By: Jason Stoddard

Jason Stoddard — Thu, 23 Apr 2009 01:59:36 +0000

Great post Ed. I think Microsoft’s biggest problem right now is that they lack a clear vision of what they want to be. They say they’re a software company, yet it seems like they focus most of their energy on other things–besting Google at search, vanquishing the iPod, etc. To make things worse, it seems like after XP SP2 they just stopped innovating. Sure, they made a lot of promises about what Longhorn/Vista was going to be, but came way late to the party, and without a lot of what was promised. I’ve played with Windows 7, and although it’s a vast improvement to their initial release of Vista, I still don’t feel like they’re giving their customers (particularly in the enterprise where most of their install base is) compelling enough reason to upgrade.
Here are just a few of the problems I still see in Windows just off the top of my head: System-wide search is still a disaster. The registry needs to just go away period. They need to deliver on that new file system they promised us like 5 years ago. They also still haven’t integrated a Microsoft bundled suite of applications, tightly integrated into the system to do the stuff regular people actually want to do with their computers (like Apple’s iLife). They keep relying on OEM’s and 3rd parties to include these things in the form of trial-ware, limited versions, and even pop-up ads pre-installed on the system–what a disaster.
If Microsoft doesn’t start pulling its head out of the sand, and seriously bringing their A-game, their market and mind-share are going to continue eroding. Linux will start to dominate the enterprise, Apple the home market, and I see Android and Ubuntu becoming the big players in the netbook space.

Comments on: Slow economy driving new wave in the Mac vs. PC war

By: Jason Stoddard