Damn, Bill, you have come a LONG way. Look at you there back in '82, you handsome devil. As part of
our tribute, let's take a quick look back at the top ten greatest (and not so great) products created on Bill-time, shall we? Don't worry, it'll only sting a little.
Hits
Internet Explorer (IE) Introduced 1995
It's really easy to simply remember "Internet Exploder" as the standards-breaking, web-forking, buggy, monopoly-causing app that helped shape Bill's old image as the evilest baron of all technology companies. But it's also the app that led to the creation Ajax-based web apps through the XMLHttpRequest spec, and the kludgey early popularization of CSS. Love it or hate it, IE's gotten more people on the web over the years than any browser, and that's definitely got to count for something.
Media Center Introduced 2002
Despite TiVo's DVR dominance and competitors that came and went over the years, Media Center has always been an underrated standout product. Even
Bill admits that the company's long struggled with usability, but Media Center is a beacon of hope not only for 10-foot UIs everywhere, but also for the company's ability to create powerful, advanced, user-friendy products. Between its online integration, extensible plugin architecture, ability to stream shows to nodes around the house, and now
CableCARD support, the only real downside to Media Center is the fact that you still need a full-blown PC to run it.
MS-DOSIntroduced 1981, discontinued 2000
It was arcane and nigh-unusable to mere mortals -- but the early cash-cow was one of Bill's most strategic moves, and helped Microsoft define the concept of software licensing. It also helped launched Mossberg's career as crusader of user-friendly technology. But most importantly, MS-DOS was still the OS an entire generation grew up learning, so
del crticsm.* for a second because our autoexec.bat and config.sys were so very well crafted, and extensively tweaking Memmaker for a few extra KB of usable RAM definitely ranks amongst our top most formative geek moments.
Office Introduced 1989 (on Mac), 1990 (on PC)
Word, Excel and PowerPoint certainly did well enough on their own, but when Microsoft combined 'em into the tidy (and pricey) package that is Office -- first on the Mac in 1989, interestingly -- it had a selling point that would prove irresistible to many a productivity-obsessed middle manager even today. The addition of Outlook and its support for the (for some) nigh-indispensable Exchange only further solidified its foothold in the corporate computing world, and that's where Bill knew the real money was. That's certainly not to say that it hasn't been without its share of problems and annoyances, though -- we're looking at you, Clippy.
Peripherals Introduced 1982
Microsoft has always been a software company first, but it's been cranking out high-quality peripherals for over 25 years -- long before the Xbox and Zune were even a twinkle in Bill's eye. Not only that, but it's been a reliable innovator in the field, with a string of devices that were first, early, or just simply popularized technologies like the wheel mouse, force-feedback joysticks and controllers, the modern optical mouse, and the ergo-keyboard. The division has gone through some bumpy times -- the
SideWinder line was killed off for a while there, and there've been some
questionable designs along the way -- but it's been riding high as of late, and it doesn't show any signs of slowing down soon.
Windows 3.1 / NT 3.5 Introduced 1992 and 1994
It took a few versions to come into its own, but by the time Windows hit 3.1, Microsoft finally had a product that was able to pull PC users away from the command line (for some of the time, at least) and give them a real taste of things to come. Windows NT may not have had quite the same appeal with the average consumer, but it did bring the operating system into the 32-bit world and pave the way for enterprise desktop computing as we know it today. (Plus, it had the NT file system (NTFS), which to this day continues to carry on the legacy in its own little way.) We really wish they'd made a sequel to the Pirates of Silicon Valley, because we'd love to have seen the dramatization of Bill overseeing the first popularized verions of Windows -- especially '95, which came out just a couple of years later.
Windows 2000 and XP
Introduced 2000
When thinking of Microsoft and the new millennium, few people are able to keep the crinkles out of their nose. Thankfully, Windows ME wasn't the only thing that arrived in late Y2K, as Windows 2000 rushed in to rock the socks off of suits everywhere. The whole Win2K thing went over so well that Gates and company decided to base its
next consumer OS, XP, off of it. Some may
argue that the
resulting product still stands as the last great OS to ship out of Redmond.
Windows CE / MobileIntroduced 1996
As two of the most ubiquitous projects to come out from under Bill's command, both Windows CE and Windows Mobile are almost impossible to avoid when it comes to handhelds or phones. What began as a mishmash of small components has grown into the adaptable -- though sometimes maddening -- mobile OS that resides on just about every kind of device you can think of. Really, we mean every kind of device, from
PMPs to enterprise-level
stock-keeping systems. The slimmed down and restructured micro-Windows is at the very least one of the more flexible offerings the company has ever produced. Say what you will about its usability, there's no denying the massive impact it's had on portability and convergence.
Xbox and Xbox 360 Introduced 2001 and 2005
Back in 1999, Bill was all about multimedia convergence, and he said that a new gaming / multimedia device would be Microsoft's trojan horse into the world's living rooms with something coined the "DirectX-box." In 2001, the original Xbox entered gaming territory dominated by Sony's PlayStation with Nintendo's N64. But the clunky machine brought with it the first easy to use multiplayer console service, Xbox Live, as well as a developer-centric model that helped turn the tables. Of course, things look quite a bit different today: the Xbox 360 leads the former market leader's PlayStation 3 in spend and attach rate, and with the relative success of media and content sales on Xbox Live, it seems Bill's dream of dominating the living room wasn't just a pipe-dream after all.
Visual Basic
Introduced 1991, discontinued 1998
It's hard to underestimate the impact of Visual Basic. While the average user might have never heard of the original VB that Microsoft released way back when, the simplicity of the language and its graphical toolset made just about any power user a potential app developer, powering the flood of third party application development Microsoft operating systems enjoyed throughout the 90's. Sadly, Visual Basic met its demise at the hands of more modern languages and toolsets, but with a legacy of making programming accessible to the masses, its place in the history books and in Bill's pocketbook is undoubtedly secure.
Runners-up: DirectX, Flight Sim, Portable Media Center, Solitaire and Minesweeper
Misses
Auto PC Introduced 1998, discontinued 2001*
Riding high on its previously-introduced sister products -- the Handheld PC and Palm PC platforms, now dead and transformed into Windows Mobile, respectively -- Microsoft's Auto PC initiative was promised to herald a revolution for in-car entertainment and productivity. There's no question it was well ahead of its time; in fact, many of the features debuted in Auto PC have gone on to become standard fare in today's cars. Problem was, when it launched your ride was already pimped with a mere CD player. In-car navigation, voice recognition, and MP3 support were still the stuff of science fiction in those dark days (particularly at the four-digit asking price), and the whole thing was doomed to a geeky, spendy niche. Though products were initially expected from several manufacturers, Clarion ended up being the only one to actually produce a head unit.
*The Auto PC lived on in spirit as Clarion's Joyride, but Microsoft's heart was no longer in the project and Clarion had switched to a generic Windows CE-based core to build the product.
Microsoft Bob Introduced 1995, discontinued 1996
Poor Bob. No one ever gave him a chance. Maybe it had to do with the fact that he was really annoying. And as it turns out, Bill was dating Melinda French, Bob's program manager. Which isn't to say there was any nepotism involved -- Bob suffered an early death in 1996 due to general hatred for the little bastard. Bill offered this to a column in January, 1997, "Unfortunately, [Bob] demanded more performance than typical computer hardware could deliver at the time and there wasn't an adequately large market. Bob died." Thankfully, Billinda's blossoming relationship lived on. Oh, did you hear? They're like the world's greatest philanthropists now.
Cairo Introduced 1991 (but never released)
Ask folks to pick one word to describe Microsoft's technology roadmap in the 1990s and you'll commonly get "Cairo" in response. Announced before Windows NT 3.1 was even released, Cairo was occasionally an operating system, occasionally a collection of new technologies -- it depended entirely upon who and when you asked -- but at its core, it was intended to guide Microsoft on the path beyond the architecture introduced by NT. After throwing countless dollars and man-hours at the ambitious project, Cairo was ultimately canned (though mentions of the storied buzzword continued even into this decade). Although Windows 2000 eventually became NT's heir apparent, the fruits of Microsoft's labor weren't entirely for naught, as various Cairo features found themselves implanted into various versions of Windows throughout the years. Even the WinFS file system can trace its roots back to the project -- fitting, because it too has become such an albatross.
MSN Music and URGEIntroduced 2004 and 2006, both fully discontinued 2008
When MSN Music -- Microsoft's effort to build its own PlaysForSure-based subscription music based store -- imploded, headstrong Bill did what he usually does: rebrand, and launch again. When he got up at CES 2006 and announced MSN Music would become
URGE with MTV, we were all a little skeptical -- after all, the problem wasn't really the service, it was the overbearing DRM and the fact that consumers simply weren't ready for subscription music. Of course, eventually URGE died as well, and MTV shunted customers to
Rhapsody America; naturally, Microsoft had a third
PlaysForSure-based store waiting in the wings with
Zune, which doesn't appear to be going anywhere any time soon.
Origami / UMPCIntroduced 2006
Note: Intel, please join Microsoft on stage to accept this award
UMPCs... what can we say? Sure,
Scoble liked them, but even from day one we
never saw the market potential. Fueled by an early and too-successful hype-generating viral campaign of Microsoft's own making, there was no way that these first generation
Origami devices would achieve their promise. Overpriced, underpowered, desktop OS-laden (with Microsoft's Touch Pack add-on), and poor battery life all helped ensure drown UMPCs in the wave of "ultramobile lifestyle PC"-hysteria they rode to market. And as UMPCs begin to fade, the shrinking niche between smartphones and laptops can look forward to the sweet release of MIDs -- though that's already been two years... and counting.
OS/2
Dates: introduced 1987, discontinued 2006
What began as a collaboration between Microsoft and then-partner IBM blossomed into what looked like -- for a time at least -- the logical successor to the DOS / Windows empire. The advanced OS showed early signs of greatness with it's incorporation of the HPFS file system, improved networking capabilities, and a sophisticated UI. But cracks in the relationship between the two powerhouse corporations would ultimately lead to its downfall. With Windows 3 a sudden success, IBM's reluctance to go hardware neutral, and Microsoft's increasing displeasure with code which it called "bloated" (ahem!), the project was eventually swept aside by Gates and the gang to make way for what would become the omnipresent operating system you know and love and/or hate today.
SPOT watches and MSN Direct Introduced 2004, discontinued 2008
When the concept of an information-enabled watch that automagically received content over unused FM radio subcarriers was first conjured up by Microsoft in the early part of the decade, it seemed like a fabulous idea. So much so, in fact, Bill personally took the project under his wing. But by the time it had launched, it was already doomed by a perfect storm of problems: the devices were uglier than sin and comically oversized, the bizarre ad campaign featured frighteningly hairy cartoon arms, and -- as the mobile web was just starting to pick up steam at that time -- virtually anyone who would've been interested in that kind of product had already discovered ways to get the same information from their phone. The underlying data network Microsoft built out to support the watches, MSN Direct, lives on to this day and sees plenty of use in Garmin's nüvi line, but will it ever be used to beam weather, news, and MSFT stock reports to wrists other than Bill's? Not bloody likely.
Windows Activation Introduced 2001
Depending on who you talk to, Windows Product Activation is a serious privacy violation, a headache, minimal protection against piracy, or all of the above. Lucky for us, Microsoft is finally seeing (some of) the folly of its overbearing ways, and has gone with a more permissive
nagware method with Vista SP1. This as opposed to the regular method of routinely locking users out of their systems, which, wouldn't you know it, tended to hurt legitimate users more than pirates. Perhaps the best example of Windows Activation's legacy was the great
WGA outage of 2007, which left 12,000 systems out in the cold due to a few downed servers at Microsoft. It didn't take long for the servers to bounce back, but any shred of reputation the service had at that point went out the window with the uptime.
Windows MEIntroduced September 2000
It's not exactly clear what the point of Windows Millennium Edition was -- our guess is that Microsoft needed to keep up with that year-based product naming scheme it had going at the time, and cranked out this half-baked update to '98 in order to capitalize on the turn-of-the-millenium frenzy. Unlike the NT-based Windows 2000 released at the same time, Windows ME retained its MS-DOS-based core, while managing to somehow get even more slow and unstable than its predecessors 95 and 98. And to add insult to injury, it restricted access to shell mode, rendering many MS-DOS apps incompatible. Thankfully, Windows ME was only inflicted upon consumers for little over a year; it was replaced by indomitable Windows XP in 2001.
Windows Vista
Introduced 2007
Vista doesn't suck. Let's just get that off our chests. In fact, it's a quite capable, secure and sexy OS when you get right down to it. Unfortunately, its problems just loomed too large for many folks to overlook. A multitude of delays and a rapidly diminishing feature list soured people right out of the gate, and once the dust settled people just weren't happy with the minor improvements they were getting in exchange for their hard-earned monies and fairly mandatory RAM upgrades. Mix that in with the standard driver incompatibilities of any Microsoft OS upgrade, and you've got a whole bunch of disgruntled downgraders on your hands -- and plenty of bad press to fill in any remaining gaps. Sadly, improvements to Media Center, aesthetics and even that quirky little sidebar got overlooked in the process. Microsoft's already scrambling to get Windows 7 together to capture the multitude of users that've decided to skip Vista altogether, let's just hope it's not too late.
Runners-up: Actimates, Pocket IE, Games for Windows - Live, Xenix (yeah, Microsoft actually did a Unix at one time!)
posted June 27th 2008 3:33PM
Zune not on list?
I think the Zune wouldn't really fall under either category, Decent little gadget but by no means was revolutionary, nor was it a complete failure..
?
What's wrong with it? Ever use one? And...
"Vista doesn't suck. Let's just get that off our chests. In fact, it's a quite capable, secure and sexy OS when you get right down to it."
Yet it is one of Microsoft's greatest misses? Eeeh...
They must've forgotten. The Zune is a failure.
Zune isn't really either.
The Zune Player it self is awesome, beating the iPod in most aspects.
The downside, is the software for your computer is terrible!
It's buggy, doesn't recognize music.
Zune would be a lot better if WMP could be used, or iTunes.
So it hasn't been a huge smash, or a huge loss
@Les
All the flaws are what makes it a failure
PC-side, Zune is dog with eating resources, however, the player itself is awesome. Has an easy controller, FM tuner, etc. The 4/8 GB are obsolete when compared to the latest comparable iPods, but the 80G Zune is way better than the latest iPod Classic.
Zune 80 - Hit
Zune 4/8 - Neither hit nor miss.
It was hidden in there:
"naturally, Microsoft had a third PlaysForSure-based store waiting in the wings with Zune, which doesn't appear to be going anywhere any time soon."
I didn't think they could make an article like this without taking a shot at Zune. All in all, I think it's a good thing Zune is not on the list. Put it either as a success or failure and you'll get flamed. In actuality, it's not really either; people that like it really like it, those that don't downright despise it. Did they succeed or fail? Depends on who you ask.
? I have a Zune and i absolutely love it. I got it cause i was sick of my ipod's idiot proof-ness, and apple in general.
I in no way see how the zune is a failure. It's just unfortunately overshadowed.
I also might add, Engadget, that Zune isn't really that similar to Plays-For-Sure. Songs purchased from the Zune marketplace at launch would only work with the Zune player. Also, the very fact that it had a player and an 'ecosystem' made it new and different from Microsoft's previous approaches to music. Nowadays, though, the Zune store is switching to MP3s, so I guess those will play for sure on any mp3 player you can find.
It's there. It may well go down in history as one of the worse products ever developed by MS. It's only through MS monopoly that generates perpetual revenue that this abomination is allowed to exist.
Yeah, but the Zune is a mixed bag. I had one for about a year until it was stolen and the player was excellent. I loved that I got a good amount of storage for so low a price and in a nice looking package with a nice big (for the time) screen. I liked how I could flip over to the radio if I wanted to listen to NPR instead of my music or podcasts. I didn't like that I had to use the Zune software which was just a little too dumbed-down and iTunes-like for me but I only used it to load music so it wasn't that big a deal. If I could have used Winamp or just the file structure it would have been better but a fair cop for a sub-$200 30 gig player at the time. Neither a stellar hit nor a terrible miss in my opinion.
z0phi3l -
I can name a lot of iPod flaws, that doesn't make it a failure.
Have you even owned or ever picked up a Zune before? I suspect not.
They just released in Canada a few weeks ago and I bought one. It's an absolutely beautiful little device and I find the US and the usability of it leaps and bounds better than the iPod's Click Wheel (iTouch/iPhone aside of course).
I've shown it to a couple of people in my office and it made such a good impression that one or two people said they were going to get one too.
Yeah the main reason I dont have a Zune is the fact that I just dont want to use Microsofts weak marketplace. I'd rather use WMP as I use it everyday and love it on Vista. I kind of find it funny sometimes how when it comes to UI and aesthetics for me Zune > iPod; iPhone > Windows Mobile device.
I wish MS would take WMP and place a good, simple, easy to use store within it. I dont really like iTunes either. I find it very clunky.
you guys have clearly never compared the Zune and iPod
what makes iTunes so great? its basically a parallel program to Zune Software, but the Zune has a music subscription.
The iPod has much more time to develop while the Zune has only been out around two years...
It IS a great product, and if u BUY a song, it'll work on other mp3's/players, but if u subscribe, it only works on the Zune program and on Zunes...but what else would u need it for? The Zunes the best!! hehe
also, you don't need to buy your music from Zune to listen to it...for some, you just have to convert it like iTunes and stuff as well...not like Apple products accept all types of formats...
Omen_20 I kinda hope they take the opposite approach. It always was kind of stupid to have 2 separate media players for windows. I actually prefer the zune interface to media player 11 now. It does take too much ram to run imo but it does run really well with the 2.5 updates (and looks/functions quite a bit better than anything else out there now). The zune software is quite a bit ahead of itunes in the look and feel dept too imo (and itunes runs like complete crap in windows too.... takes even more ram than zune does on my system).
they do need to standardize around something and not have 2 media players. I have a feeling going forward zune will be the media software of choice since there really isnt anything left in media player.
Omen
So dont use Microsofts weak marketplace. Patronize Amazon's DRM free mp3 store instead.
Zune...a miss, but not recognized as such yet. I was at a small conference the other day and they weren't giving away a free Zune. I don't know anybody that has one or anyone that has said..."Man, I've got to get me one of those!"
Zune's are great. Really.
I'm a hardcore ipod user, and love my mac, but I've got nothing against the zune. The device is almost completely successful technically, but as a product, it fails, because apple dominates the market.
Example: I'm a junior in high school, with about 125 in my grade. probably about 110 actively used ipods there. not one zune.
Where's tablet PC? It's the platform many manufacturers are abandoning, due to slow sales.
Zune was just another iPod copycat with improved functionality which was never taken advantage. So yes, not a epic fail... just a epic nothing.
* I love microsoft
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GvskEGWMLp4&NR=1
Yeah, I think it's too early to put Zune on the list. After all, it's only been released a year and a half, if I recall correctly and, unlike Vista, Zune got pretty good reviews.
Also, I'd reject calling something a failure when it's sold 2 million units *in the US alone* and managed to unseat Creative from 3rd place in the PMP market so quickly. (In an iPod-dominated world, that's actually kind of impressive.)
While I prefer the interface of the Zune and the 2.5 software (which is a huge improvement over the original) to the iPod the real benefit is the subscription music service.
If you don't see the value in a subscription music service you're simply not a music fan. Or at least you're not a smart music fan. Having a Zune Pass (and Urge before it) has absolutely exploded my taste in music. There's nothing better than being able to listen to almost any album (the whole thing, not 30 seconds) you want and download it at a click of a button for no extra cost. I could never go back to the days of buying an album based on how much I liked the artist's previous work or how well it was reviewed or how the album artwork looked. By my calculations if I never downloaded another song and paid to keep everything for the rest of my life I would have gotten more out of it than the price I paid. And even if my subscription went away right now there's no way to quantify the benefit of all the new stuff I've found out about.
In that vein PlaysForSure wasn't a miss at all. It was simply marketed wrong to a public who is apparently still shackled with the misconception that it is better to "own" music.
it would be pretty dumb to put zune as one of the failures of ms when the second revision of the device has been rated by just about everyone to be better than the comparable ipod(ipod classic). It would be especially dumb considering how fast it's rising up the ladder in terms of market share. Besides which just about everyone I've shown my zune to has said that it looks really cool and many have said they wanted one(my mom actually got one even though she's been a hardcore apple fan in the past)
1. Windows Vista
When it comes down to it Vista is pretty f-ing badass. No more restarts from installing drivers or Windows updates, ACTUAL 64bit support and compatibility, numerous UI improvements (the programs search bar on the start menu is awesome), and it has a really nice look and feel. It makes me cringe when I have to use XP machines now.
Sam: Can you please clarify what you mean with actual 64 bit support and compatibility? WinXP had a X86-64 platform witch is very stable and programs meant for 32bit can be run in 64bit under WoW64
@Sam, the sad thing is that you could have had all of those features for free a long time ago with Linux, and at the same time saved yourself the headaches of malware, and to be repetitive you could have saved yourself some coin.
I'm sure he meant No 1. Microsoft sam
I have to (mostly) agree with Sam here. I am by no means a super-savy Windows user, I just run mostly basic programs (Office, Photoshop, Premiere). But I have noticed a marked increase in the performance of these programs when I switched from XP Pro to Vista Ultimate on my self-built PC about 6 months ago. Apart from (very) few easily remedied driver issues (it was HP's fault, if you ask me), I've been extremely happy with my Vista experience and often don't say as much because people just seem hell bent on disliking the OS and I don't want to have to constantly defend myself.
@Sam
Uhhh, I have to restart my computer with all updates as well as driver updates. I don't know why you don't have to!
@Kenboldt
Yeah Linux is da-bomb. But it isn't for those who are impatient. Takes a lot of reconfiguring.
I think the thing about Vista is this: if you UPGRADE from anything to Vista, you're in for problems, big ones (compatability and driver issues, plus the possibility that your hardware is not up to snuff). But, if BOUGHT with a new PC, Vista works just as well as XP does, and the intuitive UI makes it great for users who are not tech-savvy. I have personally witnessed both scenarios and can tell you that the people who have upgraded to Vista are most likely the ones who are complaining. So, if you dont want to change your PC, stick with XP for sure. Otherwise, I personally think that Vista is the way to go.
Agreed. Vista was a BIG miss for Microsoft. I'm staying with XP until next month when I get an iMac, Leopard FTW!
You're a very brave man (or woman) to announce that on a MS-specific post. You can use my old Dell lappie (when I moved up to the Macbook) as a shield if you'd like. :-)
Have you ever used vista?
loser
Beat you there. Got my OS X already.
To add to insult, I considered using vista, but then decided to boot camp XP instead.
Yes, I have used Vista because my mom's computer uses Vista. Vista is so frustrating and annoying to use and all the pre-loaded shit is annoying!
That "preloaded shit" is the computer manufacturer's fault, not Microsoft's. At the very least, try to get the source of your criticisms right.
Exactly, Sticking with XP. Meaning you have not even used Vista for over a day. If you actually used Vista like I do at work (CSU IT ADMIN) and home you would LOVE it. Ive never had one crash, one virus, or one incompatibility. Ive never installed one driver (always found by windows update or built in to OS) And hitting ctrl+esc and then typing whatever i want and then hitting enter to open all of my programs makes XP A JOKE. (ctrl+esc PHOT enter... Photoshop is now open. ctrl+esc Calc enter...Calculator is now open. ctrl+esc Jon rafting... My email from Jon about rafting is now open in outlook) Vista is one of Microsoft best successes in my book, and I started out on DOS just like the rest of you. And im not some schmuck who has not used leopard or linux. I have a Ubuntu server and my handy hackintosh (thanks lifehacker) and i do love them dearly but Vista is the best. Aaron - 23 - Sacramento
"Ive never had one crash, one virus, or one incompatibility. Ive never installed one driver (always found by windows update or built in to OS) And hitting ctrl+esc and then typing whatever i want and then hitting enter to open all of my programs makes XP A JOKE."
Ditto here, well... except for the fact that I use Linux, and hit alt+F2, but otherwise, same experience, no crashes, no viruses, no incompatibility, full hardware detection and functionality our of the box, and a handy quick keystroke to open up any program of choice. Yup, XP IS A JOKE. =D
What preloaded shit??? IE? If you don't like IE, use it just long enough to download FireFox. The sidebar? You can disable the sidebar....by right-clicking on the icon and disabling it. Umm....the games? They're pretty unobtrusive, and are standard fare for all OS's. Anything else preloaded has nothing to do with Vista....it has everything to do with the vendor that sold you (or your parents) the computer.
I'm sorry to say this (not really), but you sound like a computer-moron with that comment.
I've used XP since its release, then switched to Vista at its release. So far Vista is far superior, but not perfect. Here are the only problems I've encountered:
XP and Vista machines do NOT like each other on local networks....getting them to talk is a major pain in the ass.
Many peripheral companies simply won't spend the time/effort/money to write Vista drivers for their [slightly] older stuff, meaning many things like printers and even EAX on SoundBlaster sound cards just won't work. This isn't Microsoft's fault though.....I fully blame the other companies that just want to force people to buy new versions of the same crap.
Sometimes the popups requiring authorization to do anything to the file system or settings can be annoying. However, those popups are a large part of the reason I have yet to encounter any malware on 2 machines in over a year....and I don't use antivirus software because I feel like it hijacks the computer. Also, those popups can be disabled.
By the way, Apple's OS's, while they used to be better, more stable, and more secure than Windows, are not anymore.
As for Vista making the miss list, if you read the paragraph carefully, it is obvious that it's not there due to its own merits, but because of the way Microsoft handled its release (delays and incorrect labeling of PCs as Vista ready). Because of those and the problems I listed above, many people have pre-formed opinions that will never go away no matter what.
Vista is not a miss because it revealed people's true feelings about XP and that convenience trumps better security.
I moved to Leopard too. So much easier than dealing with the Vista mess. I installed Vista and downgraded after two weeks of non-stop driver and software issues. I saw such a massive degradation in frame rates in games that it was almost unbearable to see a %30 decrease in performance.
Your just mad because your 386 won't run Vista. People that complain about Vista being laggy should think of all the features it has. It needs more RAM because it has A LOT more to do. Same for CPUs. Think back to when XP was released. it had half the drivers that Vista has and it was laggy when it first came out. But the bugs were worked out of it. Vista runs fine for me and all my friends.
I used to use XP but with the arrival of new PCs vista was a must. And i have to say it is far better than XP for me. It isnt laggy or slow and people who claim it is are probably using components that are not designed for vista or whatever.
I also have recently got and iMac, and wow, just wow. Its as good as any PC i have ever used and will run games as well as any decent PC.
Speaking as someone who no longer owns a PC, I actually like Vista, a lot. I used it a lot in the release candidate stage. I've always been one to run with an unfinished OS as my main rig, going back to Win2K days, Win2K was exceptional, the beta was more solid than 98. After playing with a hacked Mac OS X on my machine for awhile though, I found Vista more 'window dressing over xp' whereas the Mac OS was something completely different (to windows) under the hood, with Unix goodness to learn and explore.
Each to their own, and I'll be watching with interest the direction they take with Windows 7, I like the sound of some of the ideas there.
(In the end I chose XP for my bootcamp partition, Vista isn't as lean for games, but if i used it for other things I'd go Vista)
I use Vista SP1 every day, 8 to 10 hours a day, and I've been using Vista for over a year, and I can say with confidence that my experience with Vista at work is the reason why my last home PC had XP on it.
Vista does nothing new, not one single thing better than XP, except need a better video, more memory and a faster processor than the corresponding XP box.
Does Vista suck? Honestly, in a vacuum, no, it's OK. However when considering the required investment required to have a satisfying user experience as compared to XP, yes, it does suck: money from your wallet.
I can see taking a performance hit if the features they talked about originally actually materialized, such as a SQL like filesystem, etc, but at the end of the day all they did was create a system that costs more to do the same thing as my old system. Aero is OK looking, but requiring a discrete video card for a business class machine to run it is stupid. at the risk of getting flamed, how come Apple is able to do what they do with Aqua just fine with the integrated intel graphics chip (MacBook), but Vista wants 128 MB video card for Aero? I don't get it.
I'll keep buying systems with XP as long as I can, but I'm not going to pay an extra $100 for the privilege of having Vista (which I'll never use) AND XP.
So... Since I need MS Office for my job, I guess my next system will be a Mac.
I've had every MS operating system since DOS 3 except Me.
So long, Microsoft, it was fun while it lasted.
Signed,
A disillusioned formerly loyal customer that you've driven to the competition.