But, since then:
Kin1 and Kin2- released, hyped, failed and dumped.
Zune - released, hyped, failed and dumped
Courier - released, hyped, failed and dumped
Now, do you really want to sign a 2 year contract with a company that has established a pattern of not supporting their products, if they are not immediately successful in the market?”
Courier was a concept video. It was not a product at any point.
#2 You have the talking points down as to what you need to run to to paint MS as a horrible company, all the while ignoring all of the other products they release that are very well received.
XBox
Windows 7
Win 8 developer preview has been downloaded millions of times.
Office
MS server products
Hotmail
Bing
Kinect
And many others
Windows 7, is essentially a patched Visa - but at full price.
But, honestly; do consumers ‘really’ have a choice? My PC at work is going to be a Windows machine. That is a fact of life, I don’t get a vote on that. The momentum behind Windows is tremendous; try to order a PC without Windows installed. This is where Apple is ‘finally’ getting some momentum.
MSFT has garnered a great deal of ‘ill-will’. People hate MSFT, it’s a passion and it is indeed ‘personal’. Why is that? Why do Apple users love and fawn over their OS X; while MSFT users swear that they will never buy another Windows machine?
Bing? Sorry, it’s not a tremendous success. People, when given a choice - are opting for Google.
Server products - again, with market momentum and IT staff trained for all things Windows - this is a market that MSFT has sewn up nicely. Is it sewn up on the merits of the Server OS, or the fact that it is what Corporations chose? Why is the Apple equivalent, less than $100 more than Lion; while the MSFT server OS retails for several hundred dollars more? They both do the same thing?
XBox and Kinect - granted; those are two successful devices. But, is it due to the hardware (which had nearly 100% failure rates associated with it for the first 3 years of release), or due to the tremdous software provided by Bungee and other developers? Software-wise; the XBox reigned supreme. Hardware wise, it’s a distant second to the PS3 (I own the Wii, XBox360 and PS-3); for day to day operations, the PS3 plays my CD, DVD and Blu-Rays; it streams video from my network, runs silently and serves it’s purpose well. The XBox360 (first edition) is noisy, is on it’s 3rd motherboard, and generally is used only as a gaming console.
So, what does MSFT have, really? A 50/50 chance of supporting your given product? If it’s immediately successful; MSFT will support it. If it’s not immediately accepted by the market, historically speaking - it’s quickly abandoned.
Now, compare this support record to the competition. Apple is STILL supporing the iPhone 3GS, and even older generations of the iPod.