Ten Biggest Microsoft Flops of All Time

Microsoft has given us so many fantastic products over the years, I thought it would be fitting to highlight some of their biggest disasters, their Ten Biggest Flops of All Time!  Let's enjoy this time together as we look back at some of Microsoft's finer moments! If you would like to review the Ten Biggest Computer Flops of all time, I have reviewed them as well.

1. Windows ME
   Microsoft Windows Millennium Edition was touted as the first operating system to support Universal Plug and Play.  Unfortunately, this operating systems was quite possibly less compatible with hardware, than its predecessor, Windows 98.  It was also notoriously difficult to re-install, which was terrible since this operating system needed to be re-installed almost weekly.  Hardcore users claimed that Windows ME was more stable than 98, or 98SE, and the instabilities came from users installing bad drivers that were not approved and certified.  Nevertheless, most users of Windows were beginners, and thus the perception that Windows ME actually stood for "Microsoft Experiment", "Moron Edition", "Mistake Edition", "Miserable Edition", "Mistake Edition", and "Memory Eater".
   
2. Windows Bob
   Melinda French, Bill Gates wife, was the project manager on probably the most embarrassing, and most controversial software Microsoft has ever released, BOB! In 1995 Microsoft released a software package and interface that was aimed at replacing the Windows Program Manager with one aimed at novice computer users.  The interface featured a big yellow smiley face with glasses and virtual rooms.  Anything you ever wanted to do was done through a wizard that could never be skipped!  You had to go through the same questions over and over, even if you knew what you wanted!  Complete disaster!  Far too simple, not powerful enough, overpriced, and all and all, ridiculous. An interesting fact is BOB is still not dead to you if you use Windows Live Messenger!  Check out the Nerdy Emoticon, BOB is back!
   
3. Clippy
   As of Microsoft BOB wasn't enough, Microsoft had to bring it back for an encore! In 1997 Microsoft decided to try and save some face with the millions of dollars in research lost to create BOB.  They introduced Clippy in Microsoft Office 97, and ever since, Microsoft Office users had begged and pleaded for the removal of the tool!  Clippy is probably the most hated software characters ever created!  It would constantly come up when you didn't want it to come up, and just be so annoying that it made you want to drop kick your computer.  The famous line, "It looks like you're writing a letter". In 2007, nearly 10 years after the users begged for its removal, Microsoft finally killed Clippy, but still kept ways to enable the character if someone really missed Clippy.  It would be interesting to see how many people have done that.. my guess is 0.
   
4. SPOT Watches
   Everyone has always wanted a digital watch that could give you everything you ever wanted from news, weather, sports, etc, on your wrist.  The problem was, they did not want something that was big and ugly!  Also, do you really want to recharge your wrist watch every day?  Need another reason to not buy one?  They hardly work anywhere, and if you want to travel somewhere outside your "home" city, they just don't work unless you log onto a web site and tell the watch where you will be.  So if you're on the market for the heaviest, ugliest, largest wrist watch money can buy, this watch was for you!
5. ZUNE
   What was Microsoft's answer to the slick, easy to use iPod? A boxy, heavy, thick, and ugly mp3 player.  The display isn't flush with the rest of the unit, and the casing looks and feels like the cheapest plastic you can buy! I had the unfortunate experience of trying one of these out at Fry's a few months ago, and I was brought to my knees in laughter at how complicated and ugly the player was!  Brown plastic is nice?  And will make people want to buy it over the super sexy and sleek iPod?  Seriously?  What was Redmond thinking!
   
6. Microsoft Creative Writer
   Creative Writer is a word-processing application that was designed for kids.  It was launched in 1993, and never really sold at all.  Again, Microsoft did not seem to learn from the BOB experience, they launched a new version in 1996, A.B. (After BOB). They made things to simple to the point you are insulting even kids, is not the right way to go!  Microsoft even decided the program was so awesome, that they would release a part 2 sequel! In 1996, they released Creative Writer 2!  And once again, sales were terrible!  If you really want a copy, you can buy one on eBay now!
   
7. Microsoft Actimates
   You'd think Microsoft had failed at everything at this point, but no, they also wanted to win the award for "Creepiest Toy Award".  The Actimates line consisted of 7 interactive toys that interacted with your television and your computer.  Although the concept of a talking interactive doll seems great on the surface, kids were flat out getting petrified and parents totally creped out with these dolls!  Why?  They had an "awesome" feature that had them turn on and come to "life" when their TV shows came on!  They were discontinued in 2000.  So if you really want to buy one of these possessed dolls, you will have to check ebay!
   
8. MSN Network - The Original
   This one was awesome!  I still remember when we bought our first computer and it came with an icon for MSN Network.  It was a proprietary network that Microsoft was trying to create that competed directly with AOL, CompuServe, etc.  Unfortunately for Microsoft, they were late in the game as usual, and also came up with a formidable opponent, the Internet!  The best part that makes this awesome is that they wouldn't give it up in the beginning!  I remember thinking... why are they even bothering?  The Internet is 1000000 times better and bigger!  Why would anyone pay for their premium content!  Microsoft did re-invent it later, but it took over 12 years to fix that one!
   
9. Windows Vista
   I'm using Windows Vista as we speak, and I must admit I do like using it, however, it's not really that great of an improvement over Windows XP to warrant any kind of fanfare!  Plus it was years late and shipped nearly 5 years after Windows XP.  On top of being late, nearly every cool and new feature that was supposed to be included in Windows Vista was pulled out!  Also combined with the heavy requirement for computing power, this operating system is a beast that offers very little practical improvements over Windows XP.  No doubt this OS will sell eventually due to Microsoft's monopoly on the desktop.
   
10. DOS 4.0: MS-DOS
    This article would not be complete if we failed to mention the operating system that started it all, MS-DOS!  Version 4.0 was pretty much the worst operating system ever.  It had a huge bug that caused data to be lost all the time!  This was due to the Ram Disk being severely flawed in its design and development.  Other "features" included severe disk corruption issues, and all in all, no stability whatsoever.  It was so bad that when you went to buy a computer, you would ask for DOS 3.3 whenever possible.  Sometimes DOS 3.3 was sold out, or you had to pay a premium to get the lower version!  There were even rumors that Microsoft stole IBM-PC-DOS code to create MS-DOS 4.0.

There you have it!  The Ten Biggest Microsoft Flops of All Time!  I hope you enjoyed this trip down memory lane!  By the way, I used to be a Microsoft Consultant, and love Microsoft products, unfortunately/fortunately, everyone makes mistakes.  The good news is they tend to learn from their mistakes.  Some companies do not.  Are these my opinions?  Of course, it's my blog....  If it was fact, it would be on TV ;)

 

Technorati Tags: Microsoft, Computer Flops

Comments

[ShinIori319]

You were missing something: Windows Genuine Crappy Disadvantage.

[Tom]

Are you mad. BOB was the only true failure there. A failure has nothing to do with your opinion about something...

[Milander]

yeah right, microsoft is sooooooo bad it dominates the home computer market. If it so bad why is that? why aren't people buying apple/linux/unix systems? Why is it that apple, the ultra cool system, only has less than 1% of market penetration? Is it a conspiracy? Is it because apple are crap?

Windows has its flaws to be sure, but it is still the best OP system available for home users.

Personally I can't believe you are using Vista as it is as you said shite and a resource hog. I'm sticking with XP and crossing over to unix when I get my 10TB server up and running.

[blahblah]

LOL "I am using vista as we speak"...we aren't speaking..YOU are....LOL
go be gay and use a MAC then

[Javin]

I liked where he said "Again, Microsoft did not seem to learn from the BOB experience of making things to simple" when referring to a 1993 program when, according to this article, BOB wasn't introduced until 1995.

[tom]

these reviews are so incredibly biased. After going through 2 ipods and not seeing any improvement in their design, just shiny colors and more memory, I got a zune and its by far the best mp3 player I've used. Its 50 times stronger than any ipod, and I would know. After my zune dropped out of my pocket while I was biking at 20+ mph it worked perfectly and was left with a dented corner. my piece of **** ipod color cracked down the front of the casing after it fell of the counter onto the wood floor. The other Tom was right, windows is the best operating system for a average computer users.

[Miguel Carrasco]

I love Microsoft but you can't deny that these products were flops. Some were great ideas (I love the Zune's WiFi capabilities), but were not marketed correctly. Some were marketed correctly, but developed poorly. In the end, there is something to be learned here, don't you think?

I'm not bashing Microsoft at all. After all, they created the software industry as we know it.

[Gregg]

DOS 4.x was NOT Microsoft, but IBM. IBM was who messed DOS up. The entire world rejoiced when Microsoft too DOS back for 5.0

[Oh, please...]

Quote : " Are you mad. BOB was the only true failure there. A failure has nothing to do with your opinion about something... "

So... You liked WinME ? Get back under the rock you crawled from, NOW!

Quote : " these reviews are so incredibly biased. "

And the comments aren't..? Only the first poster had the brains to actually post anything which wasn't just a Microsoft Fanboy attack at this list... All the products listed are awful.

Anyone who thinks that windows ME was a good operating system should be taken out and shot. Or alternatively I'll give them my contact details, spend a few days coding up some crappy software in C and sell it to them for a few hundred dollars... Chances are they would but it and then scream blue murder if anyone tried to badmouth it. HEY! That's a good idea actually...

Look at you all. You could be my new target audience. I try to write the best software I can but why bother ? I should just spend an hour here and there creating crap and you would buy it anyway... You'd also tell your, equally stupid, friends to buy it and defend it to your dying breath.

The people commenting on this list keep Microsoft in business. You all blindly run to defend their products without actually thinking about what you are defending, you mindlessly purchase their new operating systems without thinking about what the new operating system offers over the old one and worst of all... The thing which really makes me want to smash your faces in to your keyboards... You think you're RIGHT!

[Stu]

In my opinion it would be much less verbose to have a blog titled "What Microsoft ever did right". The only M$ product worth the money was Streets and Trips because you could get it for $19.

Anyone who knows anything about operating systems knows Microsoft doesn't produce the best product - but they are by far the best at mass marketing and trapping their zombie'd customers into believing "oh, that'll be fixed in the next release". Would you buy any other product knowing the "blue screen of death" was just around the corner? I doubt it.

The current push by the EU and some states here at home to move to open source operating systems and software has the potential to do more to improve MS products than 100,000 whiny emails from unsatisfied consumers.

Just so you blind/deaf MSmorons can flame me : I have been programming since 1978 with punch cards on an IBM/360. Owned or operated: Timex Sinclair, Apple II+,IIe, and IIc, an old Radio Shack PC (the model escapes me for the moment), and countless "pc" products both AMD and INTEL based. I have used DOS 3.0 and up, Windows 3.1 up to XP pro, OS2 3.0 and Warp4, Unix, SunOS, and about 10 different distros of linux.

You can't really have a valid opinion about Windows until you've tried other OS's. OS2/Warp4 was WAY better than Windows at the time - it ran on all my hardware, booted faster, NEVER crashed. In fact chances are the ATM you used last week is still running on OS2.

If you want to try something different and current and FREE, download a copy of PCLinuxOS, burn the CD and boot it. That's right - it runs from the CD. Something MicroBloat will never be able to do. Test your hardware running from the CD or even install it in a extended partition and boot it there. Of course, you might have to learn how to do something new.

Oh, and when you do install it - get a copy of parallels emulator and run Windows in a window and at the same speed if not faster than running it alone! Then when it crashes you don't have to hit the reset button, just re-launch it.

p.s. I don't want to smash your M$ loving face into anything, but I will laugh my butt off at you when you get yet another virus and malware program and have to close 250 IE pop-ups! Did you know linux users don't get ANY of that crap????

[Sai Wolf]

QUOTE: "p.s. I don't want to smash your M$ loving face into anything, but I will laugh my butt off at you when you get yet another virus and malware program and have to close 250 IE pop-ups! Did you know linux users don't get ANY of that crap????"

Go crawl back under your hole, fanboi.

Despite all the zealotry, Linux is an operating system, which means. It. Is. VULNERABLE. Even with IPTables, even with the snazzy kernel, even with the file system, you still can compromise it.

So I'll be laughing at you, when you get your first devastating virus. ;) Just imagine what it can do to those precious GCC compiled binaries! .ELF file mayhem! Kernel Panic anyone?

Anyway, back to the article. The only flops on there are BOB and WinME. Both were a joke, but no one is perfect. The person who said IBM did DOS 4.0 is right. And I've personally never used a Zune, so I cannot comment on that.

Oh, yes, I've used Linux. Love the OS. I dual boot with it at home. Vista Ultimate and Sabayon Linux (Gentoo derivative.) Both OS's have their pros and cons, but that's not what this blog post is about. So Linux fanbois, keep your trappers shut, unless you've something meaningful to say about these products past: "OMG M$ SUX0RZ". I'm sure the blogger and the rest of the intar-web will thank you. ;)

[shadows]

Hey let's all calm down a minute... let's not smash any body's face into their keyboards etc...

Personally, I just switched to Ubuntu, and although I have to learn new things, it is going pretty well so far. I changed because I got slightly fed up with windows, and I must agree with a previous poster, that the only thing microsoft sells that I am a fan of is MS Streets and trips. Not only that, but for me the one with gps in it is the best gps I've yet to try! (and I have tried quite a few) Of course that's only if you like lugging around your laptop with you, which I dont mind.

Otherwise I find MS to be a big waste of time and money!!!

[siraj]

The crux of this article should have been “Bill Gates had guts to making big mistakes which we do not”. OS war is on going and will stay the same, the point to understand here is “let’s make mistakes” ;)

[balram]

vista should be at #1 it sux big time!

[Anony-mouse]

The microsoft fanbois are out in force today.

[mkjones]

You use the term "The Internet" in number 8 when really you should be using the term "Web".

The Internet is the platform which we all use to access services such as Email, Online Gaming, IRC, Newsgroups, FTP and of course the Web (www).

Therefore the "Web" (World Wide Web) is just another part of the internet.

Anyway, nice article otherwise. I really liked your Vista comments. I too use and like Vista, but I see a shakey future for the OS.

[Anormous]

You know, when I was like 9 years old I found Clippy a very cool feature of Microsoft Office..

[Nemesis28]

This is wrong in almost every product listed except for maybe Bob.

Hell, the kid's plush toys were actually very popular back when they first came out.

Vista is a great OS. Not 1 problem except for installation but that was my fault for not correctly configuring my hard disk boot. It's sleek, shiny, has the most advanced graphics to date and the future too (DX10, DX10 b/2) Not to mention, it's just as easy, infact easier, then XP to use once you learn where everything is.

XP has to be the best OS out there to date, even though you didn't list anything XP related it's amazing how many people use XP then Mac's. Infact, I believe a world wide poll showed that triple as many people use XP then Mac's and double ammount of people use Ubunto/Linux then Mac's.

Zune is a great MP3 player and one to be reconned with against Ipods. Overall, I hate Ipods as Itunes SUCKS. If Itunes wasn't everything to do with Ipods, I wouldnt hate them so much. My Zune is great and the Wi-Fi is awsome too. Nothing Apple couldn't have come up with but sadly didnt because of their stupid half-assed Iphone that has proved to be almost a total flop. Maybe Iphone v2 will be worth it, MAYBE.

Microsoft designed 360, if you want to bash microsoft, might as well throw in Halo and 360 because it's under Microsoft's name.

You clearly state - "the OS that started it all" in your article about MSDOS. Tell me this, would Macs or possibly Linux exist today because of MSDOS? Most improbable. So MSDOS is the most sucessful out of the list you've placed up there.

As for Clippy, he was actually pretty cool. He gave some interesting tips I wouldnt find on my own. The one that should really be up there is that god damn dog on the Search thing. I hate it.

I never heard of the watch so I wont comment on it.

I never got the point of MSN Network so I simply ignored it. Doesn't mean it's a failure.

[Daniel]

Whoever said ""I liked where he said "Again, Microsoft did not seem to learn from the BOB experience of making things to simple" when referring to a 1993 program when, according to this article, BOB wasn't introduced until 1995.""

needs to read this...
he was reffering to ver.2 of the "1993" product which came out in 1996.
"Again, Microsoft did not seem to learn from the BOB experience, they launched a new version in 1996, A.B. (After BOB)."

[sylv3rblade]

ZOMG! it's a Barney actimate!
BURN! BURN!

I remember getting it as a gift one Christmas and.... *bbrrr*

[sesstreets]

Wait what? Zune failed? If I recall correctly doesn't the zune have twice the screen size? And a non-crappy scroll wheel interface?

Oh yeah, and wallpapers.

[Anonymous]

I have a Zune and absolutely love it. It's not complicated to use at all. Were you dropped on your head as a child? That might explain why you found it difficult.

[apple=gayness]

ZUNE FTW!, ipods suck.

[ute]

You forgot MS Mira- or isn't that an acknowledged flop yet, only 5 years later?

[himanshu]

wow...thats some great info..
I know that most of these are flops..but finding the list on a single page is awesome...
You have rightly said that unfortunately/fortunately, everyone makes mistakes.
I am linking this post as well as u on my blog.
~Himanshu~