If you’re using Windows XP with a product key of dubious origin, you may have noticed that your computer just got a lot more obnoxious.
microsoft
AOL Officially Sucks More Than Anything Else
By 5.29.06
Every time we post a story bashing AOL, Gawker overlord Nick Denton forgets that he fired us the day before. So our jobs should be safe for at least a few days now that we can share the news that PC World has given AOL the prestigious prize of the worst tech product of all time:
Microsoft Fingerprint Reader Does Passwords, Not Security
By 4.28.06
We hate remembering passwords. We have enough arbitrary code phrases in our life to remember, like the one we have to try to remember when our girlfriend cinches that plastic sack over our head. So Microsoft’s Fingerprint Reader software seemed pretty cool to us.
Deceptive Mouseprint Advertising Given Boldface Exposure
By 4.19.06
The Mouseprint blog is dedicated to pointing out the hilarious juxtaposition between the the big bold print in ads and the sometimes completely contradictory caveats buried in the fine print.
See You in the Funnies, MPAA/RIAA
By 4.19.06
Hi-larious webcomic skewering the DRM Nazis’ ‘business model.’
Cheap Ass Gamer’s 360 CSR Horror Story
By 4.10.06
Over at Cheap Ass Gamer, we saw a nightmarish Customer Support story of which we’re positively covetous. It features everything you could hope from an unsatisfactory support issue: a blubbering CS department outsourced to a Texan Down’s Syndrome group home. The suggestion that the customer could fix his problem by buying more of the company’s stuff. Expensive replacement systems going missing in the mail. The wrong product being sent back to the customer. Calls from customer support telling the customer that the unit they just sent to him wasn’t actually fixed. And, all in all, a two month wait time from initial report of the problem to resolution.
Remainders
By 4.4.06
What If Microsoft Designed The “What If Microsoft Designed The iPod Box” Video?
By 3.15.06
A couple weeks ago, we posted a video that has been taking the Internet by storm: What If Microsoft Designed The iPod Box? At the time, we wondered about the funny guys who’d so perfectly hoisted Microsoft’s petard.
This Week in: Best Stories
By 3.3.06
Here’s your favorite posts of the week to reminisce over a glass of vermouth and an old corsage. Here’s looking at you, top stories.
What If… Microsoft Designed the iPod Box?
By 3.1.06
This has been going around lately, but is directly indicative of the cluelessness of corporate branding philosophies that we at the Consumerist so love to rail against.
Step-By-Step Guide On Reselling PS3s
By 2.7.06
Do you want to get rich by playing the supply-exploit-demand eBay game on the next big video game console? Did you see those ridiculous $1000 X-Box 360 eBay auctions and think, “Man, I wish I could get in on some of that exploitive action?” Your prayers have been answered, because this blog has a remarkably sleazy and delusional article up on the fine art of console reselling.
Microsoft Declines Releasing Fix For Data-Destroying Worm
By 2.2.06
Despite the fact that tomorrow is D-Day for the computer worm lurking in many unsuspecting users’ systems — causing it to suddenly activate and destroy all of their Microsoft Office files — Microsoft has let everyone know that they won’t be releasing a fix for the Kama Sutra worm until — appropriately enough — Valentine’s Day.
Exhaustive Look at X-Box 360 Warranty
By 1.24.06
Every once and a while, someone who means well will invalidate their own point by maniacally and incompetently overstating it. Such is this piece over at 2old2play.com, regarding your consumer’s rights as an X-Box 360 owner.
Xbox Live Gold Breaks When Using Other Microsoft Premium Services
By 12.17.05
Some Xbox 360 users have found that signing up for Xbox Live Gold while also having another Microsoft premium service, like MSN Music or MSN Direct, causes the following message to be displayed. The not quite literal quote:
“Your account has been suspended due to a problem with your payment option. Please use a different payment option or update your current information in Account Management.”
Even worse, when trying to troubleshoot the problem with Microsoft Xbox tech support, some of the reps have recommended deleting the Xbox profile and creating a new one, leading to the loss of customers’ saved games. Microsoft community liaison ‘Major Nelson’ said they were testing a fix on the first of December, but it has yet to show up.
Vertical Xbox 360s Scratch Discs?
By 12.13.05
Could positioning the Xbox 360 vertically—the way it’s shown in almost all its ads—actually scratch game and movie discs? That’s the explanation offered by one Microsoft customer service rep, who went on to explain that Microsoft would not be replacing discs scratched due to using to the Xbox in the ‘improper’ position.
