Why Microsoft Has So Many Consumer Fails
I’m a glutton for punishment.
Zune. Microsoft Band V1. Windows Phone 7. You name the Microsoft consumer product and I’ve been an early adopter.
I’ve invested in learning the Microsoft enterprise/server stack and when I see an opportunity to leverage what I know about Microsoft technology in the business world with my consumer tech life I jump in with both feet.
But it never works. I just bought a Lumia 950 XL dual sim Windows phone. I owned the Lumia 1520 and was well versed in all the downsides of owning a Windows phone (sparse app store, no “ecosystem”, etc.).
Even though the case for Windows Phone hasn’t gotten much better and my early experiences with Windows 10 Mobile Software beta builds were poor, I felt like I was mentally prepared to deal with the roller coaster emotional ride of Windows phone ownership.
It was worse than I thought. It started with the Thanksgiving night line to purchase a phone from my local store (the Microsoft retail experience is worthy of a separate rant in and of itself).
Since that day I’ve battled uninformed retail and online store reps, a faulty Lumia Offers app, multiple phone resets, incomplete data transfer, and finger pointing between AT&T and Microsoft regarding phone configuration issues.
I’m now left with a phone that is less functional (no 4G LTE, no Visual Voicemail) than the 2-year-old phone that I had before with no ETA for when it’ll get better. Then it dawned on me. This is exactly what it’s like in the server space with Microsoft.
How many times have I been an early adopter of some new Microsoft technology (System Center, W2K8 R2, Azure early days) only to find that the tech introduced instability in my current setup or made my setup less functional.
Microsoft usually communicated pretty poorly about the issues initially and I had to rely on Technet, Microsoft MVP’s and support boards to supply answers while I waited for Microsoft to belatedly acknowledge a problem and even more belatedly provide a fix.
I’ve gotten used to it as an IT professional. And I thought I’d gotten used to dealing with it as an early adopter of Microsoft consumer technology. But I’m over it.
The issue is that the people in consumer business leadership positions at Microsoft are the same super smart people that presided over that server stack world and that they just don’t get the difference. This is why there are so many consumer fails.
Microsoft releases enterprise products and counts on communities like the MVP’s and the support boards to pick up the slack. As an IT professional I know this and set my expectations accordingly.
But we know that consumer experiences can and should be better. I’m not an Apple lover and lord knows I’ve had my share of poor Apple experiences, but I’ve never felt like I was “on my own” after purchasing an Apple product.
Microsoft, on the other hand, has totally abdicated consumer product support and problem resolution to the Windows blogger community.
I live on WindowsCentral and Thurrott.com constantly searching for solutions to my Surface Book and 950 XL problems, while Microsoft communicates poorly (Surface Book) or not all (950 XL Visual Voicemail).
And before people tell me that it’s not all Microsoft’s fault, I have to believe that Microsoft knows that as a consumer when I buy something with a Microsoft logo, even though there are tons of drivers (Intel HD Display for example) and services (AT&T Wireless service) that Microsoft doesn’t control, I hold Microsoft accountable. And you should too.
In so many areas of Microsoft’s consumer product process they’ve appropriated their enterprise approach to driving consumer engagement. They will continue to fail in the consumer space as long as they keep doing that.
I’m unlikely to leave the Microsoft server stack family. I’ve invested a ton of time learning and understanding how it works and I accept it and all its foibles.
But I don’t have to accept it anymore on the consumer side and the 950 XL experience might just be the proverbial straw that broke the camel’s back.