
Microsoft Surface sales fall by 26 percent - tomjacu48
https://www.engadget.com/2017/04/27/microsoft-surface-sales/?sr_source=Twitter
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rleigh
I'm in the market for a new machine. The surface hardware looks decent. But
I'm unwilling to accept Windows 10 in its current form. So I'll not be a
customer until I get treated properly on the privacy and updates front.

No idea how many other people share these views and what the total effect is,
but if they revised their policies here then they would regain some of the
customers they have lost through their actions over the last few years. Though
I won't forget GWX in a hurry...

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valuearb
PC manufacturers have tiny margins, maybe 2% on average (not including Apple
of course). The Surface line has been a gun pointed at their heads. I'm not
sure why MSFT is doing it, it can't be profitable and even if it was they
can't switch their business model to Apples without huge dislocations.

Since windows pc makers have essentially lost the ability to do much R&D and
Design because of their brutal margins, I could see the Surface line as a way
for MSFT to take over design for the entire market, and give the manufacturers
better hardware designs. But why isn't that happening?

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niftich
The Surface line is intended as a flagship device to show off Windows'
strengths as an OS from the makers themselves. It fulfills the same purpose as
Pixel for Android, and, y'know, all of Apple's lineup.

It's not intended to sell well solely to generate profit -- it's intended to
sell well so that a higher proportion of in-the-wild machines running Windows
will be ones with thoughtful design, not bottom-barrel $500 laptops with a
crappy 1388x768 panel and a slow spinner drive. While it's not helpful to ban
those from the Windows market (and concede to Chrome OS in the process), it's
an effort to re-frame Windows' role from a "default" OS to an aspirational OS,
shipped on aspirational devices.

The design transition you speak of isn't happening because the OEMs and
Microsoft's interests are no longer exactly aligned. The AndroidChromeOS
reality has graduated from vague vaporware to an actual force, and many OEMs
already reuse the same hardware for two different laptops: one Chrome OS, one
Windows. As a more capable Chrome OS that can now run Android Apps -- yes, we
can argue ad nauseum about its limitations, but with everything being a
website or coming from an App Store, more and more people simply don't care --
creeps further upmarket, Microsoft's investment in the Surface line becomes a
competitive advantage that they can try to leverage.

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Analemma_
It seems like this steeper-than-expected drop was the only reason why their
revenue missed estimates, since the rest of the earnings report looked good.
Since they're aware it's because of end-of-product lifecycle, this will
hopefully be a gentle push to update it more often.

