FARK.com: (7683837) Microsoft is quickly becoming the annoying kid that constantly tries to fit in by copying what the cool kids do

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		Microsoft is quickly becoming the annoying kid that constantly tries to fit in by copying what the cool kids do ( appleinsider.com)		80
		More: Stupid, Google Glass, Microsoft, Google, organic light-emitting diodes, copying, software applications, high-techs, AppleInsider

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3962 clicks; posted to Geek » on 05 Apr 2013 at 9:06 AM (5 years ago) | Favorite | share:

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Radak

2013-04-05 08:43:07 AM

I'm confused. subby's headline says something about the cool kids, but the article is about Google Glass and a MS competitor. I was told there would be cool kids. Where are the cool kids? All I'm seeing is people I will want to punch in the face.

drjekel_mrhyde

2013-04-05 08:47:57 AM

I'm okay with it as long as it's not $1500
/Seems a bit trollish to have a source from APPLE insider about their main competition

Babwa Wawa

2013-04-05 08:57:04 AM

drjekel_mrhyde: I'm okay with it as long as it's not $1500
/Seems a bit trollish to have a source from APPLE insider about their main competition

Not just Microsoft, but google, too.

If Microsoft copies everything they do, who did they steal the Metro interface from?

Babwa Wawa

2013-04-05 08:58:53 AM

As stated:

Who did they steal Metro from?
Where was Kinect on the mass market before Microsoft introduced it?

Jesus subby. You fanbois are exceptionally infantile.

Marine1

2013-04-05 09:09:54 AM

Babwa Wawa: As stated:

Who did they steal Metro from?
Where was Kinect on the mass market before Microsoft introduced it?

Jesus subby. You fanbois are exceptionally infantile.

Yeah. Don't you remember all of that console-based online gaming you did before the Xbox, too?

MightyPez

2013-04-05 09:10:38 AM

Babwa Wawa: Where was Kinect on the mass market before Microsoft introduced it?

It wasn't as successful as the Kinect, but the EyeToy was released in 2003.

waterrockets

2013-04-05 09:13:01 AM

Radak: I'm confused. subby's headline says something about the cool kids, but the article is about Google Glass and a MS competitor. I was told there would be cool kids. Where are the cool kids? All I'm seeing is people I will want to punch in the face.

You're going to need to move to a remote island. This chit is coming.

MightyPez

2013-04-05 09:13:13 AM

Marine1: Babwa Wawa: As stated:

Who did they steal Metro from?
Where was Kinect on the mass market before Microsoft introduced it?

Jesus subby. You fanbois are exceptionally infantile.

Yeah. Don't you remember all of that console-based online gaming you did before the Xbox, too?

Again, not as successful as Line, but I had a blast playing Super Mario Kart on XBand. But this, was of course, before broadband was prolific. Market penetration is almost always about timing.

skozlaw

2013-04-05 09:13:55 AM

Becoming?

I'm a bit confused.... at what point in time was Microsoft ever an innovator?

dwrash

2013-04-05 09:20:48 AM

skozlaw: Becoming?

I'm a bit confused.... at what point in time was Microsoft ever an innovator?

The same can be said about Apple.. all it has ever been good at is polishing turds and marketing.

The state of innovation across the computer industry is pretty abysmal at the moment.

skozlaw

2013-04-05 09:25:17 AM

Marine1: Yeah. Don't you remember all of that console-based online gaming you did before the Xbox, too?

Gamespy

And if you had a Dreamcast, SegaNet.

Don't confuse making another person's ideas wildly successful with actually having those ideas. Microsoft has always excelled at identifying other people's good ideas and turning them into quality products. Microsoft has always been pretty bad at having their own ideas.

randomjsa

2013-04-05 09:26:44 AM

So... the same as they've always been since forever?

Babwa Wawa

2013-04-05 09:30:27 AM

MightyPez: Market penetration is almost always about timing.

Exactly. Wearable computing is getting interesting because of camera technology, ubiquitous access to the internet, flexible displays, battery technology, wireless protocols, a rich ecosystem of mobile platforms and more all converge to make it possible to do neat UI stuff with small, flexible, low power devices.

Anyone who says that someone at Google was the first to think of wearable computing is exposing their ignorance of how technology is developed. Every consumer technology company in the world has had a wearable computing initiative for years. Google was just first to show a half-assed alpha product.

jayhawk88

2013-04-05 09:36:31 AM

Microsoft has been this way since the beginning, the only difference now is that they're largely relying on their massive install base and momentum to maintain success rather than cutthroat business practices and great marketing.

MightyPez

2013-04-05 09:37:22 AM

Babwa Wawa: MightyPez: Market penetration is almost always about timing.

Exactly. Wearable computing is getting interesting because of camera technology, ubiquitous access to the internet, flexible displays, battery technology, wireless protocols, a rich ecosystem of mobile platforms and more all converge to make it possible to do neat UI stuff with small, flexible, low power devices.

Anyone who says that someone at Google was the first to think of wearable computing is exposing their ignorance of how technology is developed. Every consumer technology company in the world has had a wearable computing initiative for years. Google was just first to show a half-assed alpha product.

THis is the most apt thing in my mind. Google Glasses has a "wow" factor, but at a $1500 price point it's a non starter for the bulk of consumers, much less what functional role they fill yet. Hell, I can't get a $10 pair of glasses to last a summer without sitting on them or dropping them in a lake. I can't imagine what a wreck I'd be if I accidentally smashed a $1500 pair of glasses.

Devices like this are coming, it's up in the air as to who will conform the idea to what will work with John Q. Public and when. Just to rehash history a bit, computing tablets are a pretty damn old idea. 15 years ago Microsoft was touting them as the next big thing and released several. They effectively bombed because they were expensive, heavy, didn't work all that well, and filled only very specific niches. Fast forward a decade and Apple releases a lower cost one that works reasonably well and you have a market spring up almost overnight.

rooftop235

2013-04-05 09:38:35 AM

apple copied MS, MS copied apple, google copies MS and Apple, and thus the circle jerk continues.
?obviously a troll in the article.

Huck Chaser

2013-04-05 09:47:52 AM

dwrash: The state of innovation across the computer industry is pretty abysmal at the moment.

And according to subby, the cure for this is somehow less competition, not more.

Wholesale Ass

2013-04-05 09:57:33 AM

Gee.

I guess I'm going to have to move to remote island or become the next unibomber because people want to wear cameras on their heads.

I can't wait for all the millions of new YouTube videos with kids wandering around the mall saying , 'THIS IS DA SHIAT!!'

Wholesale Ass

2013-04-05 10:01:45 AM

rooftop235: apple copied MS, MS copied apple, google copies MS and Apple, and thus the circle jerk continues.
?obviously a troll in the article.

Google is a farking choir boy compared to me.

whosits_112

2013-04-05 10:06:15 AM

Can I use it to pilot a starship?

The One True TheDavid

2013-04-05 10:17:51 AM

"Copying what the cool kids do?" Gee, y'all Farkers wouldn't know anything about huh, wouldja.

Posting stupidmoviequote.jpg for the zillionth time? "I'm okay with this!"

If whats-his-face jumped off a tall building would y'all do it too? Please?

pdee

2013-04-05 10:23:01 AM

MS would be much better if they stopped trying to be cool and embraced their nerdness.

Most people who us an MS OS dont want cool. They just want to get their Email and what ever apps they require to get their work done. New and cool just means most users have to relearn the GUI to find how to get they stuff they new how to find before the last damn upgrade.

MS embrace your utilitarian functionality. Its how you got 80% market share.

Theaetetus

2013-04-05 10:28:32 AM

Babwa Wawa: drjekel_mrhyde: I'm okay with it as long as it's not $1500
/Seems a bit trollish to have a source from APPLE insider about their main competition

Not just Microsoft, but google, too.

If Microsoft copies everything they do, who did they steal the Metro interface from?

Theaetetus

2013-04-05 10:29:49 AM

And Subby, more competition is a good thing.

Karne

2013-04-05 10:40:26 AM

Wholesale Ass: Gee.

I guess I'm going to have to move to remote island or become the next unibomber because people want to wear cameras on their heads.

I can't wait for all the millions of new YouTube videos with kids wandering around the mall saying , 'THIS IS DA SHIAT!!'

I'm just mad at whoever keeps forcing you to watch all those YouTube videos.

t3knomanser

2013-04-05 10:48:42 AM

Babwa Wawa: Wearable computing is getting interesting because of camera technology, ubiquitous access to the internet, flexible displays, battery technology, wireless protocols, a rich ecosystem of mobile platforms and more all converge to make it possible to do neat UI stuff with small, flexible, low power devices.

Wearable computing makes sense. I'm still not sold on jamming a display into my field of view. I think contextualization in technology is important. The need to jam information into my eyes seems to be a lazy way to avoid having to think about use cases and the usage context. I also think that, as people use toys like this, they're going to find that they don't like it as much as they thought they would.

RedPhoenix122

2013-04-05 10:49:24 AM

skozlaw: Microsoft has always excelled at identifying other people's good ideas and turning them into quality products.

Except the Zune.

Babwa Wawa

2013-04-05 10:57:34 AM

t3knomanser: Wearable computing makes sense. I'm still not sold on jamming a display into my field of view. I think contextualization in technology is important. The need to jam information into my eyes seems to be a lazy way to avoid having to think about use cases and the usage context. I also think that, as people use toys like this, they're going to find that they don't like it as much as they thought they would.

I have no comment on how sensible, comfortable, or successful it's going to ultimately be. My point is merely that Microsoft isn't "copying" google, any more than the iPhone "copied" the goddamn blackberry. The 2000s was the smartphone revolution. We are undergoing a transformation in mobile computing, and a big part of that will be wearable computing. Whether those are glasses, wristbands, watches, or anal probes has yet to be determined. But every goddamned consumer electronics firm in the world is working on it. Google is not leading the market - their development model includes public alphas, where Microsoft releases betas, and you don't see shiat from Apple until it's GA.

dgunthert

2013-04-05 11:01:46 AM

Points has been made, but let's consider Microsoft's "innovations":
- Windows, their take on the Apple OS
- Excel, two years after Lotus 1-2-3, which was kicking its ass and continued to so for quite a while.
- Word, a year after WordStar and WordPerfect. WordPerfect kicked it's ass for years.
- Internet Explorer, introduced 2 years after Mosiac and a year after Netscape Navigator. Gates thought the internet was a passing fad.

That's just a few examples. Others above.

derpy

2013-04-05 11:02:58 AM

Becoming?

This is the MS business model from the beginning, when they didn't even write ms-dos.

Every product since then has been a copy of what the innovators were doing.*

An incomplete list of things MS has copied:
Mac/Xerox interface
word perfect
123
spyglass mosaic
play station
Google search
iPod (zune fail)
iPad + bluetooth keyboard (surface fail)
Microsoft store

and on and on

*except Microsoft Bob, which is an example of what MS comes up with on their own

skozlaw

2013-04-05 11:04:29 AM

RedPhoenix122: Except the Zune.

Well, I didn't mean to imply that all their attempts are successful, just that when they are successful, that's typically how. The Zune, Bob, Windows ME, Windows Vista, Windows 8, Surface RT, Windows Phones (anybody remember the Kin?), Windows CE...

Theaetetus: Babwa Wawa: drjekel_mrhyde: I'm okay with it as long as it's not $1500
/Seems a bit trollish to have a source from APPLE insider about their main competition

Not just Microsoft, but google, too.

If Microsoft copies everything they do, who did they steal the Metro interface from?

[yummywokportperry.com image 774x791]

I could believe Metro is their own innovation... I just think it stretches the meaning of the word when the person who "innovated" it was apparently blind, half retarded and had a speak-n-spell as a reference device for the goal...

/ that said, aside from the still-kind-of-crappy interface and the fact that I have to use Windows 8 if I want full desktop management of it, I'm digging Server 2012 so far

derpy

2013-04-05 11:08:37 AM

Babwa Wawa: As stated:

Who did they steal Metro from?
Where was Kinect on the mass market before Microsoft introduced it?

Jesus subby. You fanbois are exceptionally infantile.

Metro? Meh. But as pointed out above, any graphical menu anywhere.
Kinect? Took Wii and ran with it.

Wholesale Ass

2013-04-05 11:10:36 AM

Karne: Wholesale Ass: Gee.

I guess I'm going to have to move to remote island or become the next unibomber because people want to wear cameras on their heads.

I can't wait for all the millions of new YouTube videos with kids wandering around the mall saying , 'THIS IS DA SHIAT!!'

I'm just mad at whoever keeps forcing you to watch all those YouTube videos.

I'm just mad at whoever thinks this is a legitimate retort considering that same person didn't force you to read my comment.

derpy

2013-04-05 11:11:00 AM

Metro is Microsoft BoB with nicer shading.

jbtilley

2013-04-05 11:15:01 AM

Babwa Wawa: If Microsoft copies everything they do, who did they steal the Metro interface from?

I don't have a dog in this fight (I just use what I like) but I remember having a Packard Bell back in the day where a math coprocessor upgraded you to a 387and you had a turbo button for when you needed to slow some programs down. Anyway, rather than have people fiddle around with a command line they came up with a separate screen with tiles you could click that allowed you to execute a command.

They even let you customize your tile with the program and picture you wanted to use, Windows 8 doesn't even do that natively. You have to use a 3rd party tool just to get the image you want plastered on a metro tile. My how far we've come!

/uses Windows 8 and Windows 7
//wonders why you can't customize every detail of a metro tile, image, width, etc. without 3rd party programs
///wonders why you still can't do things like change the background image of the metro screen to something you want as opposed to being limited to a dozen stock images

Wholesale Ass

2013-04-05 11:18:32 AM

You stole my life.

Karne

2013-04-05 11:19:20 AM

Wholesale Ass: Karne: Wholesale Ass: Gee.

I guess I'm going to have to move to remote island or become the next unibomber because people want to wear cameras on their heads.

I can't wait for all the millions of new YouTube videos with kids wandering around the mall saying , 'THIS IS DA SHIAT!!'

I'm just mad at whoever keeps forcing you to watch all those YouTube videos.

I'm just mad at whoever thinks this is a legitimate retort considering that same person didn't force you to read my comment.

But I didn't complain about your comment.
I was just angry that someone somewhere keeps sitting you down, forcing you to type YouTube into your browser, search for those videos, pushes your finger down to click on the play button and holds your head straight so you have to see the entire clip.

Fubini

2013-04-05 11:22:06 AM

skozlaw: Becoming?

I'm a bit confused.... at what point in time was Microsoft ever an innovator?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QKh1Rv0PlOQ

There was that time when they were messing around with multi-touch interfaces a year and a half before the iPhone and years before the iPad.

Microsoft has a substantial research arm that does what can best be described as "pure" computing research, but they completely suck balls at marketing and dreaming up products that capture the public's imagination. Something like 90% of the executives at Microsoft are engineers, not business people. It's like if Wozniack had ended up being Apple CEO and not Jobs.

derpy

2013-04-05 11:22:44 AM

jbtilley: Babwa Wawa: If Microsoft copies everything they do, who did they steal the Metro interface from?

I don't have a dog in this fight (I just use what I like) but I remember having a Packard Bell back in the day where a math coprocessor upgraded you to a 387and you had a turbo button for when you needed to slow some programs down. Anyway, rather than have people fiddle around with a command line they came up with a separate screen with tiles you could click that allowed you to execute a command.

They even let you customize your tile with the program and picture you wanted to use, Windows 8 doesn't even do that natively. You have to use a 3rd party tool just to get the image you want plastered on a metro tile. My how far we've come!

/uses Windows 8 and Windows 7
//wonders why you can't customize every detail of a metro tile, image, width, etc. without 3rd party programs
///wonders why you still can't do things like change the background image of the metro screen to something you want as opposed to being limited to a dozen stock images

Yup. Forgot about that.

Wholesale Ass

2013-04-05 11:27:20 AM

Karne: Wholesale Ass: Karne: Wholesale Ass: Gee.

I guess I'm going to have to move to remote island or become the next unibomber because people want to wear cameras on their heads.

I can't wait for all the millions of new YouTube videos with kids wandering around the mall saying , 'THIS IS DA SHIAT!!'

I'm just mad at whoever keeps forcing you to watch all those YouTube videos.

I'm just mad at whoever thinks this is a legitimate retort considering that same person didn't force you to read my comment.

But I didn't complain about your comment.
I was just angry that someone somewhere keeps sitting you down, forcing you to type YouTube into your browser, search for those videos, pushes your finger down to click on the play button and holds your head straight so you have to see the entire clip.

Why are you so angry? No one is forcing me to do anything. I don't understand what you are trying to say. It has nothing to do with all the new videos of kids filming themselves at the mall and posting it on YouTube.

jbtilley

2013-04-05 11:28:03 AM

jbtilley: /uses Windows 8 and Windows 7
//wonders why you can't customize every detail of a metro tile, image, width, etc. without 3rd party programs
///wonders why you still can't do things like change the background image of the metro screen to something you want as opposed to being limited to a dozen stock images

So I went searching again and apparently Windows 8 Start Screen Customizer is a good freeware solution to take care of that last issue. OblyTile is the other. Still baffling as to why these features weren't included natively.

Wholesale Ass

2013-04-05 11:30:59 AM

jbtilley: jbtilley: /uses Windows 8 and Windows 7
//wonders why you can't customize every detail of a metro tile, image, width, etc. without 3rd party programs
///wonders why you still can't do things like change the background image of the metro screen to something you want as opposed to being limited to a dozen stock images

So I went searching again and apparently Windows 8 Start Screen Customizer is a good freeware solution to take care of that last issue. OblyTile is the other. Still baffling as to why these features weren't included natively.

No one is forcing you to use it.

WOW. THIS REALLY WORKS!!! I'm going to use it on EVERYONE!!!

Wholesale Ass

2013-04-05 11:33:46 AM

derpy: jbtilley: Babwa Wawa: If Microsoft copies everything they do, who did they steal the Metro interface from?

I don't have a dog in this fight (I just use what I like) but I remember having a Packard Bell back in the day where a math coprocessor upgraded you to a 387and you had a turbo button for when you needed to slow some programs down. Anyway, rather than have people fiddle around with a command line they came up with a separate screen with tiles you could click that allowed you to execute a command.

They even let you customize your tile with the program and picture you wanted to use, Windows 8 doesn't even do that natively. You have to use a 3rd party tool just to get the image you want plastered on a metro tile. My how far we've come!

/uses Windows 8 and Windows 7
//wonders why you can't customize every detail of a metro tile, image, width, etc. without 3rd party programs
///wonders why you still can't do things like change the background image of the metro screen to something you want as opposed to being limited to a dozen stock images

[i49.tinypic.com image 640x480]

Yup. Forgot about that.

I don't see why you guys are worried. Windows 8 failed, remember?

What's the problem? METRO IS BEING FORCED ON US!!!!!

derpy

2013-04-05 11:34:18 AM

because no one else thought of them first. duh.

Karne

2013-04-05 11:37:40 AM

Wholesale Ass: Karne: Wholesale Ass: Karne: Wholesale Ass: Gee.

I guess I'm going to have to move to remote island or become the next unibomber because people want to wear cameras on their heads.

I can't wait for all the millions of new YouTube videos with kids wandering around the mall saying , 'THIS IS DA SHIAT!!'

I'm just mad at whoever keeps forcing you to watch all those YouTube videos.

I'm just mad at whoever thinks this is a legitimate retort considering that same person didn't force you to read my comment.

But I didn't complain about your comment.
I was just angry that someone somewhere keeps sitting you down, forcing you to type YouTube into your browser, search for those videos, pushes your finger down to click on the play button and holds your head straight so you have to see the entire clip.

Why are you so angry? No one is forcing me to do anything. I don't understand what you are trying to say. It has nothing to do with all the new videos of kids filming themselves at the mall and posting it on YouTube.

I was just worried about you!

Wholesale Ass

2013-04-05 11:38:52 AM

Karne: Wholesale Ass: Karne: Wholesale Ass: Karne: Wholesale Ass: Gee.

I guess I'm going to have to move to remote island or become the next unibomber because people want to wear cameras on their heads.

I can't wait for all the millions of new YouTube videos with kids wandering around the mall saying , 'THIS IS DA SHIAT!!'

I'm just mad at whoever keeps forcing you to watch all those YouTube videos.

I'm just mad at whoever thinks this is a legitimate retort considering that same person didn't force you to read my comment.

But I didn't complain about your comment.
I was just angry that someone somewhere keeps sitting you down, forcing you to type YouTube into your browser, search for those videos, pushes your finger down to click on the play button and holds your head straight so you have to see the entire clip.

Why are you so angry? No one is forcing me to do anything. I don't understand what you are trying to say. It has nothing to do with all the new videos of kids filming themselves at the mall and posting it on YouTube.

I was just worried about you!

I'm worried about everyone on this website.

Wholesale Ass

2013-04-05 11:46:02 AM

Karne: just worried about you!

Sometimes i go to sites like this for entertainment or other YouTube randomizers in search for those one in a million videos that actually are funny or entertaining but what I am finding is that the majority of shiat out there is just that. -Kids wandering around the mall doing nothing and they have 100,000 views.

jbtilley

2013-04-05 11:54:00 AM

derpy: because no one else thought of them first. duh.

Customizing the window border colors and start screen was literally the first thing I tried to do after installing 8. I guess the guys they pulled in for usability testing just sucked.

Wholesale Ass: No one is forcing you to use it.

Sure enough. Adding these two very simple things that no one thought of made the metro screen more useful to me though.

theurge14

2013-04-05 11:55:57 AM

The My Little Pony Killer

2013-04-05 11:56:28 AM

I thought this was going to be about how Windows 8 is obviously trying to be like (insert iDevice of your flavor here), when the hell did Google become one of the cool kids?

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