Microsoft has “Issues”

Microsoft has been known as one of the leading companies in computer software, operating system development and gaming console technology now for over 10 years. If you have ever used a Microsoft product, this statement should shock you to no end. How did two men, the household name of Bill Gates and his co-founder, Paul Allen, rise to the top of the computing tower, developing software which is arguably sub-par and distributing hardware with known flaws in design? The simple answer is: They built it. They were the first guys on the scene, so we assume they must know what they’re doing. But, as many people have begun to realize, we are dreadfully wrong.

Take the Xbox 360 for example. The Xbox 360 has some great games. Halo re-defined the sci-fi first person shooter genre.  Far Cry 2 proved that you can load a fully functional 50km2 map and only see a loading screen once. Some of these games are amazing to play; that is if you can deal with the high levels of maintenance the Xbox 360 demands.

The most well known of the flaws in the Xbox 360 is the infamous “Broken Red Ring of Death”. Caused by a simple problem of overheating due to not enough ventilation and heat sinks and resulting in damage to the GPU (Graphics Processor Unit),  this problem, when encountered, renders the machine in question unworkable. Millions have experienced this problem and had their Xboxes replaced or repaired, after a thoroughly long a drilling communication with Microsoft’s Xbox “Customer Support”. But how could a multi-billion dollar company even release a console with such a major hardware flaw? As with all things, it boils down to money.

Microsoft could have delayed their launch of the console to better serve their customers, but instead, like so many times before, the needs of the consumer were tossed aside for profits. You see, at around the time the Xbox 360 was to be launched, the Playstation 3 and Wii also had their eyes set on becoming a fixture in homes around the world. Had Microsoft not stood up and, like a child looking for attention, cried “Look, I made a console too!”, they may have been subject to losing some customers to their competitors. Not that that matters when you’re raking in 17 million dollars in profits per year.  So instead they released their hacked together and untested machine (for surely if it was tested the problem would have been identified), gave it a good coat of the ol’ Microsoft Marketing lacquer (pricing it accordingly), and shipped to shelves everywhere, only to be returned a few months to a few years later as more and more people succumbed to the defects and issues of the system.

We need to wake up. Microsoft doesn’t care about you, your family, your dog or your neighbors. They’re just in it for the money. That’s not to say that Apple is any better, or that Sony makes more quality consoles. They all have their problems. What we need to realize is that as long as we keep feeding the machine that green gold we call cash, it’ll keep producing the same old stuff. We, the consumers, need to make a stand and tell companies like Microsoft to get off their high horse and start listening to their customers. It won’t be easy, but some people have already begun. Only time will tell if the wounds of abuse by corporations to consumers due to shoddy products, below average services and appalling customer support will heal, or if the repression will continue. I have a continuing hope that things will improve. I hope that my expectation is not in vain.

References:

Takahashi, Dean (September 5, 2008)
Xbox 360 defects: an inside history of Microsoft’s video game console woes
Accessed from: http://games.venturebeat.com/2008/09/05/xbox-360-defects-an-inside-history-of-microsofts-video-game-console-woes/ on the 23rd June, 2009.