3 ms·
The lesson here how short-term goals can do lasting long-term damage to your company and your brand. If you're of a certain age, you'll remember the horrible d
by jmyeet 4y ago
The lesson here how short-term goals can do lasting long-term damage to your company and your brand.
If you're of a certain age, you'll remember the horrible days of IE6 when Web development stagnated because of Microsoft's dominant lowest-common denominator. They did this to destroy Netscale and when Microsoft feared the Web would destroy their Windows monopoly. Having done that IE6 stagnated for years and was a thorn in the side of every Web developer. Even things like IE having its own interpretation of the CSS box model that differed from everyone else.
The result of htat is it created the Chrome behemoth and literally nobody cares about Edge anymore. I'm honestly not sure how Microsoft can ever bring that back now that they can't wield Windows as a weapon in the same way as they did 20-25 years ago.
As for the actual feature, upscaling lower-res videos is nothing new. Even DVD players did this years ago when the 480p resolution of DVDs became an issue as 720p and then 1080i then 1080p TVs entered the market.
But a whole bunch of short-term (ie quarter-to-quarter) decisions led Microsoft to this point. MS is otherwise doing some great things for developers (eg VS Code even though I'm personally a Jetbrain devotee). Typescript is another one. It's really difficult to repair reputational damage.
Something for Google to bear in mind with their habit of just canceling projects when they get bored.
- crazygringo 4y ago> As for the actual feature, upscaling lower-res videos is nothing new. Even DVD players did this years ago No, it's very new. It's not upscaling, it's machine-learning based super resolution. It adds details and makes textures richer and sharper, etc. DVD players never did anything like that.
- cheeze 4y agoIt's pretty awesome technology. I applaud Microsoft for releasing this.
- clouddrover 4y ago> They did this to destroy Netscale It must have worked. You don't remember their name.
- wvenable 4y ago> They did this to destroy Netscale and when Microsoft feared the Web would destroy their Windows monopoly. To be fair, that's exactly what Netscape was saying; that the web would make Windows obsolete. In the end, they were probably right. > Even things like IE having its own interpretation of the CSS box model that differed from everyone else. Ah yes, but Microsoft was right about that one.
- Dalewyn 4y ago>It's really difficult to repair reputational damage. The people who scream "Micro$oft" and "Windoze" are a vocal minority, most respect Microsoft and Windows for what they achieved and contributed (and continue to) to personal computing. Even the whole IE6 debacle was, in hindsight, Microsoft demonstrating hands on what happens when a monopoly is left to its own devices; a lesson the personal computing world apparently failed to appreciate given the monopoly that is Chrome. Incidentally, the Chrome monopoly is poised to further its grasp with what looks like the opening up of iOS and the subsequent death of Safari. Netscape and Firefox are rolling in their graves.
- adrr 4y agoProblem wasn’t IE6, it was the fact that Microsoft bound versions of IE to versions of windows. You had IE6 lingering in substantial numbers seven years after it was released due it being the only IE option for Win98. People couldn’t upgrade to IE7 unless they upgraded their machine to WinXp. It’s the same problem with safari and iOS/macOS versions.
- deleted 4y ago[deleted]