6 ms·

>I bet they would I kind of doubt it given J Allard was forced out of the company over the Courier.[1] Frankly, I think that's one of the single most boneheade

>I bet they would I kind of doubt it given J Allard was forced out of the company over the Courier.[1] Frankly, I think that's one of the single most boneheaded moves Ballmer's made -- Allard is largely responsible for reviving Microsoft's brand image with the under 30 crowd heading up Xbox and Zune development. A decade ago, nobody would have described Microsoft as a cool brand, but flash forward today every frat boy in the country owns an Xbox 360. Robbie Bach, head of the E&D division, went out at the same time. Then again, E&D was largely dysfunctional because there's been an odd combination of failing to leverage MS technology when it would make sense while trying to shoehorn MS techs into places where they just didn't work. See buying Danger and then pretty much scrapping their technology to build the Kin as a prime example. It pretty well illustrates the institutional schizophrenia the company shows to the world. [1] http://www.electronista.com/articles/10/05/25/microsoft.overhauls.devices.group.to.face.iphone/ http://www.electronista.com/articles/10/05/25/microsoft.over...

fuzzythinker 16y ago
Same feeling here. Not sure if Allard has any credits for the Kinect, but it's pretty much the only thing that wowed me from MS since win95. Seems like they really thought outside the box even though the aim was to copy the wii. Makes me want to get the xbox just for it.
rbanffy 16y ago
> A decade ago, nobody would have described Microsoft as a cool brand I am not sure many people describe it that way now.
- commandar 16y ago
  Then rephrase it as how many "cool" products existed under the Microsoft brand.
  - rbanffy 16y ago
    Cool as in "geek cool" or as in "general cool"? As in "geek cool", there were many. Even Windows for Workgroups was cool because it offered Mac-like networking for PCs. MS Access was cool. Even VB was cool (before it a Windows hello world was 100+ lines). My Softcard was cool - it allowed my Apple II to run CP/M programs. Microsoft's mice, keyboards and joysticks were always top-notch. As in "general cool", I can't remember a single one. Perhaps the Xbox 360 makes the cut, but only in the 25+ gamer scene. There would also be some "fashion-victim cool": those who just need the latest shiny toy. Those were the ones who jumped into Vista, Office 2007 and then to 7 and 2010 just because there is a newer version, disregarding whatever feature they needed. Obviously, they are not restricted to the Microsoft space - and I have pushed my PPC iMac well beyond its last supported OSX version (the G3 runs 10.4, but is not very snappy). These people also swap hardware like crazy, often having 8-core, 64-bit desktops where they check their hotmail accounts and zip through Facebook at speeds unheard of.

fuzzythinker 16y ago

Same feeling here. Not sure if Allard has any credits for the Kinect, but it's pretty much the only thing that wowed me from MS since win95. Seems like they really thought outside the box even though the aim was to copy the wii. Makes me want to get the xbox just for it.

rbanffy 16y ago

> A decade ago, nobody would have described Microsoft as a cool brand I am not sure many people describe it that way now.

commandar 16y ago
Then rephrase it as how many "cool" products existed under the Microsoft brand.
- rbanffy 16y ago
  Cool as in "geek cool" or as in "general cool"? As in "geek cool", there were many. Even Windows for Workgroups was cool because it offered Mac-like networking for PCs. MS Access was cool. Even VB was cool (before it a Windows hello world was 100+ lines). My Softcard was cool - it allowed my Apple II to run CP/M programs. Microsoft's mice, keyboards and joysticks were always top-notch. As in "general cool", I can't remember a single one. Perhaps the Xbox 360 makes the cut, but only in the 25+ gamer scene. There would also be some "fashion-victim cool": those who just need the latest shiny toy. Those were the ones who jumped into Vista, Office 2007 and then to 7 and 2010 just because there is a newer version, disregarding whatever feature they needed. Obviously, they are not restricted to the Microsoft space - and I have pushed my PPC iMac well beyond its last supported OSX version (the G3 runs 10.4, but is not very snappy). These people also swap hardware like crazy, often having 8-core, 64-bit desktops where they check their hotmail accounts and zip through Facebook at speeds unheard of.