Operating System Life Cycles
Somewhere between the very short life spans of certain Linux distributions, and the now very lengthy commitment that Microsoft has given to Windows XP is a happy medium.
A discussion on ZDNet, has made many assumptions, and lays out the confirmed long life of Windows XP, right next to an article that states that, most likely, the millions of poor unfortunates that have been saddled with Vista will be needing to upgrade to ‘7’ sooner than the normal Microsoft product life cycle would indicate.
Further, on the same page is a picture of Steve Ballmer, that shy, misunderstood guiding light, with a caption stating that it is now alright for most businesses to blow off Vista, and just move to ‘7’, as it will be so much better than Vista so as to make any comparison extremely difficult.
Really.
By Microsoft’s own admission, ‘7’ is basically supposed to be Vista, after fumigation, and with the addition of Master Yoda’s Bill’s last act of generosity, touch screen utility.
So which is it to be? Vista, made ready for prime time (finally), or wondrous new system, with only sections of the user interface shared.
Knowing the inertia of the halls of Redmond, the former is most likely the case, rather than the latter. As for the user’s of Vista, the very best thing Microsoft could do is have a firm plan in place that gives amnesty to the fools that purchased Vista outright, and grants them a nearly full pardon, with attending upgrade to 7 at negligible cost, while at the same time giving the newer OS free to those who had no choice when it was included on a hardware purchase.
By spreading this good will, Microsoft could stem the tide of those departing from the loyal , and at the same time, bolster is wavering stock price.
Wouldn’t that be great? How about it, Steve? Are you going to be our friend, Steve ‘Luke Skywalker’ Ballmer, or revert to type and become the evil ‘Darth Ballmer’?
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Quote of the day:
Personally I’m always ready to learn, although I do not always like being taught. – Sir Winston Churchill
6 Comments
CrunchGear » Archive » Low-level MS guy says: Windows 7 is different, better
October 17th, 2008
at 2:40pm
[...] it looks as if the time it’s taken to get Vista to a real working state may be enough that you can skip right over it with their blessing. Make this something people can put on a netbook, people. Make it something people want to upgrade [...]
Lou Lyons
October 24th, 2008
at 12:22pm
I think that the basic problem is the same as would occur if each time an automobile manufacturer came out with a new model, they stopped supporting preceding models. It’s ridiculous! There would be an uproar. It’s interesting that I can still get repairs on almost every car mad in the last 50 years and get parts for almost every car EVER manufactured.
the oracle
October 24th, 2008
at 6:35pm
Lou Lyons, you’re right of course, but somehow, the people who write software were/are able to get specific things granted that defy logic – yet we tolerate it.
Imagine buying a car, and finding that after paying your 30K for it, you were told that you were only renting it, and that the manufacturer could, at their discretion, take the right to have it away.
Read, really read, any of the major software EULAs, and you will either be astounded or dumbfounded, or both!
Ray
October 27th, 2008
at 4:26pm
So if all that is true, why did Microsoft ever get rid
of DOS?
the oracle
October 27th, 2008
at 5:11pm
Ray, not sure I completely take your point, but the main reason for the withdrawal of DOS was to force people to buy Windows, and in each iteration of that, the next one comes along to put money in the coffers at MS.
Operating System Life Cycles - Linux Blog
November 6th, 2008
at 11:53pm
[...] This article is featured on the custom Linux Blog at Auto-Blogs.us. [...]