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The Next Microsoft

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Re: The Next Microsoft

#121

Post by irollboozers »

sjwright wrote: post #89

Allow me to be contrarian for a moment and say I don't like it. It's a nice experiment, and it's better than the new Windows logo, but to me it fails on a few different grounds. -- The typographic mark is less substantial, and the typeface is just poor. The existing logo isn't pretty, but it works just fine, and the arrow device connecting the O and S is cute. -- The use of a lower case "m" is just a slave to a trend…

I don't think MS would have any problem with branding trademarks... if they wanted it, they could have it.

Re: The Next Microsoft

#123

Post by RandallBrown »

geori wrote: post #11
programminggeek wrote: post #6

This is great. It will never work. A brand has to reflect the culture of how a product is made, sold, experienced, etc... Microsoft is not about simplicity, it's about feature creep. Microsoft sells software and licenses to big companies. Big companies don't want simple, they want value for their money - features! A better brand promise would be Microsoft - It Does Everything! Look at Windows 8. Is it going metro onl…

Could have easily made the same criticism of Apple in the mid 90s. Microsoft can definitely be saved. You just have to fire Ballmer and put a visionary in charge. There are still some really good people working at Microsoft. Unfortunately, the leadership and vision haven't been there. Nobody has been willing to take risks. They took a risk in killing the OEMs and building Surface in house. They now need to take a big…

The vision for Windows 8/Windows Phone 8/Xbox is pretty good and is happening under Ballmer's watch. I don't know how much he can take responsibility for but if it succeeds, it will be awesome.

It may look like Ballmer hasn't done much since Gates left, but it's not surprising that it would take this many years to shift a company the size of Microsoft to the common platform/vision that is Windows 8.

Re: The Next Microsoft

#124

Post by ericson578 »

ancymon wrote: post #107
ShawnBird wrote: post #102

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you click the triangle next to the username it will 'upvote' the comment and help get it to the top. Replies have no effect on rank so there is really no reason to reply unless you have something to add.

If you click triangle pointing downwards next to the username it will 'downvote' the comment and help make it "invisible". Replies have no effect on rank so there is really no reason to reply unless you have something to add.

can someone make this into a meme already, reading is so tiresome.

Re: The Next Microsoft

#125

Post by brittohalloran »

ancymon wrote: post #107
ShawnBird wrote: post #102

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you click the triangle next to the username it will 'upvote' the comment and help get it to the top. Replies have no effect on rank so there is really no reason to reply unless you have something to add.

If you click triangle pointing downwards next to the username it will 'downvote' the comment and help make it "invisible". Replies have no effect on rank so there is really no reason to reply unless you have something to add.

mmmm I think you're thinking of StackOverflow. No down triangles here

Re: The Next Microsoft

#126

Post by robomartin »

jiggity wrote: post #105
programminggeek wrote: post #6

This is great. It will never work. A brand has to reflect the culture of how a product is made, sold, experienced, etc... Microsoft is not about simplicity, it's about feature creep. Microsoft sells software and licenses to big companies. Big companies don't want simple, they want value for their money - features! A better brand promise would be Microsoft - It Does Everything! Look at Windows 8. Is it going metro onl…

If this design makes you uneasy and go "But that's not Microsoft!", slap your gut and tell it to listen because that's just the branding talking. Take a step back and recognize that EVERY emotion you feel about Microsoft is arbitrary. Branding is just the mental handle we use to talk about the automatic emotions we get. That is the tough part about branding: it happens unconsciously. It is that surge of instantaneous…

I was in total disbelief when UPS started running their "brown" campaigns. They had one of the most recognizable brands anywhere and some genius decided to throw millions of dollars at the idea of confusing customers with the whole "what can brown do for you?" campaign (and all the sophomoric jokes that went with that when they screwed-up a delivery). Simply amazing. Instead of "What can UPS do for you?" they took off in a completely different direction. I'd love to read a post-mortem on that whole story.

Re: The Next Microsoft

#127

Post by kitsune_ »

jsnk wrote: post #104
kitsune_ wrote: post #67

This design is Orwellian in nature. In the current age of global wars, international terrorism, financial turmoil, outsourced labor, awakening behemoths (China), increasing corruption, people fear the future. Look at Apple, classic 1960's space age retro. Look at Instagram. Cozy and nostalgic polaroid filters. If I designed for the future, I'd take hints from the past. A key difference is that in the past, different…

I think Andrew's take on Microsoft delivers the right kind of futurism for consumers. It is sleek and simple. Straight lines, and angular corners seems to convey speediness, responsiveness, practicality and productivity. I think I can relate to you when you way the design is Orwellian in one aspect. The slate design is so stripped down from its original logo that it doesn't really convey Microsoft anymore. It is so s…

With poetic licence, the argument that the design is Orwellian in nature, can easily be made :)

The "slate", the brand's corner stone, is inspired by the emptiness you feel when you stare into the abyss of the myriad of windows that tower above you from faceless, anonymous skyscrapers. Welcome to the future, where you are one of many.

Re: The Next Microsoft

#128

Post by pinkbucket »

hollerith wrote: post #81
cturner wrote: post #53

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The big one - forking is far too slow. Others - you can't use select(..) on files. Nasty file-locking model. No good remote filesystem solution out of the box (CIFS is slow and unstable) and the third party solutions are nasty. No native workspaces and the third party attempts are nasty. You can't reflect against the system API (all current mainstream OSs suffer from this). The API is particularly thick with legacy o…

The presence on your list of a complaint about workspaces is evidence that Windows is not so bad because having workspaces is not that important. OS X did not have workspaces at all for many years, and the two different versions of it they have introduced are kind of lame in the details of how they work. (Specifically, Command-Tab cycles among all open apps, not just the ones in the current workspace, as is done on L…

The same behaviour with app switching sadly has been copied through to Gnome 3.

Re: The Next Microsoft

#129

Post by runn1ng »

brittohalloran wrote: post #125
ancymon wrote: post #107

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you click triangle pointing downwards next to the username it will 'downvote' the comment and help make it "invisible". Replies have no effect on rank so there is really no reason to reply unless you have something to add.

mmmm I think you're thinking of StackOverflow. No down triangles here

You need to have certain karma (or how is it called here) to be able to downvote.

Re: The Next Microsoft

#130

Post by alberich »

jasomill wrote: post #61
alberich wrote: post #44

I didn't find it good at all. Why "microsoft" and not "Microsoft"? And the logo is ugly. well, after all, it's just a matter of opinion.

Why "Microsoft" and not "MICROSOFT"? I emphatically disagree that capitalization is merely a matter of opinion, as it can have significant ramifications in both readability [1] and trademark law, especially where marks like 'Word', 'Windows', 'Excel', 'Outlook', and 'Surface' (or 'Apple', 'Pages', 'Keynote', and 'Numbers'; or 'Android'; or 'Oracle', 'Sun', and 'Java'; or ...) are concerned. [1] http://blogs.msdn.com/…

I agree that capitalization is not mere opinion. I was asking why not capitalize a name? Makes Microsoft sounds like some stuff, not some business.
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