

Acer begs Microsoft to 'think twice' about Surface tablet - pietrofmaggi
http://news.cnet.com/8301-10805_3-57487883-75/acer-begs-microsoft-to-think-twice-about-surface-tablet/

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JoelSutherland
Is there a company that better epitomizes the problems Microsoft has had over
the last five years? Acer consistently puts out inferior quality machines made
up of the cheapest components they can find. Then they install bloatware.

Consumers are getting the picture too. Acer's revenues have fallen for six
straight quarters.

Acer shouldn't look for alternatives to Windows, (What alternatives!? I can't
imagine what Acer would do to a Linux distro.) it should stop making bad
products.

~~~
powerslave12r
I don't see the problem. They are giving you the option of cheap hardware. A
clean install fixes the bloatware issue. (Unless I'm overlooking that the
hardware drivers are dependent on the bloatware for Acer laptops.) This is
awesome for students.

A clean install is what a lot of power users do on buying a bloatware ridden
laptop.

The main issue seems to be lack of knowledge for a majority of 'naive'
consumer on how easy it is to do a clean install.

(Maybe someone can make a 10thingstodowhen.com, if it doesn't already exist.

This could not only include a list of things for '10 things to do when you buy
a laptop' but other misc stuff like '10things to do when you install ubuntu
12.04' etc

Currently such lists are scattered all over the place.)

Edit: Looks like someone snapped it up :)

Creation date: 07 Aug 2012 15:44:00

Expiration date: 07 Aug 2013 07:44:00

[http://www.namecheap.com/domains/whois.aspx?domain=10thingst...](http://www.namecheap.com/domains/whois.aspx?domain=10thingstodowhen.com)

~~~
dsr_
I bought a cheap Acer mini-desktop -- an Intel i3, microATX motherboard in a
case just large enough for an optical drive, a hard disk and two low-height
PCIe slots. It runs Debian very nicely, and acts as a MythTV client and web
browser for my kids. Really, I have no complaints about the hardware.

My anecdote is just a datum, not data.

~~~
BruceIV
If we're giving anecdotes, anyone I've known who's owned an Acer laptop (n=4)
has replaced it with something else within a year or two, because it broke.
(Personally, I've had good experiences with Asus; it's a pity the names sound
so much alike.)

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jamesbressi
I smell fear. I am not a Microsoft fan-boy... far from it, but I have been
wondering for years if Microsoft is ever going to drop the hammer and get some
control on their software distribution by designing hardware with the
intention of allowing the software to run as intended.

For many years I watched the bloatware that totally ruined the user
experience, especially at the turn of the century.

Can Microsoft make quality hardware to compliment their software and in turn
make their software feel "better" to the many of those who have turned away
from it? They have the capital to figure it out.

The only "huge negative impact" that I can see from this is pushing the
hardware manufacturers to innovate harder and do better with the use and
distribution of the software. It is going to thin the herd for sure. I think
this is necessary for Microsoft to gain some control over the user experience.

Yes, resellers and hardware manufacturers helped make Microsoft the huge
corporation it is today, but the time has come. I think Microsoft only has to
gain from this--if they do the hardware right.

~~~
bitdiffusion
It's not like this is the first time MS have done the hardware/software combo
(which has been pretty successful for them)... xbox anyone?

~~~
sek
If the Surface is like the Xbox, Microsoft has a problem. The Xbox did cost
billions and took years until it made a profit. When the Surface costs
billions for years and at the same time Microsoft pisses off the hardware
producers they will focus on Ubuntu/Android/ChromeOS devices. This would hurt
the big cash cow Windows licenses and make Microsoft weaker than ever.

~~~
georgeecollins
Xbox did lose Microsoft billion(s) and take years to become profitable. But
now it is profitable and one of their key products. They could lose billions
on the Surface but they can also afford to lose billions. They have lost
billions on terrible acquisitions in the last decade. I think it is better to
spend the money on products that could help them be competitive.

~~~
technoslut
The Xbox 360 also had significant hardware problems that weren't alleviated
until price did not become an issue for MS which is how it's always been on
consoles.

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uvTwitch
Please Microsoft! If you provide consumers with a high quality first-party
experience, they might start to realize that we've been selling them shitware
all along! Think Twice about this!!

~~~
Karunamon
Yeah, this. OEM's whine about Microsoft pushing them out of the game, except
they've been busily harming the brand and giving opponents ammo by selling
crap hardware with crap software preloaded.

You guys (OEMs) had roughly the better part of a decade to get it right. It
should come as a surprise to precisely nobody that you're now being made
irrelevant.

~~~
geon
I can't understand how OEM:s think it is a good idea to get paid to preinstall
trial versions. When I pay for aproduct, I don't want to be treated as their
property to be sold to advertisers.

It's the same when I want to watch a movie trailer on the largest cinema chain
here in Sweden. I have to watch an ad before I am allowed to watch the ad for
the product they sell. It's ridiculous.

~~~
dman
You have not used a Verizon phone then I assume. Not only does it come with
trial versions, you cant uninstall the trial versions either.

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brudgers
Microsoft is leaving its options open by developing its own slate hardware. By
doing so it will obtain direct feedback from consumers and distribution
channels in order to choose between the two general long term strategies -
keeping the hardware in house like Xbox or moving to a software ecosystem
model like Windows Phone.

When discussing Microsoft strategy, it is hard to over emphasize how long term
their view tends to be. They spent a billion or more on Kin just to learn the
mobile market. They spent billions on the Red Ring of Death to retain
consumers. Its hard to recognize this philosophy because it is so different
from the quarter to quarter strategies of the companies to which they are
unfavorably compared - Wall Street would have thrown a tantrum if Apple had
spent a billion on Ping in order to learn "Social". Just look at the heat
Google took for Wave.

~~~
mgkimsal
Spending a billion on something then killing it in under a year.... not sure
how much you can 'learn' from that. And they can't do that forever (or even a
lot). Spending, say, 15 billion over a year to 'learn' about 10 new
ecosystems/industries - even MS can't sustain that pace for very long.

And what did they 'learn' about 'mobile' that many of their employees
(especially rank and file) probably already knew? There's usually far more
cost-effective and less public ways to 'learn' about stuff without making your
company look totally inept.

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kitsune_
My mother once bought an Acer laptop. I've never seen a computer with more
bloatware on it.

~~~
powerslave12r
Did you see it after she used it for a week?

/Sorry.

------
mgkimsal
I would really _love_ for MS to get in to the full hardware game, both on
tablets, but also maybe smaller phone-form devices and maybe eventually
desktops/laptops. Let them create what they consider the 'best' MS/windows
experience. It might bring some people back to the MS camp, assuming it's good
(and I suspect it would be).

The damage done to the MS brand over the past decade or so by manufacturers
bundling crap on cheap hardware is enormous, and it may take MS either getting
in to the hardware game directly, or tightening control over what can have
Windows shipped on it, before we see a reversal of that. The same thing is
playing out with Android - not sure why they didn't learn from the MS story.

This is not suggesting everyone should always and only make their own
hardware, but without sufficient quality controls in place, the brand gets
tarnished pretty quickly.

~~~
brudgers
_"The same thing is playing out with Android - not sure why they didn't learn
from the MS story."_

Who is "they" and will it be easier to get Android on the phone than it is to
get Europe?

The financial viability of Android does not depend on the quality of the user
experience. Just on data collection.

~~~
mgkimsal
they = google (sorry).

oh, and the data collection won't be as good if people don't use it as much
because the hardware/software combos are subpar.

~~~
brudgers
I'm not sure it's any easier to get Google on the phone than Europe (in
Kissinger's sense, not in the way we might apply it to smartphones).

As for the second part, crapware increases data collection. That's one of the
things that makes it crapware in a mobile context. It collects everything from
location to the contents of one's video downloads.

------
ConstantineXVI
Acer should be scared. I've already sworn them off after every Acer PC myself
or a friend has owned in the past six years has failed in one way or another
long before it should have. Anyone that knows how to make quality hardware has
much less to worry about.

------
Steko
Acer basically dropped the ball on Tablets by firing their Italian CEO who
wanted to invest heavily in touch and tablet design and double engineering
staff. You reap what you sow JT Wang.

[http://www.cultofmac.com/94454/acer-former-ceo-trade-
blame-f...](http://www.cultofmac.com/94454/acer-former-ceo-trade-blame-for-
low-end-pc-sales-slump/)

 _The firm did not blame its sales slowdown on Acer chairman JT Wang, who in
2010 predicted the iPad share of the tablet market would plummet from 100
percent to 30 percent as soon as alternative devices appeared. So far, with
Motorola, RIM, HP and others introducing rival tablets, the iPad market share
still hovers around 80 percent.

Acer also did not blame its sales slowdown on its own strategy reversal, first
embracing the idea of volume, then rejecting it when the company’s founder,
Stan Shih, announced a more Apple-like future. PC makers “should not single-
mindedly pursue volume growth, and should extend its operation to the field of
service, just like Apple has done.”_

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tokenizer
I really hope the reaction by third party hardware partners is to start
partnering with linux distros.

It would be great to have cheaply priced computers as an alternative to the
Mac and upcoming MS ecosystems.

~~~
uvTwitch
For linux's sake, I'd hope they don't partner with Acer.

~~~
tokenizer
Fair enough. They would most likely fill it with bloatware. I guess I'm hoping
Lenovo and other reputable firms would start selling Linux boxes.

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fratis
Sounds like a healthy relationship.

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leke
It sounds like MS hasn't gotten its way in the tablet and mobile OS market (by
loosing to Android as the vendor choice), so it has tried to enter this end of
the market itself. For the vendors to turnaround and say, stay off our new
turf, or we might not choose your OS in the laptop and PC market is a ballsy
move.

This move by MS might be their final demise (fingers crossed).

~~~
geon
To what OS would they turn instead? There is no real alternative.

~~~
leke
Linux is already a pre-installed choice for some vendors -- Dell for example.

