4 ms·

I’d argue that Microsoft still doesn’t have a consumer product vision outside their gaming division. I think they’re quite content with that now though. They’r

by dagmx 4y ago

I’d argue that Microsoft still doesn’t have a consumer product vision outside their gaming division. I think they’re quite content with that now though. They’re firmly developer, enterprise and gaming focused these days.

chasing 4y ago
I would say that they seem to recognize that they need to appeal to the users of their products and not just those users’ managers. And that means playing ball with the ecosystem and not just trying to crush it. Baby steps, I guess. But a lot of their product line remains a mess. (Although the Xbox shouldn’t be discounted — that was a consumer success.)
- macintux 4y ago
  > I would say that they seem to recognize that they need to appeal to the users of their products and not just those users’ managers. Someone forgot to tell the Teams team.
  - scarface74 4y ago
    The definition of SaaS is basically where the buyer is not the user. The managers write multi year six and seven figure checks not the user.
    - esafak 4y ago
      It's not that simple. Look up "product-led growth". It's why Figma made Adobe eat $20b.
      - scarface74 4y ago
        And Figma’s revenue was only $400 million before it got acquired.
- chongli 4y ago
  I would say that they seem to recognize that they need to appeal to the users of their products and not just those users’ managers Some of them recognize it, but not everyone. The company also seems to be pretty heavily invested into monetizing users to the hilt with telemetry and advertising. This is the sort of approach that will slowly drive people away from the platform, as users gradually tire of the ever-increasing intrusiveness of the ads.
- devnullbrain 4y ago
  Games consoles are a strange consumer product. They live and die on the ability to make deals with third parties and only a small number of companies have ever had sustained success.
jjtheblunt 4y ago
The 2019 Surface Pro X is an excellent little machine.
- rawgabbit 4y ago
  I loved my Surface Book too. Until during the pandemic, Microsoft updates ran constantly. So I let the Surface Book powered on for several weeks. Foolish me didn’t realize that the CPU was maxed out and the heat would eventually cause the battery to swell and cause the display panel to become unglued.
Philip-J-Fry 4y ago
I think they're being "Appled" by Sony and Nintendo in the gaming industry though. The Xbox division has been on a downward spiral. Brand loyalty and Game Pass is arguably the only thing keeping them around. But as Sony continues to put out killer first party titles only on PS5, they will suffer. I think a lot of Xbox Series X/S buyers wish they had a PS5 or buy a PS5 as well to play Sony first party titles. And come next generation, if Xbox doesn't have anything to compete with the quality of Sony's games, then I think they're dead. We're 2.5 years into the current generation and Microsoft has almost nothing to show for it except Forza and Halo, which was a delayed mess of a game. Add in to that the fact that most third party games perform better on PS5. They've been on a downward trajectory after Xbox One, where they refuse to state how successful it is, with analysts predicting the PS4 outsold them 2-1. Xbox One was a terrible announcement and launch. Xbox Series X/S are great pieces of hardware but they just can't compete with PlayStation in every other aspect. They've let down developers with the Series S since developers have to target 2 separate SKUs for Xbox, increasing developer effort. And in some cases developers are withholding their games from Xbox if they can't run on the weaker Series S, as you are not allowed to launch on Series X only (see Baldur's Gate 3). If Microsoft changes the rules around this it will benefit developers but it will let down consumers. PS5 is predicted to be outselling the Xbox even more so this generation. There's practically no reason for a consumer to buy an Xbox unless you're a fan of their exclusives, which they have done an excellent job of killing interest in. I think next generation will be when Microsoft taps out and leaves the gaming hardware market, except for maybe their controllers. They will pivot to software only and focus on selling Game Pass for PC players and game streaming for the remaining consumers. Personally, I don't think that will have a good outcome.
- etempleton 4y ago
  I respectively disagree. I think Microsoft has put Sony in an impossible spot and, with the Activision merger about to go through, Sony is going to have an even harder time. The pandemic, I believe, has masked that people are migrating more and more to PC. Migrating to PC is a win for Microsoft. Kids play Switch and then are jumping right to PC. I don’t hear about a lot of Gen Z kids talk about PlayStation and have even heard it referred to as a boomer console and anecdotally the PlayStation crowd seems to be predominately 30+.

by dagmx 4y ago

chasing 4y ago

I would say that they seem to recognize that they need to appeal to the users of their products and not just those users’ managers. And that means playing ball with the ecosystem and not just trying to crush it. Baby steps, I guess. But a lot of their product line remains a mess. (Although the Xbox shouldn’t be discounted — that was a consumer success.)

macintux 4y ago
> I would say that they seem to recognize that they need to appeal to the users of their products and not just those users’ managers. Someone forgot to tell the Teams team.
- scarface74 4y ago
  The definition of SaaS is basically where the buyer is not the user. The managers write multi year six and seven figure checks not the user.
  - esafak 4y ago
    It's not that simple. Look up "product-led growth". It's why Figma made Adobe eat $20b.
    - scarface74 4y ago
      And Figma’s revenue was only $400 million before it got acquired.
chongli 4y ago
I would say that they seem to recognize that they need to appeal to the users of their products and not just those users’ managers Some of them recognize it, but not everyone. The company also seems to be pretty heavily invested into monetizing users to the hilt with telemetry and advertising. This is the sort of approach that will slowly drive people away from the platform, as users gradually tire of the ever-increasing intrusiveness of the ads.
devnullbrain 4y ago
Games consoles are a strange consumer product. They live and die on the ability to make deals with third parties and only a small number of companies have ever had sustained success.

jjtheblunt 4y ago

The 2019 Surface Pro X is an excellent little machine.

rawgabbit 4y ago
I loved my Surface Book too. Until during the pandemic, Microsoft updates ran constantly. So I let the Surface Book powered on for several weeks. Foolish me didn’t realize that the CPU was maxed out and the heat would eventually cause the battery to swell and cause the display panel to become unglued.

Philip-J-Fry 4y ago

I think they're being "Appled" by Sony and Nintendo in the gaming industry though. The Xbox division has been on a downward spiral. Brand loyalty and Game Pass is arguably the only thing keeping them around. But as Sony continues to put out killer first party titles only on PS5, they will suffer. I think a lot of Xbox Series X/S buyers wish they had a PS5 or buy a PS5 as well to play Sony first party titles. And come next generation, if Xbox doesn't have anything to compete with the quality of Sony's games, then I think they're dead. We're 2.5 years into the current generation and Microsoft has almost nothing to show for it except Forza and Halo, which was a delayed mess of a game. Add in to that the fact that most third party games perform better on PS5. They've been on a downward trajectory after Xbox One, where they refuse to state how successful it is, with analysts predicting the PS4 outsold them 2-1. Xbox One was a terrible announcement and launch. Xbox Series X/S are great pieces of hardware but they just can't compete with PlayStation in every other aspect. They've let down developers with the Series S since developers have to target 2 separate SKUs for Xbox, increasing developer effort. And in some cases developers are withholding their games from Xbox if they can't run on the weaker Series S, as you are not allowed to launch on Series X only (see Baldur's Gate 3). If Microsoft changes the rules around this it will benefit developers but it will let down consumers. PS5 is predicted to be outselling the Xbox even more so this generation. There's practically no reason for a consumer to buy an Xbox unless you're a fan of their exclusives, which they have done an excellent job of killing interest in. I think next generation will be when Microsoft taps out and leaves the gaming hardware market, except for maybe their controllers. They will pivot to software only and focus on selling Game Pass for PC players and game streaming for the remaining consumers. Personally, I don't think that will have a good outcome.

etempleton 4y ago
I respectively disagree. I think Microsoft has put Sony in an impossible spot and, with the Activision merger about to go through, Sony is going to have an even harder time. The pandemic, I believe, has masked that people are migrating more and more to PC. Migrating to PC is a win for Microsoft. Kids play Switch and then are jumping right to PC. I don’t hear about a lot of Gen Z kids talk about PlayStation and have even heard it referred to as a boomer console and anecdotally the PlayStation crowd seems to be predominately 30+.