Fun Microsoft blog

[nslay]

I was reading these one and two comical articles  about how Vista is a failure, and was linked to this blog, which the article claims is comprised of actual employees of the company.  From a brief skim of the blog, it seems plausible but there is no rubber stamp anywhere.

http://minimsft.blogspot.com/

Things to note for authenticity:
The disclaimer.

These are sole individual personal points-of-view and the posts and comments by the participants in no way represent the official point-of-view of Microsoft or any other organization. This is a discussion to foster debate and by no means an enactment of policy-violation. These posts are provided "as-is" with no warranties and confer no rights. So chill. And think.

Who has ever had to post a disclaimer when bad mouthing the company?  And what about this "policy-violation"?  There is also mention (and what detail) of internal affairs that are scattered throughout the blog too.

So what about this this blog on Vista?

Some favorite quotes from articles and blog:

"Vista is the biggest software development failure of all time, IBM's office vision was the previous record holder, with $900 million spent… Vista has cost five or six billion," the poster moaned.

The other equally monumental Me II failure? Gates in China launching a $3 version of bundled XP. Why is this not altruism? Well, it goes back to piracy and how it helped enforce the MS monopoly. If you can easily pirate Windows, Linux has no price advantage, they both cost zero.
---
So, it did the unthinkable, and dropped the price. I won't bother to hunt down all the exec quotes saying how people can't afford clean water would be overjoyed to sell kidneys to upgrade to the new version of Office, but they are out there. This was a sacred cow, and it is now hamburger backed up against the wall.

In the meantime, the discussion of how you'd sell Vista in 30-seconds to a non-techy consumer hasn't come up with much Abbie-understandable reasons other than "cooler games!" Sure, Abbie probably spends a lot of time with solitaire and minesweeper, so that's good. But most of it focuses either on issues so deep and technical that the average consumer is going to shrug and say, "Hell, I don't think I need any of that!" or on issues that make you think that XP is a ticking time-bomb of unstable code ready to explode 1s and 0s over anyone who looks at it wrong. And as for Alpha Geeks and super-users, it sounds like LUA is going to be a daily pain in the patootie.

[iago]

I only skimmed through really quickly, since I'm at work and busy, but this gives me the impression that the article (or whatever) is slanted:

...the poster moaned.

That's obviously meant to portray the poster as a complainer, which may not be accurate.

Just my opinion of that kind of language.

[nslay]

I only skimmed through really quickly, since I'm at work and busy, but this gives me the impression that the article (or whatever) is slanted:

...the poster moaned.

That's obviously meant to portray the poster as a complainer, which may not be accurate.

Just my opinion of that kind of language.

Oh, the article is definitely slanted.  But the blog looks fun!

[Warrior]

Vista must be the most profitable failure I've ever seen. Considering the amount of revenue it's generated for Microsoft.

[chuck]

Vista must be the most profitable failure I've ever seen. Considering the amount of revenue it's generated for Microsoft.

Can you say "forced downupgrade"?

[Warrior]

Vista must be the most profitable failure I've ever seen. Considering the amount of revenue it's generated for Microsoft.

Can you say "forced downupgrade"?

Don't see where it's forced on anyone. May be recommended for it's advantages over it's predecessors, but it's hardly forced.

[Sidoh]

Don't see where it's forced on anyone. May be recommended for it's advantages over it's predecessors, but it's hardly forced.

I was forced to upgrade to play Halo 2.

[Warrior]

Don't see where it's forced on anyone. May be recommended for it's advantages over it's predecessors, but it's hardly forced.

I was forced to upgrade to play Halo 2.

Possible to Play Halo 2 Vista Edition on Windows XP.
I can show you how if you want.

[Sidoh]

Possible to Play Halo 2 Vista Edition on Windows XP.
I can show you how if you want.

Oh, nice!

Nah, that's okay.  I might end up moving to vista if it doesn't bother me too much.  I've been having stability issues as of late (driver problems I think).

[chuck]

Vista must be the most profitable failure I've ever seen. Considering the amount of revenue it's generated for Microsoft.

Can you say "forced downupgrade"?

Don't see where it's forced on anyone. May be recommended for it's advantages over it's predecessors, but it's hardly forced.

I'm just poking fun at Vista. Most things MS makes now requires Vista, and work fine on XP if slightly modified.

Its just that the average user would not know this, and decide to buy vista and put it on their under-powered computer, just to use one program.

[Warrior]

Vista must be the most profitable failure I've ever seen. Considering the amount of revenue it's generated for Microsoft.

Can you say "forced downupgrade"?

Don't see where it's forced on anyone. May be recommended for it's advantages over it's predecessors, but it's hardly forced.

I'm just poking fun at Vista. Most things MS makes now requires Vista, and work fine on XP if slightly modified.

Its just that the average user would not know this, and decide to buy vista and put it on their under-powered computer, just to use one program.

I agree here, the sellers of the computers need to better distinguish the differences between "Vista Capable" and "Vista Premium". This tricks a lot of people, and gives them an experience that they sometimes do not expect.

[Sidoh]

The problem there, of course, is not only that the average user doesn't know how to make said changes, but that it also forces them to take on the responsibility of any problems they may occur long after the changes are made.  I'm no expert on the subject, but I would imagine they could easily introduce stability issues, problems upgrading the program that needs the changes, etc.

[nslay]

The point was not the slanted article...it was the Microsoft blog I distinctly pointed out.  The slanted articles were just a vehicle to coming accross Mini Microsoft (the blog's name).  Please read it (and carefully) and post your comments.  My gut tells me most of these posters are actual employees at Microsoft and some of what is said is not pleasant.

[Warrior]

I'd like to know what positions they held at Microsoft, probably some underling who worked in some obscure section of the company unrelated to Windows and regurgitates all of the FUD spread to him to generate buzz to his/their blog

[nslay]

I'd like to know what positions they held at Microsoft, probably some underling who worked in some obscure section of the company unrelated to Windows and regurgitates all of the FUD spread to him to generate buzz to his/their blog

I didn't see any FUD.  I saw an employee complaining about Vista being released a year late.
The responses to the article did however tend to be negative.

[Blaze]

I know a couple of people that used to work at Microsoft as programmers for Windows.. from what they've told me it's not very fun nor do people last very long there. 

I know another person who works as a programmers for the X-Box/X-Box 360.  He's still working there and loves his job.