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  4. Microsoft ignored focus group feedback about Clippy

Microsoft ignored focus group feedback about Clippy

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  • N newton saber

    If they'd been really smart, they never would've had a focus group in the first place. When they asked Steve Jobs why he didn't take customer feedback he replied something like: "Did Thomas Edison ask for feedback when he invented the lightbulb?" If you have to ask, then you probably don't know what is actually good anyway. :D Seriously, I take one look at Clippy and instantly know: LOSER! EDIT Here's another: Henry Ford said, "If I'd asked people what they wanted, they would have asked for a better horse."

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    Chris Maunder
    wrote on last edited by
    #5

    Except that Thomas Edison didn't invent the lightbulb. He just made a really, really good one. Much like much of the work of Mr Jobs.

    cheers Chris Maunder

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    • K Kent Sharkey

      Neowin[^]:

      While these things may count as reasons why Clippy was never well received, another reported problem of the dreaded assistant has just been unearthed: the Office Assistant was found to be too masculine by people.

      Wait. Let me get this straight. Microsoft. Ignored feedback. Really?

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      C Offline
      Chris Maunder
      wrote on last edited by
      #6

      Wait. Let me get this straight: The Office Assistant was found to be too masculine? :doh:

      cheers Chris Maunder

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      • C Chris Maunder

        Except that Thomas Edison didn't invent the lightbulb. He just made a really, really good one. Much like much of the work of Mr Jobs.

        cheers Chris Maunder

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        N Offline
        newton saber
        wrote on last edited by
        #7

        I know. I wondered how long it would take someone to point that out. I kept the quote as it was. I wonder if Jobs too knew Edison didn't actually invent the lightbulb but only made the filament last longer thus making it a commercially viable product. I think the point is that Steve Jobs could even bend a quote to suit his own needs. He was a genius after all. ;P

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        • N newton saber

          I know. I wondered how long it would take someone to point that out. I kept the quote as it was. I wonder if Jobs too knew Edison didn't actually invent the lightbulb but only made the filament last longer thus making it a commercially viable product. I think the point is that Steve Jobs could even bend a quote to suit his own needs. He was a genius after all. ;P

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          Chris Maunder
          wrote on last edited by
          #8

          Steve Jobs had an overactive aesthetic gland and to him, I suspect, a product wasn't a product (be it a light globe or a music player or a phone) until it was perfect (within the physical limitations of the time). No compromises, not pandering to comprises by committee. I'm extremely sad that's now gone. Apple will continue to refine, based on market feedback, what they have going, but I think the "innovations" that will now come out will be market driven forays into areas they can simply apply their legacy formula. That makes me sad. Very sad.

          cheers Chris Maunder

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          • C Chris Maunder

            Wait. Let me get this straight: The Office Assistant was found to be too masculine? :doh:

            cheers Chris Maunder

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            FIorian Schneidereit
            wrote on last edited by
            #9

            So why didn't they use that red rubber ball as default? :D Maybe too soft?

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            • C Chris Maunder

              Wait. Let me get this straight: The Office Assistant was found to be too masculine? :doh:

              cheers Chris Maunder

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              Brisingr Aerowing
              wrote on last edited by
              #10

              Yeah. I wonder what they were smoking to come up with that.

              What do you get when you cross a joke with a rhetorical question? The metaphorical solid rear-end expulsions have impacted the metaphorical motorized bladed rotating air movement mechanism. Do questions with multiple question marks annoy you???

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              • C Chris Maunder

                Steve Jobs had an overactive aesthetic gland and to him, I suspect, a product wasn't a product (be it a light globe or a music player or a phone) until it was perfect (within the physical limitations of the time). No compromises, not pandering to comprises by committee. I'm extremely sad that's now gone. Apple will continue to refine, based on market feedback, what they have going, but I think the "innovations" that will now come out will be market driven forays into areas they can simply apply their legacy formula. That makes me sad. Very sad.

                cheers Chris Maunder

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                newton saber
                wrote on last edited by
                #11

                I agree and I'm an Androider. I don't use Apple products. However, I'm currently reading the Walter Isaacson Bio of Steve Jobs and the best thing about Jobs was that he was The Visionary for the product. That is what Apple will truly miss. I honestly think Jobs was a user of the stuff that he (his team) was building. Then he was uber-opinionated about how he wanted to use those things. At times his opinions about things such as even the inside of the product looking beautiful was absolutely ridiculous since you have to get the product to market at a reasonable price. But, I'd much rather have a product by an Artist like Jobs than some person who churns out crap. Interesting discussion.

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                • B Brisingr Aerowing

                  Yeah. I wonder what they were smoking to come up with that.

                  What do you get when you cross a joke with a rhetorical question? The metaphorical solid rear-end expulsions have impacted the metaphorical motorized bladed rotating air movement mechanism. Do questions with multiple question marks annoy you???

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                  newton saber
                  wrote on last edited by
                  #12

                  But the little puppy dog and the Wizard dude!?! Awesome. Completely and totally Awesome. ;P

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                  • N newton saber

                    I agree and I'm an Androider. I don't use Apple products. However, I'm currently reading the Walter Isaacson Bio of Steve Jobs and the best thing about Jobs was that he was The Visionary for the product. That is what Apple will truly miss. I honestly think Jobs was a user of the stuff that he (his team) was building. Then he was uber-opinionated about how he wanted to use those things. At times his opinions about things such as even the inside of the product looking beautiful was absolutely ridiculous since you have to get the product to market at a reasonable price. But, I'd much rather have a product by an Artist like Jobs than some person who churns out crap. Interesting discussion.

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                    C Offline
                    Chris Maunder
                    wrote on last edited by
                    #13

                    The most important contribution Steve made was to say "no".

                    cheers Chris Maunder

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                    • K Kent Sharkey

                      Neowin[^]:

                      While these things may count as reasons why Clippy was never well received, another reported problem of the dreaded assistant has just been unearthed: the Office Assistant was found to be too masculine by people.

                      Wait. Let me get this straight. Microsoft. Ignored feedback. Really?

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                      C Offline
                      Cristian Amarie
                      wrote on last edited by
                      #14

                      "Too masculine"? I never saw Clippy, but I suppose it wasn't modeled after Pete Steele or Manowar. Next complain I suppose will be "too gay", "too white", "not child friendly" and so many political incorrectness whining. I want my Clippy to look like a zerg hydralisk, crawl over caption bars - if those still exists, and hissing and spitting to programs attempting to write in %PROGRAMFILES%.

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