

Microsoft drove the bus off the cliff, now it tries to speed up - bigfaceworm
http://semiaccurate.com/2013/07/22/microsoft-drove-the-bus-off-the-cliff-now-it-tries-to-speed-up/

======
tn13
Recently purchased a windows and to my horror, despite a i3 processor it was
slower than my celeron PC running XP. There was no reason why a machine just
unboxed should have been so slow.

Soon I figured out it came with following crapware

1\. Google chrome with Bing to be homepage and defautl search engine. I even
suspected that Chrome Exe might be bloated so I reinstalled it.

2\. It came with Norton antivirus which consistently took up 10% CPU and large
chunk of memory.

3\. Some intel software which always squatted in background without telling me
why it exists.

4\. Lenovo's crapware

\- There were 11 Lenovo software, each of which I had to uninstall separately.
This included some rescue programs to some remote diagonistic programs to some
internet security.

5\. Did I mention Windows Update ? It was the shittiest of all. First it
choked my bandwidth. It slowed down everything. Eventually my screen went
blank and my machine restarted on it own. It took around 90 minutes for 71
updates to get applied. I dint even ask for them.

Even all this did not work so I had to change my display settings tuned for
performance which is basically windows 95 look and feel for Windows 7.

Overall compared to my macbook which came with very less software but only
something that worked as it was supposed to be.

~~~
com2kid
Get machine, wipe HD, reinstall Windows, reinstall drivers.

Windows Update is an unfortunately necessary evil, it becomes more painful the
longer it has been since a major Windows release.

~~~
Roedou
Interestingly, the bricks-and-mortar Microsoft Stores seem to sell laptops
with a version of Win 8 that has no crapware/bloatware and is optimized to run
well; a lot like doing a fresh install.

~~~
rlu
Worth noting that you can also get these at bigger chains (e.g. Costco, Best
Buy, etc.) - like the other comment under/above me said, they're labeled as
"Microsoft Signature" or something along those lines.

------
clarky07
Microsoft is far from failed. They might not be doing great with tablets and
phones, but they have a few other businesses that happen to make billions upon
billions each quarter. The PC is declining, it isn't dead. And it won't be any
time soon.

~~~
seldo
You are absolutely correct. In the same way, in 2012, half of IBM's profits
were from the sales and servicing of mainframes[1]. IBM is not dead, it's just
irrelevant. And that's where Microsoft is apparently unstoppably heading.

[1] [http://www.economist.com/blogs/schumpeter/2012/09/ibms-
mainf...](http://www.economist.com/blogs/schumpeter/2012/09/ibms-mainframes)

~~~
adventured
IBM is irrelevant. Extreme exaggeration at its finest.

Irrelevant in what? According to whom? Very important questions.

The only way I'm able to fathom someone being able to claim that IBM is
"irrelevant," is if said person has never done any level of enterprise or
government IT business anywhere on earth. Must be nice to have an irrelevant
$100b sales business with $16b in profit and 434,000 employees.

Well let's see here. By that measure, the following companies are apparently
irrelevant too: Oracle, HP, Dell, Cisco, Intel, SAP, Microsoft, EMC - they
only tally a cool $450 billion or so in sales. They must not do anything
useful at all to earn that.

Irrelevant must mean: not hip or fashionable, and not dominate in consumer
smart phones or tablets.

~~~
ams6110
Irrelevant to business desktop and mobile computing. But they don't even
compete in that segment any more, having sold it to Lenovo, so that's hardly
surprising.

------
qntmfred
> Last fall SemiAccurate was one of the few voices criticizing Windows 8

o_0

~~~
gillianseed
Well it was part of a longer sentence including Surface and WART (windows on
RT) which you chose to omit.

~~~
JohnTHaller
Even with the full sentence, it's no less eyebrow-raising. Everyone I know was
criticizing all 3.

------
ibudiallo
This looks more like an angry letter with childish points made. > i hate this
I hate that.

~~~
seanp2k2
It doesn't help that the writing in the article is pretty bad.

I don't think M$ will go under (think: Fortune 500 + gov't), but as a consumer
I don't want any of their new stuff.

~~~
jwoah12
> _as a consumer I don 't want any of their new stuff._

I think we could've guessed that from your use of "M$" in the prior clause.

~~~
nitrogen
Hitting shift-M shift-4 could still be a force of habit for anyone who came of
age in the MS antitrust trial era.

------
joshuaellinger
Semiaccurate is living up to its name.

Yeah, Microsoft has lost its way. It has some amazing strengths and a lot of
smart people. It can turn itself around. But the parallels to IBM are
astounding. Their internal politics and HR policies are insane. They have
meetings upon meetings. Etc.

But they know they are losing and, unlike the IE/Netscape battle, they can't
win on price and bundling. This level of awareness gives them a chance.

If the re-org works, it will break the power of the intrenched divisions and
they can stop being their own worst enemy. Or maybe it will just get Balmer
fired. (I vote Scott Gu for CEO :)

------
wheaties
Pfft. Drove the bus off a cliff, into the ocean, through the fires of hell and
into my living room. Fortunately, you can now install a few different Linux
distros on their UEFI @#$% loader.

------
coldcode
They make more off of Android devices than Google does. Maybe their strategy
is to build such sucky products that more people pick up Android devices.

~~~
corresation
_They make more off of Android devices than Google does._

People keep saying this, though I suppose someone at Microsoft must be
embezzling huge sums of money because this purported big Android windfall
still fails to appear on any Microsoft quarterly report. Dear NSA: the FBI or
someone should look into this.

This myth is founded on Microsoft continually getting agreements with
manufacturers to give them patent immunity, _never_ with actual dollar amounts
announced. Instead the press just starts inventing numbers, becoming ever more
zealous with the incredible sums Microsoft is making off of Android (again,
apparently completely off the books...).

Given the actual reality that these dollar amounts don't exist, the next time
you hear about Microsoft making enormous sums from some sucker company,
realize that they probably aren't making anything, but instead are getting
various cooperation agreements, where the payments are more likely fictional
movements of non-money and continued involvement in Microsoft's efforts (e.g
pretty please make a Windows Phone device)

~~~
jussij
> because this purported big Android windfall still fails to appear on any
> Microsoft quarterly report

It shows up under the reporting of the Windows Phone Division:

 _“Windows Phone revenue, reflecting patent licensing revenue and sales of
Windows Phone licenses, increased $222 million for the quarter,”_

[http://arstechnica.com/information-
technology/2011/10/micros...](http://arstechnica.com/information-
technology/2011/10/microsoft-collects-license-fees-on-50-of-android-devices-
tells-google-to-wake-up/)

> Given the actual reality that these dollar amounts don't exist

The estimate is Microsoft gets about $8 for each Android device sold:

[http://www.zdnet.com/microsofts-most-profitable-mobile-
opera...](http://www.zdnet.com/microsofts-most-profitable-mobile-operating-
system-android-7000015094/)

~~~
corresation
_It shows up under the reporting of the Windows Phone Division_

Windows Phone exists in the entertainment division, which is a division that
neither pulls in big numbers, nor actually produces a profit. For the most
recent quarter it still lost over $100MM.

If these massive Android profits are hidden in there -- in a division that
hosts both the xbox and Windows Phone, and has revenue of just two billion a
quarter -- then it can't be very big.

 _The estimate is Microsoft gets about $8 for each Android device sold_

There are about 1.5 million Android devices sold a day. Do you think Microsoft
is making $360 million a month from Android? $4.3 billion a year?

There is no universe where that is even remotely close to accurate, or
Microsoft would be screaming from the mountaintops about their incredible,
pure profit success. Instead they have to stuff the purported earnings into a
nebulous division.

~~~
jussij
There's plenty of evidence Microsoft is making money on Android sales as
companies selling Android keep announcing patent licensing deals with
Microsoft.

Here is just one such an agreement:

[http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2013/apr/24/zte-
android...](http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2013/apr/24/zte-android-
patent-microsoft)

Also, from that link, it suggests Microsoft now has 80% of the Android market
covered by similar license agreements.

As to the size of those royalty payments, who’s to know. Companies always keep
those kind of details under wraps.

But I doubt very much Microsoft is going to go easy on them. Why would they?

And those patents don't only affect Android.

Microsoft recently forced Tom Tom to licence their technology as well.

[http://news.cnet.com/8301-13860_3-10206988-56.html](http://news.cnet.com/8301-13860_3-10206988-56.html)

It is no wonder Google is fighting hard against patents.

As the grow Android, Microsoft comes along for free, courtesy of their patent
war chest.

Edit: It appears Google owned Motorola is trying to fight these Microsoft
patents but they appear to be losing:

[http://www.fosspatents.com/2013/04/google-loses-appeal-
again...](http://www.fosspatents.com/2013/04/google-loses-appeal-against-
microsofts.html)

[http://www.fosspatents.com/2012/05/itc-orders-import-ban-
aga...](http://www.fosspatents.com/2012/05/itc-orders-import-ban-against-
motorola.html)

~~~
corresation
_Also, from that link, it suggests Microsoft now has 80% of the Android market
covered by similar license agreements._

Are you actually replying to my posts, or just repeating the same content
repeatedly? Yes, Microsoft keeps announcing agreements -- almost universally
with companies that produce Windows Phone devices, who play along with this
charade -- yet there is zero evidence in their profits that any of these deals
are netting a dollar of revenue, further supported by the fact that Microsoft
goes to great lengths to _hide_ this income.

 _But I doubt very much Microsoft is going to go easy on them. Why would
they?_

Because they won't go easy on Microsoft? Microsoft is trying to make the
transition to hardware (where the big money is now), and it turns out that all
of those companies that Microsoft is yielding agreements have massive troves
of patents that can demolish and eliminate Microsoft from the market.

 _It appears Google owned Motorola is trying to fight these Microsoft patents
but they appear to be losing_

Motorola told Microsoft to get lost (all Microsoft wanted, as an aside, was
that Motorola keep making Windows Phone devices. That was the entirety of
their demands when they didn't "go easy" on Motorola), and thus far
Microsoft's effect on Motorola has been....nothing. Absolutely nothing. A
couple of fringe patents that will get beaten back and beaten back.

~~~
jussij
> yet there is zero evidence in their profits that any of these deals are
> netting a dollar of revenue

I'm sorry but I just don't believe you when you say _there is zero evidence of
them making money_. They will be making big money.

Why on earth would any company license its technology for zero revenue gain?

> there is zero evidence

As noted earlier, from the latest Microsoft quaterly reporting figures:

 _Windows Phone revenue, reflecting patent licensing revenue and sales of
Windows Phone licenses, increased $222 million._

[http://www.microsoft.com/investor/EarningsAndFinancials/Earn...](http://www.microsoft.com/investor/EarningsAndFinancials/Earnings/PressReleaseAndWebcast/FY13/Q4/default.aspx)

So Windows Phone revenue is up $222 million for the quarter, which means they
are either selling lots of Windows phones or they're making money from their
patent licensing agreements.

It must be one or the other. Take your pick. I know which one I'd choose.

~~~
corresation
_It must be one or the other. Take your pick. I know which one I 'd choose._

Windows Phone has been doing remarkably well for the niche it holds. I mean,
it is in the dark shadows of Android and iOS, but a couple of years ago it
would have been held as stellar smartphone results.

Given that WP is estimated to be licensed at between $20 and $35 per (even
though shenanigans see Microsoft returning all of that money to Nokia, it
still counts as bogo-revenue), and there were some ten million Windows Phone
devices activated, yes, that sum absolutely is accounted for by Windows Phone.

And then you have the fact that Microsoft makes patent money on FAT (on every
single device in the world that uses FAT SD cards and the like), ActiveSync
(patent licenses), and their portion of MPEG-LA...

...there is remarkably little space left to hide the enormous sum they
supposedly make from Android.

------
jister
there are a lot of these assumptions on MS everyday and all i see are people
trying to predict the downfall of MS in order to get famous. tablet that, PC
this, yada yada...

if MS is really going down the cliff why is it that they are still making
billions NOW?! nobody's going to use a tablet in the office typing their 10
page report...

~~~
adventured
The same exact predictions have been made constantly for at least a decade.
Meanwhile, their sales are up 150%, their profit is up 200%, and Windows is no
longer a required business for the company to survive.

I'm sure they'll have lots of problems going forward. I'm not aware of many
companies that don't - what 40 year old technology companies don't have
problems? Given that only a few of those exist today, and even less large-
scale 40 year old tech companies exist, I'd say Microsoft is doing just fine.

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tw334
This article is such a joke. I didn't know it was possible to write strictly
in the superlative. Microsoft has had better times, but this language
misrepresents the situation and is way over the top.

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jordanthoms
Semiaccurate is always entertaining, but it's well, semi accurate. If you
believe what they say, every company is screwed.

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puppetmaster3
As a developer I hate that MS does not upgrade IE browser when they issue
service releases. Ex: W7SP1 did not upgrade to latest IE.

This causes me to have to develop 2 versions of my product, increasing
expense. Shame on you MS.

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ChuckMcM
I think they should rename this blog to its synonym, mostlyinaccurate.com :-)

------
adventured
tl;dr - it's just one long bash fest combined with patting themselves on the
back for earlier bashing that they incorrectly claim was unique insight.

A terribly non-constructive article. It really is just one long angry bash
fest. I had to stop reading at "Windows 8 is just awful" \- I've been using it
for some time, and it's a perfectly fine operating system: fast, secure,
stable, and requires no more resources than Vista did six years prior. I
haven't had a single problem with it; the sole thing I dislike about it - the
start screen - I practically disable by booting directly to the desktop and
blocking charms for it.

