[benawabe896]

It seems to me as though most of Microsoft's advertising lately feels a tad deceitful/disingenuous. Whether it's trying to convince that Bing really is better than Google (really it is I promise), or that Windows 8 just blows people away with it's ease of use, I feel as though the campaigns are trying to convince me that I am the problem. Maybe I'm being unfair... not sure, it's just how it hits me.

[potatolicious]

This is a big part of why I can't take Microsoft seriously these days. I don't know if it's a function of their corporate culture, but they seem utterly incapable of being honest - either in their advertising or even with themselves.

Every major failure is couched as some kind of success. Windows 8 has been a flop no matter which way you cut it, but if you listen to Microsoft's external and internal messaging Win8 is a dramatic success that has sold like hotcakes.

I'm pretty sure if Microsoft was in charge of Chernobyl they'd find some way to spin it into a successful advancement of nuclear safety.

At some point you just have to come out with a mea culpa. Sorry guys, this was crappy, we will be better. Not every product is a smash hit, not every decision the right one - your ability to own up to these and fix these are infinitely more important to me as a customer than your ability to look me in the eye and call the sky purple with a perfect deadpan.

[kenjackson]

Windows 8 has been a flop no matter which way you cut it

They've sold 100 million licenses in 6 months. That's more than any competitor. Sure you can say it's a flop, but there's clearly ways to cut it where it's not. I think it's done surprisingly well considering the amount of change they put in it.

To put it another way, in six months I believe they've sold about as many Win8 licenses in six months as the iPad has sold in 3 years.

[Tylerdt]

How about things like Chromebooks failing utterly to sell even more than Windows RT yet Google proclaiming BS stats like topping Amazon instead of releasing real figures? http://www.zdnet.com/first-real-world-usage-figures-suggest-...

Or like proclaiming that one Celeron Chromebook had a Core processor? That story won't get upvoted on HN saying Google is lying(a much bigger lie than this one) but it's open season on Microsoft. PR is everywhere but people color it with their own biases.

[jlgreco]

I just got upvoted plenty a few hours ago for ripping ChromeOS a new one. This "whine about pro-Google bias whenever somebody insults poor Microsoft" nonsense is getting pretty damn old.

[rbanffy]

So, one company making misleading statements makes it OK for every company to do the same...

[kenjackson]

No, but it is funny how only MS makes #1 on HN when they do so. Whereas if Google does so it is immediately flagged beyond recognition with everyone saying, "Well they aren't as bad Microsoft probably sort of. Remember 15 years ago when MS did this!"

[rbanffy]

This post is not about Google - it's about Microsoft.

[thedrbrian]

Funny you should mention amazon. Do they ever quanify kindle sales numbers or just loads or multiples of how many Jeff B sold x number of months ago.

[jonas_maj]

Windows 8 has been a ROARING success no matter which way you cut it. 100 million in 6 months is way more than any version of Mac OS or Google Chrome OS will EVER sell.

[Samuel_Michon]

“100 million in 6 months”

100 million licenses sold to OEMs and the retail channel. Actual sell-through is unknown. But even if we use these numbers, Windows 8 is much less of a success than Windows 7. Four years a go, there were half as many Windows PCs as there are now, but Microsoft sold the same number of Windows 7 licenses in the same amount of time.

Also, if PC sales are any indicator, consumers and businesses alike are not interested in Windows 8. Back when Windows95 was introduced, people were camping out in front of computer stores to get their hands on it. Are you willing to bet what percentage of Windows 8 sales are boxed upgrades?

[mkr-hn]

This isn't four years ago. There are viable alternatives to a Windows PC, there's less reason to upgrade four year old computers, and people are understandably hesitant about buying a Windows tablet. It will take time for Microsoft to overcome these factors. It's still a success when you account for these things.

[jff]

https://news.ycombinator.com/threads?id=jonas_maj

You're like the Microsoft version of Gruber

[mkr-hn]

This post contributes nothing.

[jonas_maj]

I don't read Gruber. So not sure if that was a compliment or not!

[mkr-hn]

He's infinitely more tolerable than a typical Apple fan. I would treat it as a compliment.

[wglb]

How does it compare to the Windows 7 for the equivalent time span?

[Zikes]

Their "Mojave" campaign gave me the same impression. They invited people into tents to try out their latest and greatest OS, called Mojave, and after the person sang the OS's praises they revealed that it's actually Windows Vista.

The whole thing was basically Microsoft saying "you're all wrong, Vista is great and you just aren't smart enough to understand that unless we trick you into it".

[famousactress]

I think the strategy worked pretty well for margarine and instant coffee. It's a proven technique whenever you've given up hope on elating consumers, but still have a product you need to convince people isn't quite as disappointing as they expected.