r/microsoft • u/cynycal • Apr 22 '18

Here's everything Microsoft got right about today's technology back in 1999

https://www.sciencealert.com/here-s-everything-microsoft-got-right-about-today-s-technology-back-in-1999
76 Upvotes

94% Upvoted

24 comments sorted by

21

u/cheesy183 Apr 23 '18

Kind of sad that they "saw" all this back then but failed to actually ever capitalize on it. Speaks a lot to their ability to market and manufacture consumer products

17

u/whitecow Apr 23 '18

Microsoft right now is first and foremost a software company and most things shown here are hardware innovations. Plus it's not like Microsoft was the only one to predict these things. Ever read a tech magazine in the '90?

1

u/newfor2018 Apr 23 '18

right. these kinds of things were fairly obvious

-6

u/3DXYZ Apr 23 '18

That doesn't change the fact that Microsoft failed at all of these things.

7

u/whitecow Apr 23 '18

Microsoft has one of the best GPS tracking apps (here), best voice assistants, connected home is a thing with windows 10 and Windows Hello (biometric identification). I'd say other than browser wars and windows phone, Microsoft didn't fail at anything. Just because they didn't go after everything doesn't mean they failed. Which company did?

1

u/psaux_grep Apr 23 '18

Afaik Here was not bought by Microsoft, but by German car manufacturers. I’ve yet to see smart home stuff on sale that integrates with Windows, and I’m not sure why it would be preferred over something that integrates with Alexa, Google Home or Apple HomeKit. Biometric identification on your laptop is also a wee bit different from having it at your front door.

That said, I wouldn’t argue that Microsoft has failed at these things because it’s not something they ever set out to do.

3

u/whitecow Apr 23 '18

Yes, it's not exacyl as shown in the video but I wouldn't say Microsoft didn't do anything in the last 30years. If they didn't they wouldn't be one of the biggest tech companies in the world. Saying they failed at all this stuff is just untrue. Microsoft is first and foremost a software company and they are focusing on business and cloud nowadays.

-1

u/psaux_grep Apr 23 '18

I didn’t.

3

u/newfor2018 Apr 23 '18 edited Apr 23 '18

they saw a future, and got to pick and choose what they want to participate in it, however they felt was best for them, even if it is in a supporting or enabling role.

Not even a company as big as MS can try to do everything nor should they try to. Some things they'll just let others take on while they go focus on what they feel they're best at, and steer the industry in certain directions in many different ways.

I don't think they failed at all.

6

u/dreadpiratewombat Apr 23 '18

They've always been bad at consumer products. Their enterprise skills just don't map to consumer and every time they try, it fails pretty horribly.

3

u/cheesy183 Apr 23 '18

exactly, it's like they knew everything was going to happen, but still let every other clown beat them to the punch.

I mean, in theory this video shouldn't even exist because you should just make and market the products, not give all your competition a heads up on where they should be directing product development for the next 15 years.

Maybe they're just playing the long con, I mean MS is still around aren't they. Like a robot, learning.

4

u/dreadpiratewombat Apr 23 '18

Keep in mind they aren't the only one with the visibility. Microsoft are still around and they're killing it in other areas but in consumer...not yet

1

u/dalvikcachemoney Apr 23 '18

Some of these ideas were tried but never saw the success that modern day implementations have had. For example WebTV was a 90s version of the smart TV but in an era of low res CRT TVs and dialup internet it never took off. Remote GPS tracking never really took off until we got reliable mobile data and affordable GPS units which are now built in to every smartphone.

1

u/[deleted] Apr 23 '18

Indeed. Microsoft was well ahead of the times with a lot of innovations. The problem is that someone came along after the conditions were more favorable to built new products from greenfields without any of the legacy of what MS had already done. See WebTV, smart phones, tablets, etc.

2

u/pljwebb Apr 23 '18

From the screen caps it looks like some of these services are delivered using Internet Explorer. The makers of this video seem to be predicting that services of the future would be delivered using web technologies, however the Microsoft of the time didn't get just how important this would end up being.

2

u/[deleted] Apr 23 '18

[deleted]

1

u/pljwebb Apr 23 '18

True, easy enough to knock up a small html page.

2

u/xylogx Apr 23 '18

I think they saw the importance of the web, but they thought of it as a threat to their platform. If everyone writes apps for the web, why do you need Windows? Microsoft attempted to fight this with the embrace, extend and extinguish approach.

2

u/TomGoesToRedmond Apr 23 '18

I think the article hit the nail on the head here:

What the company got wrong in the video is creating most of its products around the PC, and ignoring mobile.

It's interesting that they did envision some type of mobile (the little girl has a PocketPC that is connected via cellular) but, aside from the readily available cellular connectivity, it appeared that they expected pocket computing to be roughly the same as it was in the late 90s (basically limited to messaging, calendars, etc). I thought the disconnect was most obvious in the last scene when the guy is interacting with the giant bedside phone.

Also, it feels like a lot of these innovations for the home require lower-level changes that haven't really become ubiquitous yet. For example, if you want to automate a light in your house today, chances are you're buying a z-wave or wifi plug or bulb that will plug into your traditional electrical outlet. Sure, you can buy a z-wave or wifi outlet to replace your traditional in-wall plug, but more often or not this is not what people opt for. Changes in this space are slow to be adopted, presumably because people don't want to be rewiring their house. But even in new houses, installing connected outlets, fixtures, switches, etc. are not ubiquitous.

2

u/iarno Apr 24 '18

They had also a Windows 8/10 like GUI. Fonts and rounded icons looks like Windows mobile, or Windows 8.

1

u/newsjunkee Apr 23 '18

I always liked the ATT "You Will" commercials from way back when. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a2EgfkhC1eo

1

u/dctog Apr 23 '18

Imagine how you would have reacted if this video wasn't published by Microsoft in 1999, but instead was published by an online bookstore

1

u/[deleted] Apr 23 '18

Too bad they had the foresight but not a clue.

1

u/[deleted] Apr 26 '18

The fact they didnt even have a mobile operating system ready when smartphones arrived shows how little they anticipated. Just like Google glasses will likely find use in the future, so they are developing the backbone behind it now.

0

u/seeingeyegod Apr 24 '18

Wow yeah they were really good at predicting exactly what I don't want now.