Microsoft Year-End Report Card: B-

Gizmodo - Wilson Rothman, Fri Dec 21 2007:

"Well, Redmond, it's been a funny year, hasn't it? Even if you ignore those Apple commercials, it's hard to ignore the fact that Vista was probably one of the main reasons people switched to the Mac OS, or to third-party Linux-based systems. We'll get to the big V-and that other mighty stain Windows Mobile-in a bit, but first you deserve much credit for some impressive feats in gaming, entertainment and home networking."

Xbox 360: A-
Zune 2: B+
Windows Home Server: A-
Windows Vista: D
Windows Mobile: D

Final Grade: B-

[DarkSniper]

With so many "AAA" exclusives released this year, Microsoft still was only capable of limping foward to a B-. That goes to show how poor the quality of their games were.

Apparantly Microkids have not done their math correctly because AAA does not equal B-.

$niper

[Captain Tuttle]

You didn't read the article. It just didn't rate the 360 but all of Microsoft's products.

[SKullDugger]

KISS MY A$$, do you really think SONY did any better with the PS3 and its games?

[ActionBastard]

PS3 received a B+ Patriot. So to answer you questions, they did pretty damn well for "not having any games".

[iNcRiMiNaTi]

Xbox 360: A-
Zune 2: B+
Windows Home Server: A-
Windows Vista: D
Windows Mobile: D

Final Grade: B-

360 got a A-

the B- was all those products combined to an average grade. some people need to learn how read one of these days

[AngryTypingGuy]

With the RROD issues, I can see why the 360's grade was dragged down to an A-, which is still a great grade. From a pure gaming standpoint though, the 360 deserves an A+++. I don't know if any console has ever released the high amount of top caliber titles in one calendar year that the 360 has. 2007 was just an unbelievable year to be gaming on the 360.

2008 looks to start of strong. With Ghostbusters and possibly GOW 2 coming at the end of the year, it may end that way too!

[BLACKJACK VII]

LOL, sniper you get an F = another Fanboy Failure.

[frostbite06]

Are you seriously trying to spin this article pro sony when the playstation 3 gets a B+ and the 360 gets an A-???
Dont like like, dont read it, and for gods sake dont post a comment about it

[lawman1108]

Learn to read, the 360 DID get an A but they put ALL of MS products together. Douche.

[CRIMS0N_W0LF]

I would giving Windows Home Server or any windows server D too.

Linux/UNIX FTW!

Lol at disagrees.

Get it thru your Thick skulls. Windows Server SUCK. Windows SUCK. For programers = Linux for general use it should be MAC and for gamers Windows....but now a lot of games are releasing on MAC.

[wageslave]

Sure, Windows Server and Windows Vista "suck". They just suck much less than OSX, GNU/Linux, *BSD or any other Unix.

[rofldings]

Windows server = win?

But the competition is FREE, more stable, uses less resources, less chances of viruses/security breaches, etc. How does windows server win again? Oh, did I mention, it's free and open source?

[CRIMS0N_W0LF]

god all these disagrees to me and rolfdings show there are mindless retards with microsoft's c0ck in their mouth.

rofldings is also right.

[DJ]

Wow, looks like they didn't want to go too hard on old MS.

[wageslave]

Have you ran Home Server? You have no clue.

[Bombomb]

for wha tit does. Like most there needs to be more flexibility but for what you can do it works. I don't wanna hear about linux and appple and every other OS that make up 10% of the market.

http://www.pcmag.com/articl...

http://www.winsupersite.com...

http://gizmodo.com/gadgets/...

http://arstechnica.com/revi...

[HarryEtTubMan]

haaaa. Microsft can't beat Sony. This is the WORST year Sony has ever had and they still managed a B+

[Diabloz]

sony B+

[Bill Gates]

I remember the good ol' days on this site.

When there was actually NEWS about gaming. Shiet, there would sometimes go days with no news, but when there was, it was fun and exciting as all hell.

Oh well, I guess every site has their price.

[season007]

but stop BSing about how good the old days is....old day is ALWAYS optimized in the memory and hey, if you don't like it, instead of talking BS in here, maybe you should consider just delete this worsen site in your MY FAVORITES...

[AllroundGamer]

well for the most of the time xbox360 had the RROD sickness and couldn't deliver his homework, so an F would be more appropriate... ;)

[beans]

Not trying to enter all of this trolling but I believe that the score is fair. 360 really did a great job this year as far as giving owners top notch games and services. It's ashame the hardware had so many issues but it's being corrected and from here on out it's looking better for MS. I give credit were it is due and MS deserves it.

[season007]

definitely better than a D i guess

edit: i am just wondering have you used WM for the disagree i get=) and which WM phone you use?

[beoulve]

XBOX 360 didn't deserve an A- but a B in my opinion.

So here's the two thing from Sony and Microsoft.
Sony unable to capitalize on XBOX 360 hardware problem
and
Microsoft unable to capitalize on PS3 lack of software and high price. PS3 still gaining on Europe.
Even though Microsoft seem to made it big on HALO 3 but their $2 billion replacement plan spoiled the day.

I called 2007 a stalemate for PS3 and XBOX 360. Wii is the clear winner.

[fredy]

MS is capitalizing on Software sales with 5.9 attach rate and pawning the wii and ps3 in that category.

Ms has sold very well considering how slow consoles sales are, after the first year and launch.

Plus I can count on 2 fingers of titles past 1 million sales.

Plus with only on price-cut.

Now I can't say the same for Sony.

[DJ]

6.9 for Xbox 360 and 7.1 for PS3. The reason PS3's is slightly higher is because of the long period where not many people bought one.

Translation: Lower attach rate is better during the first few years of a console's life cycle.

[greenenvy]

lol, thats pretty sad seeing the fanboys sink low enough to try to find glitches with windows.

hell, we got two copies of windows vista one for each computer and hardly had ANY glitches with the OS.....I mean not even problems running MSN messenger!!!!

what a joke!!!

with the MS zune, halo 3, mass effect, bioshock & more like rock band & heroic pack microsoft has definitely OVER-DELIVERED quality gaming & entertainment this year across all formats..........

on the other side of the coin, I got a brand new fresh copy of MSN live messenger but by sony walkman 3rd gen broke down & died
=-O

and it sucked, because i'm going to replace it with ipod/zune. there's no way i'd be stupid enough to buy another sony walkman or mini-cd after that.........OUCH!!!!! >:D

ROCK ON LIVE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[actas123]

this what the score should be(hell if some idiot at gizmodo or what ever can rate then all of us can rate)
Xbox 360: C
Zune 2: B+
Windows Home Server: A
Windows Vista: B+
Windows Mobile: B+

Total: B+

[theoneandonly]

We have around two copies of Windows Vista of course, and have never experienced problems.

Also, we own Live conferencing center and quite a few other numbers of the quality products Microsoft rolled out this year. Just because one or two of their OS's "actually" have problems occasionally, is a far cry from it being plagued with bugs or crashes.

That's for sure. And we wouldn't use anything except Windows Media Player, given the alternative is far, far wose and Windows Media seems to keep stable pretty constantly.

Anyway, one of my pals apparently did have a Toshiba laptop and it was using batteries manufactured by Sony, ironically enough. Not Microsoft.

So what happened while he was trying to start it up to run a bit of pre-cal?

Battery exploded and ruined the laptop. Thank you so much for this wonderful design flaw. I know the Xbox RROD is a problem, but this is ridiculous.

He had to replace his laptop TWICE and finally decided not to buy either a Sony VAIO or TOSHIBA, because that is how crappy the product is. We got him settled down with a brand new TABLET PC by the completely dominant HP company.

Also, I had a Sony CANON camera given to me for christmas which failed for some reason. The film had trouble even processing proper pictures, talk about absolute garbage. I'd give Sony a D- and Microsoft an A at this point, for the overall package.

And yes me and my brother purchased a 360 however it was a Falcon model, one of the most stable products I've ever seen.

I can understand there are people out there who get failing 360s, but in a way they are causing the trouble by not being careful consumers too. The only 360s that seem to consistently fail are the launch models.

Yet and for this season, we have not had a single problem with the Falcon -X arcade board and it even feels remarkably cool when playing. No heating issues, No RRODs, and we simply keep things well off the ground.

These products are incredibly well designed. I can not say the same for the PS3, as apparently it had a drive malfunction which angered one of the guys at school. Instead of spinning the game, it scratched the disc making Resistance impossible to load anymore.

Thanks alot Sony, I understand certain products will be defective. But I find this ridiculous, what an absolute joke on top of a joke!!

Overall thanks to the new Falcons & Conference Audio center, Microsoft gets an A+ from us for all products.

They nailed it on every area this year.

[CRIMS0N_W0LF]

I got a copy of Vista and uninstalled back to xp after 2 days. I know like 100 people who did that because vista SUCK

[stennexxx]

Vista is s@#t!. How can anyone like Vista. That made me run to Mac and i am luving it. M$ has been aroung far to long in the OS business and kept on feeding us crap to just keep us wanting a better OS. Now that xp is the best they want us to move on. I bet you they soon realease something to make xp crappy. But think about this guys while windows had to be changing their entire, OS how many times do you see Linux changing its core program. Consumers need to wake up. Its amazing how the hardware issue with xbox360 had to occur. Anyway you get what you ask for. Long live the developers who think a little less about the money and a bit more about the customers well being.

RIP MY xbox360 (RROD)
Long live MY PS3.

[WilliamRLBaker]

last i checked Zune was 2nd in the mp3 market behind ipod which owns like 70% of the market...thats pretty damn good for a product to own so much of a product compared to the one that literally controls the market... (see i can be a sony fanboy and jusitify the psp too lol)

and not only that whats this crap? each individual microsoft product gets an grade yet the sony grading article doesn't? they just say a bunch of stuff and give us an end resuslt....thats crap, and then say that sony would have gotten an A- thats crap.

[rofldings]

"each individual microsoft product gets an grade yet the sony grading article doesn't? they just say a bunch of stuff and give us an end resuslt....thats crap, and then say that sony would have gotten an A- thats crap."

Yes, they should have reviewed every single TV, MP3 player, desktop, laptop, digital camera/camcorder, etc right?

[WilliamRLBaker]

I'll look past the fact that you are more of a fanboy then i am, And yet seemingly have 5 bubbles still *many sonyfanboys voting for you* or the fact you dont know any thing, Or the fact that i ignored you long ago.

I'll allso look at the fact you didn't learn how to read, I said Sony products, If you go look at the sony grade they talk about and grade about 5 different products on the Sony grading page, yet dont get us an individual grade for the sony products, They say all this stuff about different sony products then give us a overall grade, and thus giving us no insight into how they came to the overall grade of B+ *for products that continuely is outsold by both competeing companies, garner lower scores Often againest both competeing companies*

YET when it comes to microsoft products they give us an individual grade on each product they talked about...yeah...thats crap.

Oh and lets not forget that in your abundent knowledge you forgot the fact that...MICROSOFT MAKES MORE PRODUCTS THEN SONY DOES.
They make a higher number of unique software, and hardware products then sony does, So why didn't gizmodo review every microsoft product currently in production (including windows xp...ect)

Oh and lets not forget that the Microsoft and Sony artciles we're done by 2 different people following 2 different writing styles, they should have given us a Grade for each product talked about on the sony grade.

(here comes the sonyfanboys home from school as shown by 2 disagrees)

[Lightning Mr Bubbles]

games like Bioshock, Halo 3, Mass Effect. The only - is for the RROD.

[name]

Don't listen to Dark sniper he's bizzaro zhuck. Microsoft's gaming division had a very good year. The Zune and vista are complete flops. Vista is a neccecary fix, but I think it'd be good for microsoft if they just focus on their gaming division and their OS.

[SUPER360RPGWONDER]

Its obvious we can't start having double standards, now now now!!

If Microsoft is graded on all products, than so should Sony.

Lets see I give the Sony digital 300x camera that recently came out a D-, well actually I'd give all the Sony digital cameras that went on sale lately a F!!!!!

All those cameras suck so badly, Best Buy slashed their price by $100!!

LoL pot meet kettle, because then I'd give the Sony phony VAIO an D- !!!

Can you count fool', because when you add up each of Sony's products including the dead crystal PSP unit it gets a C- overall. Wow that's a far cry from a B, LOL!!!!

http://www.gamasutra.com/vi...

I smell double standards, get a day job or stop even writing!!!

[bigshynepo]

What about Sony Pictures? And the entire broadcasting industry uses Sony cameras.
AFAIK, Vaio laptops are doing great in the marketplace as well as their Sony Ericsson conglomerate. PS2 is still doing better than the Xbox 360 worldwide...oh wait, we won't mention that. Getting beat by your competitors last gen system must hurt on a monthly basis...

[SUPER360RPGWONDER]

HAHAHAHAHA how the hell do you translate that to doing great exactly!??!?

It has 15% of the computer market..............AHAHAHAHAH AHA that's really great!!!!

And their PC's are built like such complete s#!t they seem to break down every week, wait come again? THEY ARE DOING GREAT WITH THAT!?!??!

AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA

Also fool, Windows OS owns the entire PC marketplace with over 90% of the market. And its a stable good product. Live meetingplace owns about 60% of the market and its that stable. Microsoft makes more money in a single day than Sony makes in an entire year, and on top of that.....

Compared to the miniscule 100 million PS2s on the market, there is over 400 million PCs out there running games and running your favorite Windows- with the best gaming has to offer. =D

Suck it B***H!!!

SONY SUCKS $H!T!!!!!!!!!!! I guess unless you count the failure of a company sony pictures, which only great movie seems to be spiderman so far..............OUCH

Spirits Within was a total flopping failure and Microsoft makes more money in a literal weekday than they can hold!!!!! >8-D

[Bombomb]

In Phones

1.Nokia
2.Motorola
3.Samsung
4.LG
5.Sony Ericsson

-Laptop Computers Sony is over priced garbage like MAC for no apparent reason.At least Apple is great at marketing and uses their own software. kudos
1.HP
2.Dell
3.Toshiba
4.Viao

-In Camera, Canon Trumps all over Sony and Kodak right up there with them.

-In LCD HDTVs Samsung Trumps Sony with Toshiba right up there.
Sony forced to leave the Plasma market when Pioneer and Panasonic started running away with it.

-In Media Players Sony's Minidisc gets pwned by MP3 players, whichever. ATTRAC went bye bye..

-In memory stick, Id go with a more popular format SD cards instead of MEM stick.

Point is MS and their OS is untouchable with probably like 90%+ share. with all the talk of other OS's it won't be a while till MS has a real, I repeat real competition where we see a real difference, instead of small talk nerd niche groups.

Sony has weakened over the years, No longer Pioneers. They are outsourcing all their manufactured parts, to save money. obviously a sign of weaknening. Let's see what happens with blu-Ray, sony last hope. Days of the walkman are over. competition is here to stay.

Oh did I mention wii and 360 as new rejuvenated competitors?

[Bonsai1214]

in all fairness, i think this was kind of harsh. the 360 did have a stellar year despite its rrod issues, and while vista is not the way to go, m$ should get major points for releasing SP3 for XP, which does wonders for it. having not used mobile and home server, i can't comment on that.

as for the Zune, while it did release its mk.ii version, it still lacks that mass market appeal that the ipod has. it has more features, but it lacks the ease of use that people find with the ipod.

and going back to vista, i can say that leopard is leaps and bounds better than it..

and talking about sony, the division of sony that performed the worst this year was its electronic entertainment department. everything else did well this year. everything pulled in green except for its game's division. so if you really wanted to include its computer business, its tv business, its camera business, and its film business it would have buoyed sony's grade even more.

[Bladestar]

hehe.. look at the anti-microsoft people (i.e. DJ going).. I don't even know why you bother commenting in these articles...
No matter what microsoft does you would still give anything they do an -F.... so, why are you acting as if you have a fair rating for microsoft? You would even give the xbox 360 an -F.

So, in the future if I ever turn anti-microsoft and I want people to tell me what I want to hear.. than I would ask for your opinion.

[DJ]

In overall software selection, 360 scores higher than PS3 for this year. I would probably give the 360 a B+ and the PS3 a B (The last 4 months were an A, but the other 8 sucked).

Quality is a whole different story though, and it's subjective view so I'm not going to delve into it. Each person has their own viewpoint, and rightly so.

[Mr_Kuwabara]

Windows XP> Windows Vista

Vista is just XP with a different skin. Nothing innovative on its "features" so I'm with them with there D grade. I've never used Windows Mobile though, didn't know it was bad...

@below

But that's the whole point, why waste money on trying to upgrade your computer to run Vista since what you have right now is just as great as what Vista has to offer?

[WilliamRLBaker]

if windows Vista is just xp but with a new skin, then it should garner the original grade that XP got and maybe even more with the new skin...ect

In reality vista is a viable product just not before SP1 which is the way its been since windows 95, consumers complain about issues and by SP1 most of those issues are fixed..The reason vista gets a lower grade is because of that, many people are basing their reviews on Windows XP Sp2 and not the original OS that was complained about by every one.

[zonetrooper5]

The Xbox 360 has been an excellent console for nearly the last 2 years for me that is, (its 2 years old in Feb 2008). I'm still using Windows XP as Windows Vista is not ready just yet, I will probaly build my own computer next year and also have Windows Vista (gotta make the upgrade sometime).

I'm going to get Vista when SP1 comes out for it, until then I will still clear of it. As for Apple Mac's please go away, over expensive and for people who can't use a proper PC. I would only use them for photo, video and music editing. Everything else goes to PC, and Sony laptops are very expensive for what they are worth, even the other laptops are way overpriced tbh. Give me a good gaming desktop computer and I will be happy.

Still, I do want Crysis for the PC, Uncharted for the PS3 and Mass Effect for the 360. Next year, will be awesome for gamers like me. =)

[TwissT]

Wow I acctually expected a little bit higher or even tied with Sony's B+.

[DARKKNIGHT]

both systems are great, you guys are babies for arguing online.

[jinn]

Bill Gates is no longer a nerd

[Kyrue]

While the 360 is great for gaming, its hardware is trash. I believe the grade should have been a solid "B" instead of A-. The failure rate is far too high to receive anything higher in my opinion.

[pshizle]

am i the only one on this site that likes it and its far superior to xp which i cannot go back too!!! For the people who say oh i unistalled it and put xp back well maybe to you relize its time to get a better PC

CAN SOMEONE PLEASE TELL ME WHY VISTA SUCKS!!!

and windows mobile sucks they need to build it from ground up again!!!

but everything else is amazing

[CRIMS0N_W0LF]

security and bugs.

[Big Jim]

Why are you people "fans" of either microsoft or sony? How can you be a fan of giant, faceless, evil corporation? You guys are giving microsoft and sony free advertising when you rabidly talk them up in these posts. They should be paying you for all your fanboy flaming.
(P.S.--The Playstation 3 was created by Jesus.)