MS Windows

It’s not turning out to be a good public relations week for Microsoft, as the following links indicate:

Gartner Says Vista Will Collapse. And That’s Why The Yahoo Deal Must Happen - TechCrunch

Microsoft Designed Vista’s UAC to “Annoy Users” - DailyTech

Gartner Analysts Predicting Doom and Gloom for Microsoft Windows - eWeek

Windows at risk of “collapsing,” say analysts - tgdaily

Gartner: Windows is Untenable and Collapsing - the Mac Observer

Windows is ‘collapsing,’ Gartner analysts warn - ComputerWorld

For Microsoft, its ecosystem and its customers, the situation is untenable,” said Silver and MacDonald in their prepared presentation, titled “Windows Is Collapsing: How What Comes Next Will Improve.”

Among Microsoft’s problems, the pair said, is Windows’ rapidly-expanding code base, which makes it virtually impossible to quickly craft a new version with meaningful changes. That was proved by Vista, they said, when Microsoft — frustrated by lack of progress during the five-year development effort on the new operating — hit the “reset” button and dropped back to the more stable code of Windows Server 2003 as the foundation of Vista. - ComputerWorld -

I certainly don’t believe it’s the doom-and-gloom for Microsoft Windows these articles may lead one to believe (have you seen Microsoft’s earnings). Microsoft with its incredible resources will no doubt continue to develop and support the current Windows versions successfully. Perhaps a company with lesser resources couldn’t pull this off.

However, It’s not surprising that Apple has been experiencing market success with its Mac and OS X computer line.

With the less then stunning success of Vista, Microsoft has certainly opened the door for both Linux and Mac OS X as more dependable alternatives to Windows.

The very hungry Windows Home Server continues to whet its appetite on unfortunate users files as the scope of the problem grows and grows - Windows Home Server Broken Until June 2008, DailyTECH

I didn’t realize until seeing article above that there was a problem of this nature with WHS.

In fairness, some commenters to this article claim that the author is over stating the issue. That may be, but when you have a server product who’s purpose is file/data storage the last thing you want to hear is file corruption, no matter how rare the occurrence. Microsoft says it may be June 08 before a permanent fix to this issue is available.

The majority of users may not experience this issue, but how would you like to gamble your family photos or your music collection?

This makes my trusty old Linux based ReadyNAS NV network storage/media streaming device seem cutting edge, or at least not “bleeding edge.”

Update :

Microsoft says fixing a data corruption bug in Windows Home Server is the top priority for the product’s development team.

Microsoft admitted on a technical blog on March 10 that Windows Home Server can corrupt data when used with a wide variety of common applications.

Microsoft Admits to Home Server Data Corruption Problem - eWeek

While running errands this morning I stopped at one of the larger home construction/supply stores in the area. I found the things I needed and proceeded to the check-out counters.

Seeing there was only one manned check-out open I decided to use one of the self-checkout positions. I scanned my items and selected debit card for payment. After reading my card I was asked for my pin number, which I entered.

At that moment the Point of Sale (POS) system froze. No responses, no error messages and no reaction to any screen touches or button pushes. I called the person over that was monitoring the self-checkout stations and told them that I thought it was hung up. They stood there a few minutes and then said they would have to call technical support.

I was at a loss as to what my options were. I had entered my card and pin so I may have payed for my items or I may have not.

I stood-by as the POS system rebooted itself prior to any support staff being reached. The screen went black and then in a few moments a booting Microsoft Windows XP screen appeared and the system began a long boot up process that included checking for updates and current firmware for devices.

The attendant had reached someone in technical support just as another of the self-checkout positions also rebooted on its own. Out of curiosity I asked if they knew what could have caused this and my question was relayed to the support person.

His official reply was “Oh It sometimes just happens with Windows, we don’t know why.”

Support did confirm from looking at the processed transactions that my card had not been charged and I was able to pay elsewhere.

As I was walking out the door with my new purchases I noticed the POS position was still booting.

Goodbye Windows, till next we meet.

In an interesting post, Richard Querin expressed his thoughts on the idea of Microsoft open sourcing Windows.  While open source is appealing for many, he doesn’t believe it will be for Redmond and Windows.  I agree with him.

Richard, in his post, quotes the statement that “With open source development, you are getting the “Wisdom of Crowds.”  Maybe in some cases, but it’s also been my experience that what you often get is multiple opinions, a lack of focus and difficulty in setting direction.  On this Richard and I agree that it’s often better if you have a “leader” of this crowd with clear focus. 

Of course there are also a few comments on Apple’s model of OS being locked to specific hardware.  True enough!

The biggest draw for me to Apple has been OS X, which is based on BSD Unix. I’m not crazy about it being locked to only Apple’s hardware but at least the hardware it’s locked to is decent and I have to admit it makes for consistent experience.

Technorati Tags: apple, microsoft, open+source, windows