Technology is problematic to make and even tougher to predict . What can seem like a breakthrough mathematical product one minute of arc , can quickly release into a nightmarish mistake .
Last week , I askedwhat were the boastful technical school gaffe in history . This question was prompted , in part , by the dreary sale of Amazon ’s Fire Phone , which the company ’s quarterly reportconfirmed with horrific going .
But as you all point out , Amazon is n’t alone , but what defines a “ failure ” prompt some interesting answers . Of of course , there are the obvious one — stacks of Microsoft software for instance . However , a few seem successful ( and in fact were at the sentence ) , but maybe sent a company in the absolute improper guidance . In other cases , some gadgets were actually big , peradventure even radical , but it was the companies behind them that were unsighted to what they had create .
Whatever the reason , here are 9 of the biggest brass palms in technical school history .
Nexus Q
Google does a lot right . Snatching up Android ? Pretty whole . Developing amazing software and smartphone tools ? Not too speculative . Oh , and that lookup engine is n’t too bad either . But even the biggest companies ca n’t break away the periodic tech boner , and Nexus Q was exactly that . Announced in 2012 , Google handed out this $ 300 digital sensitive player screw as Nexus Q to everyone see the 2012 Google I / atomic number 8 league .
After experience abysmal feedback ( primarily its price versus part disparity ) , Google pull the gimmick from its store and basically gave them out for free to whoever actually pre - ordered one . You ’ve got to hand it to Google , though . At least they know a bad affair when they see one . countenance ’s just trust Google Glass ( which many of you also bring up ) can nullify succeeding iteration of this lean .
Microsoft Kin
The Microsoft Kinshould always be at the top of the tilt when talking about failure in tech . The thing is it was a nerveless machine , just price very wrong . standardised to the Fire Phone had Amazon given up , trash it , and stopped selling it in a few workweek .
viaCaptain Jack
Apple Lisa
The Lisa lactate , irksome , over designed , lacking not just the affordability but also the serviceableness of the Mac . Even the Lisa ’s most innovative OS features that the Mac lacked , such as pre-emptive multitasking and protected retention , were n’t very useful on such a hobbled CPU .
viaRandy Hill
Windows Vista
Windows Vista , which was fundamentally Windows 7 Beta without the Beta ticket .
viaSean F.
What is there to say about Vista ? Even after an drawn-out genus Beta menstruum , this notoriously horrible bone was hassle with compatibility proceeds and was unforgivably slow . There just was n’t anything to love , and certainly nothing worth desolate Windows XP for . Luckily , Windows 7 sorted out a fate of the mess Vista created .
Nintendo 64 (Cartridges)
Though I love lovemaking love the N64 , Nintendo ’s decision to get with go-cart really blew their dominance in the diligence . Especially when considering that theywere dipping their ft in the optic medium pool , solve with Sony to uprise aCD add - on for the SNES . Once Nintendo pull out of the labor , the PlayStation was born . Way to shoot yourself in the ft .
viaOvy
I also have intercourse the N64 ( GoldenEye , amirite ? ) , but ditching Sony is a awful fact that in all probability end up injure Nintendo more than it helped .
Alto
The single biggest botch in Tech is Alto . Xerox PARC developed the first PC in 1973 . They send for it Alto . It had a computer mouse . It had a graphical UI . Instead of certify it , they let guys like Steve Jobs and Bill Gates look at it and take the air aside with idea to be developed after . Xerox could have had a spell of every PC ever sold .
viaDragonBreath
Microsoft Bob
I care I could say that Vista was the only operating system on this inclination , but Microsoft has a penchant for creating software that turns out to be a nightmare ( we wo n’t even talk aboutWindows ME ) . Microsoft Bob seek to weirdly reimagine the internet as a house with sure object standing in for app . Needless to say , that did n’t go over well and neither did its offensively cute invention . Also , the most hate baptistery of all time , Comic Sans , was make for Microsoft Bob . Man , this thing just sucks .
Netbooks
Those crummy little thing were soft to carry , and that ’s about all they had go for them . They had pathetic ironware that could hardly keep going Windows , which made every task one attempted intensely thwarting .
viaKafovofa
Cyberdyne’s Skynet
Cyberdyne creating Skynet was a bit of a misstep …
viaKeefka
Now , I was go to decamp over this small put-on , but after discover Elon Musk ’s reiterated concern of artificial intelligence atMIT ’s symposiumthis retiring week — saying that creating AI is like “ summoning the demon“—I’m break to leave just leave it right here . Not so much as a part of technical school history , but perchance anupcoming problem in our technical school future tense .
Got any other tech disasters that deserve a mention ? send them below .
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