I read an article on Yahoo Tech yesterday that I have to share with you. The title is "Microsoft says next Windows won't be as annoying". It's funny that Microsoft realizes, and admits, that Windows Vista is a tremendous blunder. They don't say it as strongly as I just did but they should. Like Windows Me, Vista is a terrible mistake.
It isn't just me because as one Gartner analyst, Michael Silver, put it in the article, "The real hurdle is to get Vista's reputation behind them." Funny stuff that.
In the article, a Microsoft VP said that some of Vista's features seemed like a good idea to developers but weren't tested on users. WHAT? Microsoft has developers producing commercial applications with features that are never fully tested on actual users? OMG! Ok, stop laughing and keep reading--it gets even better.
Microsoft is also showing off some lighter versions of its Office Suite--and there's a hint of web-based versions. So now Microsoft is also putting some bank into the Cloud that I've been harping on for some time here and in my Virtualization column at Linux Magazine.
So what?
I'll tell you what: Microsoft realizes that Desktop Operating Systems, especially the annoying bloated types are dying off--rapidly. Windows 7 reportedly works well on less powerful systems where Vista choked and died--or wouldn't start at all.
Microsoft people are not stupid and they realize that we aren't either. They know that we know that we have a choice and they're going to try to capitalize on that choice with their web-based apps. If they're web-based, you can run 'em on Linux or a Mac.
You know what else they know? They know that Linux is less annoying than any version of Windows. They'll never admit it though. I wouldn't be a bit surprised if some Linux code, or the Linux kernel, were part of their new version of Windows. That's the only thing, in my opinion, that would make it less annoying.
