank on poop. Last time I checked Neowin was a tech forum not a flagellate Microsoft forum so I see nothing wrong with these articles. They're no worse than the anti google BS that makes regular visits to Neowin.

oh give me a break, Neowin is a google circle jerk club most of the time

The DoD doesn't exactly have a history of spending money wisely. $640 toilet seats, anyone?

what makes you guys believe that those 640 dollars toilet seats where actually toilet seats and not money being funneled into black accounts..

[n_K]

Still, purchasing 70 some MILLION dollars worth of licenses? You bet they'll be deploying it. My point still stands.

They got modified versions of windows 8 and probably of other software too, articles make note to using windows 8 'out in the field' so it'd be tablets.

I've never seen ANY companies get modified versions of microsoft software, the largest companies on MS SLA get access to windows thinpc/FLPCs which in theory is a modified version of windows, and they pay a lot of money for the priviledge.

[HawkMan]

The only thing that's modified for the DOD, is the same thing that gets modified for all government/defense contracts they sell. the security system.

and I believe other major contractors can also get such mods, probably not the same as those are classified, but buying software licenses with slight mods isn't something companies release news alerts about.

[Shiranui]

Whatever happened to Microsoft Sideshow, anyway?

[Linkinfamous]

The DoD doesn't exactly have a history of spending money wisely. $640 toilet seats, anyone?

Bad example. That was an obsolete part that had to be retooled, and tooling is insanely expensive. We've had plastic parts at work that cost pennies to make individually, but the tooling runs in tens of thousands of dollars.