When is Microsoft going to deliver, blogger asks

Why did you edit the post?

Manny: huh? I added onto it within a minute of posting.

I agree with Ralph, The need for working solutions are mandatory. Microsoft has a history and still puts out too many patches for the software they deliver. However, I also see a solid effort on Microsoft's part to identify what the cutomer wants and deliver a solid product.
As the customer's right to insist on a working product I am with Ralph in Microsoft's need to step it up. Given what has been happening lately, i see an improvement.

What has been happening lately, Guy?

http://www.damnralph.com/2006/02/09/WOW.aspx

But you probably didn't mean me?

I just read somewhere today that Microsoft is going to start selling their own AntiVirus/Firewall software at a fraction of the cost of the competitors. So, there's a real deliverable, right?

met, all the world has been happening and it changes everyday.
Ralph, I meant Ralph Poole's article that Robert was talking about

Ralph whines that "Microsoft" is sitting on their hands and making videos. Yeah, right, like somehow all 64,000 employees are spending all their time doing *that* instead of working on products and solutions. Hey Ralph, Scoble & co. aren't the entirety of Microsoft!

Ralph's rant is completely typical of someone who isn't actually /paying attention/ to what Microsoft is really doing these days, much less giving due consideration to how difficult is actually is to add features to a product like Internet Explorer that tens (hundreds?) of millions of people use every day, without shipping something that breaks so much legacy stuff that nobody will bother upgrading.

Plus he really should make sure his own web site works (which it certainly doesn't right now) before he goes and criticises anyone else on their ability to produce the goods.

So, a Windows tax for virus protection. Why not try not writing so many bugs? Isn't this close to a protection racket? Or will MS get around this by keeping a tame competitor alive? And what's this about Halo 2 being Vista only?? What possible technical reason can MS give for this, apart from technically it'll make MS richer?
And maybe you should look into your companies behaviour in China, Massachusetts, and the NHS (UK) ...

I really do like MS - but WHY would I want to buy an anti-virus solution from the company whose product (OS) created the problem? If MS is going to get into Antivius - it ought to be a FREE program. Why should I pay extra for correcting errors and omissions?

Microsoft won't ever deliver, not what it promises. Oh it will deliver (great products in fact), but it's always less than the sum of the marketing-run-up parts.

Sure it's important if Ralph says wow. For me, it's much more important when my customers say wow, as a result of using Microsoft technologies.

Look at the pace of change that the base of Microsoft business customers can accept. Is Microsoft moving fater than that pace of change? I would argue that overall the answer is yes.

Are there places where the pace could be faster, more focused? Yes.

Does Microsoft know it? Yes.

Is it easy to bash Mirosoft and its people for not having 20/20 foresight? Mr. Poole, who is already using the collaborative technologies he yearns to see shows the answer is yes.

It's pretty damn easy to berate, to demand, to pound those fists. It's far more difficult to satisfy the hundreds of thousands of customers and most of the worlds governments at the same time. But Microsoft tries to do it every day. Not perfectly, but with sincere passion.

This isn't an apology for Microsoft. Rather a plea to put the context around the discussion. It's a really cool discussion to have.

And it involves more than antivirus software...

I am sure it won't be long before Ralph says "wow!"

In about the same amount of time that it has taken to rollout Windows Vista?...For Microsoft's sake I hope not, but its nice for the little guys.

So far, I'll say I'm a bit sceptical myself. I know the software will eventually be released and have a great look with easy-to-use functionality, but the stability of some of the most recent MS offerings (MSN and VS) have left me with a feeling of still using a CTP. The transparency is great and all, but the finished product has been lacking finish as of late, IMO. I guess that's what patches are for, but the ability to autopatch shouldn't be a crutch to make a deadline (as an example, I've had Xbox Live autoupdate twice & CoD2 autoupdate once, and it's only 2 1/2 months into the life cycle of the console).

Wow, someone mentioned the 360. Boy, that has to be the world's biggest flameout in console gaming history. Maybe 1-2 years will pick up, but the buzz is frozen solid cold. (Insert obligatory "but-it-takes-time", "long-tail Version 3" Microsoft quote here). Irony tho, can't release Halo 3 until they get supply chain management problems in order.

The lesson here? Vista should play up games, I see a PC game revival trend uptick. Hardcores are getting bored with consoles, casuals becoming more casual. And MMOG and RTS, PC strongholds are fronting upwards. Least the pulse as I see it, all lately reminding me of the Starcraftian LAN Party era.

I suspect it will be more along the lines of YAWN.

Chris - what the hell are you talking about? The 360 is as hot as ever. Sometimes I think you live in your own little world.

No Brandon -- Chris is right.

The supply-chain issues have done a lot of damage as Microsoft has already lost this generation. It hasn't succeeded in Japan and hasn't achieved the penetration required to stave off PS3 in Europe and the States.

With game budgets now in the tens of millions of dollars, are Japanese developers going to create games just for the US or are they going to spread those development dollars across geographies? In the states, more and more people are saying they'll wait for the PS3 before buying a new console.

I hate being negative about the 360 as it's a good product; IBM deserves the blame, not Microsoft.

What exactly is someone going to go "wow" over that comes out of Redmond? Their current "wow" thing is a 1st person shooter ... a genre that got dull (for me) 4 years ago with Counter Strike.

One really can't make an OS exciting. Nor a spreadsheet. Well unless it starts getting all bits of info on the local file server and assembles them into something resembling a budget. Now that I would go wow over.

I take that back: I am going 'wow" over Microsoft's voicing of trying to make the next version of IE support CSS standards. Never thought I would see that happen. Course that's like saying "wow" over a repeat offender not going back to jail.

"Chris - what the hell are you talking about? The 360 is as hot as ever."

Hot as ever? As in overheating power supplies?

"So, a Windows tax for virus protection. Why not try not writing so many bugs? Isn’t this close to a protection racket?"

You've nailed it. The virus protection from MS strikes me as a legalized protection racket.

I'm still waiting for that astounding interoperability revelations that Robert SWORE I would see at the PDC. A single demo of WPF/E on Safari is *not* astounding, unless it was that Windows people even know what Safari it. Still not seeing astounding.

Still waiting for documentation on WPF/E. I gave up on checking really, it's so pathetically obvious that WPF/E will be one of those "oh, we couldn't get it done in time, but since you spent all the money planning for it, you just start building WPF applications, we'll get that cross platform stuff done before the Sun goes nova, really...NOT".

Once again, Microsoft over - promises, under - delivers. Some days I think the Mac BU is the only unit within Microsoft CAPABLE of doing things the right way.

I am in my little own world? No siree, you Brandon are in your little own Redmond Reality Distortion Zone. No stores around here, North Cal, have any 360s STILL, and jokesters at my local Gamestop even have a goofy neon 'No Vacancy' sign, next to the Xbox 360 kiosk. It's already a joke, for a generation or two. You need to tap into the Game Developer market and pick up on the gossip, they are livid, actually that's way way too mild of a word. But boy, I can't wait till in my "own little world" I can waltz to Wallyworld and ACTUALLY BUY ONE OF THE BUGGERS. I am more hot under collar than normal, as I was one of the pre-order scammed "dupes", got my money back though.

Take a gander at not even 5 minutes worth of a Xbox 360 headlines search...

"Pachter: Game Market Down 3% in 2006, Xbox 360 to Blame", "Chinese analyst: Xbox 360 will fail", "The waiting game – console gaming on hold while world awaits PS3", "Xbox 360 Delayed In Asia and Australia", Atari Posts Net Loss,: Slow Holiday Season and Xbox 360 Mishaps said to Blame", "Game Developers Very Uneasy over Xbox 360 Apathy", "Xbox 360: Future Platinum Turkey?", "Xbox flop in Japan Achieves Mythical Proportions", "Majesco cancels Xbox 360 Demonik and Taxi Driver", "Microsoft Abandons 360 Sale Target", "Analyst: Xbox Live Strategy Misguided"...and so on and so forth...

"I hate being negative about the 360 as it’s a good product; IBM deserves the blame, not Microsoft."

First I've heard that. How is IBM to blame?

I'm not averse to blaiming IBM in general though. I still blame them for giving the OS business to Microsoft.

Chris -

That's funny considering I woke up today to headlines like "Could the PS3 kill Sony?"

The 360 has sold more units in the US since it's US release than the PS2 did in the same timeframe - and the PS2 had been out in Japan 8 months beforehand. So don't prattle on about "shortages." Every next-gen console has "shortages" when it's first launched. The only reason the PS3 might not have that problem is that probably no one will be able to afford one.

Ralph is part of the problem. Not the solution.

Microsoft releases it's Beta/CTP, then the bloggers go to work:

Scoble, Microsoft-Watch, Wininformant, Winbeta - you name it, and the next thing you know, you have a dense cloud of bullshit surrounding a product that is not ready for primetime. Expectations are inflated, release dates are speculated on, missing/new/wanted features are beaten around the blogosphere.

Even companies that don't do betas as often suffer from this. Pre-MacWorld, the blogs are full of idle speculation and when Jobs doesn't announce the Mac Tablet, The Mac-Mini Media Center, there's the let down, and the godawful postgame play of his keynote. "No Intel Mac-Mini Launched" - Gimme a frickin' break. Nobody at Apple said there was going to be an Intel Mac Mini yet, so why waste column inches responding to self created products.

In the old days, my answer to Ralph would be simple. Don't go to channel9 and Scoble. These days, with blogs cannibalising each others content, you can't escape it. Someone else has read scoble and wants to give you their 2 cents.

It amazes me that Microsoft-Watch and MacRumors exist. The fact that these sites can live off the news coming from one company either shows the company is being very productive, or there is a bunch of people with nothing better to do than speculate.

Where's the Gillette-Watch site?

How about the Coca-Cola Watch?

I can start a fight over why 5 blades are better than 4 on a razor with the best of them, but I doubt anyone would be interested.

So, what is about Software and Hardware Companies that has elevated them to 24 hour scrutiny?

@Brandon - are you saying that the 360 has sold more in its initial launch (almost 3 months now?) than PS2 did in its first 3 months?

Or are you saying that the 360 has sold more units over the last 3 months than the PS2?

What are the numbers? What is the 360 doing to the original XBOX sales?

Brandon, boy oh boy...No one will be able to afford the PS3? Even if only 50% of marketshare upgrade, it's still 10 million up total XBox and Xbox 360 combined sales. And the worldwide thin-slice release strategy, something no one has ever dared try, (for good reason) didn't account for say any of those product 'shortages? But see, you are dead wrong, as even your own company is saying "shortages" just they are blaming IBM.

But the slag bad-mouthing the competition, Major Nelson style, will but backfire. You stress differentiation, which in the Xbox 360 line-up would be the Xbox Live. Marketing 101.

But with total blinders like that, you are obviously on a Microsoft Executive Career Track.

I can start a fight over why 5 blades are better than 4 on a razor with the best of them, but I doubt anyone would be interested.

Actually I would, but more why 5 is better than 3, as no four blade shaver out there, unless you are talking just the physics of it. I actually bought 2 Fusion's, but the single blade fine-tune slicer on backside is a drawback to me, still scared of accidentally flipping over and half filleting myself. And maybe Phillip Krumholz would be interested too. :) Phillip is a master, author of "Gillette Collector's Handbook" and countless other historical razor shaving and collector books. Happen to know him personally, quite a whole historical wealth of info there. Actually thinking of doing a documentary on him and his research and flying up the Documentary channel market. History Channel take note. :)

http://www.heart.net/~krumholz/

Brandon,

I like the 360 but you are dead wrong. You can afford supply problems when you are the market leader. Not only was Sony the market leader when PS2 launched, they had a year lead.

The 360 isn't going to have that luxury. Further, you don't have the geographies to support the massive development budgets required for AAA titles. As Christopher mentioned, developers are furious over the management of the 360 launch. (I've spoken with them personally)

The 360 doesn't have enough to carry it though this Christmas. Barring catastrophic PS3 shortages, the 360 is finished.

I will say on the 360 (not meaning to keep this thing solely an Xbox thread), but patches and capacity issues on Live aside, the machine is a fantastic home entertainment centerpiece that hits most of the right targets in ways I don't think the PS3 will necessarily do and is thus an excellent example of a good "delivery". It's a state-of-the-art hi-def gaming console with always-on network connectivity, a meeting place, a marketplace, a gaming lite portal, home network jukebox, *and* a Media Center Extender. And all of these features are intuitively accessible from whatever the machine is doing within 10 seconds.

I find it hard to imagine anyone saying "wow" about a microsoft product. The most I've ever heard was "eh.. it's marginally better in some ways than the last pile of crap."

Mujibur - I think it's the PS3 that's in danger of failing, not the 360. Who is going to pay twice as much for a lesser system? Just for a BluRay drive?

Lesser how? Because it's not adorned with the MS logo? The whole "MORE POWER" idiocy overlooks CONTENT.

Let's see, what next gen system is going to have more content, the Xbox 360, PS3, or the Revolution.

Hmmm...Revolution wins, followed by the PS3. The PSx and the Xbox X are friggin' clones of each other anyway, only differing by the names on the titles.

J. Random: nice fud, but I stood in line with hundreds of people who were waiting for Xbox's. They didn't do that because Xbox 1 only made them say "eh."

Oh Branddonnnnnn...You are so fan-boy blind, about not worth bothering. You are defending the indefensible.

"I think it’s the PS3 that’s in danger of failing" - You have to be quite nuts. No one is saying that, no analysts, no press, no developers, not even your own company, worst case scenario is pegged at 30-35 million, which bests Xbox all totals. And here's the thing Xbox is already a failure, in terms of profit. Microsoft will never be able to recoup their investment. Sony will drop ball in distribution for sure, but it won't be the global Microsoft style.

"twice as much" - Well since the prices haven't been announced, that's pure FUD on your part.

"lesser system?" - Eh? Pretty even-matched, with Cell and BluRay as bonuses, now don't go all Major Nelson on me, but many areas in which it be not lesser, including content. And I wouldn't discount the BluRay impact, already real demand there, Nero 7 just supported too, long-term play, but far better than the HD-DVD add-on line Microsoft is sticking with.

Now what is really in your favor is the strength of the Xbox Live Community.