Re: Re: Why MS Won't Retire Browsers -- was: Interntet Explorer 8 beater 2

On 15 Sep 2008, at 22:35, Ashley Sheridan wrote:

On Mon, 2008-09-15 at 16:27 -0500, Philip Thompson wrote:

Speaking of misconceptions... Has anyone seen the new M$ commercial where they are asking these people to review the next version of their OS. Some of the responses of the people were that they really thought this new OS was cool/neat/ whatever. Then afterwards, M$ told them it was Vista. Society, in general, has a pre-conceived notion about how much Vista sucks. I'm not here to argue its accuracy, but it does give you a good idea about misconceptions. Kids, the lesson of the day is: Don't knock it before you try it. =D ~Philip

Ah I'd heard of this story. What you've forgotten to mention was that the computers were all set up on hardware chosen by Microsoft, and all running software especially picked by Microsoft. Now, I'd hazard a guess that even Microsoft is smart enough to pick a combination that is extremely unlikely to crash on the end user. I'd love to see the same test on the same people set up by Mac people and Linux gurus. I think that as this is not really a fair test, you can pretty much get any answer you want.

Wow, talk about hitting the nail on the head. When Microsoft pick the hardware their OS runs on and the software it runs with it works perfectly. Apple have chosen to do this strictly so they can deliver what people really want... stability. Rob says this is anti-competitive, I say this is smart. Is it anti-competitive that Sony does not legally allow you to install different firmware on most of their consumer kit? And if you do can you really expect them to support it after you've done so? Anti-competitive behaviour in my book is bribing companies to ship a certain configuration, or deliberately preventing certain software from running on your OS, both things I'm pretty sure Microsoft have been guilty of in the past. However, I do not consider it anti-competitive to retain enough control over your product so you can deliver the user experience your customers need. I would argue that Microsoft did not choose their goal of supporting every bit of hardware out there, rather it was thrust upon them while the industry developed. Apple specifically chose to limit the hardware they support, for what original reason I don't know but the end result is a much more stable system. Given the choice (and I was) I would pick stability over choice any day of the week and twice on Sunday. I need my computer to do stuff, not to play with. I hope (and I guess expect) Linux to get to a point where it's as stable and user friendly as OSX, but they'll likely always be playing catchup. Microsoft has a lot of work to do to recover their position in the next release, but I don't hold out much hope - it's a steep hill they have to climb. As for this being a fair test, you're deluded. Firstly did these people use it for months or get to play with it for just a few minutes or hours at the most? How many people asked said they hated it (I don't believe that number was made public)? The only people who ever think the UI of an OS is "neat" or "cool" are those who don't use it day-to-day or those who are seeing it for the first time. It's a marketing campaign... d'uh! As I mentioned before, you've got to ignore the hype, both the good and the bad, and try it for yourself. Windows wouldn't sell in the quantities it does if it didn't work well for the majority of people, by which I mean the ones who get a Dell with Vista and Office pre-installed and don't install much else. But if you really want to see which is best (subjectively of course) you've gotta do the legwork yourself. Oh, and once you have, don't bother trying to convince others unless they're also willing to do the legwork too. There is no one size fits all computer. I've tried them all over the past 20 years and am now very settled with OSX. I try every new release of Windows, and whenever the Linux community goes nuts over something new I'll have a go, but nothing's come close to the ease of use and minimal stress I experience with Apple kit and OSX. I should add that Apple are not without their own problems. Dare I mention the headphone/headset socket on the 1st generation iPhone? That one was a little odd, but everyone makes mistakes. They've corrected it in the second generation but it certainly dented their reputation in all the wrong circles. -Stut -- http://stut.net/