Ballmer finally confesses: Vista sucks
Wed Oct 7, 2009 12:02PM EDT

What were we thinking!?

That's the essence of the message from Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer this week, http://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/microsoft/6263248/Microsoft-never-recovered-from-Vista-blow-says-Steve-Ballmer.html who made some remarkably candid comments (for Microsoft, anyway) about the failures of Windows Vista and his hopes for the future.

In new comments, Ballmer referred to the Vista debacle as having been an issue of "some uneven reception" because "we made some design decisions to improve security at the expense of compatibility."

That's putting it mildly –– Vista was initially hampered by massive hardware incompatibility problems, awful performance, and interface changes that often felt random, all leading to savage reviews and a massive user backlash –– but it is at least a recognition, however slight, that Vista hasn't been a runaway success, an idea that Microsoft has been crazily clinging to ever since Vista launched.

But in Ballmer's view, this is all good news. With PC sales down up to 15 percent from their high, Microsoft is hoping that Windows 7's release a mere two weeks from now will unleash a torrent of demand for computers and, of course, all of Microsoft's software products as well.

Will it pan out that way? While Windows 7 has started to see the first signs of a backlash, with a few critical reports bubbling up as we get closer to launch, the outlook still seems overwhelmingly positive, with high hopes that Windows 7 will be a hit. Whether that is due to Win 7's merits alone or because users are so extremely jaded with the capabilities of Windows Vista and will accept anything so they can be rid of it remains to be seen.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brian_Valentine  

I like your style.  

Vista is a perfect example of why Developers and PM's should NEVER, EVER try to run the show (themselves) on the development and provisioning of a product. Their heads are so high above the clouds that reality is only a conceptual idea to them.

......maybe they should have listened to the end user usability analysts.

...Or maybe we shouldn't be clinging on to dear life to a core set of ideas that were novel 15 years ago while trying to compete with someone that (at the time) held less than 10% of the PC market...

And just for the record, I think they did try to listen to the UX guys.  It's just they all said, "Get a Mac"  

This website looks like shit on my Commodore 64.

What building did you work in when Vista shipped? Or even better, what team?

It looks just fine on my Tandy TRS-80.

On that note, Mosaic 1.0 has been acting wonky for me lately.  Any ideas?

Damn, that brings back, not so fond memories...............I think that pile of, ____, might still e in a box around here somewhere.

I am a GOD at Oregon Trail.

I think I had a Timex Sinclair ZX81 with the software on cassete decks.  Didn't understand a thing in the owners manual and used the cassette tapes to record some rock and roll...well, Billy Joel.

Still rock and roll to me...

What's weird is that I've been running Vista 64 Ultimate now for the last couple of years and I haven't had a single burp-fart-hiccup-nothing.  Rock solid, 8 gigs of ram, 1.5TBs, Quad Core at 3.7gs, 2gig graphics card, yadda yadda yadda...  

A complex system, that's been rock solid.   Now Vista does still irritate me with some of the UAC crap, but otherwise it's solid.  

Though I think starting with a fresh build made the difference.

Now of course I'm afraid of Windows 7, just don't freaking trust Microsoft.  Gun shy...

Take your Vista experience and improve it.  tenfold.

The cool games for Tandys were things like Flight Simulator, the California Raisins, and the Flintstones.

Yeah...  Buy a Mac, I know....  

So you're saying that Windows 7 really is significantly better?

I've had literally zero problems with my Vista computer as well, FWIW. I have a laptop at hime and two desktops at work running it with no issues.

I turned UAC off, and my crappy laptops been running like a champ for years now.

Nada compadre.  For the record, while I am a die hard Mac fan these days, I'm very excited about Windows 7.