Surface RT = another Microsoft epic fail

Perhaps you know by now about the nearly billion dollar Microsoft failure known as Surface RT.  Yup, almost a year since it was introduced, Windows Surface RT has become a dog that no one wants.  So much so that even Asus, a prominent computer device manufacturer, recently announced that it was throwing in the towel on Windows Surface RT.

The explanations as to why Surface RT failed are varied – ranging from the design of Windows 8 to the inability of Surface RT to run regular Windows programs.  Accordingly, the pundits have been all over the place with the aforementioned explanations.  Also accordingly, and to the credit of the pundits, all of the reasons why RT failed have been right – except for one.  The one critical mistake Microsoft made was to try to push users into the “post-PC” zone.  The “post-PC” zone, much like “The Twilight Zone,” only exists in the minds of people that don’t want to deal with reality.  In the world of reality, there is no “post-PC” zone and there is no “one size fits all” when it comes to computing.

Microsoft, however, was not alone in this blunder as many of the pundits agreed with the tech giant in this assumption.  Indeed, even in light of Microsoft’s massive failure, there are pundits who still believe that a “post-PC” era is occurring.  And Microsoft is not the only tech giant who is now pushing the “post-PC” era as Canonical, Ubuntu’s parent company, is also beginning to steer into that zone as well.  Incidentally, IMO, this is a big mistake that Canonical is making, given the issues that Microsoft is experiencing with Surface RT.

In any case, Microsoft now has a lot of inventory in terms of unsold Surface RT tablets on its hands.  Which, I expect that there are going to be some deeply discounted or even free RT tablets going out the door as the tech giant tries to unload them.  Hopefully, in the process of unloading all those RT tablets, Microsoft will see the error of its ways – because again there is no “post-PC” era.

How do you feel about Surface RT in general?  And are you going to get a Surface RT device now that Microsoft has begun slashing prices on them?  Leave a comment.

News sources: Mashable, Windows IT Pro and ZDNet.
Photo source: PCWorld.

If ya don’t listen it will hurt you…

It’s fast approaching mid year and from the looks of it, the tech industry is experiencing at least two major epic flops this year.  What’s so unprecedented is that these two epic flops are from two major tech companies, Microsoft and Facebook.  More importantly, these two failures are perfect examples of how not listening to your users can cause big time trouble.

Microsoft’s epic fail is Windows 8, arguably the most bizarre and hated OS ever produced by the tech giant.  In Microsoft’s deluded view, Windows 8 represented a paradigm shift in the way users interacted with their computers.  But in reality, Windows 8 only gave users another reason to hate Microsoft.  And accordingly also sets the stage for a dichotomy of realities that the tech giant may not be able to overcome.

The problems with Windows 8 started early last year with its consumer preview.  Because the market is now flooded with tablets, Microsoft designed Windows 8 around a touch based interface.  This would be all well and good if the bulk of computing was done via tablets, which incidentally, it is not.  Despite the flood of tablets, computing is done on a wide range of devices that includes desktops and laptops.  Furthermore, there are still computing applications that tablets cannot perform and require the use of a desktop or a laptop.  Which brings us back to the dichotomy of realities that Microsoft now faces. Simply put, Windows 8 in it’s current form makes it hard for desktop use but easy for tablet use.  It is also this one sided OS approach that has angered a lot of Microsoft users.

Instead of taking the “listen to users” approach – Microsoft took the “suck up and do it our way” approach when designing Windows 8.  Had Microsoft listened to users early last year – and made the changes that they are currently scrambling to make – the whole Windows 8 debacle would never had happened.  And as Microsoft is now discovering angry consumers are a hard bunch to deal with – no matter what tactic (like using Internet trolls to combat complainers) you try to use on them.

Facebook’s epic fail is Facebook Home and is another example of why tech companies should listen to users.  Instead of improving upon current apps that run under Android – Facebook Home is designed to take control of a user’s phone.  This is because in the deluded minds of Mark Zuckerberg and his software developers, users want a total Facebook experience.  So much so, that in conjunction with the Facebook Home’s release for Android – HTC (a prominent smartphone manufacturer) also began producing the HTC First, a smartphone based totally on the aforementioned software.  Which, all of this would have been great if it was what users wanted.

As it turns out Facebook Home is not what users wanted. Indeed, had Mark Zuckerberg and his software developers listened to FB users, they would have found that users just wanted a stable bug free app.  They did not want a smartphone that was totally controlled by Facebook because the devices are used for other purposes – like making calls.  But for Zuckerberg and FB home – it’s now too late.  As it stands right now, just a few weeks after it’s megalithic, Saturn Five fanfare launch – Facebook Home is now burning up in the atmosphere of user dislike.  As well the HTC First is being pulled out of production due to abysmally poor sales.

Again, these failures are so startling because both companies chose to employ an arrogant “we know what you want” attitude towards their users.  If Microsoft and Facebook had simply listened to their users in the first place, both companies would not be going through a world of hurt and embarrassment  right now.  Simply put it pays to listen to your users – and that’s the bottom line…

Who shot the PC industry?

There has been a lot of buzz lately about the PC industry and how near to the death bed it is. Indeed, in the view of some pundits the PC industry is on life support, just waiting for someone to “pull the plug” so to speak.  And just like the infamous “Who Shot J.R.,” Dallas episode – people are wondering who shot the PC industry?

First, let me say that the PC industry is not dead and I don’t think it will be dead for a long time to come.  There will always be a need for PCs (desktops and laptops) because of the power and flexibility they still offer.  But to be real about things, the PC industry is in serious decline due to numerous issues.

The first issue is the economy which is affecting not just the PC industry but all sectors of manufacturing.  Because of the poor economy, there is now an overall tendency with consumers to hold onto items longer rather than replace them on a regular basis.  For instance, consumers are generally holding on to old cars for longer durations (in some cases up to 10 years) instead of purchasing new cars.  The same can be said with the PC industry – consumers are holding onto old PC gear for longer periods and just not purchasing new units as often.

The second issue is the tablet PC and how it’s being positioned as a traditional PC replacement.  Which, for some consumers the tablet PC can suffice as their primary computing device – while for other consumers it definitely cannot.  And it is this dichotomy of need where many PC manufacturers are making a tremendous mistake.  As it stands right now, a tablet PC cannot replace a traditional PC because of what it cannot do effectively.  Traditional PCs are better at multitasking, crunching numbers, video editing, programming as well as other intensive applications that require both computing horsepower and screen real estate.  Yet, PC manufacturers have focused so heavily on tablets that the traditional PC has begun to lag.  Apple, for instance, has not offered a significant upgrade to its Mac Pro line, a mainstay in professional imaging applications, in quite some time.  Again, this is a serious mistake on the part of manufacturers because there are still a lot of users (both professional and non-professional alike) who need traditional PC’s and laptops.

The third issue and perhaps the most critical is the desktops that traditional PCs run.  Right now there is a general trend (across all OS platforms, Linux, OS-X, Windows) towards a simplified desktop.  Although some would cite the introduction of tablets with the move towards a simplified desktop – it was actually Apple’s move from OS-9 to OS-X that started the trend – well before the introduction of the iPad.  Other notable simplified desktop moves came from the K desktop Environment (KDE), Canonical (Ubuntu) with its Unity desktop, Gnome with it’s 3.x series desktop and lastly Microsoft with its Windows 8 Modern UI.

Although all aforementioned desktops were met with some angst upon their introduction – it is the Windows 8 MUI that has received the most vitriolic criticism to date.  What’s even worse for Microsoft is that the Windows 8 MUI is being called a detriment to the PC industry because the desktop fails miserably when it comes to usability.  Which,  generally, I do agree with this assessment due to the Windows 8 MUI being illogical in its layout.  Another critical failure is that the MUI is also a touch based desktop environment which is more conducive to tablets rather than traditional PCs.  Again, even though there was considerable user angst against other new simplified desktop environments such as Unity, that angst abated about a year or so.  This was because desktops like Unity were logically laid out and therefore did not suffer from the usability problems that the MUI has.  As well, the angst and overall condemnation of Windows 8 and its MUI doesn’t appear to be abating but rather increasing.

All in all there are multiple strikes against the traditional PC at this moment – but nevertheless, the PC is still a viable instrument in the field of computing.  And although the PC industry has been shot several times – it can, just like J.R. Ewing, recover from its injuries and continue on with life.