O
On the Bridge!
http://www.computerworld.com/action/article.do?command=viewArticleBasic&articleId=9065938
March 1, 2008 (Computerworld) Everybody's talking today about "Drivergate" -
internal Microsoft e-mails that show senior Microsoft executives personally
struggling to use hardware products sporting the "Windows Vista Capable"
sticker. The e-mails also show that Microsoft lowered its standard for some
hardware compatibility, apparently to help Intel impress Wall Street.
This revelation is simply the latest in a long series that add up to one
inescapable conclusion: Windows Vista sucks. (And making it cheaper won't
help, either.)
Compatibility of drivers is just one issue. Another is a convoluted user
interface that prevents ordinary users from gaining a sense of control over
the OS.
Windows Mobile, Microsoft's operating system for cell phones, suffers from a
similar problem. The Windows Mobile OS isn't horrible per se, it's just that
it's completely wrong for cell phones and other small screen devices.
Windows Mobile clearly compromises usability to mimic the WIMP (Windows,
Icons, Menus and Pointing device) focus of Microsoft's desktop operating
systems. To quote Dr. Phil: How's that workin' for ya? It hasn't helped
eroding desktop Windows market share, and it hasn't helped Windows Mobile,
either.
The biggest problem isn't that the company's newest products are unusable,
but that Microsoft may have actually lost the "ability" to make good
operating systems. It may not be able to let go of its dogmatic insistence
on the flawed vision of the same Windows "experience" from wristwatches to
supercomputers.
And there is evidence that delusion or, at least, wishful thinking, prevails
at Microsoft. The company's founder and chairman, Bill Gates, said last week
that "Microsoft expects more Internet searches to be done through speech
than through typing on a keyboard." Hey, Bill: Do you want to bet $10
billion on that? I doubt even that Microsoft will fix its Vista driver
problem within five years. This is the same guy, by the way, who bragged
that Microsoft would "solve" spam by 2006.
It's imperative for Microsoft to get the next major OS right. The secret
lies in the company's Surface initiative.
Microsoft has never understood the importance of "simplicity," a fundamental
design concept it has always swept aside to make room for "feature rich"
(i.e., bloated and complex).
Right now, the Windows Vista type user interfaces are in their final days.
The future belongs to what I call the 3G user interface, which replaces flat
icons and folders with multitouch, gestures, physics and 3-D.
It's imperative for Microsoft to get the next major OS right. But how?
The secret lies in the company's Surface initiative. Sure, Surface is at
present a little more than a semishipping demo usable for product marketing.
The Surface demo dazzles with its 3G goodness. But what's impressive and
surprising is that somehow someone at Microsoft was allowed to create a user
interface unburdened by "compatibility" with two decades of spaghetti code.
What a concept! And no "Start" button!
Another hopeful sign is that Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer appears to agree
that Surface is important - or, at least, urgent. He announced earlier this
month that Microsoft is accelerating the development of a consumer version.
Here's what I believe Microsoft needs to do to save its vitally important
operating systems business:
1.. Never compromise on driver compatibility, not even for Intel.
2.. Insist on the highest standards for compatibility stickers, then use
your marketing millions to drive customers to partners that have earned
those stickers. Drive the laggards, the cheaters and the inadequate vendors
out of business. They're poisoning your swimming pool.
3.. Make an operating system for each computer type - cell phone, UMPC,
consumer desktop, enterprise desktop, enterprise server, supercomputer -
optimized for that type, not as a dogmatic slave to the limitations of the
generic desktop Windows vision.
4.. Emphasize usability and simplicity over "feature rich" complexity. We
don't need more options, features, capabilities, applications, peripherals
and hardware vendors. We need better ones.
5.. Emphasize usability and simplicity over backward compatibility for the
consumer version of Windows. The 1990s are over. Don't sacrifice the future
for customers and partner companies that are living in the past.
6.. Throw everything they've got at getting the consumer version of
Surface right. Surface is the future of the company. And Apple won't wait
around. That company is aggressively patenting elements of the user
interface of the future, and you know they'll build and market it
successfully.
7.. Be afraid of Apple, Google and Asus. Apple is eating your desktop
marketshare because they succeed with simplicity and UI elegance. Google
might do so with its cell phone UI. And Asus, a two-bit Taiwanese
motherboard maker, was able to cobble together a quick-and-dirty UI for
Linux that's way better than Windows Vista for UMPCs.
--
What people are REALLY saying about Vista:
http://www.microsplot.com/news/2007..._people_are_really_saying_about_windows_vista
50 Ways to leave your Vista....
CHORUS:
You just format the drive , Clive
Get a New Mac , Jack
Y'don't need that crap toy, Roy
Just get yourself free
Boot from a *nix, Jix
You don't need to discuss much
Install XP, Lee
And get yourself free
March 1, 2008 (Computerworld) Everybody's talking today about "Drivergate" -
internal Microsoft e-mails that show senior Microsoft executives personally
struggling to use hardware products sporting the "Windows Vista Capable"
sticker. The e-mails also show that Microsoft lowered its standard for some
hardware compatibility, apparently to help Intel impress Wall Street.
This revelation is simply the latest in a long series that add up to one
inescapable conclusion: Windows Vista sucks. (And making it cheaper won't
help, either.)
Compatibility of drivers is just one issue. Another is a convoluted user
interface that prevents ordinary users from gaining a sense of control over
the OS.
Windows Mobile, Microsoft's operating system for cell phones, suffers from a
similar problem. The Windows Mobile OS isn't horrible per se, it's just that
it's completely wrong for cell phones and other small screen devices.
Windows Mobile clearly compromises usability to mimic the WIMP (Windows,
Icons, Menus and Pointing device) focus of Microsoft's desktop operating
systems. To quote Dr. Phil: How's that workin' for ya? It hasn't helped
eroding desktop Windows market share, and it hasn't helped Windows Mobile,
either.
The biggest problem isn't that the company's newest products are unusable,
but that Microsoft may have actually lost the "ability" to make good
operating systems. It may not be able to let go of its dogmatic insistence
on the flawed vision of the same Windows "experience" from wristwatches to
supercomputers.
And there is evidence that delusion or, at least, wishful thinking, prevails
at Microsoft. The company's founder and chairman, Bill Gates, said last week
that "Microsoft expects more Internet searches to be done through speech
than through typing on a keyboard." Hey, Bill: Do you want to bet $10
billion on that? I doubt even that Microsoft will fix its Vista driver
problem within five years. This is the same guy, by the way, who bragged
that Microsoft would "solve" spam by 2006.
It's imperative for Microsoft to get the next major OS right. The secret
lies in the company's Surface initiative.
Microsoft has never understood the importance of "simplicity," a fundamental
design concept it has always swept aside to make room for "feature rich"
(i.e., bloated and complex).
Right now, the Windows Vista type user interfaces are in their final days.
The future belongs to what I call the 3G user interface, which replaces flat
icons and folders with multitouch, gestures, physics and 3-D.
It's imperative for Microsoft to get the next major OS right. But how?
The secret lies in the company's Surface initiative. Sure, Surface is at
present a little more than a semishipping demo usable for product marketing.
The Surface demo dazzles with its 3G goodness. But what's impressive and
surprising is that somehow someone at Microsoft was allowed to create a user
interface unburdened by "compatibility" with two decades of spaghetti code.
What a concept! And no "Start" button!
Another hopeful sign is that Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer appears to agree
that Surface is important - or, at least, urgent. He announced earlier this
month that Microsoft is accelerating the development of a consumer version.
Here's what I believe Microsoft needs to do to save its vitally important
operating systems business:
1.. Never compromise on driver compatibility, not even for Intel.
2.. Insist on the highest standards for compatibility stickers, then use
your marketing millions to drive customers to partners that have earned
those stickers. Drive the laggards, the cheaters and the inadequate vendors
out of business. They're poisoning your swimming pool.
3.. Make an operating system for each computer type - cell phone, UMPC,
consumer desktop, enterprise desktop, enterprise server, supercomputer -
optimized for that type, not as a dogmatic slave to the limitations of the
generic desktop Windows vision.
4.. Emphasize usability and simplicity over "feature rich" complexity. We
don't need more options, features, capabilities, applications, peripherals
and hardware vendors. We need better ones.
5.. Emphasize usability and simplicity over backward compatibility for the
consumer version of Windows. The 1990s are over. Don't sacrifice the future
for customers and partner companies that are living in the past.
6.. Throw everything they've got at getting the consumer version of
Surface right. Surface is the future of the company. And Apple won't wait
around. That company is aggressively patenting elements of the user
interface of the future, and you know they'll build and market it
successfully.
7.. Be afraid of Apple, Google and Asus. Apple is eating your desktop
marketshare because they succeed with simplicity and UI elegance. Google
might do so with its cell phone UI. And Asus, a two-bit Taiwanese
motherboard maker, was able to cobble together a quick-and-dirty UI for
Linux that's way better than Windows Vista for UMPCs.
--
What people are REALLY saying about Vista:
http://www.microsplot.com/news/2007..._people_are_really_saying_about_windows_vista
50 Ways to leave your Vista....
CHORUS:
You just format the drive , Clive
Get a New Mac , Jack
Y'don't need that crap toy, Roy
Just get yourself free
Boot from a *nix, Jix
You don't need to discuss much
Install XP, Lee
And get yourself free