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Comment by recoiledsnake | Hacker News Reader

>Maybe it is just like someone said recently: there is no tablet market; just an iPad market

We will have more data points on that 'observation' when Windows 8 launches(April, say the rumors).

We will have more data points on that 'observation' when Windows 8 launches

Sorry, but I just find this statement hard to agree with. Microsoft is forever shipping some "game changer" "pretty soon now", but they haven't managed to change any games in a very long time now.

If Microsoft, or anyone else, has some revolutionary thing, it will be interesting to see it when it happens. But I am certainly not anticipating any such event in the next year.

in my view MS did have a game changer

http://www.engadget.com/2010/03/05/microsofts-courier-digita...

It still makes the iPad look half baked.

but as is the way with MS they killed it and settled for mediocre.

I'm beggining to wonder if MS are actually scared of being innovative.

> "I'm beggining to wonder if MS are actually scared of being innovative."

This might actually be a pretty good summary of MSFT's corporate culture.

The impression I always get from the inside is that it's a company dominated by middle managers. They've got so many PMs in so many layers that you'd wonder if it's just PMs all the way down.

The combination of mature, gigantic company, lack of strong leadership, and extremely generous benefits has combined to create a population of people who are there for the stability and extremely afraid of rocking the boat or killing the golden goose.

Instead, they are slowly bleeding the goose dry. Granted, the golden goose is still pretty fat and could sustain them for decades without doing anything significant. As it is though, Microsoft is pretty low in the innovation front. I don't think anybody has been "wowed" by any of their products since maybe Windows XP.

Was the Courier ever anything more than a bunch of concept videos? Was there ever a prototype or anything close to that?

Making futuristic looking concept movies is pretty easy compared to actually making and shipping a physical product.

Courier was a concept video, not a product. There's a significant difference.

If you haven't read this, this is a short article on what Apple does so differently than almost all of its competitors - never announce something before it is shippable (e.g. production-qualified and vetted, supply chain and all)

http://counternotions.com/2008/08/12/concept-products/

I bet Apple threw away a dozen such concepts prior to designing the iPad, launching the iPhone (and subsequently iPad).

I remember reading somewhere during the post mortem that they did actually go some ways to start building it.

Have you seen http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p92QfWOw88I ?

Anyway, thanks for the maximum 4 downvotes HN.

HP's exit doesn't exactly speak to the ability of Microsoft software to power compelling consumer devices.

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