I like Mr Vaughan-Nichols’ articles, they are thoughtfully written. However, I do not think Microsoft Vista is a failure from a Business and Technical point of view, nor will it be. May be a lot of effort in making Vista is wasted, but this does not mean Vista is a failure
In business, one must be seen to update/refresh one’s product, especially technology product. Its true that the days of spectacular improvement between updates are gone. There is no big jump from Win95 to WinXP, but people still buy WinXP today instead of Win95. Update/refreshing a product, even if it is a marketing ploy in the same way as we periodically seen “new recipe” for biscuits, serves a business purpose. an updated/upgraded windows also spurs development of updates for third party Window-based software which in turns, generate more revenue for software businesses. I know that from a technical perspective this “forced update” is not based on technical merits, but nobody can argue it does not make business sense. As far as Microsoft is concerned, Vista allows it a fresh marketing push and also make it possible to keep the Windows market into 2010. Say, in 2009, I give you a choice between SuSE 15 or WinXP update 4. Both are versions circa 2008, but which one will you choose? Something with a old name of something that looks like a new version of software? Does these make business sense? Yes.
From technical point of view, introducing Vista, even if it is simply a refresh of WinXP, allows WinXP to be retired. Software products do fade away into oblivion. This is part of the evolution process where old and retired technologies are allow to die. Calling WinXP Update as Vista is just the jolt needed to wake everyone in the industry up about WinXP impending, but yet far away, doom.
Yes, Vista has problems, and so far, unlike Microsoft’s campaign which says otherwise, it lack the “wow” factor. Historian may eventually concluded that it is simply a WinXP upgrade and represent the next evolution, not revolution of the Windows platform. But it is not a failure. Never.
CyberTech Rambler 
When Win95 and Win98 came out, people stood in line for them. The excitement in the market was everywhere and no one was forced by customer demand to sell the older product.
When Win2K came out, corporations were excited. Home users were not so happy with WinMe, so they continued to want Win98SE. WinXP was exciting and anticipated.
From what I can see, the people who are excited are the ones getting Mac OS X or Ubuntu Linux or Linux Mint. With few exceptions, people are getting Vista because they have no choice, not because they want to buy it.
To me, that’s a sign that Redmond should be paying attention to users, because users are not asking for Vista yet. SP1 should be out in a year, so maybe Vista will be improved enough relative to XP that people will actually ask for it.
Comment by lnxwalt — April 24, 2007 @ 3:54 pm |
Dear Inxwalt
Good point. Compared with the “fabricated” buzz around Vista, Ubuntu certainly has grassroot buzz and its something you don’t see with other OS distributions for a long time. MacOSX buzz is something in the middle. With Steve Job’s slick presentation, it is difficult to separate manufactured from real buzz. But I certainly see grassroot enthusiasm. That is unlike Vista launch. It looks like astroturf and the WoW campaign probably only wow-ed Redmond as nobody seems to care.
Comment by ctrambler — April 24, 2007 @ 4:33 pm |
[…] growth with Mac OS X, which is coming at the expense of Microsoft’s new Windows Vista. People are excited by Mac (and Ubuntu Linux / Linux Mint) in a way that a few ersatz “wow” comments pushed […]
Pingback by Working @ WebConnectConsulting.com » Apple’s Gain Bodes Well For Linux — May 2, 2007 @ 4:06 am |