topbanner_forum
  *

avatar image

Welcome, Guest. Please login or register.
Did you miss your activation email?

Login with username, password and session length
  • Thursday March 28, 2024, 8:15 pm
  • Proudly celebrating 15+ years online.
  • Donate now to become a lifetime supporting member of the site and get a non-expiring license key for all of our programs.
  • donate

Author Topic: What Microsoft does right  (Read 6374 times)

zridling

  • Friend of the Site
  • Charter Member
  • Joined in 2005
  • ***
  • Posts: 3,299
    • View Profile
    • Donate to Member
What Microsoft does right
« on: September 08, 2008, 02:46 AM »
microsoft_surface.jpg

* Nod to Edvard's recent topic on Vista FUD.
_____________________________
I come to praise Microsoft, not bury it. Love. Hate. Linux. Apple. Whatever. If for no other reason, Microsoft gets cracked over the head because it is the big dog, the market leader, the richest, most widely supported and used software to date. But there are some things I like. For example:

  • incredible apps like OneNote, and for me, Expression Web;
  • the continual extension and refinement of XP-SP3; and
  • they listen to customers enough to change their EULA for Vista.

and I know there's a lot more. You tell us.

app103

  • That scary taskbar girl
  • Global Moderator
  • Joined in 2006
  • *****
  • Posts: 5,884
    • View Profile
    • Donate to Member
Re: What Microsoft does right
« Reply #1 on: September 08, 2008, 05:01 AM »
Windows Live Writer  :-*

Paul Keith

  • Member
  • Joined in 2008
  • **
  • Posts: 1,989
    • View Profile
    • Donate to Member
Re: What Microsoft does right
« Reply #2 on: September 08, 2008, 05:42 AM »
Microsoft Office Suite (including OneNote)
Windows Live Writer
FolderShare
Vista 64-bit support compared to XP's 64-bit support
Cleartype
DirectX
...and their ingenuous plot to draw attention away by pretending to be anti-piracy when in reality the reason they are able to maintain their monopoly is because many users who couldn't afford them, pirate Windows and Office instead of switching to Linux. You didn't really think MS becoming more annoying to you was just them fumbling the ball on being anti-piracy did you? They know that as long as they don't make it bad enough, those annoyed users would refer to their techie friends to *wink *wink fix the annoyance for them and they could always also use the "it's an early version" to patch things up until Vista becomes good enough for most users and all that's left is a bunch of techies whining away at the OS while people migrate to it.


40hz

  • Supporting Member
  • Joined in 2007
  • **
  • Posts: 11,857
    • View Profile
    • Donate to Member
Re: What Microsoft does right
« Reply #3 on: September 08, 2008, 10:06 AM »
For me it's Flight Simulator X. (At least until I can afford a real private jet. ;D)
It's the one product they sell that I have adored since it first came out. :-* :-* :-*

MSDN, TechNet and their ActionPack deal are also well conceived and executed.

I just wish they'd put a cork in Ballmer. They pick can either end. (Dealer's choice since it's the same stuff coming out.) ;)

I also think they deserve a special award. It would be a gold medal with the word DISINFORMATION on the front in elegant curvy letters surrounding an image of Bart Simpson flipping you the bird. On the back it should say "Awarded for courage and fortitude shown in the face of overwhelming evidence."
« Last Edit: September 08, 2008, 10:18 AM by 40hz »

zridling

  • Friend of the Site
  • Charter Member
  • Joined in 2005
  • ***
  • Posts: 3,299
    • View Profile
    • Donate to Member
Re: What Microsoft does right
« Reply #4 on: September 08, 2008, 05:35 PM »
I'd forgotten about ClearType, Paul. Fontographers are some of the highest paid tech artists in history. And for good reason. If your screen isn't clear, then the internet pretty much sucks.

Lashiec

  • Member
  • Joined in 2006
  • **
  • Posts: 2,374
    • View Profile
    • Donate to Member
Re: What Microsoft does right
« Reply #5 on: September 08, 2008, 05:48 PM »
I think the guys did deliver for the most part when it comes to gaming (Red Ring of Death aside :D). They did a good job with the original XBOX and now with the XBOX 360, housing a good deal of obscure but very good games with the former (very PC-like), learning from their mistakes and creating an excellent system with a good game library with the latter, capable of challenging the Sony behemoth, although I'm concerned Microsoft's huge paychecks are getting too much in the way as lately.

Also, they played a role in the often missed Dreamcast (*sob*), and they published excellent 2nd and 3rd party games under the Microsoft Game Studios label for the PC: Age of Empires, Dungeon Siege, Crimson Skies, Freelancer, Rallisport Challenge, Rise of Nations...

Apart from that, it's commendable (up to some point) that in recent times they have been able to adapt to a fast-changing market, as well as listening to the customers and trying to fix their bigger errors. Of course, it's questionable up to what point Microsoft's own initiatives play a part compared to the looming presence of the competition waiting for them to take advantage of every mistake they commit.

And they bought Sysinternals (along other important companies). Yeah, that was a good move :D

f0dder

  • Charter Honorary Member
  • Joined in 2005
  • ***
  • Posts: 9,153
  • [Well, THAT escalated quickly!]
    • View Profile
    • f0dder's place
    • Read more about this member.
    • Donate to Member
Re: What Microsoft does right
« Reply #6 on: September 09, 2008, 07:24 AM »
And they bought Sysinternals (along other important companies). Yeah, that was a good move :D
I would have much preferred keeping sysinternals independent, tbh.
- carpe noctem

fenixproductions

  • Honorary Member
  • Joined in 2006
  • **
  • Posts: 1,186
    • View Profile
    • Donate to Member
Re: What Microsoft does right
« Reply #7 on: September 09, 2008, 08:49 AM »
2f0dder
I agree with you completely.

Short after takeover their tools dropped support for Win 9x and became to grow larger and larger.

tranglos

  • Supporting Member
  • Joined in 2006
  • **
  • Posts: 1,081
    • View Profile
    • Donate to Member
Re: What Microsoft does right
« Reply #8 on: September 09, 2008, 09:13 AM »
  • incredible apps like OneNote, and for me, Expression Web;

Say more about Expression Web, please? I've been considering it just recently, but the price for European customers is outrageous - not $299 (the US pricetag), but a little over $516 (at Google's exchange rate today). And the website is all clobbered in Firefox 3. Just to make sure the thread isn't unduly smothered in lucre :)

Good things? Localization is one of the things MS gets right. It took them a few years, early versions of Windows and Office had awful, side-splittingly funny translation errors, but they really put a lot of effort into establishing a reliable process. As a translator / proofreader, MS projects are the nicest to work on. They test stringently and evaluate almost every completed project, to keep you on your toes, but they also provide all the tools and all the linguistic resources to do the job right. Most large software makers don't know the first thing about localization or can't be bothered to manage it properly. (Adobe, Apple, I'm looking at you!)

Oh, and keyboards. Give me a Logitech mouse and an MS keyboard any time.


« Last Edit: September 09, 2008, 09:15 AM by tranglos »

Edvard

  • Coding Snacks Author
  • Charter Honorary Member
  • Joined in 2005
  • ***
  • Posts: 3,017
    • View Profile
    • Donate to Member
Re: What Microsoft does right
« Reply #9 on: September 09, 2008, 11:55 AM »
1- Games
There are probably a thousand reasons why Windows is the platform of choice for pc gaming proper, but none of it really matters. Windows owns the pc game platform, period.
2- Hardware Compatibility
Aside from the fact that early driver releases tend to suck, Windows is the first platform that new hardware will have drivers done and working for. I think that has as much to do with the stableness of the API as much as with market share. Speaking of which...
3- Development
Love it or hate it, when you want to write software for Windows, everything you need is right there in the developer's kit. Yes, things sometimes break as more advanced tools come out, but for the most part if it compiles on one Windows box, it'll run on another. As much as I love Linux, I would not be caught dead without a package management system that automatically maintains the amorphous blob of libraries that different software packages require. Freedom of choice can get pretty weird sometimes...