“After months of hearing of how a certain influential team in Windows was going to cause the Vista release to slip, I, full of abstract self-righteous misgivings as a stockholder, had at last the chance to speak with two of the team's key managers, asking them how they could be so, please-excuse-the-term, I-don't-mean-its-value-laden-connotation, ignorant as to proper estimation of software schedules. Turns out they're actually great project managers. They knew months in advance that the schedule would never work. So they told their VP. And he, possibly influenced by one too many instances where engineering re-routes power to the warp core, thus completing the heretofore impossible six-hour task in a mere three, summarily sent the managers back to "figure out how to make it work." The managers re-estimated, nipped and tucked, liposuctioned, did everything short of a lobotomy — and still did not have a schedule that fit. The VP was not pleased. "You're smart people. Find a way!" This went back and forth for weeks, whereupon the intrepid managers finally understood how to get past the dilemma. They simply stopped telling the truth. "Sure, everything fits. We cut and cut, and here we are. Vista by August or bust. You got it, boss."”
This via MeFi, wherein the following was also posted:
It is an interesting article, but the author uses dramatic imagry to hide his inability to grasp the core concept. Vista is the pile of crap that it is because its actual utility has little to do with Microsoft's ability to ship millions of units. The Windows brand and Microsoft Marketing Machine are strong enough that they could fill each box with a freshly squeezed steaming pile of manure and the OEMs would eat it up. Tom's Hardware would dedicate 50 short pages to the urgent necessity of upgrading to Microsoft Cow Pie.
Six months later, end users might discover what they have purchased, but it would take years for the repercussions to reach Redmond. By that time, most of the marketing staff would have moved on to new companies, the engineers would have transitioned into new groups.
But Windows Vista will be just like Windows XP, perhaps with a little OS X flavor. It will receive rave reviews from journalists who can't even conceptualize what Windows could be. Dell will ship it with every machine. OSX and Linux will continue to hold on to a marginal share of the market.
I don't think Vista is Microsoft's new Windows ME (aka Moron Edition), but I think we've reached the point of diminishing returns here. “Ribbon” interfaces and fuzzy transparent window borders do not make for an entirely new operating system. Even the stuff they've left out is largely feng shui level fiddling. The problem is Microsoft's business model requires they release “new” operating systems (and remember why Windows 95 was so called - Bill wanted yearly versions) to keep making money.