Microsoft admits Vista failure

Found on The Inquirer on Friday, 20 April 2007
Browse Software

With two overlapping events, Microsoft admitted what we have been saying all along, Vista, aka Windows Me Two (Me II), is a joke that no one wants.

The second that Vista came out, Microsoft makes it very hard for you to sell anything other than Me II. It can't do this on the business side because it would be laughed out the door, but for the walking sheep class, well, you take what you are shovelled.

The other equally monumental Me II failure? Gates in China launching a $3 version of bundled Me II. Why is this not altruism? Well, it goes back to piracy and how it helped enforce the MS monopoly. If you can easily pirate Windows, Linux has no price advantage, they both cost zero.

If you fit Microsoft's somewhat convoluted definition of poor, it still wants to lock you in, you might get rich enough to afford the full-priced stuff someday. It is at a dangerous crossroads, if its software bumps up the price of a computer by 100 per cent, people might look to alternatives.

That means no Me II DRM infection lock in, no mass migration to the newer Office obfuscated and patented file formats, and worse yet, people might utter the W word. Yes, you guessed it, 'why'. People might ask why it is sticking with the MS lock in, and at that point, it is in deep trouble.

After years of delays and development, MS pretty much has to call Vista the best OS ever and push it. But when Aero is supposed to be the most important reason to get it, you should start to think. The hyped security has already been proven to be weak, as usual. The software incompatibilities are well known too; not to mention the driver problems, or the complete lack thereof. So more or less all you get is a shiney new desktop; and even for that you might have to buy new hardware in order to satisfy the ridiculous need of resources.