“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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IIRC, Command-tab was in Next, and Windows snagged it from there, then Next became Mac. Right? Wrong?
MW: Former, as in command-tab was formerly in Next. The MW really IS magic.
Ampar, don’t make me get corporal on your a**
But in general terms, you’re correct.
The captains of industry will take note.
Vista is a major POS.
ok i stop now.
Sounds like Paul’s M$$$$$$ check bounded again!
Not to worry he’ll come around and in the end be good old Paul again – suckin up to gates yet again!
Sounds like Thurrott is looking for a new job down the road. maybe at macdailynews? na.
“Windows Vista actually will exceed Mac OS X and Linux.”
Uhhh sorry Thurott, but by the time Vista comes out OSX Leopard will be released. It may exceed Linux but OSX, NOT! Not even close. And with the confusion that will errupt from 6 different versions of Vista, it will be a nightmare.
Don’t forget, with the delay in the release time of Vista, MS has more time to cut more features, and more time to delay further, just in case they need to cut even more features.
Interesting banner… May be Steve was trying to tell us something. What if OSX is the Longhorn replacement. May be Windows Vista introduction was moved, so Apple and MS can have joint announcement for rejoining of Apple and MS forces in the personal computing world. As we wait for Leopard, they are busy implementing WinAPI on OSX and porting many of MS server codes, such as Exchange and IIS.
Why would Apple and MS consider uniting their OS? They have common enermy, Linux and Open Source software. Apple wants to sell hardware. MS wants to sell office applications. They may have to split the profit from OS, but their OS development cost will be shared too (I’m not sure if either one of them derive significant revenue from OS sales. For Apple, it is a mean to sell hardware. For MS it is a way to have upper hand over the competition for office applications).
If SJ has his way, the big losers will be Dell and other PC manufactures. We will suddenly see them embracing Linux and open source community. May be this explains departure of Avi and big shake up at MS.
Thurrott seems to be suffering multiple personality disorder. The dominant Thurrott realizes OS X is superior to Windows, but every now and then we get token flashes of the old, recessive Thurrott who still clings to the misguided notion that somehow Windows still has something over the Mac. Course, he won’t reveal what that is…
i heart macdude: lol!
POS belongs in the loo! Tenants can smell it too. A chiefly rank odor. That warrants another delay until the company can recruit and quarter more help. Well, that’s the corp of the issue.
‘me’ the multi button mouse was actually around when Xerox previewed the whole concept of a graphical user interface. Apple actually reduced the number of buttons on their version. Had nothing whatsoever to do with Microsoft.
However it is nice to see Thurrott eat humble pie and admit all those Apple and Linux ‘zealots’ were actually right about microsoft. One presumes that calling someone who he admits is right a fanatic is a mutual interest his bum buddy Billy boy is no doubt discussing right this minute with the Chinese Premier. So much in common it seems.
“when did apple copy windows?”
Oh COME ON! You know that you are a completely blind follower of all things Apple when you say something like this. That said, I’m a huge Apple fan, but lets be real. MS HAS innovated some features in the past, especially during the “dark years”. In my opinion Windows 95 was ahead of OS 7-8-9, simply because of the window minimizing system and overall speed. Apple retook the lead when they moved to OS X. It’s clear that Jobs is the reason for Apple’s successes.
And I’m worried about Thurrot. He seems to be developing a jekyll & hyde persona. If doesn’t just admit that Apple is what he prefers soon, he may implode.
Funny line in the article… “But 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.”
Seems to say it all.
I don’t think windows ever leapfrogged the mac. My recollection is that Apple has always been way ahead in innovation and ease of use. OS 9 was no exception. Maybe I am ignorant. I will admit my time on windows has been next to zip. Set me straight if I am wrong.
One more thing…
It seems that M$ has been so busy playing catch-up since they moved to a GUI that they have had no time or resources for innovation. It is so much easier to copy. Only M$ is really skilled at mangling the copies.
Meanwhile at the Death Redmond Star…
Dark Lord Ballmer – I sense a disturbance in the force
Emporer Gates – Yes, I have felt it too. Seems one of our loyal subjects has lost his brainwashing, see to it
Dark Lord Ballmer But if he could be turned back, he would be a powerful ally in our quest of the new Vista brainwashing
Emporer Gates – Nah, just beat him to death with a chair
Dark Lord Ballmer – As you wish, my master *hisss*
Window minimizing system? Apple used windowshading (yuck) and now the NeXT Dock thumbnails, but never copied MS’s awful taskbar system.
In fact MS’s taskbar was largely copied from Apple’s Apple Menu and Control Strip.
Well, someone better send a copy of this story
to the Prez of China …. He’s up in Redmond drinking
Starbucks with Billy-bob, and ignoring GW …
Oh doncha just love it ?
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“a second mouse button…and a scroll wheel”
That’s more of a copy of Logitech, than M$ isn’t it?
Does anyone know if you can get the Control Strip functionality in OS X?
That would be funny!
Denial ain’t just a river in egypt.
Apple copies little things from all over–LITTLE details. All dvelopers do so.
Misrosoft copies BIG things. Like the whole overall glassy look of Mac OS X. Like so much more before that.
Apple copying MS does NOT = MS copying Apple. You just can’t make that case with a straight face
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MS did not invent the second mouse button. The original mouse had 3 (?) or so buttons and they were effectively a chording keyboard (along w/ a chording keyboard).
See the Mother of All Demos – NLS system.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Mother_of_All_Demos
We’re all kind of still playing catch up to NLS and Xerox Star
http://xeroxstar.tripod.com/
“when did apple copy windows?”
Actually, I have a mutual copy one that I like–but it’s old.
Back in 1991, when Apple introduced System 7, they added this thing called “Aliases”, where one file could point to another one. You could tell an alias from a regular file because it’s name would appear in italics.
The problem? Not all languages support italics. For example, there is no such thing as italic Japanese, Korean, or Arabic. So there was no way to tell an alias from the original file in those languages. Oops.
When Windows 95 came out, they added this thing called “Shortcuts” where one file could point to another one. You could tell a Shortcut from a regular file because the icon would have a little curved arrow badge in the lower right corner.
In Mac OS 8, suddenly aliases had both–italicized names and a very similar looking little curved arrow badge. So Apple copied Microsoft who copied Apple.
Speaking of copying each other…a couple of things I wouldn’t mind included in OS X that are, in fact, Windows features (I use OS X and Win2k) such as;
when I close the last window in an app, I quit the app. In OS X, I often forget to “quit” an app after closing all the windows. Yeah, I know I can look at the dock and see the little arrow, but it can get overlooked more easily. Maybe if in the OS X prefs you could make that an option… so we can set up the OS to work the way we want.
Also, I like that any open window shows up in the taskbar, whether minimized or not. Clicking on the taskbar item toggles between minimize and ‘bring to front.’
I don’t like having to go the the “window” menu in an OS X app to check if I have any forgotten windows open in an app. No visual “cue” where I look for them.
And finally, I’d like one of the buttons on the windows to allow me to “maximize” to full screen any window I’m working in, not just to whatever size OS X thinks it needs.
I like the Win feature of being able to double click on the top of a window to switch to “max” i.e. full screen, or back to user set size.
These are all user preferences (meaning me..) that I’d like to be able to set in OS X… or not, depending on the user. Flexibility is the word. Despite being somewhat clunky, for this Mac user I have to admit that once I spent a significant amount of time with Win2k (out of necessity) I found that it was a bit more user configurable. Maybe that’s the complications that get some folks frustrated about lack of simplicity, but I like having some UI options, and more control than OS X likes to give.
Having said that, I own aapl stock, love all Macs and consider myself definately in the Mac camp. Just waiting for the 2nd gen MacBooks Pros to come out…
Actually, the only PC only app I use regularly is Picasa/Hello from Google. I find Picasa more intuitive, believe it or not, than iPhoto. I wish there was an OS X version, but with Apple giving iPhoto away with new macs, I doubt it’ll happen.
I see that your paycheck from Microsoft’s PR/FUD department was late, again, eh Paul?