Well one thing has certainly changed over the last couple of years when it comes to NFL football and the tablets used on the sidelines during games - sideline reporters and game announcers no longer seem to call the them iPad like devices.
Now they are regularly called Surface tablets as they should be.
However, because the Microsoft Surface name is all over the sidelines, the special blue colored shock and waterproof cases and the unit that stores the tablets during each game it means the tablet itself is in the line of fire if anything goes wrong during a game.
It is just like Windows being the target for malfunctions because of bad OEM hardware drivers - it is not the fault of the OS but it still gets the fingers pointed at it.
Well this scenario played out yesterday's during the AFC Championship game that pitted the Denver Broncos against the New England Patriots.
During the first half of yesterday's championship game at Mile High Stadium the tablets on the Patriots sideline were not functioning during a Denver possession. That meant the coaches and players for the Patriots could not review game time images that would normally be sent to the devices to show various formations during the Broncos drive and subsequently allow the team to make in game adjustments.
This fact was reported by the CBS sideline reporters and was shortly followed up by an additional sideline report that indicated the issue had been resolved by hard wiring the devices to the in stadium network because there was a WiFi issue. That WiFi issue was later confirmed by Microsoft in a statement that was used by several online sites reporting on the issue.
"Our team on the field has confirmed the issue was not related to the tablets themselves but rather an issue with the network. We worked with our partners who manage the network to ensure the issue was resolved quickly."
Despite the above statement being provided to explain why the devices did not work it did not stop the parade of headlines that were inaccurate and blamed the tablet itself.
A couple of sites even used GIFs of Aaron Rodgers and Johnny Manziel venting their frustrations at the Surface tablets for their own errors in an attempt to make the story more than it actually was.
I stated on Twitter last night that it was mind boggling how the Surface gets the blame here when it was a stadium/NFL infrastructure issue however, several replies to my tweet nailed down the reason of why.
It boils down to it just being Microsoft and how popular it is to bash the company and its products - fair or not - that is what happens.
I have no issue with dealing and addressing any shortcomings of the company and its products and services. I just prefer to do that with all the information available to provide an accurate depiction and opinion on the issue.
Bashing for bashing sake is not productive at all and just becomes sport.
