Cnet writes:
"I'm reading through the unsealed court documents, including internal Microsoft emails [PDF, 158 pages], from the federal lawsuit over the "Windows Vista Capable" program. It makes for fascinating reading at times.
As Todd Bishop of Seattle PI discovers, Microsoft clearly knew that it had serious compatibility issues on its hands. Microsoft's new Windows chief suggested that "People who rely on using all the features of their hardware...will not see availability for some time, if ever, depending on the [manufacturer]." What a cheery vote of confidence. Can I get some software from that guy?
But I found another email (Page 153) from Brad Goldberg, General Manager of Microsoft's Windows Client Product Management Group, much more telling. Why? Well, Goldberg seems to understand that the value of his Windows is dwarfed by the real value of the computer:
I wonder if Mr. Goldberg appreciates both the truth and the difficulty inherent in his comment that consumers are looking for a PC, not an OS. To me, he could not more clearly state, "Windows is a commodity. The end of (our) world is near."
They should have never released that crap called Vista......it's a slap in the face to everyone and forcing people to upgrade is so wrong on so many levels now its coming back to bite them in the ass.
Did you know when buy a computer you can say no to the free copy of Windows. You can get linux instead or buy a Mac. Everybody complains about Microsoft but in the end everybody choose Windows.
... programs are only usable with Windows.
So in most cases, you kinda NEED Windows to use all those other programs that you DO want.
So if someone walks into say, Best Buy / Circuit City they can ask them to remove Windows and install Linux? And they'll do that for free?
I honestly didn't know that.
The more people that buy Microsoft's crap, the more money Microsoft will make, thus encouraging them to continue making crap. If you have such a problem with Windows, don't buy it, or replace it with a better OS.
Think EA. If millions of people suddenly stopped buying their tired re-hashes of sports games, or crappy ports, they wouldn't keep making those games, and we'd have good US football games.
Nintendo haven't come up with an original concept in about 10 years, but because people still buy the various incarnations of the 'Mario' games, they figure they don't need to.
The power lies in the consumer. Problem is, the consumer often spends more time b*tching about the problem, than contributing to solving it.