“Since the euphoria of PDC 2003, Microsoft’s handling of Windows Vista has been abysmal. Promises have been made and dismissed, again and again. Features have come and gone. Heck, the entire project was literally restarted from scratch after it became obvious that the initial code base was a teetering, technological house of cards. Windows Vista, in other words, has been an utter disaster. And it’s not even out yet,” Paul Thurrott writes for Windows IT Pro. Microsoft “has turned into that thing it most hated (read: IBM), an endlessly complex hierarchy of semi-autonomous middle managers and vice presidents of various levels and titles, many of whom can’t seem to make even the smallest of decisions. The company is too big and too slow to ship updates to its biggest products. It’s collapsing under its own weight.”
“For Windows, specifically, the situation is dire. As I’ve noted in the past, the Windows Division retains, as employees of the software giant have told me, the last vestiges of the bad, old Microsoft. This is the Microsoft that ran roughshod over competitors in order to gain market share at any cost. The Microsoft that forgot about customers in its blind zeal to harm competitors. The Microsoft, that frankly, all the Linux and Apple fanatics always imagined was out there, plotting and planning their termination,” Thurrott writes.
“So what went wrong [with Windows Vista]? What didn’t go wrong? When Bill Gates revealed in mid-2003 that he was returning to his roots, so to speak, and spending half of his time on what was then still called Longhorn, we should have seen the warning signs. Sadly, Gates, too, is part of the Bad Microsoft, a vestige of the past who should have had the class to either formally step down from the company or at least play just an honorary role, not step up his involvement and get his hands dirty with the next Windows version. If blame is to be assessed, we must start with Gates. He has guided–or, through lack of leadership–failed to guide the development of Microsoft’s most prized asset. He has driven it into the ground,” Thurrott writes.
“Promises were made. Excitement was generated. None of it, as it turns out, was worth a damn. From a technical standpoint, the version of Windows Vista we will receive is a sad shell of its former self, a shadow. One might still call it a major Windows release. I will, for various reasons. The kernel was rewritten. The graphics subsystem is substantially improved, if a little obviously modeled after that in Mac OS X. Heck, half of the features of Windows Vista seem to have been lifted from Apple’s marketing materials,” Thurrott writes. “Shame on you, Microsoft. Shame on you, but not just for not doing better. We expect you to copy Apple, just as Apple (and Linux) in its turn copies you. But we do not and should not expect to be promised the world, only to be given a warmed over copy of Mac OS X Tiger in return. Windows Vista is a disappointment. There is no way to sugarcoat that very real truth.”
Thurrott writes, “You’d have to be special kind of stupid to look at Windows Vista and see it as the be-all, end-all of operating systems. It some ways, Windows Vista actually will exceed Mac OS X and Linux, but not to the depth we were promised. Instead, Windows Vista will do what so many other Windows releases have done, and simply offer consumers and business users a few major changes and many subtle or minor updates. That’s not horrible. It’s just not what was promised. Because it failed so obviously with Vista, my guess is that Microsoft is a bit gun shy about major OS releases and will be for some time. And that’s too bad. Windows Vista was Microsoft’s first chance since Windows 95 to reach for the golden ring. It may be another decade before they try again.”
There’s much, much more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: Karma is a bitch. About the only thing Thurrott fails to mention — perhaps he couldn’t bear the thought of it — is that the successor to Mac OS X Tiger, “Leopard,” will be out around the same time as Microsoft’s Windows Vista. In fact, it’ll probably be released before Vista. Thurrott doesn’t detail how Windows Vapor, er Vista, will surpass Mac OS X (Tiger, we presume), but one can only imagine that Microsoft would easily best Apple in the “sucks” category. Thurrott was probably referencing “malware infestations” and/or “user frustration level,” two areas where Vista will certainly surpass any version of Mac OS X. Also, the degree to which Microsoft copies Apple cannot be equated with the one or two things Apple may have seen in Windows and improved upon (Command-Tab or Fast User Switching in Mac OS X for two possible examples). The fact remains today as it has always been and will continue to be for the foreseeable future: Apple leads. Microsoft follows poorly. As usual.
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WHAT!.. WA WA WA WA WHAT!
when did apple copy windows? and how will vista surpass osX? what no examples?
The best part is that he writes an 20 chapter book on how it’s going to suck big time…and then in his conclusion says:
“It some ways, Windows Vista actually will exceed Mac OS X and Linux, but not to the depth we were promised.”
bahhhahahhh
Where is the real Thurrott?
I guess if I made my living writing about Windows IT I’d be getting a little worried now about job security. If Longhorn/Vista had come along as originally planned he would have had plenty to write about but without it he is just a lame duck.
Abandon Ship!
Paul is right.
Vista will certainly exceed Tiger and Leopard in the amount of security holes and the amount of easily available malware.
Ok, so microsoft does suck but with the advancing technology, would it really be that hard for lets say SONY to build their own OS?
or for DELL?
or IBM ?
On most levels, Vista will probably not even exceed Jagwire. Put the two systems side by side and you will still probably be more productive with Apple’s five year old OS. I’m afraid that on this one, Bill Gates is kicking a high ball into a dead raccoon’s dormitory.
Sure as shit, as soon as Vista hits, he’ll be changing his tune and extolling the greatness of the OS.
Thurott’s loyalty flaps in the wind like a flag.
PT biting the hand that feeds him? Mr WIndows Supersite? ROTFLMAO
Sadly, Vista will exceed Tiger and Leopard in unit sales, as well.
Andy wrote: “when did apple copy windows?”
Fast user switching…come on, even Jobs admitted it.
“Karma is a bitch.”
I envision Bill Gates as a guest star on “My Name Is Earl.” He gets out of a limo with his list of wrongdoings. Sixteen lackeys stumble out of the limo after him clown car style each carrying huge, heavy books. His 845,642 page karma list. Congress is impressed. The sweaty limo driver is Ballmer.
Andy wrote: “when did apple copy windows?”
Didn’t Windows have contextual menus first?
that title is so misleading…at least – it’s not what i took from the article.
he concludes by saying that vista is an incremental upgrade and “isn’t what was promised.”
regardless, microsoft has a monopoly and a (unfortunately) still in a great position and will still dominate the market.
market share probably will go in apple’s direction…mostly for consumers. but don’t expect any landslides of marketshare. a half a percent here and there…
“It some ways, Windows Vista actually will exceed Mac OS X and Linux, but not to the depth we were promised.”
BULL$HIT! Vista is a steaming pile of turd, no doubt about it!!!
This guy cracks me up, he must own 50 pairs of flip-flops!
I cant wait for iPhone to come out.
andy –
a second mouse button…and a scroll wheel…
Isn’t their CEO collapsing under his own weight?
I get the Vitsa = Windows ME, feeling
nice new icons built on a shitty half ass updated kernel
Okay, okay . . . so it’s my own joke from yesterday. But what can I say? I’m usually ahead of my time:
Have you heard de latest? Microsoft and Paris Hilton are both in de news. Yeh-heh-hehessssssss, you heard correctly: Microsoft and Paris Hilton. Seem they’re suing each other in Federal court in L.A.
Apparently they both claim to be de originator of de concept of sucking in public.
Probably more like an untrained private than a new kernel.
“In some ways, Windows Vista actually will exceed Mac OS X and Linux, but not to the depth we were promised.”
This is French for “I don’t know what they are, though.”
MW: “wish” [how does it know?]
I wondered where that loud, annoying vacuum noise was coming from.
me –
apple have never used a scroll wheel on a mouse, the closesst thing is the mulktidirection ball on the new mighty mouse and using a second button is an option, did microsoft invent the second mouse button anyway?
microsoft could package dog turds in a plain white box and peecee users would still buy it.
wait a minute. they did that once before. it was called windows me… lol.