06.22.09
Zune and Xbox Still Circling Down the Drain After Long Downtime
Summary: Microsoft’s latest case study in technological incompetence
IF a Google service goes down for a few hours, then the pro-Microsoft press makes a lot of noise about it. When Microsoft’s Azure goes down for 22 hours, hardly anyone cares. Frankly, whereas Google gets slammed harshly if GMail is unavailable (as a Web interface) for a short period of time, the press seems surprisingly apathetic or even apologetic when Microsoft suffers worse issues. The definition of a “hypocrite” (by some sources) is one who applies to others the standards he or she won’t apply to him/herself. This makes Microsoft a true hypocrite.
“The Xbox exodus is a real ongoing problem and the same goes for Zune as well.”Anyway, on with the new story. The Xbox exodus is a real ongoing problem and the same goes for Zune as well. Both suffered from the departure of those who ran these abysmal projects. To make matters worse, several days ago Microsoft took down XBox and Zune services for a whole day. When the services came back they did not even work properly. It bodes poorly for Microsoft’s already-poor reputation when it comes to reliability and uptime. Here are some reports on the subject:
i. Xbox Live Marketplace in Coma, Needs Wake-Up Call
Yesterday, we reported on the maintenance of Xbox Live, which brought down the service for a full 24 hours. Xbox Live came back online just a few moments before midnight PST. Playing online is functioning just fine, as are most of the features of the service. The marketplace, however, is in rough shape.
ii. Typical: Xbox Live downtime leads to Xbox Live problems
After spending all of Tuesday offline, Xbox Live is back with a bang … or is that a whimper? Reports are coming in from all over the Internet of Live Marketplace not working properly and games disappearing off the face of the Earth. Oh Microsoft, will you ever win?
iii. Xbox Live returns after being off all day yesterday, but now some things are broken
After Microsoft shut down Xbox Live for over twenty-four hours yesterday, their online gaming service for the Xbox 360 is back online, but it’s not working correctly for many users.
iv. Xbox Live having issues after maintenance
After yesterday’s 24 hour maintenance session for Xbox Live, the service is operational again but appears to have some problems. Certain games from the marketplace have a purchase option, but not an option to download
v. Xbox Live still a little funky after those there updates
Hey there, amigo. Have you logged onto Xbox Live today? Don’t! Well, not unless you’re looking forward to dealing with a few post-maintenance glitches.
vi. Xbox Live’s Return Brings Xbox Live Issues
At least we know they are aware of the problem. I’m just hoping they fix things soon, as I am starting to feel the shakes of pre-emptive Magic withdrawal.
vii. Xbox Live Still Down- Microsoft May Have Surprises
Some issues are pending and needs to be wind up before they close the scheduled maintenance so you are asked to hold on to the panicking mails which are being send across.
And yes, it’s also a Zune issue:
viii. Xbox Live STILL Down On June 16th: Microsoft Says It Could Take 24 Hours
According to Yahoo News, “there will not be Zune Social, Zune Marketplace or Zune.net forums in that time either…”
This will serve as another important lesson in Microsoft’s failures with technology. █
pcolon said,
June 22, 2009 at 6:26 am
-”When Microsoft’s Azure goes down for 22 hours, hardly anyone cares.”
Who uses it to even notice it’s not there?
David Gerard Reply:
June 22nd, 2009 at 6:51 am
Yeah. Gmail going down for two hours is news because people actually use it. Like the Facebook TOS change appearing ON THE FRONT PAGE OF THE METRO! Because journalists and bored office workers are its main userbase
(I already live in my Gmail. I type stuff I need to remember into an email to myself specifically so I can search for it later.)
Roy Schestowitz Reply:
June 22nd, 2009 at 6:54 am
You might want to put personal information on a personal server.
David Gerard Reply:
June 22nd, 2009 at 6:57 am
*cough* well yeah. But it’s OK! Google are Not Evil! And they’d never give information to an oppressive government unless they, like, asked for it or something!
Roy Schestowitz Reply:
June 22nd, 2009 at 7:08 am
Indeed.
David Gerard said,
June 22, 2009 at 6:52 am
“there will not be Zune Social, Zune Marketplace or Zune.net forums in that time either…”
I’m sure both users will be very upset.
Roy Schestowitz Reply:
June 22nd, 2009 at 2:35 pm
And there I was thinking I was the only user.
contextfree said,
June 22, 2009 at 12:31 pm
The Azure services are currently at CTP stage which means alpha. I don’t know that it would be appropriate for the press to slam MS for an interruption to a service that isn’t even claimed to be at beta stage yet.
Andrew Reply:
June 22nd, 2009 at 2:26 pm
So if you can’t slam MS for a beta, then why the praise for vista7 which is nothing but vaporware.
Roy Schestowitz Reply:
June 22nd, 2009 at 2:34 pm
I suspect it’s a PR agent. They usually come from Comcast, based on other people’s experience.
contextfree Reply:
June 22nd, 2009 at 5:20 pm
I’m not affiliated with MSFT, though I am currently employed as a Windows/.NET software developer. In the past I have developed on Unix as well.
contextfree Reply:
June 22nd, 2009 at 5:16 pm
Did you read what I wrote? It’s not a beta, it’s an alpha. As for W7, the exaggerated praise is an attempt to compensate for their previous exaggerated bashing of Vista, it’s one of those weird press groupthink wave things. Vaporware strikes me as an inappropriate classification for an OS I have been running every day at work for a month though.
pcolon said,
June 22, 2009 at 8:47 pm
Win 7 is not RTM; so what is it then?