I've bought my last Microsoft Product

[mamamia88]

First vista, then 3 xboxes repaired. Then today I go trade my current 360 for new model and it's DOA. I've just bought my last ms product. anyone have any similar experiences

[skierkyles]

Well I actually had a really good experience with Vista, I thought it was quite good after they got some of the initial kinks sorted out, and Windows 7 really is a great OS.
I have a 30Gb Zune that I use on average 4hrs a day that refuses to die.
And I've had no problems with either my Xbox or Xbox 360 (And from the few people I know who have had a RROD, Microsoft's always has been good, even covering a repair that was out of warranty.).

So Microsoft is a win in my book.

[theraje]

It's common for certain companies to have a bad track record with particular customers. For me, I've had good luck with electronics, but I know people who don't get along with them well at all. What is even more peculiar is that some brands tend to "conk out" on people repeatedly, yet are not bad brands. Some people, for some reason or another, just have bad luck with particular brands.

Why? Darned if I know... but I know that getting a good piece of equipment is all in the luck of the draw, the best thing to do is go with a brand you trust and keep your fingers crossed. :)

[alexfish]

I have two teenage boys , they have had a 360 since the one that came with a HD, it's been Hammered and still works , so this is one product of MS I have faith in for two reasons, 1 I don't get to use it ,and don't want to use it cos of the name "$ in the waste bin" , 2 and it keeps Menacing hands off my system:p

[Letrazzrot]

Some people, for some reason or another, just have bad luck with particular brands.

Why? Darned if I know...

Perhaps this has something to do with the "Law of Large Numbers"? Or would that be a misinterpretation of statistics? (I was never good with stats...)

OT, I actually felt the same way after being frustrated with a Zune player I had (I hated the software I had to use with it, and eventually it bugged out and stopped working - make the player all-but useless).

However, truth be told, Microsoft does make some good products IMO, and I'd probably be kidding myself if I said I'd never buy any of their stuff again.

[RiceMonster]

cool story bro

[ubunterooster]

I just had another MS keyboard die, back to the trusty logitech

[Stancel]

my Xbox 360 is fine....but I've only had it for like six months so maybe it's not past its expiration date yet.:popcorn:

[sydbat]

cool story broThis. Oh so very, this.

[mamamia88]

sorry just had to rant somewhere. i just traded in my working 360 in exchange for one i hoped would be better just to get home and it doesn't work. think i'll just stick with playstation from now on or buy microsofts next console and games used so they don't see a cent for it

[Telengard C64]

Actually Microsoft keyboards and mice are quite well constructed in my experience. They seem to tolerate abuse very well and live for many years. I can't stand the feel of them mind you, I'm just saying that technically they are well made.

On the other hand, I can't play DVDs in Windows 3.1. I feel so cheated :(

[Linye]

or buy microsofts next console and games used so they don't see a cent for it

Only if are published by them.

[McRat]

We are X360 #4. Buy the extended warranty, or don't bother buying.

I'll be honest, I've never seen a modern consumer good with such a poor reliability record. If the kids didn't love it so much, it would be in the trash.

[Lightstar]

Windows 7 Beta, was free, but totally destroyed 500gb of data!
Windows 7 official release, one of the best Windows yet

Xbox, broken, twice.
Xbox 360, Red Ring, twice!

I'm not going to upgrade, I actually sold my 360 awhile ago, went with ps3, no regrets.

Oh, my 6-7 years old playstation 2 still works too, we've been using it as main DVD player as well for a long time.

[Simian Man]

That's nothing! A Microsoft Zune killed my father. And Microsoft Flight Simulator drove my brother to insanity.

[sydbat]

That's nothing! A Microsoft Zune killed my father. And Microsoft Flight Simulator drove my brother to insanity.You too!?! My what a small world...

[theraje]

On the other hand, I can't play DVDs in Windows 3.1. I feel so cheated :(

My Vista doesn't have a hole for my Atari Combat tape!

[RiceMonster]

That's nothing! A Microsoft Zune killed my father. And Microsoft Flight Simulator drove my brother to insanity.

If only people knew the dangers, if only. We could avoid serious incidents like this.

[NightwishFan]

Sometime back before I used Ubuntu I had a lot of faith in Microsoft and purchased their console, the Xbox 360. About this time as well I was the first in my group of friends to have a new machine with Windows Vista. I started to learn more about computers having the internet for the first time as well.

My machine with Windows Vista was from Compaq, it had an integrated Nvidia graphics chip that barely supported aero, so it was enabled. On the first boot, Windows Vista took forever (nearly 15 mins) after I finished the setup to get to a usable desktop. I was not too peturbed (this was normal for 'computers'). Turns out that these Aero effects caused my CPU to constantly run at around 80 drawing them, which in turn caused the machine to always run the fans to cool it. I unhappily disabled the new glassy look, but again just accepted I will never be on the bleeding edge with computing.

Also during this period my Xbox became harder and harder to read discs. It would requre twenty minutes at times of loading the try over and over again to get it to read a game. I should have taken it back, though I did not have an extended warranty an by the time I decided to do this it was expired. Eventually, of course, it failed to read DVDs at all, and even once swallowed one (I had to dig it out).

Vista never could play the newer games I wanted also (early days of driver incompatiblity etc), and I began to shy from gaming (best thing that ever happened to me). So I began to study productive uses for a computer and how computers worked themselves. In various forums I heard talk about open source operating systems. I knew what open source was a bit before that time, and I used many programs such as pidgin and firefox. Then someone mentioned OpenSUSE Linux.

I did some poking around and ran into the 'Major Distributions' page on Distrowatch. Their generally innaccurate Pros/Cons of the major ones pointed out OpenSUSE was known as 'slow'. (Of course it is not). So I decided to go with Ubuntu.

To be honest, I never would have tried it if there was no live cd available. I did not want to risk breaking my Windows operating system, then what would I do? So I popped in the live cd of Ubuntu 7.10

Awesome. I liked the look and feel, it was so foreign to me and interesting. The fact the desktop was called Gnome I did not miss, that was easily a plus. I did some research after an hour of playing around, and set up a dual boot the safe way, resizing the disk with Vista's built in tool. I began to use it full time after only a few months. Do not underestimate the power of preview and interoperability.

I understand Microsoft's situation at times, though their failure rate with the Xbox 360 and incorrect Vista ready brandings were inexcusable. It was a situation of a problem being known and the cost of a recall was more money than the cost of shipping it with problems. Arcane and restictive licensing terms are not the way forward. As for DRM? Microsoft consoles customers 'The movie studios are forcing us to add it.' They should be spending money to protect their customers from such a thing.

I am not immature enough to bother to slander Microsoft, but that is how and why I switched from their hardware and software, and why I continue to not do so even now. I will not advise others to do the same, I am sure millions of folks are rightfully happy with their products, and that is fine. I am just glad alternatives exist.

[sandyd]

sorry just had to rant somewhere. i just traded in my working 360 in exchange for one i hoped would be better just to get home and it doesn't work. think i'll just stick with playstation from now on or buy microsofts next console and games used so they don't see a cent for it

theirs already new ones out. their the ones that have kinect support

[mamamia88]

that is the one i bought man. now i have to wait at least a week till they get more in stock to give me

[Tombgeek]

I know how you feel. I think we all have had a bad experience with Microsoft products. But I guess it is not as bad as it used to be, considering that now more people are properly educated when it comes to computers, unlike a couple of years ago when most of the casual market were not so clued up on computers and Microsoft took the oppertunity to cash in on that. Now that almost everybody knows how to properly look after a Windows PC and even some realize how Microsoft abuses the users and have moved on to better alternatives (Mac OS and Linux (and some BSD)), now they realize they have to work harder.

I have had the Ring of Death twice with my Xbox 360, but with the last replacement, they gave me the latest version of the Xbox 360 Pro, so now my Xbox is unlikely to get the ROD.
I lost count on the number of times Windows XP has had a virus or had a corrupted file, which forced me to reinstall the OS.
But Windows Vista and 7 are actually pretty good operating systems, but until they fix their security issues, I am not using another Microsoft OS as my primary OS (I still have to use Windows XP for school).

[cookiecruncher]

My desktop PC runs WinXP and triple boots into Ubuntu and Kubuntu 10.04. I need the XP for my games (BF2, etc ;) )

My laptop originally came with XP preinstalled, which I dual boot with Ubuntu. Recently I bought a new harddrive which I installed Win7 onto, dual booting with Ubuntu. The activation is about to expire, but I cannot afford the R1300.00 for the key :( . I switch harddrives occasionally to get back to the XP installation :)

Generally I have found Microsoft hardware pretty good. I don't own a 360 tho.

[rwthelegend]

sorry just had to rant somewhere. i just traded in my working 360 in exchange for one i hoped would be better just to get home and it doesn't work. think i'll just stick with playstation from now on or buy microsofts next console and games used so they don't see a cent for it

I had 2 Playstation 3s die, Sony tried to charge me €200 a piece !!!!!! to fix them which I turned down. Bought an Xbox 360, but didn't like it. So I'm already at PS3 nr 3, lol.

Thinking about it, I should have bought a gaming pc, would have been cheaper.

[Tristam Green]

That's nothing! A Microsoft Zune killed my father. And Microsoft Flight Simulator drove my brother to insanity.

I wrestled a Microsoft Bob once, and a LifeCam shot a man in Reno just to watch him die :|

[forrestcupp]

I've bought my last Microsoft product, too. My wife has MSDN access. :)

[MasterNetra]

...
On the other hand, I can't play DVDs in Windows 3.1. I feel so cheated :(

I'd be surprised if you could! I mean all 3.1 is really is DOS with a primitive GUI. Of course they had to start somewhere.

[kukker32]

i've accidently got vista with my new laptop...
and i hurried to upgrade to 7.. but..

financial tricks i hate them

[phrostbyte]

Welcome to the club. :)

[kukker32]

and thats one of the reason i have changed to linux/ubuntu ditros.. they free...

[YuiDaoren]

I, too, have bought my last Microsoft product.




Until such time as I buy another. I like their keyboards and mice.

[Tombgeek]

My desktop PC runs WinXP and triple boots into Ubuntu and Kubuntu 10.04. I need the XP for my games (BF2, etc ;) )

My laptop originally came with XP preinstalled, which I dual boot with Ubuntu. Recently I bought a new harddrive which I installed Win7 onto, dual booting with Ubuntu. The activation is about to expire, but I cannot afford the R1300.00 for the key :( . I switch harddrives occasionally to get back to the XP installation :)

Generally I have found Microsoft hardware pretty good. I don't own a 360 tho.

Unless you need to use Windows 7, just stick with XP. There is no need for Windows 7 unless you are planning to use it as your primary operating system. If Ubuntu is your primary OS and Windows secondary, just stick with XP. That is what I'm doing.

[Shibblet]

I'll tell you one product that Microsoft does very well. Excel.

I know that a lot of people will claim that Open Office is just as good, and that's true for home users. But Excel is INVALUABLE to businesses.

If you ever get the chance to compare, do so. You'll see why Excel is a great program. It may be bloatware, but it still is what most businesses need.

[d3v1150m471c]

IMO windows is good because of third-party software. Not because it comes out with great ideas or it's secure or stable. As for the xbox, I have a 360 and a ps3. I've had two 360's bite the dust and while the ps3 will occassionally freeze when playing the new fallout, all the xbox's, new or not, freeze on games like oblivion and assassin's creed regularly. Windows new slogan should be "save often"

[Penguin Guy]

Perhaps this has something to do with the "Law of Large Numbers"? Or would that be a misinterpretation of statistics?
*sigh* Yes, I think that would be a misinterpretation of statistics. :)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Law_of_large_numbers

[alexan]

First vista, then 3 xboxes repaired. Then today I go trade my current 360 for new model and it's DOA. I've just bought my last ms product. anyone have any similar experiences

You've bought a MS product!? [-X




more than one!?!!? :shock: