Windows Vista: AKA Windows 95 Version 3 or 4

By Daniel Miessler on January 13th, 2006: Tagged as Apple | General | OS X | Windows

Is it just me or does the feature list for Windows Vista sound like that of Windows 95 with some extra stuff? Better search capabilities? Better Graphics? Come on. How hard is that to do comsidering where they’re coming from? The OS is fundamentally the same OS that came out in 95. It’s much more stable and much faster, but there haven’t been any breakthroughs — nothing remotely comparable to the difference between OS9 and OSX.

Look, I’m not saying Vista is going to suck. Hell, XP doesn’t suck; it’s a decent OS, all joking aside. But how does Microsoft hope to compete with likes of Apple when their brand spankin’ new flagship OS is essentially a reskinned Windows 95/98/2000/XP? I don’t think they can. I think they are going to flop big time on this one. Why on this one in particular? Because this time someone is waiting in the wings with an alternative.

I think 2006 is going to be the year of the Apple. Between the new Macs that just came out and the non-event that the Vista release is going to be, I’d say Microsoft is going to enter 2007 seriously back on its heels. Once people start seeing OSX en masse, and get the news that the hardware is no longer alien, I think people are going to start flocking to Apple. That’s not to mention the iPod effect.

Anyway, we’ll see. My prediction is like 15% marketshare by 2008.

  • Digg
  • Reddit
  • StumbleUpon
  • description
  • Google
  • del.icio.us
  • TwitThis
  • Facebook
  • MySpace
  • E-mail this story to a friend!
  • Print this article!

Viewing 2 Comments

    • ^
    • v
    What would it take for OSX to enter the business environment as a serious OS? I'm just fantasizing that such a thing could happen--I don't even know if Apple would consider such a competition, especially when MS dominates so thoroughly with AD, Exchange, etc. But, if it were to be done, what steps would Apple need to take? Well, I mean besides moving to Intel.
    Honestly, how can anyone say such a thing (just attempting to enter that market) would be so unlikely after Apple has made the Intel move?
    • ^
    • v
    It would take a business solution comparable to Active Directory -- along with a solution like Group Policy that lets a wide range of settings get pushed to workstations.

    I hate a lot about Microsoft and its offerings, but Active Directory and Group Policy are some of my favorite technologies ever. They absolutely rock, and until someone can do what those solutions do -- and do it better and/or cheaper, Microsoft has very little to worry about in the business market.

    Now that's dealing with the userbase and what they're running. As far as replacing web servers and database solutions -- they have more immediate issues there. But those dangers are coming from Linux, not a superior desktop solution.
 

Trackbacks

(Trackback URL)

close Reblog this comment
Powered by Disqus · Learn more
blog comments powered by Disqus

My Twitter Microblog

    Discovered Content


    About dmiessler.com

    This site is an avatar for my own self-assigned life purpose--an attempt to model the world in the most accurate way possible, and to do so without bias or fear of unpleasant truth. I desire to develop, articulate, and perpetually improve models of how things work, and then to use that understanding to increase happiness and reduce suffering. I seek those on similar paths and thrive on sharing an appreciation of the interesting and beautiful with others.



    Blog
    Study
    Writing
    Infosec
    Technology
    Politics

            

    Top Original Content


    Security & Technology

    Philosophy & Science

    Culture & Society

    Blog Archives