Windows Central Podcast 83: Setting expectations

Zac & Dan - I really enjoy and look forward to these podcasts. Any chance you guys could upload them in a more timely manner? Most of my listening happens on the road, so Mixer isn't nearly as convenient an option as the podcast.

Yes. We will be getting these up much faster. However, this episode was an exception because my internet has been down and without internet, you can't upload the show!

You guys are not serious about your podcast efforts. I mean this episode is from Feb 16, why even bother to upload now on podcast services or youtube? All the discussion is old in today's context. I listen to podcasts on my commute as lot of people do; not when its live. I listen to very few podcasts most of which are tech related. Windows Weekly, that's how you do a podcast. Windows Weekly: Recorded 2 pm to 4 pm Eastern and 5 pm ET its out on Play music and all other services, worst case its out by 8 pm or next day. Windows Central: recorded on Friday, will be out when you feel like, lol. Best case, it will be out Monday, which frankly I don't remember when was the last time it was your best case. I had to replace WC podcast from my podcats lists, The WAN show took your place lol which frankly is at least more serious about their podcast than you are.

While I wouldn't mind them releasing it sooner, at least with this specific podcast episode the content is not at all irrelevant because of when it was released. Even when they talk about something in which there may also be an article already released, the conversational part of the podcast is more interesting than just reading an article. It's just my opinion, but I don't find it that big of a deal.

Well, I do find it to be a big deal, specially when I know that they have the product ready and can release it sooner if they seriously want to. While this podcast might be ok in terms of content, in most of the cases content becoms irrelevant after 2 weeks. Besides, as far as the goodness of listening to conversation is, sure, that's why we listen to podcast and there are other "better" MS centric podcast options too, which do better job at it. It would be so much cooler if they could timely release the recording. And where is the last week's podcast? Its Wednesday already this week. P.S. lol, I can't believe I am explaining someone that content in journalism should be released on time, smh. 

We did not record an episode last week.

The on-demand version of this podcast was late because my internet has packed up. Hard to upload the show when you don't have internet. We try to get the show out on the Monday or Tuesday after we record on Friday. Apologies for the frustration this has caused.

Some of the statements are somewhat disturbing...in particular the statement about Andromeda might not running Centennial apps initially. I mean WoA does not only support Centennial packaged Win32 Apps but any sideloaded Win32 x86 and ARM64 app. So why does Microsoft start again with artificial restrictions here?

Andromeda worries me, and only because of who is making it. Were Samsung or Apple to do this, I would have more realistic expectations. However, Microsoft's hardware efforts in the last 3 years or so leave a lot to be desired. There are a few big reasons: Cost: Dan said that the Surface team has been "killing it" for the past few years. Me, I think they've been turning their brand into Apple for a while. Their biggest paradigm shift has been to upcharge on their products. The Surface Pro has been increasing in price while failing to add much, if anything. In the case of the latest model, they raised the price, took the pen away (while raising its price as a standalone product), then took away a lot of the personality of the product by making the black Type Cover the only base keyboard--the other 3 (rather lame) colors are a $30 upcharge as well. The Surface Laptop continues to be a $700-800 laptop at a $1,000+ price tag, while being an antiquated hardware design itself. The Surface Studio's price tag is just insane. They're pricing themselves like a niche product, preferring per-device margins over marketshare. I worry Andromeda, in a manner similar to HoloLens, is going to make itself a hard sell to consumers with a hefty initial cost, especially if they don't go through carriers. As Dan says Microsoft doesn't says "enterprise," putting Andromeda at $1,000+ will essentially FORCE it into that niche market, just as the price of HoloLens did. Commitment: This makes it even more concerning. Again, if this were a competing company, I would have more faith in this product. However, we've watched Microsoft flounder and throw in the towel on numerous products in a frustration over the desire for instant gratification. Band, Kinect, W10M, and the Nokia acquisition are among the ways Microsoft has been really quick to pull the plug on a product. You touch on this in the podcast, and it's fair and expected these days. It's one thing to charge $1,000 for Andromeda as a stable company with a stable product line. Microsoft really hasn't been that for a while. Yes, it's under the Surface brand, but you mentioned the Mini, and we had the Surface RT, both of which were proof the brand doesn't prove long-term commitment or success. If I had faith Microsoft would push Andromeda well and commit to it for 3, 5, 10 years, I could stomach $1,000. Smartphones are usually $600-800 themselves. Yeah, $1,000 would still be quite the market, but hte functionality and experience would be worth it, if Microsoft could convince people they're not just the next lab rats to get left in the cold. So...expectations are impossible. It sounds like a really cool device I'd like to see and try and even own. It's just an inescapable fear that I'd throw a grand out there for a device that will be defunct in 2 years, a typical act from Microsoft. I agree that a spring announcement, finally being on a near-level playing field with the other OEMs using the same hardware (the newest, Snapdragon 845 stuff is getting announced at MWC 2018 this week), would be a first step to showing they aren't a "me too" hardware company. I hope it isn't something where they do a spring announcement for a fall launch, that would be lame. It wouldn't be too far off what HoloLens did, but a 6-month gap would be hard to stomach.

They already have a just Surface product, it's called Surface 3 or 2 etc... Why called something just a Surface when they already have that product name? That's like Ford calling a new car called Mustang but it's way different than the original. I'm just saying, "Surface Note" is a far better name, it's short and sweet, and gets to the point. It also is probably more better when people are jotting down notes, in One Note on their Surface Note. See that makes far more better sense. Other names that i would be ok with "Surface Pocket, Surface Journal, or Surface N for Note.

Good argument. I wasn't fond of Note cuz Samesung but I can see how a Surface Note could change the name game.