Ouch, That Had To Hurt
April 22nd, 2006 by Wyatt
Paul Thurrott is a fairly well known author in the Microsoft Windows community. He’s written quite a few books on various MS technologies in the past so he knows of which he speaks. That makes his recent article about Windows Vista all the more piercing in its analysis.
One of my favorite bits from the piece:
Since the euphoria of PDC 2003, Microsoft’s handling of Windows Vista has been abysmal. Promises have been made and forgotten, 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. What the heck went wrong?
And this one:
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.
Paul does need to keep up his work, though, so he tempers his anger by the end of the article. I think his insight is true, however. Especially the bit about Bill Gates being part of the problem. From all I’ve read and heard, he’s hardly the visionary and more just a ruthless nerd.
Some developers have been claiming that Vista will make OS X users leave the Mac. I would be shocked. Microsoft has never been able to grok that it’s not about the pretty colors and the size of your feature bulge. It’s about being smooth and natural to the user. Being so right that you don’t even think about what you’re doing anymore.
Microsoft reminds me of that guy at a party who is trying waay too hard. He’s convinced that he’s the hottest guy in the room, but in reality he’s a little loud, a little obnoxious, and kind of embarrassing to watch.