I think you're wrong on both counts there. Comparing a mouse to a game console is rather like comparing a random number generator to an OS. OS<->console is a much closer comparison due to the complexity of the undertaking.Crono1973 said:Not to be mean but me comparing their keyboards and mice to a console is certainly much closer to reality than you comparing the Windows OS to console. Windows is software where as a keyboard/mouse is hardware.loc978 said:I'll give you that... though I've worn out a few Microsoft mice through normal use (left button goes pretty quickly... but those were rubber-ball 2-buttons back in the 90s) and have yet to damage my Logitech (had the same one over 10 years now). I've never had a Microsoft keyboard... but I was mostly being cheeky. Like I said, it's a different level of hardware we're talking about here.Crono1973 said:It's hardware and I used Microsoft keyboards and mice for years with no trouble at all. These days I use Logitech because it's cheaper but I still wouldn't think twice about buying a Microsoft wireless desktop.loc978 said:sort of a different level of hardware there, bud... also yeah, they've never been very tough.Crono1973 said:Yeah because Microsoft keyboards and mice have always been unreliable, right?loc978 said:I'd just like to say, I called this in early 2002 when I discovered Microsoft made a game console.
Initial reaction: "Microsoft... hardware? This won't end well."
What do you do with your keyboards and mice, throw them against the wall?
The 360 was junk until recently, the original XBOX wasn't that reliable either but to say Microsoft hardware always sucked is stretching it.
Why I assumed Microsoft making hardware wouldn't end well was my experience with their approach to designing the Windows OS. "Keep it simple, stupid" isn't in their lexicon.
To make a few parallels, the original Xbox was their first foray into a new frontier... like Windows 95. They started off with a lot of bugs and problems, fixed most of 'em in overcomplicated ways... and about the time they got it running smoothly (Win98SE = last run of the original Xbox), they went and tried to redesign it from the ground up for performance (Win ME = first run Xbox 360). I'd say now they've got the 360 to the point where it could be considered nearly as reliable as Windows XP beta2. Expect the console version of Windows Vista to be their next release.
Windows may have been less reliable in the past but it's always been king. You could run Windows 95 or you could run DOS, comparing those two...I took Windows.
Also, in 1995 there was DOS, there was Windows, there was OS/2, and there were various distros of Linux. I did a lot of experimenting with Red Hat in high school...