is Vista falling flat?

[Ben Scott]

On 4/27/07, bmcculley at rcn.com <bmcculley at rcn.com> wrote:
> John Quarterman (you may remember he worked on ARPANET software at
> BBN and was co-author of The Design and Implementation of the 4.2BSD
> UNIX Operating System) thinks so:
> <http://riskman.typepad.com/perilocity/2007/04/abandoning_the_.html>

  "'nix fan calls Windows a failure!  Film at eleven!"  I bet that Mac
guy in the TV commercials doesn't like Vista, either.  ;-)

  Vista is going to succeed the same way that XP succeeded, and 2000
before that, and 98SE before that.  It's going to succeed because it's
going to ship standard on a brazilian new PCs.  Even Windows
Millennium, which everybody (even most of Microsoft) thought was a
mistake, sold plenty of units for this reason.

  Pointing to the continued availability of XP from Dell is just
stupid.  Dell did that before when XP came out, and likewise for 2000.
 (Probably before them, too -- I just can't remember crap like that
from more than nine years ago.)  It's not going to last.  Microsoft is
already curtailing support for XP, just like they did for 2000, and
ME, and 98, and 95.  They're going to EOL it eventually -- they tell
you this in no uncertain terms on their website, and they've never
failed to follow through -- and when they do, it's Vista or no
Windows.  And while you and I and most people here might be quite
happy with the later choice, most people won't be.

  The anti-piracy measures are also the same old game: Microsoft knows
it is better to get people addicted at any price, then let them people
ship for good.  If alternatives to Microsoft gain traction, Microsoft
looses traction.  Their stranglehold on the market is their most
valuable asset, bar none, and they will protect that at any cost.
Even selling Windows at a loss is better than loosing control; it
protects their other markets.

  I don't know how they arrived at the $3 figure, but my guess would
be it is a pittance to justify the "don't share with friends" rule.
"Free" is regarded by many people and many laws as different from
something that costs actual money.

-- Ben