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Comment by softwaredoug | Hacker News Reader

How much is this MS deciding they’re really not a consumer brand - but rather one focused on cloud and enterprises?

Huh. I was going to say that it was absurd to suggest they were giving up on consumers, given just how heavy they've been investing in gaming for the last year. But writing that out made me realize they unceremoniously killed Mixer just three days ago.

It’s better to dump dead weight early than have it eat into your profits long term.

Not just profits, but opportunity cost as well.

Unfortunately a string of failed attempts to find the correct evolutionary gradient will leave customers with a sour taste. There's a lot to balance.

Running a company is hard.

Looks more to me like they are giving up on their Surface line-up specifically, rather than all their consumer focused products. The Microsoft stores & Surface line was Microsoft's attempt at copying Apple with expensive devices with solid build quality and good support. It saw some success but apparently not enough.

> expensive devices with solid build quality and good support.

The part in the middle was definitely missing

The part at the end as well.

https://www.thurrott.com/mobile/microsoft-surface/64095/welc...

Are you saying the build quality wasn't solid on the Surface lineup? That doesn't match my experience at all.

I don't think the announcement has anything to do with the Surface lineup. I expect that to be around for awhile.

I think it's definitely related. At least it is my impression the Microsoft stores exist primarily for the Surface lineup. I also don't expect them to end the Surface lineup immediately, but it signals that they are at the very least slowing investment in that area.

My impression was that the Microsoft Stores existed primarily for Windows Phone, and this is just lag/momentum catching up to them.

You mean *this year? Because MS has been unfocused in whether they are a consumer brand or not for many years.

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