What exactly went so horribly wrong with Microsoft's Windows Vista operating system, the one customers waited seven years for only to have a steaming pile of fail land on their laptops? That's the question Maximum PC had for representatives from Team Redmond. After the jump, the key problems a surprisingly candid Microsoft rep admitted hobbled the launch.
Read the rest if only to see just how the pros dissemble on the corporate-spin hot seat.(Photo by one_in_10)
- Our Microsoft source blamed bad drivers from GPU [graphics chip] companies and printer companies for the majority of Vista’s early stability problems.
- He described User Account Control as poorly implemented but defended it as necessary for the continued health of the Windows platform.
- He admitted that spending the money to port DirectX 10 to Windows XP would have been worth the expense.
- He assailed OEM system builders for including bad, buggy, or just plain useless apps on their machines in exchange for a few bucks on the back end.
- He described the Games for Windows initiative as a disaster, with nothing more than 64-bit compatibility for games to show for years of effort.
- He conceded that Apple appeals to more and more consumers because the hardware is slick, the price is OK, and Apple doesn’t annoy its customers (or allow third parties to).
