In Don Reisinger’s case, it’s miss. I’m struck by the inanity of his recent article about Vista, even though I might agree with it in theory.
But I digress. Although Windows XP running Service Pack 3 is almost twice as fast as Windows Vista running SP1 and major hardware manufacturers are still selling XP machines out of desire for once, Microsoft wants to hold on to Vista regardless of where it takes the company. Will it force the company into a tailspin? I think it already has. Will it get worse? Possibly. But if Microsoft heeds my warnings and follows some of the tips I will outline below, Windows Vista may not be the utter failure I think it will be if nothing changes.
Of course Microsoft is going to hang onto Vista. Does he really think they’re going to just drop the product, say “Oh, sorry, guys, that one sucked. Check back in three years, and we’ll try to have gotten it right”? Here’s what no one seems to realize: Microsoft doesn’t live on the quality of it’s operating system. It lives on its entrenched market share and the breadth of software available for the platform. Vista can be as bad as it wants, but most OEMs bundle it regardless; those that don’t will probably do so in the next year. Most software will work unmodified on Vista; newer hardware generally has drivers available. Vista won’t make or break Microsoft because most people are too lazy to bother switching. They’ll upgrade when the time comes or someone else upgrades for them. Eventually, Microsoft will force the issue, and that’ll be that. Perhaps Microsoft’s 90% grip on the market will lose a couple of percentage points to Apple or Linux, but they’ll still rake in the dough from people buying Office 2007 (regardless of the Ribbon UI) and the same corporate shills buying bulk licenses of Vista. It’s inevitable, and opining about a “tailspin” is both lazy and ridiculous.
But Don doesn’t leave it there. He offers handy “tips” to Microsoft that they’ll ignore at their peril.
