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
OK, first off, Vista is very stable and secure now, unless you
install crapware on it. Many Tech people like it, even Mac guys,
like Leo Laporte, Garnett Lee of 1up.com, Patric Norton of Tekzilla,
et cetera.
Compatability is good now, even with 64bit. I have Windows Vista
64bit Home Premium on my AMD Athlon 64 X2 3800+ and it's working
great.
As for security, it is way more secure than XP. I ran XP and Vista
without any protection except for a firewall, and XP got malware
after about 3 weeks, and Vista never got it even when used for
months.
Ok, Zune. I own a Zune 4, and I love the hardware. The problem is
that the software seems too inefficient, and takes too long to load.
But the hardware is great, and I love that I can download games and
apps for free for the zune. I do like the interface of the zune
software though, so it would be nice for them to combine WMP and
Zune, or perhaps add zune software to the Windows Live suit, and dump
WMP from Windows 7, so everything is componentized.
And for all those people that say that Leopard is the greatest thing since sliced bread, try installing Vista and Leopard on the same machine, and see which is faster. Leopard takes like 2 MINUTES to get to the welcome screen on my 2.4GHz PC, where as Vista takes 30/40 seconds. When I tried to do anything, it was extremely unresponsive. Also, about after 40 minutes of using Leopard, it just crashed, and froze. But on the same machine, Vista worked flawlessly
The Zune might very well be user-friendly, awesome interface, include an FM player, etc, etc, etc. Sadly, it can NEVER be considered revolutionary, because all it did was COPY THE iPOD and improve (substantially or not) on it.
The iPod took the widely available MP3 players of the late 90's and made them sexy, and viable, and gave them storage. I can find tons of flaws in the iPod and the iPod ecosystem, but it was revolutionary (for its time) and WILDLY successful in the marketplace.
Zune: Failure or not? Depends on how you judge it. By functionality it's a mixed bag because of the crappy computer interface. By market share? Apple pwns Microsoft.
Additionally: it is unfair to compare Microsoft's newest product, with massive usability improvements over many years of experience with iPods, with the Ipod classic legacy product. Why not compare software and usability with the latest version? iPod Touch pwns EVERY Zune.
Here's to the flamers...
Cheers
A
I think Vista is the best OS Microsoft has ever produced. People who disagree are penguin lovers or fruit cake fanboys.
Most people don't realize the propaganda war that's taking place on our screens. If you think Vista is a failure you're only hearing the loud minority. Online media is just like conventional media, it runs on are controversy. Nobody is printing positive articles about Vista because nobody would read them.
The truth is that Vista's 256% increase in market share over the last 12 months significantly outpaced Mac OS X, which came in at 32%. Fruit cakes and penguin lovers try to say that's because people are buying new PCs, but honestly, anyone who wants XP is just downgrading to it. Microsoft has made that easy to do because many people prefer it (those MOST people prefer Vista).
The truth is that Vista had a rough start for two reason; 1) it needs modern hardware and 2) hardware vendors have done a horrible job with drivers. Both of those issues can be resolved by buying a Lenovo, which has both quality hardware and drivers.
Two non-issues idiot-geek-posers complain about are hard disk space and RAM. Vista uses tons of disk space because it includes the files required for every older version of Windows (for backwards compatibility). Vista also requires at least 2GB of RAM, where XP runs fine with 1GB. Disk space and RAM is cheap, who cares? ...Idiots who are trying to run the latest OS on old hardware.
Personally I think it's amazing that people are still buying the crap HP, Compaq, Acer, Gateway, Dell, etc. are producing and then turning around and blaming Microsoft for the hardware vendors incompetence. Those brands have always been lousy. Honestly, it's hard to find people doing a good job in the hardware market these days. I think Apple and Lenovo are doing things right, though they have different approaches; Apple makes great disposable home computers and Lenovo makes great upgradable computers.
Anywayz, I've been running Vista Ultimate + OneCare on my T60p for almost two years now, and it still runs just as great as the day I installed it. If you hate Vista buy a Lenovo T60p, T61p or X300 with Vista Ultimate and try it for three months. Unless you're an idiot, you'll love it.
i actually like windows vista, looks good and works just fine on my computer, the problem was that the right expectations regarding needed hardware were not set and people felt dissapointed about the performance of their computers (i used to be a dell tech support agent when Vista was launched so i was there when all the problems were happening) but with the right computer is a very nice OS, i like it and i wouldnt go back to XP, anyway, i think in the years to follow Mr. Gates will be missed by many, his retirement signals the beggining of the end of what was an exciting era in technology and in business.
greetings from El Salvador to everybody here!
did he say Microsoft games a failure, crazy for sure.
Some of the best games and most played for a long time, Midtown madness 1 and 2.
Age of Empies 1, 2, 3. These are milestone games in the world of strategy games. I disagree, they are with the Wins for sure.
AOE 1 ROR best game imo for Win 98 next to Figher Ace that came with my Sidewinder
Hits
Internet Explorer ?
Media Center ?
Windows CE / Mobile ?
OS/2 wasn't a failure for MS, it was a failure for IBM. It was very strategic for MS.
It's a minor app, but Windows Live Writer is a great neat idea - and it may be the forerunner of a new kind of interoperability mentality at Redmond.
Always the outsider, I've been happy with Vista. Windows has alaways sucked in one way or the other.
But Vista's UI is gorgeous and a joy to work with.
Hitting the Windows key and typing "calc" to start the calculator (or "excel" to start Excel..etc) is very efficent . The whole redo of the start menu is awesome. It kicks it's predecessors butts.
Vista's Windows Explorer rocks. I love the breadcrumb menus (very fast to navigate) and the ability to add favorite places links of your choosing (something that's been available to the Linux crowd for years).
It's a vast improvment in both looks and functionality over XP and it's predecessors.
I guess I'm one of the "silent majority" who actually likes Vista. I ran the pubic betas for months before I put down my money on RTM and I even popped for Ultimate and I've been very happy.
I also did my research so my all of my hardware (circa 2004) was already compatible.
I've really never understood why the tech media has been so down on it.
And for what it's worth, I'm a Linux user also
I like Vista... I miss the how on XP if i wanted to turn of my pc just hit the windows key then hit U twice and it would shut off, wanna reboot? Windows key U R.
Sigh. Once again, DOS -- the dos that made it -- was QDOS (stands for Quick, Dirty Operating System) which was purchased by Gates/Microsoft just after pitching the operating system to IBM. "Big Blue" as IBM was called, had just come out with a computer that required a more robust OS than the wan thing made for the 4bit systems. Gates went into the meeting with them and convinced them he had the solution. He then went to a rival company and purchased their upgraded QDOS for a pittance.
So yes, Gates was part of a TEAM that created the original (D)isk (O)perating (S)ystem., but the memorable operating system we came to hate was not his DOS.
You guys have forgotten a couple new produces that have come out. Microsoft Sync in cars is a huge hit. I have in my car, and is honestly the best device you can have in your car, especially in California since July 2008 requires a hands-free cell phone law.
Maybe they forgot that hit but they forgot another miss with it as well because active sync (at least the XP one not the vista one) is the most useless app on the planet...
I have a SPOT watch and i love it to death. It's not ugly at all, and it's not huge either. Plus it was only 20 bucks.
"It's hard to underestimate the impact of Visual Basic."
And believe me, I tried!
I just love vista I am not having any issues of what you guys complaining about. In fact i got rid of xp and since then never looked back. And also i am using vista 64 and the fact that everything went smoothly without any headaches especially on a 64 bit os thats a major upgrade for me. I have yet to see a blue screen and its been 2 months already using windows vista.
As far as memory goes yes vista has more stuff than windows xp but thats ok though at least you can turn the other stuff off. With that said when windows 7 comes out i am not going to jump on it right away because the fact that windows 7 will be for those that did not like vista. windows me was the only os that gave me tons of blue screen and we can all admit that os was trash. But vista i have yet to see a blue screen.
And lastly Businesses won't upgrade to anything newer until their older hardware craps out. they run it till it fails. I understand for businesses not upgrading because they just don't want to spend on new hardware/software. You know what they say don't fix whats not broken right???
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.
The reason for this well actually 2 reasons is because vista min ram requirements is 512 and recommended is a gig. Second reason because certain retail pc's and laptops and especially laptops they use proprietary hardware and the restore image that it comes with is probably modified in a way where it might cause problems.
Now if this was a built machine that you had like let say 2 or 3 years ago. The only thing to worry about is making sure you have at least 1gb of ram. I even tested vista on a Pentium 4 3ghz processor and it runs fast.
Hardware compatibility well thats a maybe and its by case by case scenario you may or may not run into this just depends on your peripheral devices. backed then ram was a big deal but now ram is right dirt cheap.
And also this is just my opinion its ok if you don't agree. But i would recommend going to vista 64 and ditch the 32 bit mainly because of you are now be able to upgrade your ram beyond 4gb.
Vista will make good use of your ram if you have superfetch enabled which basically caches your frequently used programs before the os loads completely. Not to get confused with startup programs by msconfig because it even caches parts of the os beyond what it needs to run. Such as certain dll files that would not normally be cached so to make the os responsive.
With this feature enabled i honestly can say it boots up faster than xp. But Only if you have the ram because if you don't then i would turn off superfetch.
Hi,
is not it the time to move out of Windows & try out Ubuntu. Check out how they compare at http://itcomparison.com/OS/vistavsubuntu/vistavsubuntu.htm
LOL, I know bill gate will hate this post. but he got enough money already not to care any more. Don't he.
Enjoy,
digg1980
I took the liberty of reading the article and I hope you're not a firm believer in it. It is extremely biased and here's some of it:
"Ubuntu installation is easier and faster. There are Free upgrades available every 6 months." that's an opinion, not a fact. The Vista installation isn't the best but you have to consider that Vista can come preloaded. No installation required. Vista updates every month through Microsoft Update.
Ubuntu isn't safer because it's actually safer, it's just not enough people use it. If you are an adware maker or spyware maker, you would target the largest installation base, which is Windows. There are a lot more anti-malware and firewall options than Ubuntu.
Free software on Ubuntu? You can get the same for Windows.. Firefox, OpenOffice, etc. You don't HAVE to use IE, or Microsoft Office on Windows.
Windows have a great back up option (ntbackup) and can back up files as well as system state. You also have third party options if you like, unlike Ubuntu.
Windows can share peripheral and external storage easily with a right click. Bluetooth link could not be simpler.
Windows does not have xbox live, get your facts right. Every game has its own network, and there is an incomparable library of games for windows than any other platform.
Just with the issue of microsoft office, windows media player can be exchanged for other free players like itunes and winamp.
Windows AERO can be turned off for less capable machines. You can even change it to Windows 2000 theme.
While Ubuntu can be run on lower configured computers, it's hardly a reason for a new machine to use ubuntu. Yes, people are buying new computers all the time.
Vista does not crash randomly. That is a common misconception. I admit that Windows crash more often than other, that is because windows offer support for more applications and devices than any other platform. Software and Hardware conflicts are more common for such a huge library of them.
Ubuntu is free. It will be unheard of if it wasn't. That's my piece of opinion.
Please read the article before posting some link. I'm not saying Ubuntu is better or worse than Vista, but such an unbalanced article needs criticism. Vista and Ubuntu are good for certain types of machines, but to generalize an OS over another is unfair.
Somehow i am not interested not because it is free but i am a hard core pc gamer. Sorry i pass
Xenix is not a failure - it allows Balmer to make hollow threats of law suits against companies daring to use Linux. The fact that they got such a large amount of money from Novell by itself justifies Xenix.