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back to article Hey Microsoft: You want to keep hardware partners onside? Stick to software

Data storage solutions are typically sold as appliances: hardware with a smart software layer on top. The intelligence is in the box that you buy and is tailored to the hardware it lives with. That approach makes sense until you take a wide-angle view on a real-world data centre: independent storage boxes act well on their own …

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  1. John Smith 19 Gold badge
    Unhappy

    Easy come, easy go

    You just do the CEO interview and he's out the door.

    0 0 Reply
  2. jason 7
    Meh

    Actually...

    ...I'd really like MS to start selling laptops with just Windows on them and configured to work straight out of the box like Apple does.

    The likes of HP/Acer/Toshiba/Lenovo etc. all make their laptops look stupid by piling in the useless crapware that just ruins the experience and also means its an hour and a half of messing about till you've got rid of the crap and burnt your reinstall DVDs etc.

    I don't see any reason that MS shouldn't get its own laptops built and configured so they work. It is possible as many of my customers bring their still unopened laptops to me to clean off and configure and they work perfectly after that.

    No one ever used Oberon Media...

    1 4 Reply
    1. Hellcat
      Reply Icon

      Re: Actually...

      Not quite a laptop... but the Surface pro is probably as close as you can get to the MS laptop. I've not used a Pro version yet, but I imagine it would be as you say - how other laptops feel AFTER you have uninstalled all the crapware!

      1 3 Reply
      1. Anonymous Coward
        Reply Icon
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: Actually...

        Not quite a laptop... but the Surface pro is probably as close as you can get to the MS laptop.

        It isn't a laptop... It's a tablet that requires a keyboard and a cramped seat next to an extremely large gentleman in cattle class on the train

        3 2 Reply
        1. Hellcat
          Reply Icon
          Pint

          Re: Actually...

          That's not obligitory, more of a serving suggestion.

          Beer. Because it needs no serving suggestion.

          0 0 Reply
          1. Anonymous Coward
            Reply Icon
            Anonymous Coward

            Re: Actually...

            "Tall glass, thin glass, schooner, vase, bowl, goblet or pipette?"

            "Draught, sachet, can, bottle or aerosol?"

            (That's thirty years and a plastic cover to you, Chief.)

            0 0 Reply
      2. Anonymous Coward
        Reply Icon
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: Actually...

        So far, 3 people love the Ask.com desktop toolbar!

        0 0 Reply
  3. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Hey Microsoft: You want to keep hardware partners onside?

    Answer: no, not particularly. MS wants to make money; hardware partners can expect no loyalty whatsoever if MS finds a way to cut them out.

    0 0 Reply
    1. Anonymous Coward
      Reply Icon
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Hey Microsoft: You want to keep hardware partners onside?

      I imagine the feeling is mutual - the hardware vendors would have no particular loyalty to Microsoft either, if they could find enough customers to buy they hardware without the help of Microsoft's software.

      0 1 Reply
      1. Anonymous Coward
        Reply Icon
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: Hey Microsoft: You want to keep hardware partners onside?

        "I imagine the feeling is mutual"

        Yeah, it's one of them there self-fulfilling dohickies. And thus, evil contains within it the seeds of its own destruction.

        0 0 Reply
      2. Anonymous Coward
        Reply Icon
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: Hey Microsoft: You want to keep hardware partners onside?

        the hardware vendors would have no particular loyalty to Microsoft either

        Agreed. If eComStation (OS/2) was revamped to a point that it was competitive or superior to Windows, most x86 system builders would start offering it.

        But even in a market where the hardware and software are designed by one company, we have seen healthy 3rd party manufacturers. Just look at the history of Apple II and Macintosh clones (before they were sued). If people think that a dollar, euro or yen is to be made, they'll do it.

        1 0 Reply

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