Two years ago I wrote: Windows Seven in 2010. Does Anyone Still Care?
I simply don’t get it: Vista is barely out, nobody seems to like it, CIO’s refuse to upgrade, analyst firms tell them to wait, individual users who tried it switch back to XP, others time their new PC purchase so they can still get an XP machine – generally speaking Vista was as poorly received as the ill-fated Windows ME.
Apple is gaining market share, the major computer manufacturers are offering Linux PC’s, the Web OS concept is getting popular, applications are already on the Web – can anyone clearly see the shape of personal computing in 2012? (Yes, I know MS plans for 2010, I’m just adding the customary delay.) Will it still matter what OS we use to get on the Internet? How can Microsoft be so out of touch?
I was right and I was wrong. Right in the assessment, but not foreseeing that Vista would turn out to be such a disaster, that Microsoft would be better off releasing its final version under a new name:
Make no mistake, the accelerated move to Windows 7 is a marketing decision, not a technical one. Vista became such a disaster that Microsoft finally realized no amount of marketing can save it: it was better the abandon the shipwreck and start with a clean slate, a “new” Windows product.
And so it happened, and millions of Vista victims end up paying the ransom to get out of the trap and get the version of the OS that actually works: Windows 7. Which means by late 2009, but mostly 2010 we’ll be where we were supposed to be in 2007. But now, as people count down the days till they can escape Vista and upgrade to Windows 7, Mary-Jo Foley who is always amongst the first to scoop out Microsoft’s plans is already talking about Windows 8, as early as 2011 or 2012.
It’s almost like Microsoft got infiltrated by secret agents who plot to alienate most of their customers. Because it’s hard to imagine why on Earth we would need yet-another operating system. Windows is not an application, it’s a friggin’ operating system whose job is to get us into applications and get out of the way. Assuming Win7 finally works, MS should leave us alone licking our Vista-inflicted wounds, instead of dumping another OS on us. Have they not learned from the Vista fiasco? Users don’t want to upgrade their OS every two years, they just want to use their computers and be left alone. How can Microsoft be so out of touch?
C’mon Zoli, stop being so…uh, never mind.
We need the feeling that things “evolve”. In its time, IE6 was a good browser, and see what happens if innovation stops for several long years?
You cannot possibly think, that with W7 things are done…Anyone whith a small fantasy can instance some features we don’t have yet, or maybe not “we”, but businesses, enterprises. You make to much simplification with this “my pc is the browser” approach.
Windows 7 will be succesful simply because it was released so close after Vista. Vista was so unsuccesful because it was released so long after XP. Releasing Windows very two/three years is actually much better than releasing it every five/six years.
Seriously, try to look up some dates before you make an analysis that is completely opposite to what it should be.
Wow. Just a bit bitter.
I generally tend to agree and believe the OS isn’t that important. Basically whatever is on sale (and that isn’t Apple) that can run a browser. I am currently on Vista, looking forward to Vista09.
But you are not looking at it from MS point of view. They make a lot of money with OS and appls – both under attack like never before. Do you honestly expect them to just sit back and say well people don’t want to upgrade?
They are a big company with a lot of influence. Not so much influence they can still control their standards (like .doc vs. .docx). But lots o influence still.
They need to tie their desktop, appls, browser, and phones together. They have done it before and they will try again. Here is the kicker. I hope they can do it. Why?
The fact is they can only be successful by making my life easier, so I wish them the best.
Thanks for that rant Zoli, you speak for many of us. I totally agree that Microsoft should be upgrading us for free to release us from the troubles of Vista. I am starting to contemplate Linux OS in the light of having to reload my hard drive about 9 times since installing Vista, so unstable….. Microsoft & Bill Gates should really just go to hell & be done with it. In their effort to rule the world they have accomplished mainly just putting customers off side. Best Pemo Theodore, AstraMatch Blog