Looking around the internet, it appears that a sure way of generating traffic to your blog is to write an article predicting the doom and gloom of Microsoft. I thought these sort of click bait articles were reserved for Apple.
This might come across hypocritical, however I put together a few of these articles for you to judge for yourself whether these are click baits or well written articles on the challenges Microsoft faces going forward.
Microsoft has failed – Their actions erase any lingering doubt
Charlie Demerjian predicts that Microsoft has seen its best days:
[quote] Microsoft is in deep trouble, their two main product lines are failing, and the blame game is intensifying. Steve Sinofsky gets the blame this time for the failure of Windows 8, but the real problem is the patterns that are so clearly illustrated by these actions.
Microsoft is largely irrelevant to computing of late, the only markets they still play in are evaporating with stunning rapidity. Their long history of circling the wagons tighter and tighter works decently as long as there is not a credible alternative, and that strategy has been the entirety of the Microsoft playbook for so long that there is nothing else now. It works, and as the walls grow higher, customer enmity builds while the value of an alternative grows. This cycle repeats as long as there is no alternative. If there is, everything unravels with frightening rapidity.
A company that plays this game for too long becomes set in their ways, and any chance of real change simply becomes impossible. Microsoft is there, and has been for a long long time. Their product lines have stagnated, creating customer lock in is prioritized over creating customer value, and the supply chain is controlled by an iron fisted monopoly. Any attempt at innovation with a Windows PC has been shut out for over a decade, woe betide anyone who tried to buck that trend. The history books are littered with the corpses of companies that tried to make change the ‘Windows experience’. Microsoft’s displeasure is swift and fatal to those that try. Or at least it was.[/quote]
Oh, So This Is Where You Use The Microsoft Surface
Sarah Perez believes Microsoft Surface is best served in her kitchen:
[quote] The Microsoft Surface is a great kitchen computer, and sadly, that’s about it. You can tell a lot about a new product by how well you integrate it into your life, and for the Surface, the product has been largely sitting on my kitchen countertop for the past couple of weeks, except for that one time my daughter’s iPad was charging and she wanted to watch Netflix. Or that other time when I carried it to Startup Weekend, then ended up using it as a hard surface to press down on while writing with pen and paper.
Oh, Surface. You just don’t fit in. At least not for me.
Who, then, is this tablet/laptop for? And where the heck are you supposed to use this thing?
As for me, the Surface sits in my kitchen. And it works pretty well there for quick web searches, email checks, recipe lookups, a little YouTube and the like. There’s no point getting into details about how well Office performs, or the lack of apps available for the Surface with Windows RT, or other details – this is an occasional use machine.[/quote]
finally…
Windows 8: The Seven Roads Not Taken
Harry McCracken try to put the future success of Microsoft’s Windows 8 in some perspective in the face of skeptics:
[quote] On Friday, I responded to Paul Thurrott’s report that the first few weeks of Windows 8 sales have been disappointing by saying that Windows 8 is a long bet — and it therefore doesn’t matter much what the early sales numbers look like. Bloggers John Gruber and MG Siegler referenced my post, and both said that Microsoft‘s strategy of combining Windows’ traditional-PC interface with new touch-centric features is a mistake. Their thoughts are worth reading, and the market may well prove them correct.
Me, I’ve been studiously avoiding making any predictions about Windows 8’s chances of success…except to say that I think it’s going to take a while until we know whether Microsoft’s big bet is going to pay off.
But here’s a question that’s worth pondering: If Windows 8 is a misbegotten idea, what should Microsoft have done instead? What should Windows 7’s successor have looked like? What sort of products should the company offer for the era of touch interfaces and tablets? How should it position itself to do well in the post-PC years and decades to come?
I can think of seven alternate roads the company might have followed. (They’re not all mutually exclusive.)[/quote]
So, there it is, are these writers cynics or are they just keeping it real.
