4 ms·

I am not quite sure if I buy this argument. Microsoft certainly attempts to "productize", they simply fail on execution: When the iPod was still "only" an MP3

I am not quite sure if I buy this argument. Microsoft certainly attempts to "productize", they simply fail on execution: When the iPod was still "only" an MP3 player, Microsoft was pushing video capable PMPs through their PMC software. Microsoft was betting on the tablet long before Apple. Windows CE based Wizard style PDAs predate the Apple Newton, and Pocket PC was largely successful and shows Microsoft have been trying to get a Mobile OS into your pocket for nearly 20 years. It was largely Palm and Microsoft that built out this space. The PocketPC iPaq even had a GSM jacket that allowed it to be used as a phone, making it a smartphone that predates even the earliest Ericsson/Nokia smartphones. Not to mention Windows Mobile which predates iOS and Android by many years. Microsoft has been working on WebTV, Media Center and Xbox to get into your living room long before AppleTV or Google TV. Microsoft has certainly attempted to productize on the ideas that come out of Microsoft Research and is almost always on the cutting edge of technology, and in many cases years ahead. The problem is that they don't have the same unified vision many other companies do, so when they execute they do so poorly: With incomplete products in an incoherent package. Microsoft's problem isn't that they aren't making enough products, it is that they are sometimes too big and disorganized to make them good enough that people can see the underlying value.

vardump 14y ago
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nokia_9000_Communicator http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nokia_9000_Communicator 1996. Web browser, email, calendar and can run apps. I also had an iPaq, but that was only a few years later. Great little devices apart from the browser and activestink.
- kapnobatairza 14y ago
  Great device, I owned one of these as well. The communicators were my smartphone of choice until the touchscreen enabled Sony Ericsson P800 came out in 2002. Oddly enough, you can see a lot of the iPhone in the P800. http://www.mobileburn.com/media/sonyericsson/p800_7650.jpg http://www.mobileburn.com/media/sonyericsson/p800_7650.jpg
Swannie 14y ago
Agreed. And let's not forget that Tablet PCs, with stylus, WiFi, etc. running full Windows, much like the much touted Yoga, were championed by Microsoft in 2001 - 2002. (e.g. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HP/Compaq_TC1000 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HP/Compaq_TC1000 ).
- bitwize 14y ago
  Microsoft was touting tablet PCs running full Windows in 1992. Am I the only one who remembers "Microsoft Windows for Pen Computing"?
mikestew 14y ago
> Windows CE based Wizard style PDAs predate the Apple Newton Newton came out in '93 and WinCE came out in '96. But that nitpick doesn't take away from your general point. MSFT seems to be good at coming out with things that have potential, but then let's them languish. Their mobile products were a prime example. On the last WinMo phone I had (2006-ish), the OS had dialogs that were (I assume) user-drawn and going on ten years old. Those dialogs looked like it, too. Apple comes along with a platform they were willing to pour the company into, and MSFT has been playing catch-up since. You say they don't make their products "good enough", I'd argue that Microsoft doesn't stick with their products long enough to make them good enough. Their wireless home phone system (can't find a link) was an example. V1.0 was rough around the edges, but useable and forward-thinking for the late 90's. v2.0 was going to be great, except there never was a 2.0.
- kapnobatairza 14y ago
  Good catch, somehow I thought the Newton was released later, thanks for the correction. Upon further research, Microsoft seems to have begun their handheld efforts with WinPad and the Pegasus project in 1994, which finally materialized as WindowsCE by 1996 in real consumer products. Apple Newton development seems to go back as far as 1987, with a consumer product out by 1993. I also think what you say about them failing to support their products in the long term is very true. Until recently, Microsoft has been willing to let a lot of its products languish both aesthetically and in terms of functionality. I think this ultimately still comes down to Microsoft's large disjointed nature and stubborn commitment to support legacy hardware/software, which made it less dynamic than a company like Apple that had a strong top-down unified decision making process that allowed it to push out cutting-edge products and aesthetics.

vardump 14y ago

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nokia_9000_Communicator http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nokia_9000_Communicator 1996. Web browser, email, calendar and can run apps. I also had an iPaq, but that was only a few years later. Great little devices apart from the browser and activestink.

kapnobatairza 14y ago
Great device, I owned one of these as well. The communicators were my smartphone of choice until the touchscreen enabled Sony Ericsson P800 came out in 2002. Oddly enough, you can see a lot of the iPhone in the P800. http://www.mobileburn.com/media/sonyericsson/p800_7650.jpg http://www.mobileburn.com/media/sonyericsson/p800_7650.jpg

Swannie 14y ago

Agreed. And let's not forget that Tablet PCs, with stylus, WiFi, etc. running full Windows, much like the much touted Yoga, were championed by Microsoft in 2001 - 2002. (e.g. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HP/Compaq_TC1000 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HP/Compaq_TC1000 ).

bitwize 14y ago
Microsoft was touting tablet PCs running full Windows in 1992. Am I the only one who remembers "Microsoft Windows for Pen Computing"?

mikestew 14y ago

> Windows CE based Wizard style PDAs predate the Apple Newton Newton came out in '93 and WinCE came out in '96. But that nitpick doesn't take away from your general point. MSFT seems to be good at coming out with things that have potential, but then let's them languish. Their mobile products were a prime example. On the last WinMo phone I had (2006-ish), the OS had dialogs that were (I assume) user-drawn and going on ten years old. Those dialogs looked like it, too. Apple comes along with a platform they were willing to pour the company into, and MSFT has been playing catch-up since. You say they don't make their products "good enough", I'd argue that Microsoft doesn't stick with their products long enough to make them good enough. Their wireless home phone system (can't find a link) was an example. V1.0 was rough around the edges, but useable and forward-thinking for the late 90's. v2.0 was going to be great, except there never was a 2.0.

kapnobatairza 14y ago
Good catch, somehow I thought the Newton was released later, thanks for the correction. Upon further research, Microsoft seems to have begun their handheld efforts with WinPad and the Pegasus project in 1994, which finally materialized as WindowsCE by 1996 in real consumer products. Apple Newton development seems to go back as far as 1987, with a consumer product out by 1993. I also think what you say about them failing to support their products in the long term is very true. Until recently, Microsoft has been willing to let a lot of its products languish both aesthetically and in terms of functionality. I think this ultimately still comes down to Microsoft's large disjointed nature and stubborn commitment to support legacy hardware/software, which made it less dynamic than a company like Apple that had a strong top-down unified decision making process that allowed it to push out cutting-edge products and aesthetics.