OSNews: http://www.osnews.com/story/19969/10_Changes_Steve_Ballmer_Should_Make_at_Microsoft Exploring the Future of Computing en-us Copyright 2001-2009, David Adams adam+nospam@osnews.com Mon, 06 Jul 2009 03:47:32 GMT http://www.osnews.com/images/osnews.gif OSNews.com http://www.osnews.com Comment by satan666 http://osnews.com/thread?321362 http://osnews.com/thread?321362 What a load of crap.
These are the necessary changes:
1. Steve Ballmer should stop being such a bitch.
2. Microsoft should stop the unfair practices. Fri, 04 Jul 2008 16:08:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (satan666) Comments What he should make http://osnews.com/thread?321371 http://osnews.com/thread?321371 One thing and only one thing
Gather a team to develop another operating system that is lean and fast and depends on proven technology; and I highly recommend dropping NT, and using a different core like BSD, Linux or solaris. Meanwhile work on a very good emulation project for windows programs, ie exactly like what Apple did with their OSX.

Now MS showed us how they never overcome viruses and security problems and how badly their graphics engine is compared with the others in mac and linux platforms. why to deviate from openGL why not use linux desktop composition engines, why not use a proven core like BSD or solaris, why.... many things

Look at MS windows explorer how frequently it crashes in Vista and XP. I never encountered any Finder crash in OSX and I see 1/10th the amount of crash when using Nautilus, 1/5th with Konqueror; so why not adapt one of those.

Also I thing within the development team there should be a design team to judge the developers sloppy work and to force them to adhere to standards of good roots. Eg, the team will watch for nested windows and prevent them.. No more than 2 windows deep for any settings, I mean consolidate all windows in one location and go from there with tab systems; get a clue from System Preferences in Mac.

And when the project is fine and good produce that OS and name it different, lets say Microsoft Doors, or Microsoft Wizards,...or anything but windows; but keep selling windows for those who wants to stay in windows for compatibility until they are ready for Microsoft Doors. Don't improve windows at that time, and don't introduce new features to it, it will be there just for compatibility and to give customers time to breath before they switch to the new OS.

I know that MS will never do that, but this is just my opinion of how to improve, take it or leave it.
Thanks for reading Fri, 04 Jul 2008 17:03:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (hraq) Comments RE: What he should make http://osnews.com/thread?321372 http://osnews.com/thread?321372 NT is a good kernel. That is NOT the problem with Windows. It's mostly in the old cruft in the Win32 API and Windows Explorer (which I've never really been a fan of). An even bigger problem is/has been the culture among both users and developers in the Windows world. The fact that people think anti-virus is a solution is, to me, a sign of the deep set problems Microsoft has fostered with the lackadaisical culture they've promoted. Fri, 04 Jul 2008 17:10:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (siride) Comments Here are mine http://osnews.com/thread?321374 http://osnews.com/thread?321374 1. Build a new Windows from scratch. Screw compatibility and take a couple of painful transitional years. You can handle it and it will pay off big time and give Apple some serious competition. Everyone will benefit. Stop BS'ing yourself into keeping the current OS the only solution forever.
2. Keep software engineering in small teams of 5-10 very smart people. Stop throwing hundreds of engineers at a single problem. You could probably get a lot more software done that way.
3. Learn from your XBox software and DirectX division and get that into the rest of the company.
4. Stop treating the customer like a thief by default.
5. Stop inventing solutions to problems that shouldn't exist in the first place due to poor design decisions.
6. Build actual, sellable products around your research projects instead of teasing the public with concepts that never get anywhere anyway.
7. Stop complicating product lines with special ultimate home professional business editions. No one are impressed.
8. Stop inventing your own "standards". Poorly.
9. Microsoft needs a cultural shake-up, which may tie in with 2, 3 and 5. Can't you have any sense of technical perfection? At all?
10. Seems I can't think of a tenth advice. :-)

My complaints are mostly technical, not business based, so I know it doesn't cover everything.

I'm not sure I care about them being friendly with the open source community, although that model somewhat works for Apple. It seems that no matter what, Microsoft wants things to come from in-house and they can be successful in that, but if they are going to do anything open source, do like Apple by keeping basics open and the top closed. Fri, 04 Jul 2008 17:13:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (henrikmk) Comments ms http://osnews.com/thread?321376 http://osnews.com/thread?321376 > Microsoft is still dominant in nearly every market
BS. only desktop/home computer market and non-critical servers.
> Start an open source project.
microsoft has opensource projects. ironpython for example.
> Don't give up on spam.
microsoft has nothing to do with spam. and they should not. they could only make things worse. the only thing they can do is to make their os more secure(via total rewrite:) Fri, 04 Jul 2008 17:22:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (pawnhearts) Comments He doesn't know how to run Microsoft http://osnews.com/thread?321377 http://osnews.com/thread?321377 I love how everyone thinks they know how to run a business better than Microsoft themselves. Microsoft has been around for 30 years, they have a pretty good grasp on things. All of the author's points could apply to any company not just Microsoft.

I do have a problem with #4. "4. Don't bash the competition." Microsoft rarely bashes the competition. What they do is provide case studies on how their products are better than the competition. Lets contrast that to say... the Apple crowd who's commercials constantly bash MS. The linux crowd is even worse with "Microsoft" and their contstant bashing of anything Microsoft has to say. Fri, 04 Jul 2008 17:27:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (TaterSalad) Comments Comment by moleskine http://osnews.com/thread?321378 http://osnews.com/thread?321378 There have been a lot of these "end of an era" articles but the era, if there was one, really ended with the rise of Google a few years ago. Besides, my understanding is that Bill G is still on the board and a major shareholder. He may be bowing out day to day, but he's still in a position to swing a lot of influence.

Given Microsoft's sheer size, the question may largely boil down purely to money - that is, how to unlock shareholder value in a stock that's been about as sexy as a public utility for a few years now.

The best way to achieve that may be to break up the company. The reason is that Microsoft has simply become too big, with too many employees and too many stifling bureaucratic practices. In addition, the bits that don't work (ie show a loss or a poor r/o) are an incessant drain on the bits that do work.

You can see the trap. A company this big and prestigious "must" be in markets a, b and c even though there is no end in sight to the billions disappearing in losses because the company can't get it right in those markets. Microsoft split into smaller satellite outfits would have no need to follow this notion.

If that were to happen then only one thing is necessary: Steve Ballmer fires himself. Fri, 04 Jul 2008 17:30:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (moleskine) Comments Ray Ozzie http://osnews.com/thread?321382 http://osnews.com/thread?321382 Why do not letting a tech guy be in charge of all the tech things inside MS?

I get very upset when in the company I work for, a "i-do-not-know-a-clue-about-what-you-are-doing-but-i-am-your-boss" guy comes here and says to me what I must do. Fri, 04 Jul 2008 17:58:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (ebasconp) Comments RE: He doesn't know how to run Microsoft http://osnews.com/thread?321384 http://osnews.com/thread?321384 You said
Microsoft rarely bashes the competition. What they do is provide case studies on how their products are better than the competition

I pissed myself laughing. Then, when I had recovered, I was sort of puzzled about how you managed to come to this conclusion.

Microsoft's "case studies" are always pure FUD. They are always made by Microsoft's partners, and lately, with Vista, they are coming few and far between.


I am not going to make a comment on this article, as the best thing Mr Ballmer can do for Microsoft is resign. He is one of the reasons Microsoft gets bad PR. In fact, do a Google search for some of his beliefs;

Linux is a cancer
Linux users are all using Microsoft IP
iPod users are all music thieves, Zune users are not.
No-one uses Google
When someone tells someone to search an item on the net, they tell them to "go msn'it"

This is also not to mention throwing chairs and dancing like a monkey.Edited 2008-07-04 18:08 UTC Fri, 04 Jul 2008 18:04:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (raver31) Comments RE: Comment by moleskine http://osnews.com/thread?321389 http://osnews.com/thread?321389
The best way to achieve that may be to break up the company. The reason is that Microsoft has simply become too big, with too many employees and too many stifling bureaucratic practices. In addition, the bits that don't work (ie show a loss or a poor r/o) are an incessant drain on the bits that do work.

You can see the trap. A company this big and prestigious "must" be in markets a, b and c even though there is no end in sight to the billions disappearing in losses because the company can't get it right in those markets. Microsoft split into smaller satellite outfits would have no need to follow this notion.


I agree 100%. Internally, there are big cultural differences between divisions already. The developer division is incredibly open and has a good relationship (and feedback cycles) with its users. The windows division is completely alienated from its users, and is tied up in massive levels of bureaucracy. The office team is the golden child that can do no wrong, and smaller teams that have not yet hit RTM are incredibly competitive and backbiting. Fri, 04 Jul 2008 18:21:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (google_ninja) Comments Small Flies http://osnews.com/thread?321390 http://osnews.com/thread?321390 [...]it makes no sense for Ballmer to bash Google, Apple or other rivals as he has in the past. Microsoft should be more focused on improving its products and growing its business, not swatting at what, in a market share sense, are still flies.

Ummm, I wouldn't exactly call Google a fly. It's more like a stampeding herd of elephants.Edited 2008-07-04 18:37 UTC Fri, 04 Jul 2008 18:21:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (sb56637) Comments step down http://osnews.com/thread?321391 http://osnews.com/thread?321391 He's already blown his credibility and furthered the negative perception of Microsoft in the time he's been acting demi-god. The best he could do is step down and hand the company over to someone competent with technical vision.

Since, he's unlikely to do that; focus on product quality, security and efficiency first. Like many other's have said; scrap that crap above the NT kernel and start over focusing on what is important in a software platform instead of what is important for getting coked out marketing guys excited. Maybe, just maybe, compete based on the quality of your products rather than through anti-consumer and anti-market strategies. Fri, 04 Jul 2008 18:26:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (jabbotts) Comments RE[2]: He doesn't know how to run Microsoft http://osnews.com/thread?321394 http://osnews.com/thread?321394 That is great but its still not bashing the competition. Now the competition will non-stop bash Microsoft for anything and everything. Fri, 04 Jul 2008 18:52:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (TaterSalad) Comments RE: Ray Ozzie http://osnews.com/thread?321395 http://osnews.com/thread?321395 Welcome to corporate america, where you become the boss because you suck more d**k than anyone else. Fri, 04 Jul 2008 19:09:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Phloptical) Comments RE: What he should make http://osnews.com/thread?321400 http://osnews.com/thread?321400 I agree with abolutely nothing you said.

Gather a team to develop another operating system that is lean and fast and depends on proven technology; and I highly recommend dropping NT, and using a different core like BSD, Linux or solaris. Meanwhile work on a very good emulation project for windows programs, ie exactly like what Apple did with their OSX.


Why? NT is a great kernel. God didn't hand down the perfect kernel to Dennis Ritchie. There are alot of idea's outside of the UNIX way, and there have been alot of things learned since UNIX.

Now MS showed us how they never overcome viruses and security problems


You must not have been around pre XP SP2.

and how badly their graphics engine is compared with the others in mac and linux platforms.


Are you talking about GDI or DirectX? How/why is it bad compared to mac/linux?

[/q]why to deviate from openGL [/q]

because directx is cleaner, faster, and more stable

why not use linux desktop composition engines


because out of the three major operating systems linux has the most bloated and least stable of the bunch?

why not use a proven core like BSD or solaris, why.... many things


by core I take it you mean kernel, because windows has a full unix userland http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/interopmigration/bb380242.aspx

Look at MS windows explorer how frequently it crashes in Vista and XP. I never encountered any Finder crash in OSX and I see 1/10th the amount of crash when using Nautilus, 1/5th with Konqueror; so why not adapt one of those.


I very, very rarely get file manager crashes in any of the three big operating systems, certainly not enough to measure.

Also I thing within the development team there should be a design team to judge the developers sloppy work and to force them to adhere to standards of good roots. Eg, the team will watch for nested windows and prevent them.. No more than 2 windows deep for any settings, I mean consolidate all windows in one location and go from there with tab systems; get a clue from System Preferences in Mac.


While I agree that apple sets the bar in polish and usability, the windows team has far too MUCH of this kind of crap to deal with. MS needs to reduce burocracy and streamline process, not bloat it.



What MS needs to do is continue what they are doing. Polish UIs and don't listen to the old users who complain where something isn't where they expect it to be, rewrite crufty APIs and don't listen when companies complain that their ancient apps don't work.

The culture and process is where the shift needs to happen. Get an agile-ish process going with a new point release every month or two, and major releases every year. Get tight feedback cycles with the users. Make the development process more transparent, so that people can give feedback before things get too far. Make requirements flexible and within a smaller scope.

Just because they are a big company with a massive market does not mean they cant go agile (or scrum or whatever), it just means it is hard due to the defined culture and inertia internally. Fri, 04 Jul 2008 20:24:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (google_ninja) Comments RE[2]: He doesn't know how to run Microsoft http://osnews.com/thread?321401 http://osnews.com/thread?321401
Linux is a cancer


I assume you are talking about when ballmer said the GPL is LIKE a cancer. People refer to the GPL as a viral license all the time, this is from a few years ago and non floss people didn't really get it back then, AND this is ballmer we are talking about, not microsoft as a company, or ballmer talking for microsoft.


Linux users are all using Microsoft IP


That is obviously true, due to the number and the breadth of MS patents. An equally true statement would be that all microsoft users are using IBMs IP.


iPod users are all music thieves, Zune users are not.


That was a quote by the CEO of UMG.

No-one uses Google


I'm really not sure what you are talking about here, but it could be when ballmer asked a group at a conference how many used yahoo, and only a handful of people raised their hands.

They have said that they will beat Google in the long run, but I don't think you are referring to that.

[/q]
When someone tells someone to search an item on the net, they tell them to "go msn'it" [/q]

Not sure about this one, but it is hardly bashing the competition, mostly making brash statements (which is why I don't doubt it happened, sounds like ballmer) Fri, 04 Jul 2008 20:37:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (google_ninja) Comments RE[2]: What he should make http://osnews.com/thread?321410 http://osnews.com/thread?321410
because out of the three major operating systems linux has the most bloated and least stable of the bunch?


Linux isn't an operating system though, it's a kernel. Fri, 04 Jul 2008 22:43:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Stephen!) Comments RE[2]: What he should make http://osnews.com/thread?321412 http://osnews.com/thread?321412
why to deviate from openGL


because directx is cleaner, faster, and more stable

Are you serious? Opengl is used far more than directx in real mission critical applications that range from medical previz to computer animation packages. It far more stable far cleaner than directx. You've been drinkng way too much of the MS Koolaid. Don't let game developers tell you otherwise. MS has built a great platform for game development on the xbox, but that doesn't make directx cleaner and more stable. The other console makers use opengl as the basis for their toolkits and while their toolset may not be as complete as MS's offering, opengl is as clean and as stable as they come, and platform agnostic to boot. Spewing crap like this makes me think you're an MS shill.Edited 2008-07-04 23:04 UTC Fri, 04 Jul 2008 22:57:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (apoclypse) Comments RE: He doesn't know how to run Microsoft http://osnews.com/thread?321423 http://osnews.com/thread?321423
I do have a problem with #4. "4. Don't bash the competition." Microsoft rarely bashes the competition. What they do is provide case studies on how their products are better than the competition. Lets contrast that to say... the Apple crowd who's commercials constantly bash MS. The linux crowd is even worse with "Microsoft" and their contstant bashing of anything Microsoft has to say.


Microsoft is the KING of product bashers, and their "case studies" are usually nothing but trash. After watching Microsoft bash other products, steal their code, and pay off/bully/etc. software companies not to write for their competition for 20+ years, it never ceases to amaze me that someone living would make a statement like that one quoted. Sat, 05 Jul 2008 01:21:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (FurryOne) Comments ... http://osnews.com/thread?321428 http://osnews.com/thread?321428 1. Steve should quit
2. Sanity makes a come back
3. ...
.... Sat, 05 Jul 2008 03:25:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (helf) Comments RE[2]: What he should make http://osnews.com/thread?321433 http://osnews.com/thread?321433 I wonder why MS didn't just update File Manager for Windows 95. It was a lot more useful than Explorer. Sat, 05 Jul 2008 05:37:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Johann Chua) Comments RE[3]: He doesn't know how to run Microsoft http://osnews.com/thread?321438 http://osnews.com/thread?321438 They are all Ballmer quotes.
It was BillG who said the GPL was viral... Ballmer equated that as Linux is cancer.

The iPod gaff was when he was talking about his som using a Zune and only moving music onto it from his CD collection, but everyone else using iPods and stealing music. Sat, 05 Jul 2008 08:07:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (raver31) Comments 10 Things That Journalists Should Change http://osnews.com/thread?321454 http://osnews.com/thread?321454 10 Things That Journalists Should Change:


1) Stop picking a nice number like 10, 5, 3, 25, 50, 99 or 100 and then trying to find 10, 5, 3, 25, 50, 99 or 100 things that they can write.

2) Stop getting on our nerves with those lists. I've reached a state where "10 Things...", "5 Reasons..." or "99 Ways To..." immediately appear as "This Article Is Plain Shit, Don't Even Bother Reading It" to my eyes.

3) Same for "in 24 hours", "in 7 days", "in 10 minutes".

4) Wash their socks

5) But don't use too much water

6) But also don't use too little water

7) Stop trying to fill their 10 points up by repeating the same point, only by exchanging "too much" with "too little", or "too low" with "too high", or whatever it is. This reveals failure in point 1).

8) Seems like 10 Things was too much for me, I only can think of 7... well... I'll try to find some others anyway

9) Keep cool

10) Don't cross the street when the lights are red. Sat, 05 Jul 2008 11:49:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Glynser) Comments RE[3]: What he should make http://osnews.com/thread?321462 http://osnews.com/thread?321462 bzzt, wrong!

By metonymy Linux is the name of the whole OS as well as the kernel.

Of course, you knew that. You also knew that pointing out what you did adds nothing to the discussion and shows you to be one of those RMS morons or Slashdot idiots. I am *so* glad we have people like you around. Sat, 05 Jul 2008 14:07:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (siride) Comments RE[4]: What he should make http://osnews.com/thread?321468 http://osnews.com/thread?321468
bzzt, wrong!

By metonymy Linux is the name of the whole OS as well as the kernel.

Of course, you knew that. You also knew that pointing out what you did adds nothing to the discussion and shows you to be one of those RMS morons or Slashdot idiots. I am *so* glad we have people like you around.


Metonymy is a figure of speech and while people may choose to refer to Linux as the whole OS, that doesn't make it so. Linux is the Kernel. Ubuntu, RedHat, Slackware, and so on, are the distributions.

You can believe accuracy is the mark of a pillock if you choose. You'll be wrong, but the choice is yours nonetheless. Sat, 05 Jul 2008 16:01:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Clinton) Comments RE[5]: What he should make http://osnews.com/thread?321470 http://osnews.com/thread?321470 How many people would get confused if someone were to say "Linux" and think that the speaker meant the kernel and not a whole distribution? RMS fanbois maybe, but even then they know that the speaker meant Linux distribution (i.e., its usable state), but they'd rather just be pedantic asstwits.

The fact is, whatever the original intentions of RMS, people say "Linux" to mean "Linux distribution". There's no confusion. That's what "Linux" means to everybody and you and your crybaby pedant friends will have to get over that.

Oh, and there really is no confusion, because if people intend to speak about the kernel, they say "the Linux kernel". Sat, 05 Jul 2008 16:10:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (siride) Comments RE[2]: What he should make http://osnews.com/thread?321471 http://osnews.com/thread?321471
Why? NT is a great kernel.


No it isn't. NT was a decent kernel back in the late 90s, but it is now quite dated.

God didn't hand down the perfect kernel to Dennis Ritchie. There are alot of idea's outside of the UNIX way, and there have been alot of things learned since UNIX.


No, but Dennis Ritchie had the sense to make an OS that was more focused, better documented, more stable, and more secure that anything Microsoft has ever put out. (by the way, it is "a lot" not "alot").

Are you talking about GDI or DirectX? How/why is it bad compared to mac/linux?


I don't know what the original poster intended. I, however, think DirectX is OK, but GDI sucks hard. Running OS X, Linux, BSD, and Windows on the same hardware makes it readily apparent that Windows is at the bottom of the GUI performance pile.

because directx is cleaner, faster, and more stable


I would agree that DirectX is easier to write for, but I don't agree that it is any faster or more stable.

by core I take it you mean kernel, because windows has a full unix userland http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/interopmigration/bb380242.aspx


While this article may be nice, there is a disparity between the marketing-speak and the reality, and I doubt you have actually used these userland tools, or you wouldn't have brought it up.

While I agree that apple sets the bar in polish and usability, the windows team has far too MUCH of this kind of crap to deal with. MS needs to reduce burocracy and streamline process, not bloat it.


I don't think the poster was suggesting Microsoft bloat anything. I think he/she was suggesting Microsoft streamline its already bloated OS.

What MS needs to do is continue what they are doing. Polish UIs and don't listen to the old users who complain where something isn't where they expect it to be, rewrite crufty APIs and don't listen when companies complain that their ancient apps don't work.


This is one comment I partially agree with. Microsoft needs to make a break from backward compatibility.

I don't agree that Microsoft should continue what they are doing, and I don't think that what they have been doing is polishing their UI. Adding transparancy and gradients to an old UI run by an old graphics engine is not "polish". Polishing a turd maybe, but definitely not "polish".

The culture and process is where the shift needs to happen... ...Just because they are a big company with a massive market does not mean they cant go agile (or scrum or whatever), it just means it is hard due to the defined culture and inertia internally.


I used to work at Microsoft, and from what I've seen, this won't be too easy for them. Microsoft's interview process is designed to identify prima donna types and get them hired.

Agile and Scrum are both designed to get a team working at its peak efficiency, and teamwork is an integral part of both philosophies. Neither work when you have a prima donna on the team. Scrum even acknowledges that prima donnas are bad for the team. Microsoft teams are almost exclusively formed of prima donnas, and I think it shows in their products.Edited 2008-07-05 16:25 UTC Sat, 05 Jul 2008 16:22:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Clinton) Comments RE: ... http://osnews.com/thread?321480 http://osnews.com/thread?321480
1. Steve should quit
2. Sanity makes a come back
3. ...
....

4. PROFIT!... oh. wait.. Sat, 05 Jul 2008 18:39:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (renhoek) Comments Comment by Coral Snake http://osnews.com/thread?321555 http://osnews.com/thread?321555 I think the best thing that Microsoft could do is develop a whole new OS without "backward compatibility" and handle the "backward compatability" issue by releasing all the old DOS and windows versions (ie All DOSes, win 3x, win 9x, win NT/XP/Vista) under gratis (free as in BEER as RMS would say) software licenses that would allow their use only in software virtual machines and provide the virtualization technology in the new OS. Product activation could be reprogrammed to make sure that the products are only being used under software virtualization. Sun, 06 Jul 2008 06:12:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Coral Snake) Comments RE[6]: What he should make http://osnews.com/thread?321557 http://osnews.com/thread?321557
How many people would get confused if someone were to say "Linux" and think that the speaker meant the kernel and not a whole distribution? RMS fanbois maybe, but even then they know that the speaker meant Linux distribution (i.e., its usable state), but they'd rather just be pedantic asstwits.


I don't think anybody ever gets confused. Every time I have a conversation about Linux, whether it be used in the distribution sense or the kernel sense, context has been my friend.

I never said people were stupid for saying "Linux" when they meant the distribution. I simply said that technically, Linux is the kernel and not the combination of the kernel, userland, etc., which is true. I'm not the one getting upset about it either. You are.

The fact is, whatever the original intentions of RMS, people say "Linux" to mean "Linux distribution". There's no confusion. That's what "Linux" means to everybody and you and your crybaby pedant friends will have to get over that.


First of all, I'm pretty sure that Linus named Linux, not Richard Stallman. Secondly, I don't see GNU/Linux being mentioned anywhere in this thread, so why are you bringing up Stallman anyway? Thirdly, you are the one throwing a tantrum and calling people names; not anybody else. Sun, 06 Jul 2008 06:30:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Clinton) Comments shoulda drop the legacy and use emulators http://osnews.com/thread?321635 http://osnews.com/thread?321635 Regarding backward software compatibility, I think Apple chose to develop an emulator for older apps. That would have helped Microsoft keeping Vista light. They could have focused on speed and efficiency and develop one emulator for each previous Windows version, which would have to be purchased independently. Sun, 06 Jul 2008 18:24:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (fejack) Comments RE[3]: What he should make http://osnews.com/thread?321639 http://osnews.com/thread?321639
No it isn't. NT was a decent kernel back in the late 90s, but it is now quite dated.


Granted, I was comparing it to UNIX.

No, but Dennis Ritchie had the sense to make an OS that was more focused, better documented, more stable, and more secure that anything Microsoft has ever put out. (by the way, it is "a lot" not "alot").


How is it more focused, stable, or secure? By reason of its UNIX-ocity? Microsoft shouldn't be held up as some paragon on kernel design, but NT is better simply because it was written by people who have learned from UNIX. (or more accurately, learned from VMS which was written by people who have learned from the mistakes of UNIX)

I don't know what the original poster intended. I, however, think DirectX is OK, but GDI sucks hard. Running OS X, Linux, BSD, and Windows on the same hardware makes it readily apparent that Windows is at the bottom of the GUI performance pile.


Really? On GNOME, you can watch the repaints as you resize a window. I don't get that off of windows or osx on the same machine.


I don't think the poster was suggesting Microsoft bloat anything. I think he/she was suggesting Microsoft streamline its already bloated OS.


The suggestion was to add a usability team to veto any change to any UI. The comment was about process, my response was that they have too much of that in the first place.


I don't agree that Microsoft should continue what they are doing, and I don't think that what they have been doing is polishing their UI. Adding transparancy and gradients to an old UI run by an old graphics engine is not "polish". Polishing a turd maybe, but definitely not "polish".


Gradients and transparency have to do with aesthetic. This is the first version of windows with any sense of it, but that wasn't what I was talking about.

Compare the usability of the old "Set up a home network" wizard to the "Network and Sharing Center". The old "Common Tasks" pane in explorer with the "Favorites" pane. The old "new" view for the control panel that actually added clicks to access anything to the new "new" view for the control pane. The move away from menubars, which their implementation of has been the whipping boy of pretty much everything written on HCI.


I used to work at Microsoft, and from what I've seen, this won't be too easy for them. Microsoft's interview process is designed to identify prima donna types and get them hired.


Let me guess, you were hired to work on a project, put in a bunch of hard work, and either a) some tard screwed up and blamed everything on you/your team, or b) some tard completely destroyed whatever you were trying to make by attempting to take credit for your hard work.

I have a bunch of friends who work at MS, and I know that kind of idiocy is prevalent through a big percentage of the company. I also know there are places that isn't the case, and alot of great work gets done (like under ScottGu at dev div).

Agile and Scrum are both designed to get a team working at its peak efficiency, and teamwork is an integral part of both philosophies. Neither work when you have a prima donna on the team. Scrum even acknowledges that prima donnas are bad for the team. Microsoft teams are almost exclusively formed of prima donnas, and I think it shows in their products.


... which is why I said a modern development methodology is probably the most important thing that needs to happen in the company. Sun, 06 Jul 2008 20:29:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (google_ninja) Comments RE[4]: What he should make http://osnews.com/thread?321746 http://osnews.com/thread?321746
"I don't know what the original poster intended. I, however, think DirectX is OK, but GDI sucks hard. Running OS X, Linux, BSD, and Windows on the same hardware makes it readily apparent that Windows is at the bottom of the GUI performance pile.



Really? On GNOME, you can watch the repaints as you resize a window. I don't get that off of windows or osx on the same machine. "

Try running something other than GNOME which suffers from (among other things) Gtk not being as adept as the other toolkits out there (e.g. Qt, etc.). KDE runs quite well. CompuWiz/Beryl/etc show off a lot of things that are very hard for Windows to do (and typically relegated to gaming) but make it part of the native desktop. Mon, 07 Jul 2008 18:14:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (TemporalBeing) Comments