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Vista a Spectacular Failure?

I haven’t even run Vista. Even though I’m a developer and make my living off Windows application development, I am frankly just not an OS tire kicker. I didn’t buy a Mac until Tiger came out, I still run the stable (_sometimes_ the testing) release of Debian and I haven’t tried Ubuntu as a possible replacement desktop OS. Add to that that I’ve heard way too many nightmare stories about Vista and compatibility issues with old hardware (which I’m not prepared to upgrade just yet) and you see why I’m apparently behind the techy crowd I’m usually up there with. However, as a sideline observer, I have to say, I’m worried and definitely not planning to upgrade to Vista anytime soon, if ever.

This editorial caught my eye. It posits that Vista is a huge failure and is the latest in a serious of unmaintainable code bases that Microsoft has produced.

Says Jewell:

I believe there are a number of factors working together here, principally the high cost of the OS, the need to buy better hardware, driver/hardware incompatibility issues and the plain fact that – sexy party dress aside – it’s the same old tart underneath. Contrasting what was originally promised with what was finally delivered, Vista (nee Longhorn) has spectacularly failed.

That’s quite the statement, but I’m sure Microsoft will continue trucking along. They’ve got a lot of money and a giant share in the corporate desktop OS market which will enable the dough to keep coming in for quite a while.

But that really isn’t the point. The point is that it appears there is a growing distrust of Microsoft products and Vista in particular in the media and among developers. I’m just not sure I can trust Microsoft anymore. Dell certainly is backtracking on Vista, citing customer complaints, although I wonder how happy Dell is with Vista. Think about this. This is _Dell_. One of the leading pre-built PC manufacturers. This is a huge concession. This is just the latest example though.

Knowing what I know about software development and hearing what I hear about Vista (even if half of them are false), I just don’t think I am willing to plunk down the cash they are asking for. I really can’t see myself ever running Vista and I don’t think I am alone. Perhaps Microsoft is counting on the unwashed masses not having enough information about their OS choices and all the issues on every side to know any better. But sooner or later they will catch on. If I’m an early adopter of distrust of Microsoft and Vista then eventually we will cross the chasm at which point Microsoft is going to have some big problems.