Tech Ideas That Never Made It

“Failure is the opportunity to begin again more intelligently” – Henry Ford

Bothersome Bob | Microsoft Bob

Windows 3.1 and Windows 95 were the operating system home of Microsoft Bob. This personal software product by Microsoft made its debut on March 10,1995. This system’s function mirrored the idea of Clippy, the office assistant we are familiar with. Another similarity to Clippy in Microsoft Bob would be Rover, the cartoon dog with comparable speech balloons offering directions for your next step. The System used your computer to display inside a house with different clickable objects to open computer applications. For paying a bill, the user would simply click on the corresponding object, in this case, the checkbook laying on the desk. An email would require the user to click on the envelope and to open word-processing the user would click on the pen and paper. “The Bob Home” shows in-depth pictures of each room within Microsoft Bob as well as detailed descriptions. Microsoft Bob seemed to fail quickly after its introduction. People tend to desire simple icons rather than overly helpful cartoon characters. Some even thought Microsoft Bob was insulting their intelligence by being “too user-friendly”. Instead of being helpful and entertaining, Microsoft Bob ended with the reputation of being irritating and annoying.

RIP Microsoft Bob 1995 – 1996

Google+ is Such a Buzzkill | Google Buzz

The failure of Google Buzz can be attributed to the fast growing social networks like Twitter and Facebook. Google created Google Buzz to mix with their email (Gmail) and include messaging and microblogging tools. Users would be able to perform all the tasks available on social media like adding a picture, videos, sharing links or putting up a status while being able to keep up with what was going on through their Gmail inbox. Google Buzz even held the tagline, “a Google approach to sharing”. An in-depth description of Google Buzz can be found on Google’s Official Blog. Google has since then redeemed themselves with the improved social network, Google Plus. Google Plus differs by assisting consumers with instant upload features rather than focusing on user-sharing. Google Buzz failed to overcome privacy concerns and in the end, was just too late hopping onto the social media train.

RIP Google Buzz 2010-2011

The Doom of the Zune | Microsoft Zune

The Microsoft version of an “iPod” or other media products would be the Zune. The Zune came with a subscription-like music pass for video streaming as well as music. Acting just like the previously debuted iPod (that came out 5 years earlier), The Zune failed to hold any unique value proposition or a feature that would distinctly separate it or even make it better than the iPod. Another contributing factor to the failure of the Zune is the lack of marketing commitment. While the iPod was marketed exponentially more than the Zune through commercials and other advertisements, the Zune was late to the game and therefore was thrown under the bus. The Zune Music Pass has been updated to the Groove Music Pass.

RIP Microsoft Zune 2006- 2012

Curveball Thrown at Dodgeball | Dodgeball by Google

The service provider Dodgeball was a social networking software that was based on users’ locations. The user would be alerted of cool destinations, nearby friends simply after texting Dodgeball their location. Sounds familiar right? Foursquare is the new and improved, “technology company that uses location intelligence to build meaningful consumer experiences and business solutions”. Dodgeball was only available for a limited number of cities. The failure of the service was due to severed relationships between the founders of Dodgeball and the purchasers of Dodgeball, Google.

RIP Dodgeball 2000-2009

Google Wave Sadly Caved | Google Wave

According to Google, Google Wave was, “a live, shared space on the web where people can discuss and work together using richly formatted text, photos, videos, maps, and more”. This platform was created for real-time communication with social networking capabilities. Usability for business was not a feature that came with Google Wave. The platform only allowed invited users to join, making it difficult to use with groups. There was also a big confusion to what Google Wave actually was. This confusion was due to the meager marketing and poor how-to resources for consumers. Along with the misperception of Google Wave, lack of integration with Google products proved to be a major disadvantage. Lastly, not enough notifications left the users little to no prompts to return to the platform.

RIP Google Wave 2009-2012

The takeaway from this blog is to never give up. Nobody is perfect. Even the biggest companies make mistakes, but what seems to be the common trend? They learned from their failures and pursued new, innovative opportunities from their lessons learned. Don’t just bury your failures, let them inspire you to become better. Continue on, despite your shortcomings! Learn, change, and grow.

Always remember the famous acronym for F-A-I-L:

First

Attempt

In

Learning

Interested in learning about our technology solutions? Contact us to learn more!