Microsoft & Vista

After my post a few days ago about the possibility of IBM transitioning to Mac, I was forwarded this link. It's another article about how users are dismayed with Vista being a steaming pile of poo less than useful upgrade.

I don't know that I'd go so far as to agree with the first 2 sentences of the article ("Microsoft is nothing if not responsive to its customers. In fact, it’s hyper-responsive.") I think they're responsive to the customers they want to respond to and ignore the rest.

In any case, it's an intriguing supposition that Microsoft would give up on Vista and just push forward to Windows 7. Microsoft isn't one to cut bait easily (just look at the Zune). But if they at least learn from their mistakes and make Windows 7 a viable upgrade with great new features without the memory bloat, they might be able to save face before too many people run the other way.

I'm with the crowd that's stayed away from Vista. I bought a new OEM computer from Dell a few months ago and explicitly told them to ship XP or no OS. I'm all for doubling my RAM and other hardware specs, but I'd rather double them to get improved performance, not just to run a bloated OS with no new features that I care about. I haven't read the news regarding Vista SP1, but I'm still holding out for at least SP2 before I bring it into my home.

Microsoft still has a bumpy road ahead of them. They're a behemoth so I think they could come back and still maintain their market share, but if they're not careful (which they seldom are lately), they're going down.