back to article Microsoft's Surface Hub mega-slab DELAYED 'cause you demanded it

Microsoft has run into a few hurdles in its manufacturing process for its Surface Hub wall-mounted touchscreen and as a result, it now says it won't be able to ship them when it initially thought it could. Redmond started taking preorders for the digital whiteboards on July 1, and in June it said it expected to start shipping …

  1. JP19

    rejigger

    "verb (used with object), Informal.

    1. to change or rearrange in a new or different way, especially by the use of techniques not always considered ethical."

    You pre-ordered so many we had to rejigger production to a Chinese sweatshop?

  2. PhilipN Silver badge

    They're mad

    Manufacturing it themselves?

    They should outsource the job to Apple - let's face it, productions and logistics is the reason why TC is Top Cat at Apple - or Panasonic or LG or...

    This kind of project needs high-level skills in about 10 different areas. Not just design but materials, productions, Q/A, Q/C, logistics etc etc

    And throwing money at a problem sometimes helps but more usually does not. Bye bye another billion or two.

    I didn't even get started on after sales and service.

    1. hplasm
      Devil

      Re: They're mad

      "I didn't even get started on after sales and service."

      Neither do MS.

      1. dogged

        Re: They're mad

        > Neither do MS.

        I realize that's probably a Register-commentard-pleasing joke along the lines of "ho ho ho, M$, they're shit at everything" but our directors have Surface Pro 3s and the after-sales support has been a bit of a revelation compared to Dell (who we usually buy from) and even Lenovo (who we _were_ supposed to be moving to).

        That level of service has caused some rethinking in the boardroom and Lenovo are now basically being told they have to be as good as MS.

        Probably not what you wanted to hear.

        1. Hellcat

          Re: They're mad

          Seemingly not what your down voters wanted to hear either!

          Going way back the gen 1 Surface RT we had developed a charging issue. This was fine until the younger son dropped the thing onto the pavement outside our house. Big scratches in the black aluminium and a couple of dents on the corners. Bugger I thought - no chance of getting that fixed now. Still, expecting the 'Sorry but that's accident damage' reply I boxed it up and dropped it off at a local DHL pickup point. Couple of days later and the support portal shows it as accepted. *Dances* I could have 'paid' for the up-front replacement unit after all! After a couple of weeks it arrives back - minus any accident damage. Not a bad outcome after all.

        2. hplasm
          Gimp

          Re: They're mad

          Lenovo and Dell probably throw away more laptops for quality control failures than there are Surface customers, or ever will be.

          Probably not what you wanted to hear.

          1. dogged

            Re: They're mad

            > Lenovo and Dell probably throw away more laptops for quality control failures than there are Surface customers, or ever will be.

            > Probably not what you wanted to hear.

            I don't give a fuck how many they throw away or for what reasons. All I know is, the board are impressed by the level of after-sales service.

            You clearly don't like that, and you also don't like hearing about Hellcat's replaced unit.

            I don't much give a fuck what you like either, though.

            1. hplasm
              Gimp

              Re: They're mad

              "All I know is, the board are impressed by the level of after-sales service."

              'The Board' are probably impressed by shiny powerpoints.

              Nobody gives a fuck, how many fucks you give.

              Just keep on buying the bloatware.

              1. dogged

                Re: They're mad

                > 'The Board' are probably impressed by shiny powerpoints.

                No, they're electronics engineers. They're impressed by attention to detail.

                "The Board" in a small precision engineering company is rather different to the "the board" in some faceless multinational.

        3. Anonymous Coward
          Anonymous Coward

          Re: They're mad

          "and the after-sales support has been a bit of a revelation"

          Why the fuck would you even need after-sales support? I guess the products really *are* that shit.

    2. Anonymous Coward
      Meh

      Re: They're mad

      Odd, I always thought Apple had "shortages" when they launch a product.

      Ah you forgot their No1 skill. Marketing.

    3. Dan 55 Silver badge
      Trollface

      Re: They're mad

      Outsource the job to Apple? Apple just rebadge Foxconn kit.

      1. Code For Broke

        Re: They're mad

        No, no! Apple <u>designs</u> everything in California, see? Because it takes longer for the South Korea's to copy it that way. Latency over G36 underwater cable is fierce.

  3. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    What would be the benefit of an 84" touchscreen? Surely something that size would just be a display and wouldn't have to be the actual pc. Saying that, an 84" display is probably not far off the same price.

    1. Voland's right hand Silver badge

      The mother of all video-conferencing systems

      For a system like this it is actually very keenly priced. It is cheaper than some competitive systems from other usual suspects that are just HD video-conferencing without any of the collaboration aspects.

      It also has a fairly wide (even if it is just Microsoft) interop base and is extensible (very rare for a video conf system). If Microsoft starts shipping these in volume the usual collab suspects will suffer quite badly.

  4. Nolveys
    Devil

    I like to think that the guy in the picture is holding a normal permanent marker.

    1. asdf

      yep

      As he continues to draw a smiley clown face on the fancy new company touchscreen he explains to his co-workers how he has acquired some advanced knowledge of the pending layoffs and how he is on the list.

      1. Dan 55 Silver badge

        Re: yep

        @asdf: Photo taken when the news of the latest round of MS layoffs was released.

    2. P. Lee
      Angel

      > I like to think that the guy in the picture is holding a normal permanent marker.

      You just know he's going to draw a green moustache on the chap in the top left of the screen.

      "We'll land at Le Havre and make our way up to Agincourt..."

  5. Hud Dunlap
    Happy

    Kudos to Microsoft

    For manufacturing in the U.S.

    1. Voland's right hand Silver badge

      Re: Kudos to Microsoft

      That is normal for small series and pilot manufacturing. You always do that withing driving distance from the office. However, that is what it says on the tin - small series.

      I am not surprised they have to rejig the process after hitting significant levels of demand.

      What I am surprised is that their marketing and forecasting is so bad. Are they so daft that they could not compare the existing HD teleconferencing to what they are making and estimate that the demand will be off the scale.

      1. Arctic fox
        Windows

        @Voland's right hand RE: "....their marketing and forecasting is so bad...."

        Given that they have from time to time made some serious mistakes when estimating demand for this or that product it was very sensible of them to be cautious when testing the water with this one. I do not see on this occasion why that is any major issue for criticism. It looks like a good product, as you yourself say, that will at least do decently in enterprise. Had they at the outset however assumed that it will sell gangbusters and produced accordingly they might have found themselves in a very sticky and expensive situation.

        1. Pookietoo

          Re: they might have found themselves in a very sticky and expensive situation

          Like that $900M of Surface RT tablets they had to write off, you mean? :-)

    2. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Kudos to Microsoft

      Made in in the USA

  6. Trevor_Pott Gold badge

    Good for Microsoft. Hope it sells well.

    1. JDX Gold badge

      I'd quite like one though I prefer the table-based ones, they seemed pretty cool.

      1. Dan 55 Silver badge
        Meh

        It shouldn't be that difficult to take a tabletop and stick it on a wall, unless perhaps their development model wasn't that finished after all.

        1. Trevor_Pott Gold badge

          The tabletop didn't use a multitouch film. It used IR sensors that tracked fingers from underneath. It was actually designed completely differently.

  7. This post has been deleted by its author

  8. James Loughner
    Linux

    But will it

    Run Linux

    1. Pookietoo

      Re: But will it

      display a higher resolution BSOD than ever before.

    2. h4rm0ny

      Re: But will it

      It's an x86 device so yes, it should run GNU/Linux.

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