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Story: Microsoft has lost its grip on the ecosystem

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Re: Microsoft Grip

Excellent analysis, thanks very much. I have two unrelated comments:

- I have always believed that until now, what we have primarily been paying Microsoft for is bug fixes in the guise of "new releases". It's rather cheeky, to say the least, to sell a buggy piece of software, and then turn around and charge again for the next buggy release, and the next, and the next... Until now there was generally enough new device support and such (laptops, USB, WiFi, etc) in each release to more or less paper over the fact that consumers were only getting warmed-over software, but with Vista it has become blatant. Of course part of the reason that Vista is struggling for acceptance is the bugginess, but what's new about a buggy Microsoft operating system? I think the much large reason it's struggling compared to previous releases is that it doesn't contain anything new that consumers really need.

- Based on my very recent (and ongoing) experiences with Ubuntu, I agree with Andrew, Linux has matured and improved sufficiently that it is a very viable alternative for the average PC user. Of course there are still a number of hardware and software packages which don't run on Linux, but the basics are all there now. What it needs for the next big push is for OEMs to really start offering it, and promoting it, as an alternative on a wide range of systems. Mom & Pop, the Butcher, the Baker, and the Candlestick Maker will never buy PCs and then load the operating system themselves.

- Processing power and the Atom. This might not only be a problem for Vista. Look at the minimum requirements for the newest Logitech webcams, video chat programs and the like. They are far beyond the Atom. The people who buy Atom-based systems are not going to be interested in hearing WHY such things don't work on their shiny new computers, they are simply going to expect that they will work, period.

jw

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