Just two comments (and in hindsight, a bit of a rant) from me on the story.
Firstly, according to the article:
Reinventing Windows is easier said than done. The developers at Apple have it a lot easier. They only have to code Mac OS X for Apple hardware. Microsoft has to ensure that Windows works on thousands of bits of hardware developed by myriad third-party equipment manufacturers.
I'm sorry, but that's the lamest excuse I've seen. The Debian distribution of Linux runs on the most number of different PROCESSORS. It runs on the biggest variety of hardware out there, from old PPC Macs through to IBM mainframes through to any run-of-the-mill computer you pick up from the local PC store. Really, if a bunch of "nerdy hackers" who spend their free time writing software for nothing can get Linux to work on anything from your cellphone through to massive servers, then I don't see how Microsoft with all it's full time developers can struggle to make Windows run on PC's.
Secondly, another quote from the article:
A radical rethink is necessary — and noises coming out of Microsoft recently suggest the company knows this. It is talking of developing a “modularised” Windows that can be scaled up or down depending on the platform it’s running on.
Microsoft employed an old-school computer programmer and systems engineer called Jim Allchin. He worked on a number of different things, including trying to write a totally brand new version of Windows, code-named Cairo, which would replace Windows NT (XP and Vista are both descended from NT). His project was canned because it was going to take "too long". Later Jim moved on to the Vista team, and he wanted to do the same again. He said that Windows was too bloated and monolithic, and it needed to be slimmed down, rewritten, and made modular. Once again, Microsoft deemed that his ideas would take far too long to implement, and it was canned. Now we have Vista, a complete failure (as Jim had indicated it would be), and only NOW do MS say, "we need to rewrite Windows".
Now for my rant:
Yeah Right. Microsoft, you are the biggest bunch of lamers and losers out there. You only care about money, not about your customers. You aren't interested in fixing the core of the problem (Windows), but would rather the problem continued, because then you get more money. You aren't even interested in what your own knowledgeable employees have to say.
What did Steve Ballmer say at a developers' conference once? "I love this company!" - Notice he didn't say, "I love these developers!" or "I love our users!" Nope, he was only interested in his company, which makes him rich. So much for caring for their customers...
Which operating system is the only operating system plagued by viruses, adware and other malware? Windows. Which is the only operating system out there that promises the world and delivers nothing? Windows. Which is the only operating system out there in which freezing, crashing and corrupting are common place and regarded as "normal"? Windows.
).
)
