Fine, they are "undead" products. I reiterate that the consumer is aware of them as failed experiments, not as "subtle redirections forming the core of a new flagship product".
I don't know how many google searches you want me to provide you with. Here is the top result for [Microsoft brand]. Admittedly it is from 2010. However, it is not an isolated example.
Consumers have turned their backs on Microsoft. A company that once symbolized the future is now living in the past.
Microsoft has been late to the game in crucial modern technologies like mobile, search, media, gaming and tablets. It has even fallen behind in Web browsing, a market it once ruled with an iron fist.
Here's something from a few days ago reinforcing my position.
The articles you link to state that MS has brand problem. I agree with that. It isn't "cool", and people don't identify with it. As your quotes say, they are behind the times.
What I am disgreeing with is the original suggestion that these brand problems are the result of products that are abandoned quickly and/or have no future. I do not think that consumers regard Silverlight as a failed experiment, I don't think they know what it is, or that it even exists.
I think Microsoft's brand problem is that they are not seen as interesting or innovative, not that they ditch their products too quickly.
I don't know how many google searches you want me to provide you with. Here is the top result for [Microsoft brand]. Admittedly it is from 2010. However, it is not an isolated example.
"Microsoft is a dying consumer brand"
http://money.cnn.com/2010/10/27/technology/microsoft_pdc/ind...
Consumers have turned their backs on Microsoft. A company that once symbolized the future is now living in the past.
Microsoft has been late to the game in crucial modern technologies like mobile, search, media, gaming and tablets. It has even fallen behind in Web browsing, a market it once ruled with an iron fist.
Here's something from a few days ago reinforcing my position.
http://www.zdnet.com/blog/hardware/microsofts-branding-crisi...