Blog: Pete Loshin

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New category: Microsoft Follies

I'm a Microsoft-watcher, and by "Microsoft-watcher" I mean I like to watch for unflattering news and other stories about Microsoft. This year it's been like shooting fish in a barrel; my favorites are those headlines that just stand on their own--the links I don't have to follow to get the gist of the stories.

Like these:

• Windows is 'collapsing,' Gartner analysts warn. From Computerworld's coverage of a Gartner-sponsored conference this April. From the article: "...analysts Michael Silver and Neil MacDonald said Microsoft has not responded to the market, is overburdened by nearly two decades of legacy code and decisions, and faces serious competition on a whole host of fronts that will make Windows moot unless the software developer acts." Tsk, tsk.


• Here's a review of Vista, from Infoworld: Fat, fatter, fattest: Microsoft's kings of bloat. The article sub-title gives the bad news: "Our tests show that Windows Vista and Office 2007 not only smash Redmond's previous records for weight gain, but given the same hardware diet, run at less than half the speed of generation XP". Ouch.


• With the big splash the Asus Eee PC made in its Linux versions, it should surprise no one that Microsoft is putting pressure on hardware manufacturers to combat Linux with big discounts on Microsoft products (rather than, say, making a better product). From PC World: Microsoft to Limit Capabilities of Cheap Laptops. Play nice with Microsoft for up to a $10 discount on the Windows license, per machine (current prices: "...US$26 for Windows XP Home Edition for ULPCs sold in emerging markets such as China and India, and $32 for those sold in developed markets..."). With hardware makers' already razor-thin profit margins, $10 per machine is a big deal. No wonder Asus went along with it.

Stay tuned for more, as they come in. And they will keep coming, I'm sure!

Oh, and let me know if you see any good ones that I've missed.

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