“The new version of Microsoft Windows, called Vista, has slipped again. It was originally going to ship in 2003. Then 2005. Then 2006. Now in early 2007. I’m not surprised, having seen a demo of Microsoft’s new programs at an ‘event’ for tech buyers in New York last week,” Daniel Lyons writes for Forbes. “The new programs are phenomenally complex, with scores of buttons and pull-down menus and myriad connections among various applications… Meanwhile, 500 tech buyers sat there in the dark, their eyes glazing over from the sheer mind-numbing pointlessness of most of this stuff. The audience laughed out loud when the Microsoft guy showed off a kludgey system that lets you fetch Outlook e-mail messages using voice commands from a cell phone.”
“Even more ironic is that Microsoft has ginned up a new slogan, ‘People Ready,’ which apparently is meant to describe its software, or maybe it describes companies that use its software, or whatever. Who knows? It’s one of those phrases that means anything, and so means nothing,” Lyons writes. “Who makes this stuff up? Do they actually pay this person? And is Microsoft just figuring out now that its programs are used by–gasp–people? …Worse yet was the grumbling afterward in the press room. Why the hell did they drag us here? we wondered. We’d been promised big news and some earth-shattering announcements by Microsoft flacks who insisted this was something we shouldn’t miss. Instead, we got a demo that was about as compelling as a root canal followed by a 15-minute press conference with Ballmer, the Microsoft chief executive who seems incapable of speaking at any level softer than a bellow.”
“Worst of all, I can’t believe Microsoft actually held this big nonevent “event” only a few days before announcing another screw-up in Vista. If Ballmer knew he was about to announce a delay and still had this event, he’s crazy. If he didn’t know Vista was about to slip again, then Microsoft is in worse shape than anyone realizes,” Lyons writes. “Given Microsoft’s delays I can’t believe open-source stuff still hasn’t caught on for desktop computers… Why not at least switch to an Apple Computer Mac? Apple’s new operating system is stable, reliable and easy to use. The applications are simple, gorgeous and work well together. And they’re here. Today. Steve Jobs must be waking up a happy man this morning.”
Full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: “At least” switch to an Apple Mac? Versus open source alternatives, Mac OS X offers the personal computer user much, much more. The vast majority of people who use personal computers would be far better off with an Apple Mac than any other personal computer.
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