Microsofts Top 10 Flops

BOB, a product Microsoft released in 1995, was set to be the next-generation interface for Windows 3.1. BOB was Microsofts first foray into making user interfaces more interactive and intuitive. (Clippy is the talking paperclip character that Microsoft u

Microsoft has rolled out a lot of versions of Windows since good old Windows 1.0 back in 1985. The most maligned of the bunch was Windows Millennium Edition, or Windows ME, which Microsoft introduced in 2000. ME was seen by many as a buggy upgrade with ne

While there is definitely a vociferous contingent of Tablet PC fans out there, the technology has been buggy and more expensive than expected. Many have been disappointed by the kinds of Tablet PC form factors — including the new generation of Ultra-Mobi

Theyre still big and dorky, even more than three years after the first Smart Personal Object Technology (SPOT) watch prototypes first hit the market. There still are no compelling apps or reasons to shell out hundreds of dollars for what are now known as

If antitrust fears hadnt put the kibosh on Microsofts plans to buy Intuit back in 1995, Microsoft might have been able to buy Quicken and turn its online banking product into a market leader. Instead, the Redmondians had to plod along with Microsoft Mon

No Microsoft look back can fail to mention the father of Windows, i.e., MS-DOS. Of all the QDOS (Quick and Dirty Operating System) derivatives, it seems to be the 4.0 release that Microsoft historians recall as the buggiest nightmare. Released in 1988, MS

Microsoft has taken several stabs at making a go of the digital TV space, to no avail. Anyone else remember Microsoft Tiger, the companys video-on-demand project launched back in the early 1990s? The companys not throwing in the towel on t

Microsofts partnership with NBC was never a smooth one. In December 2005, Microsoft basically pulled back from its NBC relationship. But that isnt stopping Microsoft from continuing its long-standing quest to be a content provider in its own right. The

Im still waiting to be bowled over by the need for presence and other always on technologies. Microsoft Watch readers know I am no fan of Live Meeting. But when asking others for input on this list, I wasnt the only one who thought Microso

Microsoft could have and should have done its own version of Linux. It could have bought a Linux distro vendor or just christened some branch of Windows (with some Unix-compatibility add-ons) as Microsoft Linux. By doing this, Microsoft could have thrown