Let me explain why a global corporate enterprise like Microsoft, with a huge number of very bright people (sic), is not paying attention to the basics. They’re, virtually, a monopoly; they don’t have to.

“When did customer care become passe?” At M$, it was never in vogue.

In many situations increased corporate size allows increased specialization, and hence improved efficiency and quality. But it puts increased demands on sound management to coordinate all the specialized tasks… and at some point in an organization’s growth, *no* one has a grasp of, and responsibility for, the “whole picture”. Microsoft probably hit that danger point long ago — very skilled and committed people doing their jobs very well, and no one noticing that important tasks — like providing a prompt, authoritative response to AP — are no longer covered by *anyone*. If AP wanted comment from the makers of a program like Winedt, they would probably be talking on the phone with Alex or Adriana within minutes. But a Microsoft product? Quick as bunny, now, give me a name…

In my struggles with Vista (writhing might be a better word) I’ve found I can work around some of the issues, but others I can’t work around, and of course I had to pay through the nose for hardware upgrades before I could even see that promised vista.

What I really have seen though is that Microsoft seemed to decide on a general policy when releasing Vista: “duck and cover”. They anticipated the shrieking and hair-tearing of the endusers that would result from the totally uncoordinated state of the software and hardware manufacturers, and they simply decided to play “mum’s the word”.

This is all very similar to the release of Windows 95, and the present state of chaos is a repeat of the disastrous mess that followed that release. Microsoft therefore knows from experience that gradually the drivers will come out, and the updates will come out, and the hardware will come out, and therefore Microsoft need only sit and wait like a giant West-Coast spider, and instead of counting the cash this quarter, they will count it in future quarters, one quarter at a time.

Man it’s times like these I’m glad I use a Mac. And I love Microsoft bashing, it’s my second favorite thing to do.

Great article. I wonder about these issues and more often wonder why companies still use Windows at all. It is much less expensive over the short and long haul to switch to Linux. It is easier for many, and less expensive over the longer haul to switch to MacOS. Why would anyone run their company or organization on a system that comes broken out of the box? It seems like the responsibility falls on the consumer, not on Microsoft. If they are a bad company, which you do a great job of pointing out just two of the flaws, why support them?

“If they are a bad company, which you do a great job of pointing out just two of the flaws, why support them?”

That the article was posted at all indicates that support is less than rock solid. I think the meaning behind the poster saying “this is not intended to be part of the movement to bash Microsoft” means something more like “please don’t start ripping MS apart in comments because that’s not the point of my post” rather than a declaration of support for MS or Vista.

Now I’m really happy I didn’t upgrade to Vista. Not only coz I need the Swedish version. If there’s issues with the OS in its native language imagine how it will be in a foreign. Waiting for the first and maybe the second servicepack seems to be the right thing to do. Exactly as it was and I did with 95, 98 and XP OS’s. What’s wrong with bashing Microsoft? They deserve it, period.

As Myron stated above “at some point in an organization’s growth, *no* one has a grasp of, and responsibility for, the “whole picture”.” Take a look at the video Chris started his “Pirillo’s Picks for March 23, 2007″ off with. The Microsoft guy comments about this exact situation.

No one at Microsoft seems to have, now or over the past few years, a grasp of what the overall picture is. Until this changes, product releases are going to SEEM half-done and buggy. Interoperability seems (to me anyway) to be a large part of the problem.

They probably don’t answer because there really is no answer to this - Vista does not bring one single business benefit, and by now every IT person worth their salt knows not to touch ANY M$ product until at least service pack 1.

What is missing here? AP reports: “At least two federal government agencies are refusing to upgrade their computers with Microsoft Corp.’s Windows Vista operating system, citing concern over costs and compatibility issues.”

How many federal agencies are we taking about? Two out of a hundred? Two out of fifty? Did all the other federal agencies commit to a Vista upgrade? I seriously doubt that. Are these large federal agencies or smaller ones? Finally did the 2 agencies really “refuse” or did they state no update due to costs and compatibility issues?
All of these questions really need an answer before making specific comments.

I do not find it at all unusual the federal government agencies would make a statement that cost and compatibility issues would prevent a federal agency from updating to Vista. Many government agencies have to budget a year or several years in advance and have high level approval for large financial costs.

I feel sure that the same statement about Vista cost and compatibility issues could apply to many state and local level agencies. I know of school districts with high academic standards that use Windows 98 on older PC’s. Having the latest OS and newest PC’s is not a priority for many local, state, and federal government agencies.

I take issue that federal agencies are corporate customers. Federal agencies and corporate customers are really different in many respects when it comes to large monetary expenditures. In summary corporate customers are able to upgrade their OS and PC’s much quicker and in smaller increments then government agencies.

The question remains, should MS have made a statement or comment for the AP to print? Probably MS should have furnished a comment. What should MS say? This is a very vague AP statement. Is the lack of a MS statement really a strong indication of MS’s: failure to care, incompetence and/or organizational deficiencies? I do not reach that conclusion on any of these matters.

Maybe they are waiting for service pack one or two when the bugs will mostly be ironed out. I know i am

I’m a OSX guy and I installed Vista on a PC just to see how far behind Vista is. It’s aeons. Microsoft will need at least two service packs to get there where my MAC is since quite a long time …

“In a Jan. 19 memo to staff, Dan Mintz, the Transportation Department’s chief information officer, imposed an “indefinite moratorium” on upgrading desktop and laptop computers with the new operating system, Office 2007 and Internet Explorer 7.”

There is one of the two agencies, Transportation Department.

Everyone is working leaner and it seem so is big government finally.

What does that article mean to the average consumer who might be thinking of upgrading to Vista??? That was the whole point of the article IMO, to sway people in one direction.

As for the government agencies, there is an issue with the cost to upgrade. It is not merely a software upgrade. It could be costly hardware upgrades. How many computers do you think the Department of Transportation have?