

Why does UI of Microsoft's website so unattractive?Do they lack of designers? - sonic0002


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brudgers
"Microsoft Website" is a term kind of like "Europe." It covers a lot of
culturally diverse ground.

In general, Microsoft's approach to the web has always been, get stuff out
there and accessible. Unlike Apple or Google, there isn't top down control
over all their web presence.

I have theorized that this aspect of Microsoft culture comes in part from
having had so many millionaire employees at the dawn of the commercial web.

What I find curious is that hacks created by Microsoft's MVP approach to web
properties finds so little resonance with HN'ers.

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mrgreenfur
Corporate sites are almost always garbage because there are so many department
claiming that their content is the most important. Especially so for MS where
they have lots of needs to meet: e.g. downloads, upsells, product information,
enterprise support, news, etc. I think usually the design department starts
with a beautiful layout and the various departments hack it to shit.

It is pretty amazing that there are 5+ navigation schemes on one page.

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reason
You know, that's a question I think about quite frequently. Companies like MS
and Google have all the money in the world, and yet it seems they are not able
to hire teams of designers that can really nail a usable interface. I play
with my Android phone and at times wonder who came up with the interaction
flows, OS patterns and conventions. It really boggles my mind. I am inclined
to say that they feel the market doesn't demand of them good design.

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makecheck
What's interesting is how different their Mac product division's site is:

<http://www.microsoft.com/mac/outlook>

If only that group could share more of its expertise with the rest of the
company. :)

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joshontheweb
I doubt it's a lack of designers. More likely a disability within the
organization to make timely changes. I'm sure there are several levels of
bureaucracy to wade through to get anything done and lots of 'design by
committee' going on.

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computerslol
I guess the real question is whether or not it really needs to be more
attractive?

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tfitzgerald
What is so unattractive about it? I actually like it.

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wolfgangbremer
Yes, I think they lack designers in many places. Not everywhere of course, see
Windows Phone for example.

