Microsoft Quote, Opinions?

[MrRoboto19XX]

http://www.cnn.com/2005/TECH/fun.gam...box.glitch.ap/

In all honesty, my aim is not to sound like a fanboy. I simply read this article, and microsoft's response sort of got to me. The story essentially is, some people have been having some trouble with their Xbox 360s in isolated reports. Microsoft's response to the problem was:

"It's what you would expect with a consumer electronics instrument of this complexity .... par for the course."

Now, is it just me, or does that sound a bit cocky to you? It comes across like microsoft is essentially saying "Get over it, youre lucky we let you play our latest console."


Secondly, is this acceptable in the console gaming market? whereas a computer can be fixed with a patch, a console itself has considerably more trouble.

My opinion is that the whole thing seems fishy, I recall 6 months ago when the 360 seemed...dubious. All I'm saying is that I think although you cant prevent all mishaps of this sort, a lot could be fixed by some more testing. This is most certainly not "par for the course", people just dont give much of a fuss because theyre used to this sort of thing happening, especially with microsoft.

But thats just my opinion, and Id like to hear others' thoughts on the matter.

[Arkaign]

Well, to be fair, this isn't really an offical statement per se, it's just this 'spokeswoman', who's probably hellishly stressed, trying to get some nagging people off of her back. So if anything, it's just sloppy. Microsoft employs thousands of people, and can't keep them all under absolute control. Another thing to consider is that quite often 'spokesperson' is what they call people with too little knowledge or experience to work in more lucrative fields

And finally, from the summary of how Microsoft is handling replacements, it sounds like they're doing what they can.

I'm no Microsoft fan, but I don't see any evidence that they are mishandling anything too seriously this time. I mean it looks like they maybe could have used just a little more development and QA time, but that would have meant missing the Xmas window and launch date, and would have millions up in arms cussing them and giving them a bad name. If a small % of 360 owners have problems, and they fix those problems out of their own pockets, then it's not so bad really.

I do think the design sort of sucks, as it is. But that's just my opinion. I have serious qualms about the cooling system employed, and that gimp of a hdd they selected. Even so, most 360s work (or can be fixed/updated), and most owners so far are pretty happy. Good for them.

[swlovinist]

Well, gamestores in our were hardly affected AT ALL. I am getting the feeling that there were problems, but that the thing is getting alot of NEGATIVE PUBLICITY. The funny thing is, the ones that are defective are BEING REPLACED FREE OF CHARGE. That sounds like good customer service to me. Yes, Microsoft is going to announce that the problem is isolated, who wouldn't? The problem to me sounds isolated. Launch systems are going to have bugs, it just matters on how companies adress the bugs that matters. I can tell you on a PR note that Microsoft is doing everthing they can to make sure that everyone has a working system asap. On a side note, I own a 360 and have had ZERO problems.

[Arkaign]

Well, gamestores in our were hardly affected AT ALL. I am getting the feeling that there were problems, but that the thing is getting alot of NEGATIVE PUBLICITY. The funny thing is, the ones that are defective are BEING REPLACED FREE OF CHARGE. That sounds like good customer service to me. Yes, Microsoft is going to announce that the problem is isolated, who wouldn't? The problem to me sounds isolated. Launch systems are going to have bugs, it just matters on how companies adress the bugs that matters. I can tell you on a PR note that Microsoft is doing everthing they can to make sure that everyone has a working system asap. On a side note, I own a 360 and have had ZERO problems.

Yep, that's basically the exact same thing I said, and I'm a well-documented non-fan of Microsoft, lol.

There ARE documented problems, and to it's credit, Microsoft seems to be handling them with expedience and fairness. The problems also seem to be a fraction of the units sold, it's hardly a massive defect.

[Ulticron]

I'm another one of the Non-MS fans, I use their products because they're there, not because I love them. Honestly though they're doing better than sony on customer service. First let's remember the JP PSP defective button and game ejection issue of earlier this year, or was that last year, not sure but anyways Sony's answer was simply "DEAL WITH IT!". Then Sony announces how ungodly expensive the PS3 may cost and they're like "YOU WILL HAVE TO EARN OUR CONSOLE!" That's alot less customer friendly, basically that's just saying crap on you dummy you will buy our products and we're god.

The whole bit where the spokesperson said:

"It's what you would expect with a consumer electronics instrument of this complexity" Should have more correctly read "It's what you've come to expect from Microsoft by now." but that can't be said so the more clean statment was said. As long as Microsoft is replacing the defective ones free of charge and doing it w/o any real hassle then they're doing a good job.