Microsoft can't even finalize and ship a product that does little more than put their OS on par with OS X and Linux.
This is pathetic.
Coming Soon: Windows Vaporware 2007 - Beta Version*
*MS doesn't have bugs. Everything is beta. Not compatible with prior Windows OS.
And then the Japanese cars showed up. Better quality, better gas mileage, lower cost. And Detroit's answer was the Pinto and the Vega?
Microsoft Vega. You think you hate it now, but just wait until you own it!
The best comment I read was this:
Quit crying and just get linux!
Fedora Core released version 5 on March 20. It was developed at a cost of...zero. To get it to install on your computer costs...zero.
It just works. It does not, however, do many XP standards, such as BSOD, virus and spyware.
I get a little annoyed at the people who develop for Linux as well. Their software isn't always as "superior" as they claim. A lot of it is a downright sloppy attempt to copy Microsoft. With Wine, that's excuseable. With other packages though, there seems to be an emphasis on needless complexity, bloat and very little on adhering to standards, providing proper documentation, stability, and security. They don't seem to understand that Apple and Microsoft have a lock on the sort of the majority of users who are more interested in neat animation effects when opening and closing windows than real functionality.
Here is what one of the anonymous Microsoft Employees had to say (these are early comments before Slash-Dot linked to the article which may have polluted the commentary pool with non-MS people):
You know, I've pondered for years what MS would do in this situation, when it became clear that the OS was a complete train wreck.Apple was able to buy NeXT, but MS has killed off all of their viable replacements. OS/2, BeOS, PenPoint? All strangled by MS's anti-competitive (and illegal) tactics.
So, here's the way out: MS should swallow real hard, ante up half of what they blew on Longwind, and buy an OS X license from Apple. That would be about $10B up-front, and a hefty royalty. MS would have to assume the burden of making it run on all the crapbox PCs out there, which have had all the quality squeezed out of them, due to MS's having sucked up the lion's share of the profit from all PCs for the last 20 years or so.
The benefit is that MS could finally ship a securable OS, and the users wouldn't have to lose countless hours trying to work around the malware. Meanwhile, the only semi-competent part of the company, the Mac Business Unit, would take the lead in Apps development.
Another MS employee said:
Is this what Windows has become? An upgrade no one wants, forced upon them because the new hardware they're buying doesn't support anything less?Compare this to OS X, where people fall all over themselves trying to get the newest version running on their old hardware because there's actual value in the new features.
So Vista has its guts ripped out, slips, and we wait another 5 years for a potentially insipring version of Windows, meanwhile Apple ships another 3 updates to OS X.
I hope to God Office 12 steps up and kicks some ass.
And last (but certainly not final of the 496 comments on the MS blog):
What's the difference between OS X and Vista?Microsoft employees are excited about OS X...