How Microsoft Is Clipping Longhorn

Business Week ^ | 4/19/2004 (issue date) | Jay Greene

[Vermonter]

Online Extra: How Microsoft Is Clipping Longhorn

To get the already-delayed follow-up to Windows XP out the door by 2006, it has decided to omit some of the most ambitious features

Never in its history has Microsoft (MSFT ) had to wait so long between Windows releases. When Windows XP launched in October, 2001, researcher Gartner Inc. expected the software giant to gin up a new version within two years. But Microsoft's ambitious follow-up to Windows XP, code-named Longhorn, has bogged down in delays. The company rarely discloses timelines for products, lest it miss its targets. But in copies of two e-mail messages obtained by BusinessWeek, Microsoft lays out a roadmap that shows Longhorn debuting in the first six months of 2006.

What's more, the e-mails disclose Microsoft's plans to cut some of the most far-reaching pieces of Longhorn in order to get the product shipped. For instance, Microsoft had planned to overhaul the file system, the way information is stored. The goal had been to change the way files relate to one another, so that users could quickly find documents, e-mail, and photos that have some connection to one another. It would be easy, for example, to locate not just digital photos, but e-mail from people in them. It's an enormous undertaking.

[goldstategop]

No thanks. I don't want to pay for a glorified Windows XP. If I'm going to upgrade, it has to be a quantum advance over the Windows version we have now. Microsoft should delay its Longhorn release til they get it right.

[narses]

"Microsoft should delay its Longhorn release til they get it right."

They'd have to name it Windows2050 if they did that.

[Abcdefg]

I'm sticking with my trusty Windows 98 SE (Server Edition)!;^)
MS rules the server market.

[supercat]

Ughh. Windows 98 in a production environment. All of our stuff is either Win 2K or XP on a 2K domain. We run a few local printers, but sharing them is not an issue, because we have a lot of network printers set up.

At my employer, two machines I know of use Windows 98. A laptop, and the lab machine. Both are used to run software that is incompatible with other later Windows versions.

[Trajan88]

Saw Varsity's horns off!

Trajan88; TAMU Class of '88; Law Hall (may it R.I.P.) Ramp 9 Mule; f.u.p.!

p.s. Eat more BEVO (aka 13-0).

[Noumenon]

"Apples are only used by homos"

Actually, that's not true. They're also used by chardonnay-sipping, brie-eating, nose-in-the-air liberal elitists. "Computers for the rest of us" indeed.

Seriously, and for the luvacripes - these things are just tools, not a religion. You use what it takes to get the job done. Anything else is just bloviation and a waste of time.

And as the folks over at www.deadtroll.com say, "Every OS sucks."

(and that goes for you penguin heads, too.)

[Richard Kimball]

Actually, that's not true. They're also used by chardonnay-sipping, brie-eating, nose-in-the-air liberal elitists. "Computers for the rest of us" indeed.

This is the same type of response I get from my Vegan-Greenie-Socialist-House Music Musician-Bush Bashing brother, that lives in Berkeley, ...

The guy in the photo uses a Mac. So does Limbaugh. Dcam, my offer still holds. If you come up with an actual refutation of a point, I'll be here.

[kezekiel]

I'm surprised Windows XP doesn't get better feedback from users.

There was a lot I liked about XP, but it was too much of a resource hog even for my 800 MHz, 256MB Thinkpad. I switched to 2000, which is brisker and even more stable.

[Noumenon]

Hey - I was poking fun at a stereotype. Like I said - it's only a tool - it's not a religion.

[dallasgop]

XP Home cannot join a domain, but you could create an account on a server and map a drive over to it from XP Home with that account's permissions. We are total Microsoft at my business with 2003 Server, Ecchange 2003 and XP pro on the desktop. All is working fine and we are happy. :-)

[dallasgop]

XP is really good with a least a 1ghz processor and 512mb of ram, minimum. You are right it is a resource hog, but it sure does run sweet on the right hardware.

[rivercat]

Point? What point did you make? I said that Macs are overpriced and irrelevant and you said nothing to refute my assertion. All you did was run your mouth.

[rivercat]

The guy in the photo uses a Mac. So does Limbaugh.

So what? The guy in the photo supports legalizing illegal immigration, so I should support that too? Personally, I don't care what kind of computer you or anyone else uses. If you want to pay too much for a computer, knock yourself out.

[been_lurking]

If your arguements suddenly become persuasive, and all of us dumb Windows users go out and buy a Mac, then what kind of computer are you going to use that will still satisfy your pompous elitism?

[babyface00]

Or else...what?

MS is no longer the only viable game in town.

I have my complaints about MS, but I generally am supportive of using their products in the businesses I support. Like any other product, if they want me to buy them, I'm going to need good business reasons. I've supported MS OS's since DOS. I've also supported several versions of Unix, and am a certified Linux engineer. I also spent a good deal of my career managing Novell 2.x/3.x/4.x servers.

Computers (and their OS's and apps) are just tools. Tools to accomplish business needs and goals. I think Microsoft has lost site of that. What I need is a lean, stable and secure OS that is cost-effective, considering those points. Everything else is gravy, as every OS has feature sets that far exceed what most businesses require to utilize those tools.

Microsoft products are getting to be like a Lexus with a bad engine. All the bells and whistles in the world don't make up for the fact that its unreliable transportation.

[MrB]

Actually, have you ever noticed how your new (2 years ago) computer just doesn't seem as fast as it was when you got it?

Some of it is a matter of perception, since you probably upgraded from a slower computer 2 years ago. But some of it is real.

OS Decay happens. You get fragmentation (disk and registry), and little bits of this and that installed here and there, and it gradually gums up the works.

The best thing to do is to reformat (even low level) your system drive and re-install everything - but there are less drastic steps that will alleviate some of the problems - defragging, uninstalling crap apps, refurbing your registry, etc.

[frgoff]

You know, I used to swallow that crap, too. Then I got smart and just dumped the OS and switched to one that didn't have those problems. Though, I must admit that because I don't leave my computer on 24x7, I do have to manually rotate the system logs and I generally turn the computer off every few days to clear out any RAM gobbled up by poorly-written apps.

[Oberon]

It's funny...I don't want much out of my computer. I want to be able to have half-a-dozen application windows open at a given time, I want seamless web access and local networking, I want minimal possibility of having other people (read: hackers) remotely accessing or otherwise screwing with my computer, and I want it to work the way it's supposed to all the time.

Power, ease-of-use, security, stability. I am willing to pay a lot for the package that provides all four. At the moment I'm middling happy with a six-month-old Presario and Windows XP Pro, but I've worked on MS and Mac-based platforms...and it sounds as though what I really want is a new Mac.

[bmwcyle]

More patch of the week club entries.

[TopQuark]

Thank you for your nice post.

However, you still did not answer the question of what else. The fact is, ALL things considered, MS is still a winner for most installations.

What I need is ... That is where an error usually occurs: you are but one market segement but project onto MS what product-development they should pursue. The decision amounts to a balance between effectiveness (satisfying YOUR demands better) and efficiency (the cost of achieving that goal). For you and me to jusdge whether MS has made a wise decision of providing an UNdifferentiated product, we must see the quantitative analysis of those issues. I am confident that you are not privy to this sensitive information, and neither am I.

In the absence of that info, you and I must suspend judgment --- if we are to remain intellectually honest.

a lean, stable and secure OS that is cost-effective,

Welcome to the club: for years I wanted in a desktop and a laptop a stable and FAST 2-d graphics card. But I am now in a minority: America now does more gaming than spreadsheet analysis or engineering graphics. With the exception of one manufacturere, they do not produce such any more: every one is loaded with 3-d enhancement.

That is another example of a particular demand remining unsatisfied. But I do trust that the entire industry is not wrong from the business prospecive: they figered out that it does not pay to satisfy my demand with a differentiated product. I am not satisfied but I know that the manufacturers are correct in their strategy.

Microsoft products are getting to be like a Lexus with a bad engine. Again, from your standpoint and mine. MS has one of the best marketing groups; nobody's perfect, but you can trust that they look at their data.