Microsoft's Image
I'm not really sure how Google and Apple accomplished it, but I presume they played a hand in it. But a generation that has absolutely 0 reason to hate Microsoft hates them.
I've speculated this for a while. But while talking to my nephew on my wife's side the other day, he casually commented that "his friends don't want an Xbox One because they don't like the company that makes it". The aforementioned nephew is 13.
They aren't old enough to care about DRM or even Windows Vista. If they were even alive, it was only barely when Microsoft was being forced to change their products due to their monopoly.
Most of these kids don't even own laptops or desktops. They own Android and Apple products. So, even the whole Windows 8 fiasco is beyond the majority of them.
So, what the hell are hating? Amusingly, the Microsoft faithful tend to be those old enough to have experienced potential reasons to distrust or dislike the company. And the generation which has no basis for any ill will is littered with people who mindlessly hate them.
Honestly, I suspect the only good reason is the same reason most kids are migrating away from Facebook. It is what their parents use. If this is true, and the primary motivator, then Apple is next, followed by Google. iPods and iPhones crested before Android.
What can MS do to combat this? Seemingly nothing. They go back and change their products after outrage from consumers, and the consumer opinion doesn't ever seem to improve. I have suggestions, but I can't guarantee that any would turn anything around.
I think that the biggest thing they could do would be to leverage their newfound hardware manufacturing capabilities and build a phone with "open" hardware. And ideally a tablet like that as well. By which I mean... just as I can change components in my desktop, and to a lesser degree my tablet, we need standards for hardware in phones and tablets.
And there is a driving need. Carriers, increasingly don't want to subsidize phones (Rogers here in Canada stated this publicly last year). But, thanks to carrier subsidies, phone prices ballooned out of control and no one is willing to take a chance with hardware prices as they are. An upgradeable phone would allow some measure mitigation to a consumer who wants to buy a phone outright rather than seeking bloated cell plans just to get a subsidized device.
Tablets are in a different situation. They are slowly becoming people's primary input devices. And this means they are making their way more and more towards becoming productivity devices. And strides to get them there are increasing costs. The more expensive tablets become, the harder they become to justify over a laptop where you can upgrade at least some components, or a desktop.
And, I think we are getting close to, if not already at a time where the manufacturing process is producing components of the right size that there is no longer an intrinsic need for custom motherboards for every tablet and phone.
Yes, it's true, most laptop and desktop users don't actually upgrade their hardware. But that doesn't mean it wasn't a critical reason that drove initial sales. People like to know the possibility is there. And the people who do crack open hardware are often heavily relied upon to refer devices to friends and family. Being the first one out the gate with such hardware would definitely get a lot of mindshare with the advanced users who help friends make decisions.
I've speculated this for a while. But while talking to my nephew on my wife's side the other day, he casually commented that "his friends don't want an Xbox One because they don't like the company that makes it". The aforementioned nephew is 13.
They aren't old enough to care about DRM or even Windows Vista. If they were even alive, it was only barely when Microsoft was being forced to change their products due to their monopoly.
Most of these kids don't even own laptops or desktops. They own Android and Apple products. So, even the whole Windows 8 fiasco is beyond the majority of them.
So, what the hell are hating? Amusingly, the Microsoft faithful tend to be those old enough to have experienced potential reasons to distrust or dislike the company. And the generation which has no basis for any ill will is littered with people who mindlessly hate them.
Honestly, I suspect the only good reason is the same reason most kids are migrating away from Facebook. It is what their parents use. If this is true, and the primary motivator, then Apple is next, followed by Google. iPods and iPhones crested before Android.
What can MS do to combat this? Seemingly nothing. They go back and change their products after outrage from consumers, and the consumer opinion doesn't ever seem to improve. I have suggestions, but I can't guarantee that any would turn anything around.
I think that the biggest thing they could do would be to leverage their newfound hardware manufacturing capabilities and build a phone with "open" hardware. And ideally a tablet like that as well. By which I mean... just as I can change components in my desktop, and to a lesser degree my tablet, we need standards for hardware in phones and tablets.
And there is a driving need. Carriers, increasingly don't want to subsidize phones (Rogers here in Canada stated this publicly last year). But, thanks to carrier subsidies, phone prices ballooned out of control and no one is willing to take a chance with hardware prices as they are. An upgradeable phone would allow some measure mitigation to a consumer who wants to buy a phone outright rather than seeking bloated cell plans just to get a subsidized device.
Tablets are in a different situation. They are slowly becoming people's primary input devices. And this means they are making their way more and more towards becoming productivity devices. And strides to get them there are increasing costs. The more expensive tablets become, the harder they become to justify over a laptop where you can upgrade at least some components, or a desktop.
And, I think we are getting close to, if not already at a time where the manufacturing process is producing components of the right size that there is no longer an intrinsic need for custom motherboards for every tablet and phone.
Yes, it's true, most laptop and desktop users don't actually upgrade their hardware. But that doesn't mean it wasn't a critical reason that drove initial sales. People like to know the possibility is there. And the people who do crack open hardware are often heavily relied upon to refer devices to friends and family. Being the first one out the gate with such hardware would definitely get a lot of mindshare with the advanced users who help friends make decisions.
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