05.29.09
With Vista 7 Already Disappointing, Is There a Future for Microsoft?
Summary: Trying a second time does not mend a broken crown jewel product, so what is left for Microsoft to do?
YESTERDAY we wrote about the latest realisation (of Microsoft fans) that Vista 7 suffers from the same problems as its twin, Windows Vista. It has become truly heavy ahead of RTM. Sam Varghese calls Vista 7 “Vista Mark II” in his latest article on the subject.
For sometime earlier this year, there was much talk about how Windows 7 was going to play saviour to rescue its creators from the cesspit that Vista had created. Now it looks like even the biggest fans of that company in Redmond have realised that it is another dud.
I guess the disillusionment has begun with the netbook; for a while Windows 7 was going to run on netbooks at speeds that would rival that of XP. But when Microsoft decided that netbooks needed to be redefined – the classic tactic of moving the goalposts when your argument misses its mark – then the scales fell from admiring eyes.There’s no need to wonder anymore: Windows 7 will be Vista Mark II. The time for illusions is over and the real stuff is being jammed into the innards of this great operating system – to use bizspeak, ” as we speak, 24/7, seamlessly.”
What has passed for a netbook all this time never was. No, the new specs which Microsoft has brought to the table are those of a low-end laptop. You need to pay through the nose for a toy too.
[...]
If you’re the kind who likes freedom, then GNU/Linux is there in all its glorious flavours. You have the out-of-the-box working kind, or you have the fiddly kind where you learn things that make you appreciate the hard work that goes into creating a multiuser, secure operating system.
Whereas Linux powers computers large and small (from macro to nano), Microsoft is still struggling with trivial things:
Microsoft support: Just wiggle the mouse until the problem goes away
The Web is buzzing with this genius workaround Microsoft devised for an Oracle problem while using Excel. I had no idea my great aunt works in Microsoft’s technical support team, as this is just the sort of solution she’d likely devise:
Method 2: Move Your Mouse Pointer
[...]
This is truly the demise of Microsoft. New names for old products, e.g. “Windows 7″ (Vista reloaded), “Zune HD” and “Bing” (Live is not dead yet) will change almost nothing. It’s only left for Microsoft investors to decide what they waste money on. █
