5 ms·

With Surface tanking, Microsoft digs faster

29 points by srathi 14y ago

mtgx 14y ago
"Our contacts with OEMs say that it really was that bad, the depths of their hatred for Redmond right now is truly unprecedented, and all are hard at work on a Plan B that is Microsoft free." Let's hope that means more Ubuntu/Linux laptops in the near future, and laptops that are actually $100 cheaper than their Windows counterparts, not $300 more expensive, like that Dell one.
- m_st 14y ago
  I'm pretty sure they'd like to use Android everywhere. Given that it has already so many apps and customers know the name. Additionally the OEMs get a lot more freedom than what they have with Windows, yet won't feel as lost as with any Linux distribution.
  - AnthonyMouse 14y ago
    It seems like what Canonical ought to do is release an "Android Distribution" which happens to include the GNU userland, but also runs all the Android apps.
pc86 14y ago
Is there not a single unbiased sentence in this article? I'm no fan of the Surface or Windows 8, but this is just ridiculous.
- colkassad 14y ago
  I love this one: "Fearful of losing ad contracts, most sites pointed out that this was actually a clear indicator of the success of Surface, it was doing great, the entire OEM and partner ecosystem just couldn’t match Microsoft’s superior design prowess." I guess they somewhat allude to their journalistic abilities with their domain name.
  - Svip 14y ago
    I also don't get why the article seems so mad or angry; if they really dislike Microsoft, shouldn't they be happy about this?
- Svip 14y ago
  I agree; it seems incredibly biased. But then again, all the positive reviews following the release of Windows 8 and the Surface sure struck me as odd. In any case; I am not sure there are any unbiased articles in the tale of Windows 8. For what it's worth, the article does have some facts in it (you just have to read through all the clutter of Microsoft bashing), that OEMs are not happy about the Surface and that certainly not going to be pleased by Microsoft's decision to sell it outside of their own stores and website.
  - xradionut 14y ago
    "In any case; I am not sure there are any unbiased articles in the tale of Windows 8." It's hard to dig the facts out of the machine. I was sitting in a Windows 8/Azure presentation last week and ask the Microsoft presenter several uncomfortable questions that he didn't want to answer. :(
    - phaet0n 14y ago
      I'am actually interested in deploying on Azure. If you don't mind me asking, what uncomfortable questions were you asking? The only serious problem I have with Microsoft, and it is really quite a serious problem, is that you have no idea how committed they are to any of their technologies and once you've been bitten the n'th time, for n >> 0, you just desperately want to be in control of you own stack, and so you own destiny. Technology wise Azure is quite MS-agnostic, and that's the smartest thing they could have ever done with it. That said, their documentation has move from being developer-friendly to being a collection of marketing-friendly bullet points intended for pointy-haired bosses to inflict on their dev teams. Still, xradionut, would love to hear the uncomfortable questions you posed. They'd help me decide if there's more than the devil in the lack of architectural details.
      - xradionut 14y ago
        I questioned their commitment to Python since there have been some commitment questions raised about IronPython, SilverLight and such. There were bugs and a "alpha" quality to the management tools that were demoed. The presenter wasn't skilled with Node.js and replicated a SQL statement with 50 lines of code. I felt like there's a "Me Too" attitude with Microsoft and they are struggling to figure out how to deal with OSS.
- phaet0n 14y ago
  That's just Groo's (Charlie Demerjian) style. If you've been following him since his days at The Inquirer you know you're getting the work of probably the only person in tech that has done the legwork to build up connections and sources to get the true picture of the hardware industry. The rest of the prose is just his way of telling it. Entertaining for some, annoying for others, but it's always refreshing to get something other than rehashed PR releases, or fanboi advertorials.
xradionut 14y ago
So here's the list of folks that Microsoft has pissed off this year: OEMs, developers with yet another wave of API changes and such, CIOs with increased licensing costs and power users with Windows 8. (Not to mention shareholders, employees, etc...) Starting to look like an HP sized problem... Even some of my hardcore Redmond loving co-workers have been playing with Linux and we have discuss the possibility of utilizing some of the nifty Python/C data tools that have matured over the last decade for analysis and ETL.
Irregardless 14y ago
Why was this suddenly pulled from the front page? It's one of the first accurate posts I've seen about the Surface on HN.
- Toshio 14y ago
  There are at least a dozen Redmond fanbois on HN who are more than happy to flag any article that doesn't speak well of microsoft. And they raise hell about why their favorite ms-praising article was flagged to death.
planetjones 14y ago
Terribly biased article = Zero Credibility. Example? "painfully awful reviews of a product no one wants". A quick Google and it's clear this is nonsense. That said I won't be buying a Surface, because I'm perfectly happy with the iPad and iPhone and iMac set-up I have. A few years ago I would never have said I would have all Apple products, but seeing Windows 8 on the desktop convinced me to make the switch.
netpenthe 14y ago
i'm still thinking the Surface Pro has a chance to replace my laptop or at least act as a backup. what is the downside to this? i can't see any....

29 points by srathi 14y ago

mtgx 14y ago

"Our contacts with OEMs say that it really was that bad, the depths of their hatred for Redmond right now is truly unprecedented, and all are hard at work on a Plan B that is Microsoft free." Let's hope that means more Ubuntu/Linux laptops in the near future, and laptops that are actually $100 cheaper than their Windows counterparts, not $300 more expensive, like that Dell one.

m_st 14y ago
I'm pretty sure they'd like to use Android everywhere. Given that it has already so many apps and customers know the name. Additionally the OEMs get a lot more freedom than what they have with Windows, yet won't feel as lost as with any Linux distribution.
- AnthonyMouse 14y ago
  It seems like what Canonical ought to do is release an "Android Distribution" which happens to include the GNU userland, but also runs all the Android apps.

pc86 14y ago

Is there not a single unbiased sentence in this article? I'm no fan of the Surface or Windows 8, but this is just ridiculous.

colkassad 14y ago
I love this one: "Fearful of losing ad contracts, most sites pointed out that this was actually a clear indicator of the success of Surface, it was doing great, the entire OEM and partner ecosystem just couldn’t match Microsoft’s superior design prowess." I guess they somewhat allude to their journalistic abilities with their domain name.
- Svip 14y ago
  I also don't get why the article seems so mad or angry; if they really dislike Microsoft, shouldn't they be happy about this?
Svip 14y ago
I agree; it seems incredibly biased. But then again, all the positive reviews following the release of Windows 8 and the Surface sure struck me as odd. In any case; I am not sure there are any unbiased articles in the tale of Windows 8. For what it's worth, the article does have some facts in it (you just have to read through all the clutter of Microsoft bashing), that OEMs are not happy about the Surface and that certainly not going to be pleased by Microsoft's decision to sell it outside of their own stores and website.
- xradionut 14y ago
  "In any case; I am not sure there are any unbiased articles in the tale of Windows 8." It's hard to dig the facts out of the machine. I was sitting in a Windows 8/Azure presentation last week and ask the Microsoft presenter several uncomfortable questions that he didn't want to answer. :(
  - phaet0n 14y ago
    I'am actually interested in deploying on Azure. If you don't mind me asking, what uncomfortable questions were you asking? The only serious problem I have with Microsoft, and it is really quite a serious problem, is that you have no idea how committed they are to any of their technologies and once you've been bitten the n'th time, for n >> 0, you just desperately want to be in control of you own stack, and so you own destiny. Technology wise Azure is quite MS-agnostic, and that's the smartest thing they could have ever done with it. That said, their documentation has move from being developer-friendly to being a collection of marketing-friendly bullet points intended for pointy-haired bosses to inflict on their dev teams. Still, xradionut, would love to hear the uncomfortable questions you posed. They'd help me decide if there's more than the devil in the lack of architectural details.
    - xradionut 14y ago
      I questioned their commitment to Python since there have been some commitment questions raised about IronPython, SilverLight and such. There were bugs and a "alpha" quality to the management tools that were demoed. The presenter wasn't skilled with Node.js and replicated a SQL statement with 50 lines of code. I felt like there's a "Me Too" attitude with Microsoft and they are struggling to figure out how to deal with OSS.
phaet0n 14y ago
That's just Groo's (Charlie Demerjian) style. If you've been following him since his days at The Inquirer you know you're getting the work of probably the only person in tech that has done the legwork to build up connections and sources to get the true picture of the hardware industry. The rest of the prose is just his way of telling it. Entertaining for some, annoying for others, but it's always refreshing to get something other than rehashed PR releases, or fanboi advertorials.

xradionut 14y ago

So here's the list of folks that Microsoft has pissed off this year: OEMs, developers with yet another wave of API changes and such, CIOs with increased licensing costs and power users with Windows 8. (Not to mention shareholders, employees, etc...) Starting to look like an HP sized problem... Even some of my hardcore Redmond loving co-workers have been playing with Linux and we have discuss the possibility of utilizing some of the nifty Python/C data tools that have matured over the last decade for analysis and ETL.

Irregardless 14y ago

Why was this suddenly pulled from the front page? It's one of the first accurate posts I've seen about the Surface on HN.

Toshio 14y ago
There are at least a dozen Redmond fanbois on HN who are more than happy to flag any article that doesn't speak well of microsoft. And they raise hell about why their favorite ms-praising article was flagged to death.

planetjones 14y ago

Terribly biased article = Zero Credibility. Example? "painfully awful reviews of a product no one wants". A quick Google and it's clear this is nonsense. That said I won't be buying a Surface, because I'm perfectly happy with the iPad and iPhone and iMac set-up I have. A few years ago I would never have said I would have all Apple products, but seeing Windows 8 on the desktop convinced me to make the switch.

netpenthe 14y ago

i'm still thinking the Surface Pro has a chance to replace my laptop or at least act as a backup. what is the downside to this? i can't see any....