____/ Mark Kent on Wednesday 08 August 2007 10:46 : \____
> Roy Schestowitz <newsgroups@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> espoused:
>> ____/ Mark Kent on Tuesday 07 August 2007 18:24 : \____
>>
>>> nessuno@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx <nessuno@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> espoused:
>>>> Here's a fuller quote on the XBox analysis:
>>>>
>>>><Quote>
>>>> · The temperature gap with room temp was 22 degrees C. "When designing
>>>> consumer products, it is common to seek a temperature gap of around 10
>>>> degrees C between exhaust and room temperatures," the thermal design
>>>> expert said. "The 22 degrees C is quite a large gap..."
>>>>
>>>> · The cooling fan was half of desktop PCs-apparently to reduce noise.
>>>>
>>>> · The expert pointed out, "The heat sink on the graphics LSI is so
>>>> small, I wonder if it can really cool down the board." The reason for
>>>> this? Apparently, Microsoft had to downsize the graphics LSI heat sink
>>>> so that the DVD drive could be placed above it.
>>>>
>>>> · In five minutes after booting up a game, the graphic LSI heat sink
>>>> temp rose to 70 degrees C. In 15 minutes, the temperature for the
>>>> microprocessor heat sink stabilized at 58 degrees, but the graphics
>>>> LSI heat sink reached 80 degrees C. If the room temperature was high
>>>> (like 35 degrees C), the heat sink could possibly hit 100 degrees C.
>>>> What's more, if the vents were clogged with dust, the temperature
>>>> could also increase.
>>>>
>>>> · The console repaired in May 2007 did not have a new heat sink placed
>>>> in it.
>>>> This is bad design. Really, really bad.
>>>></Quote>
>>>>
>>>
>>> This is a disaster. It sounds to me like the problem stems from
>>> "requirements creep". It's a common problem in any technical project.
>>> The initial specification probably didn't have an HD-DVD drive, the
>>> whole machine was specc'ed for something smaller. At a much later
>>> stage, Microsoft started doing deals with film studios and Toshiba to
>>> promote a particular HD-DVD format, and needed to get it into their Xbox
>>> Mk2. Unfortunately, it was too late to have the board reworked, so a
>>> bodge was worked out where the heatsink was replaced with a smaller one,
>>> leaving just enough room to squeeze in the new, larger, DVD drive.
>>>
>>> The designers did not agree with the change, but in the end, were
>>> pressured into accepting it by senior management (have I see this
>>> before ;-)? The consequence is that all the "negative" people who said
>>> it wouldn't work and why have been shown not to be being "negative",
>>> rather, they were just presenting the facts.
>>>
>>> No doubt the paper trail in Microsoft will not arrive at the person who
>>> forced the decision through - such people are usually far too cautious
>>> to allow such things to be linked with them in any way.
>>
>> Remember all the batteries that Sony recalled. Last week I read something
>> new in CNET. Sony recalled tens of thousands of cameras. Do you know why?
>> Because the design could, over time, scratch the hand of the person holding
>> it. Now, that's resposibility.
>
> I worked for quite some time, on and off, in maintenance around various
> kinds of consumer and professional electronics, and I do recall the
> pretty much every company we worked with, from pretty much any corner of
> the planet (corner?!? :-), would take design flaws seriously. In the
> main, they would supply kits for re-working the equipment, and would pay
> a reasonable sum of money for repair-shops to make the fix, although
> they did insist that the retailer should cover some of it out of their
> margin.
>
>>
>> Microsoft, on the other hand, must (1) freeze the market; (2) screw the
>> customer; (3) use its PR forced to lie, deceive, and hide the problem. It's
>> all here, in one paragraph from a recent interview.
>
> They really do things differently in Redmond, don't they?
>
>>
>>
>> Cringely the Unemployable on the fallacy of Web 2.0, Microsoft ruthlessness,
>> and the CB radio of our decade
>>
>> ,----[ Quote ]
>>| Davidson: Which software company would you hate to compete against? What
>>| makes you single them out?
>>|
>>| Cringely: Microsoft of course. They have the deepest of pockets, unlimited
>>| ambition, and they are willing to lose money for years and years just to
>>| make sure that you don't make any money, either. And they are mean, REALLY
>>| mean.
>>|
>>| Davidson: Why do you think Microsoft is mean? Are you implying some kind of
>>| malicious intent rather than just ruthlessness?
>>|
>>| Cringely: Maybe "mean" is the wrong word to use for Microsoft. "Ruthless"
>>| is good. The company is built in the image of Bill Gates and Bill is a guy
>>| who gets caught-up in the game of business and doesn't typically see its
>>| personal cost. To use what might seem to be an obscure example, just look
>>| at all the various partnerships and industry consortia that Microsoft has
>>| announced through the years that never produced a product or even a usable
>>| specification. There have been literally dozens of these operations that
>>| are intended solely to freeze the competition until Microsoft can figure
>>| what the heck it actually wants to do. To Microsoft its a PR exercise that
>>| helps them compete but to customers it is just a damned lie. That's
>>| ruthless. There are plenty of other examples I can give but you get the
>>| point. I represent the concerns of users, not vendors, and Microsoft
>>| doesn't really care about users.
>> `----
>>
>> http://blog.businessofsoftware.org/2007/07/cringely-the-un.html
>>
>> Learn and watch. That's how it works at Microsoft. The defect/freeze/lie
>> cycle also shows its ugly face in Zune and Vista (I can't think of many Zune
>> lies, however, other than lies about sales figure. namely delivered vs
>> sold).
>>
>
> I recall specifically a conversation with a work colleague shortly after
> wfw3.11 had been released, and we were discussing whether it was worth
> updating some proprietary package we used. I don't recall the package,
> but I do recall him saying "oh, it won't be worth it, Microsoft have
> announced that they're going to bundle it in with the next version of
> Windows for free".
>
> Of course, "free" is interesting, as Windows wasn't free, but the real
> issue was that the vapourware annoucement had the desired effect, it had
> grown up, intelligent, people, making completely irrational decisions on
> the basis of press releases from Microsoft.
>
> Now, how stupid is that?
Microsoft said that WinFS will have been ready by 2003. I'm not even sure it
will materialise. Ever! Certainly not as part of the core.
--
~~ Best of wishes
Beware the Windows box spewage (more commonly known as "spam")
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