Vista launch bugs that may have doomed the product -- the 100-word versionWhat 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.
  • 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).
Read the rest if only to see just how the pros dissemble on the corporate-spin hot seat.(Photo by one_in_10)