Testers Didn’t Tell Microsoft That Vista Had Problems - Hogwash!

Isn’t this a bit disingenuous?

Ballmer does a mea culpa on one day, and then the next he shifts the blame to the beta testers.

Someone needs to remind him of the saying that was on top of President Truman’s desk - The buck stops here.
Now that Bill G is not around day-to-day the buck has to stop with him, but he doesn’t seem to want that.

He, and Microsoft, would be much better off in the court of public opinion if he simply came clean, and admitted that everyone screws up now and then, and promises that Vista will be the last one for the foreseeable future.

I have been less than impressed with Windows 7, but I know I am in the minority. I just hope that the lack of [good] drivers is not a problem with Windows 7.

While I’m at it, the hyperbole of people like Ed Bott would be better received if it was accompanied by the disclaimer **Unabashed fan boy** as each time I tried a build of Windows 7 during the public beta cycle, I was less than taken by the things he extolled as virtues. The interface changes, to my way of thinking, are atavistic, it’s like Windows 3.1 with 32 bit color, instead of 16 bit. But again, I am in the minority - others don’t seem to pick this up - or aren’t old enough to remember. [in case you think I'm rambling, what I mean is that less hyperbole by the press, through carefully controlled releases by Microsoft, would help Microsoft, when the code is seen by the public]

Something I’ve said elsewhere, perhaps not here. - A good salesman knows his product. The fact that Ballmer did not know the shortcomings of Vista, shows that he is a bad salesman. No matter what the title he holds, in effect, he is the Salesman-in-Chief, and as such should have the answers to the questions, and know where things break down, why they do, and be demanding enough to get them remedied immediately, if not sooner . If not, as I have also said before, he should be replaced.

Hi Marc,
I agree 100%. The man is going to be the downfall of Microsoft.

Question - have you been getting my emails????????

I’m not sure my gmail is sending out mail through Windows Mail.

Please let me know.

This is the second time I am trying to answer, so if the first appears, you can do what you will with it.

I got your mail from 2 days ago - yes, the site is very slow.

I was using Opera and I thought that I might be having a problem with ad-block within it, so i tried Iron, and it still took 45 seconds to get from front page to here.

Thanks Marc!

Microsoft’s answer to Vista’s problems was tantamount to the folks who made the Yugo’,, replying to complains about their crappy cars were do to the fault of crappy American mechanics.. ( I kid you not.)

Acutally, Vista runs fine on computers with 1GB of RAM. You just can’t install any crapware on that 1GB.

Win7 OTOH will run VERY well on a computer with 1GB of RAM, with room to spare for apps and such. Del Inspiron e1505, Core Duo 1.6 GHz, Intel GMA 950, 1GB of RAM, runs Windows 7 Ultimate RC like a charm.

As a tester for several Microsoft products, I take great offense to these comments. Ballmer’s behavior is that of a little kid who hits someone by surprise at school and says “it wasn’t me!”.

I’d reevaluate my position on this matter if I was Ballmer. He may drive the testers away from Microsoft products.

I know anecdote != data, but I ran Vista for the better part of a year on a Pentium III 800MHz computer with 512MB RAM for the better part of a year. While it wasn’t Ferrari-fast, it ran absolutely fine. (Now I’ve got a better one, but that’s not the point.)

Perhaps your standards are a smidge too high, hmm?

Anyone who makes software knows that is your job to pick the correct kind of testers. Maybe he means that Vista was only tested by the kind of people who are optimistic and helpful.

At my job, we would sometimes use the “faulty testers” excuse, until we got new management who knew that it was OUR responsibility to make sure we were testing the right user scenarios.

If MS was taken by surprise by Vista criticism, it’s still MS’ fault for not getting it into the hands of grumpy, pessimistic, cynical people, and listening to their feedback.

mhz,
Good point. Microsoft does need to take responsibility and not palm it off on to others.

Most companies when creating or trialling a new product blame everyone else but management when it doesn’t do as well as promised/advertised/expected.

It’s then usual to say “no one told me” (Management) and blame the testers, developers and anyone else who has no real authority to actually have stopped everything and fixed it before it was released.

Steve Ballmer, the current CEO of Microsoft, is playing the blame game on testers but it’s a dangerous game to play because next time he calls for testers, he might just find that no one reputable will help. Of course it will still be tested, but when it’s only YES peope testing, that’s when it will really fall apart.

Testers finding something wrong in development is the whole idea of having testers. Much better to catch it before it’s released to the public then face a recall and pay refunds because it does not do what is promises.

A CEO blaming others for the final result, one has to ask the question, why is he the CEO if he’s not responsible?

Vista on a Pentium 3!
OMG! why would anyone do that?
See, when you do something like that
I get this picture in my head of a pentium 3 running Vista
and I get upset and have to lie down.

Telling people you use vista on a P3 is like
telling them you pick your nose and eat it.