Microsoft outside the US

AndyC said:

mdtauk said:

*snip*

But if they say "we can't answer that at the moment", it probably means "if we told you the exact reason, we'd p*ss off one or other of the suppliers and then the deal the lawyers have spent months working towards will go south rather quickly." Negotiations can often be very sensitive and talking about them openly doesn't necessarily help the process.

Then they can say "we are unable to discuss details with you right now, but we are in negotiations with various people hoping for a resolution in time for Windows Phone 7's launch in Europe"

It says nothing specific, gives us hope for launch, and explains what's happening.

ZippyV said:

Or speech recognition in Windows and Office.

 

Microsoft doesn't spend any money on development or marketing in Europe.

A lot of MSFT's dev teams are outside the US - EPDC (Ireland), Beijing, and India. there's quite a few thousand dev headcount in those centers.

fatfrank said:

ZippyV said:

*snip*

A lot of MSFT's dev teams are outside the US - EPDC (Ireland), Beijing, and India. there's quite a few thousand dev headcount in those centers.

And which dev centre is creating the localized versions?

ZippyV said:

fatfrank said:

*snip*

And which dev centre is creating the localized versions?

Ireland localizes for all the European languages

I was recently in France (Paris namely) and there was Apple adverts for the iPad everywhere. You literally couldn't get on the metro (underground) without seeing the Star Trek/iPad poster at least twice.

I think Microsoft just doesn't care about the rest of the world. The only reason the UK gets special treatment is because Microsoft UK is a fairly large entity within its own right.

Bas said:

wastingtimewithforums said:

*snip*

I see your ads and raise you these:

 

 

 

 

 

Nice, but can you counter this:

I think this one is unique to Germany, but I am not sure. Microsoft "sponsored" the national public broadcasters here (ZDF + ARD, they work exactly like the BBC), and now, when those stations cover an election in Germany, the Microsoft logo is shown.


Some local Open Source organisations are always furious when this happens.