Microsoft's 13 Worst Missteps Of All Time

Microsoft has done two things very well that I can recall: Windows and Age of Empires II. Outside of that I'm hard-pressed to remember much. Forgive me for being so cheap.
 
I would say not getting into the mobile market fast enough was their biggest mistake.
 
///AMG said:
Idk about you gusy but I hated my Zune (1st gen Zune 20GB?). Software was shit, I mean I had to use a third party patch to get it to work on W7. Making playlists was a pain, everything was retarded. I only got it because it was super cheap I think like $60? When the ipods were around 200. It broke pretty fast afterwards as it just started to crash every few mins.
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One of the commenters at that infoworld link in the OP made with the comedy diamonds:

"I had a Zune. Someone stole it out of my car and I didn't even care. "
 
Scythe5 said:
I honestly think MS's biggest problem is Ballmer.
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Understatement of the past decade. Look at Microsoft's stock history from the precise moment Bill handed the reigns over to Steve in 2000. Microsoft's 2000-2010 years is referred to by analysts as "The Lost Decade" for a reason. And 20% decline in the years following. You can't ride to glory on the back of momentum forever. Apple is finding this out too now.

In other news Windows Phone Central has a report on Microsoft backing away from promised Xbox branded games from Windows Phone. Its a river of tears over there.

http://www.wpcentral.com/weeks-no-new-xbox-windows-phone-games
 
heatlesssun said:
So according to you there will be fewer Windows 8 tablets at the end of this year than at the end of last year. I think most people would consider that unfounded pessimism.
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Not if manufacturers keep abandoning ship. How do you increase marketshare if eventually nobody is left to build products to bring to the marketplace?

Samsung cancels Windows RT tablet

"When we did some tests and studies on how we could go to market with a Windows RT device, we determined there was a lot of heavy lifting we still needed to do to educate the customer on what Windows RT was, and that heavy lifting was going to require pretty heavy investment. When we added those two things up ... plus the modest feedback that we got regarding how successful could this be at retail from our retail partners, we decided maybe we ought to wait." --Mike Abary, Senior VP, Samsung

The writing is on the wall.
 
Understatement of the past decade. Look at Microsoft's stock history from the precise moment Bill handed the reigns over to Steve in 2000. Microsoft's 2000-2010 years is referred to by analysts as "The Lost Decade" for a reason. And 20% decline in the years following. You can't ride to glory on the back of momentum forever. Apple is finding this out too now.
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Well, Balmer has made plenty of mistakes and they would definitely benefit from a new CEO, however, much of their foundering in the 2000's was due to the ridiculous anti trust lawsuits they were stricken with ... both the US and EU agencies did more than their share to make MS less competitive in the global market

Not if manufacturers keep abandoning ship. How do you increase marketshare if eventually nobody is left to build products to bring to the marketplace?

Samsung cancels Windows RT tablet

"When we did some tests and studies on how we could go to market with a Windows RT device, we determined there was a lot of heavy lifting we still needed to do to educate the customer on what Windows RT was, and that heavy lifting was going to require pretty heavy investment. When we added those two things up ... plus the modest feedback that we got regarding how successful could this be at retail from our retail partners, we decided maybe we ought to wait." --Mike Abary, Senior VP, Samsung
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The Windows RT tablets are deeply flawed and their fate is uncertain at this point ... however, Android tablets took a couple of years to really get traction against the iPad so who knows ... I think the bigger tablet opportunity for MS and their OEMs is in the area of the Surface Pro tablets ... laptops are already the dominant PC form factor for enterprise and the Surface Pro (with the right accessories) could probably be just as functional as a laptop but with the tablet benefits as well ... still too early to tell on that with most of the products launching this quarter ;)
 
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