eWeek’s Microsoft watcher Joe Wilcox has an interesting perspective on 10 things that went wrong with Vista (click here to see article). His article has some interesting perspective and is written from a sympathetic position. Everything, it seems, from Vista’s continually-delayed release, to its over-devotion to security, to its ability to devastate the underpowered machines with which it was delivered, caused many (including academia in the Pacific Northwest) to wait or even avoid transition. My personal experience with Vista was problematic. Vista was designed for dual-core, and if you have anything less than 2GB of RAM (even if you have Ready Boost), you will be hating life.
Vista is the logical conclusion to the history of constant attacks by a multitude of viruses, by complaining of user groups, by legal actions in the EU, and more. It is almost as if Microsoft hunkered down in its bunkers and said “Oh, yeah? Well, take this!”
After reading Wilcox’s article, and especially with Microsoft’s acknowledgement of a Windows 7 in the works, it appears that MS is acting a bit, well, funny when it comes to its operating system development. They look almost like someone who has just had enough already. Remember that Microsoft’s interests are huge and very diverse. MS has made a huge investment in desk top applications, database, .NET, and Web 2.0 server-based social web structures, not to mention the massive MS Office Suite and the new Groove technology for office collaboration. If you think about it, MS could almost stop producing operating systems today and still be a viable company.
That is not an unusual proposition. When you consider that IBM no longer makes personal computers, for example, companies often release the very product that got them started when that product becomes more of a burden than a backbone. Is it possible that MS will stop producing operating systems? Well, probably not. But…
If I were Bill
If I were Bill, what would I do? First I would allow the development of an OS that did not meet the public’s expectations. Then, I would resign from the company I founded to “focus on my charity work.” Then, as no longer an employee of the company, I would sell off all but about $300 million of my holdings. Then, I would wait until the stock bailed out. Consider that $300 million is really pocket change to the super billionaire, but it is enough to wow the folks. Finally, I would come back, buy tons of MS stock at 35-cents a share, ride in with a “new and improved” OS, and become the modern world’s first trillionaire.
But that’s just me.
