Patrick Elliott wrote:
> So, they can do limited function, single task stuff well.. like DOS. lol

No, they can do something well if the requirements are strict enough.

MS makes their software good enough for the people who have to use it. 
That's one of the reasons the perception of Visual Studio is so much 
better than the perception of Windows in general... developers have 
higher standards than the average user, so MS makes a better product for 
them.

-- 
Chambers

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Neeum Zawan wrote:
>     That doesn't sound like either features or benefits selling. The 
> lesson I'm learning with this is "marketing sells".

Sure, it's benefits.  Ford didn't tell people they should get a car 
because it had X features; he told them they should get a car because of 
how it would improve their quality of life.

>     If you're in the US and you know any non-highly-technical people who 
> use a VoIP line for their phone (one that isn't just some software on 
> your PC), how many of them use Vonage? Ask them why they picked it, 
> given the significantly cheaper alternatives.

I've actually used Vonage; their prices are quite competitive.  In fact, 
I *tried* to research others, and I wasn't able to come up with anybody 
who had better prices.

Maybe the other companies need to work on their advertising.

-- 
Chambers

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> So, they can do limited function, single task stuff well.. like DOS. lol

MS Auto is an automotive grade version of Windows CE with extra features 
needed for in-car use.  DOS wouldn't be suitable for use in a car, it needs 
to be multi-tasking and talk over several different networks.

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Darren New wrote:

> MS has 
> always focussed on the user experience. That's why technical people 
> don't like MS products.

Really?

People are often telling me that M$ spends millions on consumer 
research. But I have to ask... what escaped nutcase *wanted* Microsoft 
Bob? The annoying paperclip? The animated Find dog? That window that 
pops up every... single... time... you log into a Windows XP box for the 
first time? (Do I *look* like I want to take the God damned tour of 
XP?!) The incessent "there are unused icons on your desktop" whinging?

Which users wanted their PCs to get hacked just by being connected to 
the Internet? Who wanted a word processor that constantly crashes? Which 
people thought it was funny if a power cut results in permanent data 
loss and possible an unusable PC?

Seriously... WTF? Who in their right mind thinks M$ provides a good user 
experience? M$ is legendary for the *bad* experience they provide! It's 
certainly NOT just technical people who dislike their products...

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> People are often telling me that M$ spends millions on consumer research. 
> But I have to ask... what escaped nutcase *wanted* Microsoft Bob? The 
> annoying paperclip? The animated Find dog? That window that pops up 
> every... single... time... you log into a Windows XP box for the first 
> time? (Do I *look* like I want to take the God damned tour of XP?!) The 
> incessent "there are unused icons on your desktop" whinging?

I guess that's why they spent millions on consumer research and didn't just 
ask an IT professional :-)

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scott wrote:
>> People are often telling me that M$ spends millions on consumer 
>> research. But I have to ask... what escaped nutcase *wanted* Microsoft 
>> Bob? The annoying paperclip? The animated Find dog? That window that 
>> pops up every... single... time... you log into a Windows XP box for 
>> the first time? (Do I *look* like I want to take the God damned tour 
>> of XP?!) The incessent "there are unused icons on your desktop" whinging?
> 
> I guess that's why they spent millions on consumer research and didn't 
> just ask an IT professional :-)

You're seriously suggesting that some people *want* this crap?!

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>> I guess that's why they spent millions on consumer research and didn't 
>> just ask an IT professional :-)
>
> You're seriously suggesting that some people *want* this crap?!

I'm suggesting that you should broaden your mind a bit, and realise that not 
everyone is a technical IT person who just wants to use their computer as a 
tool to get stuff done as quickly and efficiently as possible.  Have you 
ever worked in an office with lots of really non-technical people?  They 
don't care about efficiency or if Explorer takes 2 seconds or 1 second to 
open, they care about "cute" and "fun", and they'll have the cat office 
assistant selected, a crazy screen saver, a mouse pointer that wobbles like 
a jelly, a thing that plays a tune at 16:00 every day, a horrendous 
background to explorer windows, all just because it's fun.

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>> You're seriously suggesting that some people *want* this crap?!
> 
> I'm suggesting that you should broaden your mind a bit, and realise that 
> not everyone is a technical IT person who just wants to use their 
> computer as a tool to get stuff done as quickly and efficiently as 
> possible.  Have you ever worked in an office with lots of really 
> non-technical people?  They don't care about efficiency or if Explorer 
> takes 2 seconds or 1 second to open, they care about "cute" and "fun", 
> and they'll have the cat office assistant selected, a crazy screen 
> saver, a mouse pointer that wobbles like a jelly, a thing that plays a 
> tune at 16:00 every day, a horrendous background to explorer windows, 
> all just because it's fun.

OK. So remind me... who is it that wanted to be constantly nagged about 
the unused desktop icons? Who was it that thinks getting their PC 
infected with malware was a good idea?

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> OK. So remind me... who is it that wanted to be constantly nagged about 
> the unused desktop icons?

People who had lots of desktop icons and didn't know which ones were unused?

> Who was it that thinks getting their PC infected with malware was a good 
> idea?

Nobody?

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On 07/10/09 02:11, scott wrote:
> A lot of the time people know that there might be cheaper alternatives
> out there, but they just can't be bothered to research it, or don't know
> how to. You could spend your whole life finding the cheapest of
> everything you want to buy, but then you'd have no time left to enjoy
> all the money you saved :-)

	Yes - so why did they pick Vonage?

-- 
"Class, please! If you don't learn Roman numerals, you'll never know the 
dates certain motion pictures were copyrighted." -- Mrs. Krabappel in 
The Simpsons.


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