Microsoft's is losing its grasp on the technology markets

The Xbox 360 is a disaster of resources and destroyed customer loyalties, Windows Vista is a name murmured only in hushed tones, and some of Microsoft's highest ranking execs are jumping ship. Microsoft is a sinking ship, and is losing passengers to every one of its competitors.

Does it not strike anyone else as odd that the bigwigs of the Xbox team, and even Bill Gates himself, have left their posts? When I say the Xbox 360 is a disaster, I'm simply pointing to evidence that, as suggested by an "inside" source in a recent article, Microsoft released the 360 anticipating a 1 in 3 failure rate, and figured Bill's big bank account could weather the storm.

[niall77]

But the rise of apple and the fact people are buying Macs again.
A mac is a option for people now which Macs havent been since before windows 95

and lets not forget the bad reviews for Vista and the current trend for "upgrading to XP"

there has been alot of bad PR for MS over the last 2 years, RROD, Vista, DRM and they need to get on top ot this if they want to remain the world leader for the future

[TheTwelve]

I said that people were saying that Microsoft was doing poorly in many fronts, and that they should do a google search to see what people are saying. Well, here's an example of what I'm talking about.

Still too early to say that Microsoft is a huge, lumbering, slow sinking ship. But the signs seem to point that way and I would not be surprised at all if this article is very accurate.

12

[SKullDugger]

Because of bad products, MS took this path now its time to pay the piper, I use to be a big MS fan the org. XBOX and then the 360 but with all the hardware failures 4 myself and 2 for my son I said thats it I agree their its ok we will replace it is BS and the PR MS has gotten is their own fault!!!!!

[godofthunder10]

i'm tired of hearing this story.gates said he was stepping down as the head of microsoft this year about 5 years ago and as for as people saying microsoft is loosing its grip need to check what they made this year,as a matter of fact microsoft made a bigger profit this year then last year.
i know that some people been disappointed in microsoft for different reason and some of them are leget but just because they have a lot of people complaining on line doesn't mean that microsoft is loosing its grip and another thing,microsoft moved up on the list of the 2000 biggest companies in forbes magazine this year.so if it's true what preople are saying then why is it that microsoft moved up on the list.
the reason that they have false stories like this about companies especially microsoft is because a lot of people hate them and will do anything to make thim look bad even lie at times.
if microsoft is falling people need to tell them that they are suppose to drop down on the list of biggest companies in the world and not up.hell i found this article on line and i like people to read it and tell me if microsoft is falling

Personal income, boosted by a large dividend payment from computer software giant Microsoft Corp., shot up by a record 3.7 percent in December. That helped to boost consumer spending during the all-important holiday season by 0.8 percent.

The Commerce Department reported Monday that the income gain would have been a smaller 0.6 percent in December without the one-time $3 per share dividend payment Microsoft made on Dec. 2. Even that reduced figure would have been an improvement over the 0.4 percent rise in personal incomes in November.

While it is highly unusual for a dividend payment from a single company to have such a major impact on incomes, Microsoft is one of the most widely held stocks in America. The size of the payment — $32 billion — rivaled the $38 billion the government paid out in federal income tax rebates.

Yow.

[barom]

I don't really like MS's game division but I don't really see why people hate Vista.

I think Vista is actually pretty great. I can never go back to Windows XP again. Because of all the small functions, like searching for a program in the start bar or whatever it's called. The gadgets on the side and I guess those type of stuff. Of course the requirements are high but once you got that, there's nothing to worry about.

[JsonHenry]

I have not had any problems myself with Vista, and my 360 is a launch day trooper and has never broke down on me. Can't say that I have anything against MS myself.

I do use Mozilla instead of IE7 though...

[jorellpogi]

360 is a bad investment. My unit died and is beyond repair. We don't have the 3 year warranty by MS. 33%+ failure rate will turn off consumers.

[IntelligentAj]

I really and truly hate seeing stories like this. MS is a sinking ship ship though it posted a couple of billion dollars in profit for the 4Q 2007? Are you serious? How can a company that makes that much money and has that strong of a stranglehold on the PC be failing? Vista is a little buggy but nowhere near as bad as people say it is. I ran vista on my 2 year old laptop fine and it hasn't crashed yet. Never mind the fact that it still has pretty good sales. And Mac's have little to do with the decline(100% sarcasm on that one) of MS as they only own like 10% of the PC market. Sinking ship? Losing ground? Be serious. If a being a sinking ship is making that money then hell let me drown.

[LJWooly]

Go find a laptop that was made within the last year or so that doesn't have Windows Vista pre-installed, then you'll know why Vista has pretty good sales.

[shotputking]

gotta love these fanboy-centric articles. microsoft is doing so horribly that the U.S. government had to extend their anti-monopoly legislatives another two years, i guess because microsoft is collapsing. every windows launch since 3.1 (that's as far back as i can remember) has had all sorts of problems, so why would vista be any different. i'm sure the acquisition of yahoo will only speed up this apparent end to microsoft. forget how much money they are making, bill gates has left his position in the company, so he must have seen this bloggers point of view.

[THUNDERMARE]

Well, Rome doesnt burn in one day. No, Im not saying MS is going down or anything, they will be with us at least another decade or 2, but I do agree with MS has to revamp its image.

[antoinetm]

they should split the company, that would be the best thing to do as assets would be better valued. But if i was bill i wouldn't do it because
it feels good to be the king.

[Oprah Without MakeUp]

How did this propaganda get approved?

[GameOn]

As a happy 360 owner i only care about the games. Looking at the release schedule theres plenty of quality games to fill my needs.

[Enigma_2099]

The same way the PS3 flamebait articles do, I assume...

Yeah, it COULD be written off as fanboy rambling, I admit, if not for the fact that it also has a slight bit of truth to it.

But yeah, the fanboy overtones in the article are blatantly apparent.

Wow... all these deleted comments... I LOVE this zone!

[Diabloz]

GO APPLE!

[HD DVDs COFFIN]

Thanks

[The_Engineer]

I wasn't too sure about this new system but now that I see "deleted by mod" next to "The Mart", I think it's PRICELESS!!!! lol

[Fighter]

and it paid off by having a huge install base but when all those 360s start to die at the same time then people will fight back. I can't believe MS getting away with this.

[Salvadore]

The thing I don't understand is why they didn't take action as soon as the hardware faults started occurring and now they are in a position where they are the joke of the industry (Remember Sony?).

[lawgone]

Yeah, hopefully this new zone thing works.

(On a side note...Che Guevara? Please tell me you're not some college kid who thinks he's cool. Just Wiki him. The dude said he would have nuked the US if he controlled the nukes during the Cuban missile crisis. And while "nuking the US" probably seems like a cool thing to agree to the fact is millions upon millions would have died and most of us on this board would not be here. Ramble done :)

[Daishi]

@ kareem
The reason MS didn't react immediately was because it would have seemed they knew of the problem before hand. I'd place a bet that there will be a split in the company and the xbox team will join Sega and create what would be dubbed the "Dreamcast 2"

[Silver360]

I guess making more money than anybody else is failure?
Sarcasm should be evident.

And apple's share of the market is still less than 15%.

[sabbath420]

how could this crap read get posted. Come on n4g do you not even screen the articles.

[Keyser]

I think that a lot of companies are catching up and MS is a household name now. Newer more innovative products are competing well against Microsoft products.

Microsoft isn't dying per se, it's more just a leveling of the playing field.

I'm sure they still have some tricks in the bag. They must realize that just buying a competitor is not an end-all business plan. They will be forced to be creative and cater to what the public desires (or think they desire).

As far as games, MS helps keep Sony on their toes and I appreciate that. I like Sony competitive because they deliver quality products when that happens, such as the PS3.

[mintaro]

exactly, after years of MS being such a dominant force, i think other companies have started catching up and started evening things out a bit

[The_Engineer]

Did MS get into an OS saturated market and start dominating with windows?? The only thing MS has ever done right is launch an OS when noone else had one out there. They became dominant by default as at that time only people who made money at what they were doing could afford Macs. So I will give MANY props for opening up the computer to the massess but other than that it has ALWAYS been a shoddy product.

[Enigma_2099]

I seem to recall that they were in court over something like this at one point...

[IntelligentAj]

So you're hating on MS because they came out with an OS when there were no other good alternatives? XP is a great OS and many people are extremely happy with it. I'm guessing you favor Mac OS which is fine but don't hate on MS because they had a smart business model(even if it was a borderline monopoly).

[JBaby343]

You're right XP is a great OS... now. When it first came out it was riddled with bugs and took a while for MS to make it right. Same with 360 and they still haven't made it right. Now Vista has the same story. I personally don't like their business model of selling garbage products. I would have a 360 if they didn't break all the time. However I think they will continue to do just fine as a company for a long while.

[The_Engineer]

Is it not true that Ms gained their massive market share by default??

I was into music production back then and it was cheaper to pay for studio time because Macs were going for $4000. Now you can produce professional tracks right in your home on a PC. For this I give credit to MS for getting the ball rolling in that direction. HOWEVER this does not excuse the fact that they have made releasing unfinished software a business model. THAT is inexcusable.

SO....in summation.....lol

Apple were scumbags for charging so much for a Mac, if they had a little foresight and made something within reach of the peasants at the time. THERE WOULD BE NO MICROSOFT TODAY. That is undeniable.

MS are scumbags for all the reasons I stated above.

[KozmoOchez]

Apple is just doing the same thing that Xbox does to Sony and that is bash bash bash in front of everyone just getting them to jump on the bandwagon. And then there are people like you who do so and use lack of viruses, and buggy OS and all this other crap to back up what you think is a good argument against MS and Windows. And everyone who has a mac isn't using and wasn't planning on using it to produce music so saying that if they were cheaper that MS wouldn't be here is pretty biased on your part.

As stated by a lot of people, Macs don't have viruses b/c not enough people own one. That's like a terrorist bombing and threatening a third world country...not enough people!

I personally just don't like anything that has to bash something else to make itself sound good, which is why I like Sony products so much, because instead of bashing back at Xbox verbally, they just keep making better products with more innovation and better quality. It's also the same reason why I don't get into politics.

And I go to a predominantly nerd college, and I just so happen to go to an IT meeting/seminar thing, and an argument erupts over Macs vs PCs, and all I will say is it ended with a guy screaming "How many of us can say we custom built our own Mac?"
...enough said, don't let people make you jump on the band wagon.

[OC_MurphysLaw]

I think that is what this author could use regarding MS. He sites rumors which are not proven facts as though they are facts and claims all these failures around Vista and the 360. Clearly he has his own tainted view of the world of technology....

Meanwhile...back in teh real world MS bids to buy Yahoo to make it #2 in the search engine market. MS posts up postive numbers in their game/entertainment division and look to continue to be strong in 2008.

This clearly is fanboy journalism at its best....

[ReBurn]

Perhaps so many people are leaving their posts at Microsoft because the company needs new direction. Bill Gates' retirement is not a surprise. It has been in the works for a few years now. Everyone else is probably due to fallout from an internal reorg or something. That kind of stuff is necessary to shake out bad habits and get a company back on track. It happens everywhere.

[GrooveChampion]

The recent Yahoo story and sales reports aside, has Microsoft been the bearer of any substantially good news this year? It's only been a month but I really don't remember anything positive from or about MS since CES. Even CES was dominated by the Blu-ray situation.

I know it's only a month and I know this is only an opinion piece, but it strikes me as odd that while Nintendo and Sony have managed to generate positive news stories or have positive news stories written about them, Microsoft has been remarkably quiet. I don't think it's all doom and gloom, and they could be saving their juice for GDC and E3/X08 down the road, but it seems quite odd to me.

[Bladestar]

ohh crap another apocaliptic article about the death of Microsoft... I think these anti microsoft fools are trying to hard... check the microsoft stock rating... A fools... you know what that means? one of the hottest stocks to own... go on.. go to sharebuilder.com and open an account (it's free) you can learn everything about investing and how well a company is really doing.. before believing this bull... and who knows you may make a buck or two in the process...

[INehalemEXI]

They have shipped alot of faulty consoles, and Vista was not recieved well. They have done some innovation with sync and surface. Yet they need better quality control for sure. They should also invest in more first party studios IMO.

[JBaby343]

Everything you said was on the money.

[djroberts]

Lies. No company would release a product knowing it would have a 1 in 3 failure rate. Sure there were signs, rushed development and testing and they were dumb to release it that way, but not knowingly.

They'd have thrown another heat sink on it at the very list as a quick fix, err... Falcon, cough...

[Silver360]

Companies do some foul things. In 1970 Ford motors decided it was cheaper to mass produce cars with exploding gas tanks and pay $200725 per death than fix the gas tank. So don't get it twisted. I love my 360, but don't ever put it past a company to do what is is more profitable for them morals be damned.

[HCS]

http://tech.blorge.com/Stru... needs to be fired, he alot worse then jeff gertsamann ever was.

this dude clearly needs to have his head re-examined.

[InYourMom]

What a POS article and 1/2 true observations.

While their stock prices are doing well, they posted profits in the forever struggling entertainment division, bid to buy Yahoo, etc.. I think MS is trying to build their identity stronger and adjust to growing competition. Sinking ship? HELL NO!

[Chippathingy]

What makes this journalist an expert in the going on's in Microsoft?...uh....nothing! "ewwwww....I heard from this insider that this is going on!" and that makes it so. Dummy!

Do you actually think Bill Gates was going to work at Microsoft till he dies?? And do you actually think that his retiring will sink the whole company to the bottom of your virtual lake??

By that journalists reckoning, if I were to quit my job right now, the company I work for would fall apart! Idiot! There's like what, 4000 or more people that work for Microsoft in the States alone? Not even including the whole world for that matter. One or a few people step down, other people take their place. Simple as that!

Nice of that journalist to bring up Peter Moore. Why don't you write Peter Moore and tell him he's not allowed to switch jobs and work for different companies, that he's bringing Microsoft down. I'm sure he'll tell you that your right and go limping back to Microsoft just to please you. Give your head a shake Triston McIntyre and take the needle out of your arm. It's starting to scare people.

Microsoft, just like thousands of other companies, is not perfect. But the try their hardest to get the customer what they want and most of the time, need. What would of sunk the 360 is if Microsoft were to tell you...."Your 360 broke? Oh, that's your problem, we can't and won't do anything to help you". Instead they have revised their warranty to take care of their customers and keep them on the bandwagon. How many companies do you recall doing that for their customers at their cost? Not many in my books.

I use Microsoft products and there are somethings I like and some things I don't like. Triston McIntyre, what did you use to create your rubbish article? A Mac and Firefox as your browser? With an article like that, let's hope you don't use ANYTHING Microsoft.

[ASSASSYN 36o]

Technically, bill gates left years ago.

[AnthonyPerez]

Don't get me wrong, Microsoft has made mistakes but an intelligent individual can point out the mistakes of both Nintendo and Sony as well. In fact, Sony's handling of the PS3 out of the gate was absolutely terrible. The console is finally coming into its own and Sony is starting to make some smarter moves, but the Xbox 360 has not destroyed its customer relations.

Yes the RRODs are terrible and they should've acted sooner on it, but they did extend the warranties and are fixing any broken machines. My launch console is still working fine, there is quality software, and Xbox Live is a wonderful and convenient service.

Sony is starting to get its killer software, and the Wii is looking the weakest this year software wise. It's fun, but we'll see if this is a long term product or a fad/novelty in the next couple of years.

[Coke-a-Cola]

Microsoft has the Giant Market share however ( first to market anyone ? ) ..........So , if a company is not really about Quality or Design then they must be doing something else .

Hello I am an Xbox 360 .........Hello I am a............

They have some fantastic games TRUE........but this hardware issue is a bad one.......

[Silver360]

Every pc has different parts in it. People customize their pc all the time. It is a minor miracle that windows works as well as it does. Apple computers are a closed environment. They decide everything that goes in the case and parts are the same for every model. Heck of a lot easier that way.

[Ares84]

Microsoft is in a decline! Vista is a mess, Xbox has huge problems. People do buy Macs now! And it is a fact that big guns are jumping ship now.

[BLaZiN PRopHeT]

they just made 6+ billion in profits and vista is faster selling than XP was in its first year. come on why does sh1t like this get approved

[Imallvol7]

MS seems like its glory days are over. I just HAD to have a 360 for 2007, but now i kind of regret it. I don't see any big games on the horizon that I want. My PS3 is fixing to get alot of play time. I don't see how anyone can have faith in MS anymore.

[AliC]

And yet still people are buying the 360, if comsumers where not confident with the system they wouldn't spend there money on it, or the software released.

Wierd News.

[name]

Fanboy article.

[titntin]

Whilst reports of a big MS demise are certainly a bit of a stretch of the imagination, its not surprising to see such opinions expressed!
MS have had a complete stranglehold on the PC market for a long time, and this financial muscle has allowed them to buy their way into lots of different related technologies and areas. Trouble is, they have rarely made a succes of it. Even looking at the now thankfully solvent games division, they will need to continue making huge profits for a long time before they ever repay all the money they have lost buying their way into the market. Vista IS a bit of a miss. Simply stating they are shipping a lot of units out is not an argument against this - a lot of hardware vendors are tied into deals to ship their hardware with vista, and cannot afford to anger MS over this. Why do you think so many people are 'upgrading' to XP? Its because they were forced into adopting vista when they bought new hardware and find they don't like it/ want it or it doesn't run what they need it too.
With Vista showing a slight vulnerability in the OS market that has been theirs alone for so long, and with the WII having a rampant succes and even the PS3 starting to outsell its 360 in worldwide figures, its only right that people will ask the big questions! Its called journalism, and even if you don't agree, it doesn't make it invalid to ask the question!

Off course Microsoft still has the bulk of the OS market tied up and still makes plenty of cash, and the much smaller 360 market is still strong and healthy and likely to remain that way, but there is definitely more room for other tech companies to grab a little slice of the pie than there has been for some time, and Microsofts bid for Yahoo is an indication of them acknowledging the relative failure they have had with the MSN network to be the no one web content and portal provider...
Its interesting times for the tech world, and I suspect we will see many more such speculative articles. Take them all with a 'pinch of salt' though - MS aren't going anywhere soon! ;)

[omodis420]

I am so glad I found this site! I Used to rely on EGM and Gamespot for my news. In a few days i finally get a new system and all the stuff for it. TV, etc. I was leaning towards the 360 a few weeks ago, but after joining this site, and learning about just how much a 360 breaks, i am going with a PS3! Thanks to this site.

[InYourMom]

sure whatever..

(cough) BS (cough)

[GameOn]

but this website blows the RROD out of proportion due to fanboys.
Yes its a big problem. ive had 1 die on me but it was no problem getting it repaired.
enjoy your purchase

[heyheyhey]

welcome aboard ma brotha- hope you have a great time with your PS3

what games you have for it so far?

if your looking for something fun to play then i recommend uncharted- that is one hell of an action game, its really great fun

P.S could anyone PLEASE tell me how to install themes on the XMB from the PSM3 disk? (sorry about the off-topic, but im getting really desperate for some cool themes now)

[SKullDugger]

Smart choice the PS3 is a great system. I have the 80GB and my son has the 40GB no problems at all very quite and rock solid hardware!!! Enjoy man!

[THAMMER1]

Do some research. You should not use this site to decide which console to buy. There are too many haters PS3 haters and 360 haters. Look at it like this, do you like to play games or talk about them? Some people on this site spend more time here then playing games in the 1st place.

GET A LIFE

[cmrbe]

MS ain't going no where soon. Its just that they will have stronger competition in this time around.

[eraroha]

MS profits rose 23% in 2007 and beat their earnings expectations. They are on the verge of buying Yahoo for 44 billion. As a company they have never been stronger. Thats pretty impressive since 30% or more of all their software products are pirated.

[HCS]

The end is coming.............walmart is going down.

Yeah right..... Wal-Mart aint going nowhere.

and business execs change and leave everyday to do other things. They made their money.

Microsoft is Fine. Wal-Mart is fine.

They definately aint sinking, just growing and making back that money they loss.

Saying that their a sinking ship is just proving how ridicalous and retarded their claims are.

What's with all these journalist without a brain?

[M1am1U]

there are quite a few companies that would love to be in Microsoft's "sinking ship" situation right now. They certainly don't have the foothold they used to. But to say they're losing their grasp on technology and are a sinking ship is extreme to me. I think in many cases, other companies are catching up and gaining more visibility. Microsoft joining the console gaming genre has really increased competition, and I think the same is happening in the O/S realm. Competition leads to better products, and I think that's always a good thing.

[Leathersoup]

...this article failed to mention what I think Microsoft's biggest screw up with Vista was. That they should have only made a 64 bit version of Vista.
With more and more PCs coming out with 64 bit processors it seems that Vista would have been the prime step for a 64 bit only OS. The 64 bit version of Vista can still run 32 bit software but slightly slower. It would have made so much sense to make Vista a 64 bit only OS. Everyone likes XP anyway so anyone who wanted to stick with their old systems could keep using XP. As people gradually started using Vista software developers could start building their software for the 64 bit OS and everyone using Vista would get the performance increase. Unfortunately MS decided to make a 32 bit version of Vista and it's hindering the progression of software to the 64 bit arena.
Now we have the PCs but most people are simply getting the bundled version of Vista which is still 32 bit. No company is going to start designing and building for 64 bit if the majority of people are still using a 32 bit OS.

Way to f things up microsoft.

[Iron Man 2]

LOL Microsoft's flaws are infinite!;)

[kewlkat007]

I see people commenting on just MS's Xbox division. Of course I bet you 90% of people on here are "closet" Window users...

As huge as MS is, they have to keep re-inventing themselves or as the old saying goes, "if you can't beat them, join them".

-Yeah MS is not perfect..no company is.

-Yeah MS has slowed down a bit, no company continues to skyrocket year after year.

-Yeah MS has 1 million lawsuits going on..well that's nothing new when you on top of the food chain.

I could easily sit there and write an article on how "apple's" devices are all "STYLE and no SUBSTANCE with ridiculous pricing", well I'm sure I can look for one.

The perception is MS is loosing it's grasp but then again they have no real threat in the OS market. You get little whimpers here and there from Apple and Linux but nothing serious. Of course this is what MS was built on.

Now if you wanna look at other things like the 360, Zune and such, I can't say these have totally flopped, seeing how huge uphill it was to get these devices into a market where there was already domination.

Of course MS never had a "STRONG" in HARDWARE in the first place. So I'm not sure where this Grasp was. the 360?

[zonetrooper5]

Well Vista is not a failure, yes its not doing as well as XP did but its still going strong. Second, the 360 is not failing, its sold 17 million consoles worldwide and yes I acknowledge the hardware problems but they are getting or have gotten fixed.

In all fairness I would not touch a Mac, I would go for Windows or Linux, why in hell should I pay more for an Apple Mac when my PC is cheaper, has more software support, can be upgraded to make it look nice etc for cheaper. As I say, PC > Mac anyday. Good looking does not make it great and overpricing your product is annoying and controlling the hardware, good move Apple, idiots.

[Si-Pie]

Yeah I got to agree with alot what you say. Ive got friends who have Imacs and they are very very nice and look great BUT when I asked my friends what happens if say the screen went wrong or what are they going to do when they want more memory they are at a loss of what to say. Im an IT Technician and I just dont like to be controlled on what I have or who repairs my computer when it goes wrong! So Pcs are also for me being they are customizable. However there is another BUT. I really got to say OSX is great and do prefer it over windows! Unfortunately Apple didnt see fit (being they not only want people to buy their OS but also their hardware too) to make OSX to work on PCS too. If they opened OSX up to work on all Personal Computers then who knows they may have even been the market leader in the OS Market by now.

[Rice]

According to DLB, " Microsoft is money driven".

[BELIE7ER]

yeah- some people think free game systems should come with the welfare check. poor customer service not withstanding. hey - there you go- give it away and they cant complain.....nevermind. ive known too many people on welfare to believe that.

[DarkSniper]

Dark Sniper finds it quite humorous that each and every Microsoft scumslave have taken personal offense because of an article that has spoken the truth about Microsoft's shoddy business practices. Dark Sniper would like to thank tech.blorge.com for informing consumers the truth and reiterating those who currently own an XBox on why their console is on a downward spiral as we speak.

Microsoft's image has taken a nose dive since the iteration of XBOX 360. The manufacturing department does not possess the know-how nor contain the technological savvy in ensuring that it's purchasers have a piece of mind when an XBOX 360 is purchased. Bad efforts recieve bad results. Microsoft's failure as a business has been well documented for several years.

Thankfully, Dark Sniper believes that consumers will no longer need to endure the garbage that Microsoft has issued to our civilization. With the departure of Bill Gates and several other corporate excecutives, the XBOX gaming division will be nothing more than an afterthought as PLAYSTATION® 3 marches on to dominance in the next generation console sales.

Once again, thank you Triston Mcintyre for letting each and every reader know that the Microsoft Corporation and it's products are nothing more than water sewage. Dark Sniper couldnt have said it better himself.

$niper
4D Graphics

[lawgone]

"Microsoft's failure as a business has been well documented for several years."

That's like saying Coca-Cola is a business failure. You make absolutely no sense what-so-ever. This doesn't even belong in the open forum. Perhaps if they ever start an "incoherent rambling" forum it could go in there.

[Daishi]

oneaburns you took the words out of my mouth, bubbles.

[theoneandonly]

First, alot of talk seems to be going around on the Playstation 3 outselling the Xbox360. But what this is, is just talk.

For one, there is no real *concrete* figures in Europe that would lead one to assume one is ahead of the other one.....and the war in Europe has barely begun, since Microsoft has only recently been satisfying the demand and shipping more consoles.

PS3 only outsold it in those areas *BECAUSE* more units were shipped, and that's a key element fanboys conveniently forget.

Also, to under-estimate the impact of Fable 2 and Grand Theft Auto 4 in the European market as well as games like WARHOUND is a fatal mistake indeed......The truth is, Bungie's games were just the beginning. Microsoft Game Studios has yet to even FULLY unleash its arsenal on Europe, and that is why it is shipping more consoles, because in the area of Europe that's where they will win.

Lets add into that Gears of War 2 and Lost Odyssey, and suddenly a very different picture on Europe starts to emerge. This war will be decided in Europe.

Also, people are assuming the Yahoo bid is not something that helps Microsoft. This is untrue because Microsoft's hardest market to break into will be Japan, and Japan's business section especially those who buy online toys and games really adores yahoo.

Owning most of the market-share of Yahoo if they agree to team up together, will be tremendously helpful for the 360 in Japan as well as their RPGs and will open a whole world of interactivity at "the same time" in addition.

People assume that Final Fantasy the series is what will save the PS3, but the truth is closer to fiction than you might think. Most people did not desire to play it, and they actually purchased an Xbox360 for this reason especially due to the fact Japan's market is seemingly becoming more stagnant.

We did not buy the 360 to get a Final Fantasy clone, all of us bought one to play action games and the likes of Mass Effect and Blue Dragon. The reason we "BOUGHT" the 360 instead of the PS3, is we saw it as a better system and we saw it as the future because they were doing new things and new fresh ideas that really worked.

Innovation has been the backbone of enormous 360 sales since launch, and will be the backbone, because I can see the classic Blue Dragon series rivaling Final Fantasy and eventually replacing it. It was better, a plain better game for many of us.

And lets talk about action games, the 360 market owns the action and multiplayer arena and this angers the PS3 fans. They know that their system shall be dominant in the Japanese arena for a while, but not in the Western action arena, something that greatly fumes Sony fanboys.

This is one small step for Microsoft, and one giant leap for mankind. This is a great day for gamers everywhere, when Microsoft and Yahoo do ink some sort of deal. It will mean awesome things for the 360, and alot of bad things to come for its competitor very much so.

[chrno6]

Did you just say Blue-dragon is better than final fantasy? It's time to lay off the crack, my friend. Blue-dragon is commonly regarded as a not-so-good jrpg.

[LastDance]

Until It rrod'd HAHA....

hahah....That was a nice speach. Ofcourse it was completely full of Sh!t.. Innovative? give me a break. Omg They are like so good at match making ...Holy SHAT.

xbox is the trend the way hollywood movies are these days. they dont give a sh!t what they put on that screen.. they just want your money.

They dont even want to build a machine that works... Half works is good enough.

clearly the games you mentioned in your essay mean alot more to you then anyone else. And GTA4 is on ps3. The only country in the world that should be allowed to have a 360 is antartica. Atleast it wouldnt over heat right? haha

[KILLERAPP]

The future isn’t looking bright for Microsoft. What is looking bright, however, is the future of the technology markets. With Microsoft losing its grip, other companies who bring a lot of innovation to the table can begin to compete, and with that, we can once again hope to see advancement. Not poorly manufactured gaming machines and faulty operating systems based on outdated programming.

Well after bill goes is doing to be a mad ride for MS good luck on you dead ride.

[Si-Pie]

Yeah I dont believe its as clear cut as this article makes it sound. I think Microsoft has got some hard times ahead but then all companies have ups and downs. I think the technology industry is changing so fast and so much that there is so many new companies (e.g Google) on their way up and microsoft needs to keep moving on with new ideas. We have been through the PC age and are now over 10 years into the internet age and think microsoft needs some new blood to keep it up and bring in fresh new ideas. Anyone ever seen Triumph of the nerds? Great Documentary about the rise of these companies.

[Maddens Raiders]

the fact of the matter is that the fatter you are the slower you move and MS is morbidly obese, so if they trim the fat in the right areas and lose the really bad string of PR lately then they'll weather the storm just fine. One thing they absolutely cannot do is repeat (upon launch of the new system) the mistake of gambling with bad hardware and then pawn it off as no big deal in hopes of a large payoff. This only results in negative press, mad patrons, and skeptical consumers.

[Bill Gates]

Grasp???

The ONLY grasp M$ ever had was a tight Kung-Fu grip on the RROD with one hand, and a 9mm grip with the other hand shooting themselves on the FOOT with every mistake they made with the 3FixMe.....AAHHHHAHA

Not the mention the grasp they have over the wallets of the BABOONS.....AAHHHAHHAHHHAHA

[trancefreak]

you guys ever watch rocky balboa Ms needs to bring back the eye of the tiger. I actually have been a big ms windows supporter and I had my woes with xp much like vista but i think vista is an 8.5 out of 10. Also im bitter with the 360 it really let me and my kids down i went threw 4 of them which all had the notorious issues. Other than that being said i still think ms is an outstanding company wich has done many technoglical acheivements on many scales. Windows being 1 :)

[BELIE7ER]

my elite has been freezing up now and then. especially if the surface of the disc is not in prestine condition. my buddie has had his 360 since launch. about a year and a half ago he had a water pipe break above his entertainment room. he came home and found water running ovre his new hdtv and 360. i ran over with a shop vac to help with the cleanup. when i picked up the 360 and tilted it sideways water literally flowed out of it. of course we figured it was dead but we put it in front of the fans to dry it out with everything else. weird thing is the 360 turned out to be fine but he did loose a dvd player and the tv has a permenant water spot sometimes visible behind the glass in the lower left corner. i plan on getting the ps3 with the tax money. it should be even more durable than the 360, but i dont plan on any comparison testing.

[0LDSCH00L]

Your really funny.

[PSWe60]

Funny, when Sony was having trouble the X-Bots were all over it...
HOW DOES IT FEEL NOW PUTOS??!?!?

A=HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA..... .......HAHAHAHAHA
Wait let me laugh harder...

H H A
H H A A
H H A A
HHHHHHHHHH AAAAAAA
H H A A
H H A A
H H A A

[Daishi]

Isn't this based on material that's over a year old? On top of that isn't the xbox 360 finaly making the xbox name profit? Doesn't it have the highest attach rate of any other console? Aren't there over 10 million members on xbox live? You can make this sound however you want if you only say YOUR side of it. Maybe next time he can look at the whole picture instead of spreading propaganda.

[meatnormous]

XP isn't that old of an OS and they are replacing it with vista. I run XP-64bit and they really needed to work on it before moving on, BUT THEY DIDN'T. Vista is too much of a resource hog to get any real performance out of it. DX 10 isn't that great to justify an upgrade.

[JBaby343]

They are still posting huge profits but please someone explain to me why they can't make quality products that ACTUALLY WORK. XP sucked when it launched and took years to sort out. 360, well we're still going with that broken mess no matter how much denial and supposed pawnage the xbots claim. Now Vista is showing up broken more and more. I'm still on XP so I can't speak personally but I keep hearing about the bad situations. They need to quit being cheap with all the money they're getting.

[HarryEtTubMan]

lol at the dumb BOTS

[pshizle]

my xbox got the RROD 1year ago has not happened since!!! i love my 360 and its amazing library of games

vista is amazing i dont know what people are talking about bugs because there not any execpt that IE7 is not responsive 8 out of 100 times thats why you have FIREFOX2

leopard crashes 25 out of 100 from KEVIN ROSE

the new zunes are cool i have a zune80

does it matter if higher ranks jump ship...they are old...its time to bring in the new

[ROCCOZILLA]

xbots are getting beat over the head by m$.JUMP OUT!

[THAMMER1]

The more they hate.

[reddeathit]

Bill Gates is quitting while he is ahead?! Give me a break. I don't think that Bill Gates has anything to worry about. How can someone make this comment when in reality he is dropping everything to help mankind?

[OMGLOLZ]

But considering Sony and a few other companies have deeper pockets than they do, they need to be on their toes in the market to stay as big as they are right now. They CANNOT launch another "Vista" or launch another console with such a brutal failure rate.

The failure rate of the 360 has pretty much destroyed any money they could have made off of the console. There is little to no money being made on the 360, and if you count all the exclusives MS has decide to buy, the profit's definitely still in the negatives.

[jaja1434]

Umm As far as MS's "Pockets" go, they are far far far above Sony's.

http://money.cnn.com/magazi...
http://www.digitalcamerainf...

And I'm not really sure how you can claim the 360 will not make any money when I'm pretty sure the only people qualified to make that are currently working in Seattle or one of it's branch offices...

[The Milkman]

Yes MS has had a big tumble with the failure rates on the Xbox 360. But the sells of the console are great. Also the failure rates have went down by alot from before. The Xbox 360 is far from a failure if you look past the red rings. The online quality is excellent, and yes there been problems with the servers at times. But there will always be errors.

The problems will always come about, and as long as they are solved we all will stay in the green. As for Vista I feel more protected using it. But I suggest you not use it if your computer is not strong enough, because then you will probably end up giving bad feedback.

[Dashmoney101]

that I've never heard of this site b4, techborge.com?

[crank]

Approved Because M has no handle on the GAME market and they have been a failure ever since the xbox. Their 360 is brash, in your face, underwhelming, and broke.

Vista by all accounts needs a drastic overhaul, and that will come someday.....

[ravenguard88]

Go back to when XP was born, see how many supporters it had. Now, you're looked at as crazy if you prefer windows 98 :P

[gololo]

i don't think the 360 is a disaster...and i don't even think apple is making ms life that difficult...however...Google is another topic...I think this is MS's main worry (ergo the offer to buy Yahoo)...I don't think MS is sitting like they were 4 years back, they were the top of the cream....now the top of the cream is Google and they are the real threat to MS...(and open source too)

[ravenguard88]

Though Microsoft has had many problems, a many will be worked out soon enough. Nobody can say they know their strategic plans, and I'm tired of the argument that all the "higher-ups" are leaving the company. It is not uncommon in their business.

Windows XP was the same as Vista when it came out. I put windows 98 on a new PC because I didn't want XP a year after it's release. Once the service packs come out and software is written for the platform, Vista will be the new XP.

The Xbox 360 is a different story. When talking about hardware quality, it is definitely a failure. I personally think Microsoft has addressed it well enough, and the fact that the problems are being phased out it a good sign. I don't blame them for not just dumping all their resources into it because it wouldn't be a smart business decision, and the shareholders would be very unhappy.

I have a feeling that the Xbox 360 will be looked at as a success story 10 years from now, as in the end, it helped Microsoft grow from nothing all the way to a top-notch competitor when it comes to video game consoles and the games themselves. Microsoft has always said that themselves: They never intended the Xbox 360 to win the console war, if anything, they would have been more than happy to claim a quarter of what Sony did. Lucky for them, Sony seems to have had as much trouble, and the "late" launch of the PS3 helped the 360 take the lead.

[SpaceCowgirl]

Why do stupid flame bait and propaganda articles like this get approved, then why do they also get so popular, people should just ignore them.

[moparful99]

As a ps3 fan, my inner fanboy screams yes when I read this article but alot of it is presumption. You can pre-sume all you want about microsoft sinking but we all know just how deep bill gate's pockets are. Sure bill leaving so abruptly is kind of perplexing but I doubt they are without his financial rapier firmly holstered. But microsoft needs to learn that buying everything out isnt a very wise marketing move. Sony is making huge innovative strides and the quality of games coming to the ps3 is growing exponentially. If ms doesnt haul in the slack they could loose this generation as well. Sony is a proven and venerable company in the video game industry, even holding "Best selling console of all time" honors. I love just how uncomfortable the 360 made sony, solely for the sheer innovation that sony has been pumping out. I have a love affair with my ps3 and, in a sense, owe it all to microsoft thinking they could dethrone sony. Am I alone in my opinion or do others level with my sentiments?

[Pika-pie]

MS were so lucky to get in first with the 360... The console itself is a rushed design which is constantly prooved to be flawed but when it was released there was no other choice on the market.

Luckily for MS a system is judged by the quality of games. And there are plenty of those.

[speed_demon]

"12 - hmmm.......... i WONDER WHY PETER MOORE LEFT THE COMPANY MICROSOFT.
Hmmmm......I truly wonder why he left soon after Microsoft announced the extended three year warranty due to the failure rates.

WHY DID HE ABANDON HIS LOYAL FANS.

WHY?????????????????????

I could only guess because he knew that in 2008 the sh!t will truly hit the fan and the XBOX 360 will go through a downward spiral.

Peter Moore was very very smart to leave Microsoft Xbox 360 Corp.

All you guys and gals should do the same thing.

Before its too late.

Buy a PS3."

[speed_demon]

Go out and have some fun for pete's sake ---Go and get a girlfriend---Go and get laid--Your xbox 360 is truly turning you guys into YENTAS just like the customer service agents at Microsoft--You guys seem to be gaining alot of weight and beginning to EMIT A FOUL ODOUR--Go to the gym and lift some weights you bunch of XBOT gaylords.

Peace Out

[sleepbox]

I tell you all this...many of you know me as a 360 exclusive gamer but by the time the next MS console is released if XBL still consists of P2P gaming with no dedicated servers and they are trying to still charge for it, I will NOT be picking up the next MS console.

I had less lag issues with Dreamcast and it didn't cost me a dime to play online(except the broadband adapter I bought for $50).

[texism]

He has SOME interesting points, but what he says is so full of bias that it's hard to take him seriously.

About Vista, I don't know why people do the same amount of b!tching all the time. It was exactly the same situation when XP came out. Everybody was saying how it's going to fail and it doesn't have long-term support. Where are we now? It always always takes a good amount of time for a new OS to be completely adopted.

The one I will say MS screwed up in Vista is compatibility. Vista is SO different there's practically no way to use older software on it.

[Bullseye]

read quite a few posts critising Windows Vista.Well,let me assure you that MS has NEver released an OS that didn't attract negative press,it comes with the territory.If you're the best at what you do, there's plenty of people telling you it ain't so.For the enthusiast and professional user,Linux may be a real alternative, but honestly, the average user simply can't cope with it's complexity compared to the ease of use that Windows provides,not to mentioned the compatibility issues.Mac's are a lame duck, no, really.Many moons ago Mac's had a tangible advantage over PC's especially in the graphics intensive markets.Nowadays however,Mac's are the status symbols of the wealthy,nothing more.Style and substance? Yes.Real world advantages? No.Not any more.

[DaCandyman]

This was the way of Sega. Great software, not so demanding in hardware. Let's hope that this does not repeat.

[M0rt3n]

I always say price and quality go hand-in-hand, at least when it comes to hardware. I think we all can agree on that in this situation.

[THE TERMINATOR]

The XRATS are jumping ship....
Shame on them.

[HCS]

they have made more then 382 billion dollars and if they bought yahoo they would still have more then 340 billion dollars.

going down????? hahahahha

[greenenvy]

....is in the middle of the deep blue ocean, 12 feet under......hahahaha that way at least its playing something instead of blowing sh~t...............just like its BLU RAY waves....

right on schedule boys...

lets be honest, this is a no-brainer and this article sums up everything totally....

http://blog.wired.com/games...

360 is going to have another stellar year period. In europe 360 will be sold out too....

Halo Wars will be huge in europe but I can think of another game too......I am going to buy quite a few games but you want to know what I love the most, hell yes halo wars.

Its going to be TIGHT and we all love halo, and I think halo chronicles might come out.....but seriously, after call of duty 4 gears of war 2 and halo wars are gonna steal the spotlight........

Im not shocked to find alot of people who never heard of MGS4....all they can think about is GTA4 and that sort of thing......its going to be one intense year period, no matter what system you own......and I GUARANTEE there will be surprises.....triple guarantee it.

LOTS of great games for 360 this year, thats impossible to deny now....but a few for the ps3 if you're into ps games.....and that's it JACK, I still think halo war/too human is going to win out....call it a gut feeling on my ticker ticker......oh yes. LETS GET READY TO RUUUUUUUUMBLE!!!!!!!

FF13, Infinite Undiscovery release in 2009 not even close, middle of 2009 earliest but Alan Wake comes 2008. I predicted it.

[MEGAHURTZ86]

for some odd reason the xbox 360 reminds me of the sega dreamcast. was dominating even after the playstation 2 launched and then out of nowhere it just lost all of its steam! I think the same thing is about to happen with the playstation 3 this go around. I feel like the xbox fans brought this on themselves predicting a win in a console war that was'nt even in full swing yet!

All in all th xbox 360 is a good console. Put the PS3 is a soon to be great console and the lineup of 2008 proves that!

just my 2 cents!