Turmoil at Microsoft

Turmoil at Microsoft; implications for Windows users
Makes a good read. Neil.

 

Yes it does. I can understand why Alan Mullally said a few days ago that he had "No interest whatever in coming to Microsoft" and will concentrate his efforts on running Ford until he retires.

I've been with Microsoft programs since Win 3.0 appeared at Boeing. Almost immediately, secretaries who typed things became "Office Managers" and we engineers had to type our own reports - really bright!

I've been a keyboard and screen guy for a long time - was originally a key-punch and paper tape guy doing ALGOL engineering programs in England, then Singer-Link and Honeywell DDP assembly language with punch cards in Boeing's flight simulator organization, finally ending up with FORTRAN in that organization, using screen and keyboard.

DW now has an iPad, since she gave her net-book a bath with a glass of Pinot Grigio last fall. I'm still all at sea with that thing after 6 months of trying to help. Definitely not a fan of Apple's OS.

The computer I'm currently using is about 10 years old and running XP. It's adequate for what I do, but not spectacular. It's very marginal for Win 7. I think a decent Win 7 laptop and a wi-fi printer may show up in the fairly near future. I just hope I can get the funding in place while Win 7 is still around.

 

Excerpt from article...

Microsoft’s dilemma over the direction of Windows 8 isn’t confined strictly to Windows. There are numerous emerging threats to the Windows hegemony, such as the many excellent alternatives that use a heavy helping of cloud. But the Jekyll-and-Hyde design of Windows 8 certainly didn’t help. I think Apple’s Tim Cook got it right: “You can converge a toaster and a refrigerator,” but it won’t please users.


I never thought of Windows 8 in those terms, but it makes sense. I'm looking forward to the new Microsoft management. Maybe they'll start listening to their customer-base for a change.

Thanks for the heads up, Neil. Great article.