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Ask HN: What do you want to tell Microsoft?

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Re: Ask HN: What do you want to tell Microsoft?

#281

Post by runjake »

cturner wrote: post #253
runjake wrote: post #235

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> MS needs to really decide how much longer they want to push an OS that is based on Windows/DOS heritage and not unix. Some of us have the audacity to believe that NT OS might actually be superior to UNIX-like OSes. Sorry, it's true. And this coming from a "UNIX-like OS guy". I'm all for stripping away the DOSification of NT, like drive letters, instead of native (and UNIX-like) paths, etc though. Edited slightly du…

What you say is correct, but in a way that is disconnected from the user's POV. Consider: the command line is a major drawback of Windows, and that's the most obvious manifestation of the Windows/DOS heritage. In addition to its lack of power, the Window doesn't even resize properly. Plenty of tools that port easily to OSX or Haiku are difficult to port to Windows. Look at the situation with git. The situation is poo…

The command line for Windows is now Powershell, which I find superior to Bash in many ways (although I appreciate Bash's relative simplicity, and I am still more familiar with the Bourne shell variants than I am Powershell).

CMD.EXE is still included, but it is the red-headed stepchild.

> the Window doesn't even resize properly.

And the PowerShell window still does not resize horizontally by dragging, which is silly. You can do it by adjusting the window's settings, but this is insufficient. Win32 Console apps need to die.

> Plenty of tools that port easily to OSX or Haiku are difficult to port to Windows. Look at the situation with git.

Of course it is, it was originally written targeting a completely different OS. The same could be said the other way, that's why stuff like WINE and Mono exist.

> but aspects of the user experience is awful.

I concur totally. Getting Windows 7 to what I consider usable (in a power user sense) is a 30-45 minute job with a fresh install (as opposed to ~ 20 minutes on Mac OS X).

Re: Ask HN: What do you want to tell Microsoft?

#282

Post by jcl »

unexpected wrote: post #12

Personally, I think Microsoft needs to make the strategic "pivot" to selling experiences - not necessarily operating systems. They've done a great job of this with Xbox and Windows 7. I was incredibly sad when the Courier got cancelled. This was a big head pound moment for me. At it's core, MS sells software, but increasingly, it seems apparent that consumers are going to spend their dollars on hardware/software comb…

I love that a couple of the top suggestions are "Microsoft should reduce its number of products" and "Microsoft should start hundreds of little companies". :)

Re: Ask HN: What do you want to tell Microsoft?

#283

Post by jpr »

dstein wrote: post #174

Microsoft absolutely needs to completely drop the whole "do it our way, or hit the highway" attitude. It may have worked to build MS into the giant it is, but it will absolutely be their eventual undoing. It is because of this attitude that Microsoft has already lost the mindahare of today's young developers. I have never met anybody under 25 years old that is a Windows software developer. At the very least Microsoft…

I'd like to think that I have a good imagination, but I still can't imagine the look on Stallman's face if MS decided to fund the development of Hurd. I wish I could upvote you twice, once for good ideas, and once again for that one unimaginable thing.

Re: Ask HN: What do you want to tell Microsoft?

#284

Post by DanielBMarkham »

fleitz wrote: post #279
DanielBMarkham wrote: post #244

Dear Steve and friends: 1) .NET and F# are the best things you've done lately. Make folks truly able to develop and program it under any O/S and you will gain fans for life. Stop holding .NET hostage to Windows. (I know about Mono. MS should dive into this in a big way. It's truly mission-critical) 2) Big mistake buying Groove and then killing it/sucking it into the we-must-conquer-the-world office server system. It…

Second the F# sentiments, best language I've used in a long time. Also can ms put more guys on iron ruby.

I'm starting to grok interactive mode for the first time with larger programs, and wow! Takes your performance up to a whole new level.

I'm concerned that they're going to kill/assimilate it, though. While they should be reaching out to the linux/FOSS/OCaml community, instead they're building one of their "specials" again -- adopt then modify, tie it tightly into everything else, then use it all as leverage on the little guy. People really hate it when they do that. That trick has gotten very old.

Re: Ask HN: What do you want to tell Microsoft?

#285

Post by ollerac »

encoderer wrote: post #187
rsbrown wrote: post #79

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Totally agree. Many have criticized Google's culture of "try lots of things", but it has clearly worked well for them. Microsoft should be encouraging their young, hungry tech talent to be creating tomorrow's killer apps today. Bureaucracy and top-down direction will kill this type of innovation every time.

Google's product development looks strikingly similar to Microsoft's from my POV. They buy small companies and assimilate their products. Microsoft has done this many times, making many small but "successful" products. So has Google. And they both have just a handful of home-grown products that support their reputation. Personally, I find no fault with the strategy. But I do find fault with the way people use Google…

re: Chrome

several former GreenBorder employees were named in a description of [Chrome's] sandboxing ability http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GreenBorder

via: http://www.digitalbuzzblog.com/infographic-googles-acquisiti...

Re: Ask HN: What do you want to tell Microsoft?

#286

Post by _urga »

1. Put your best people on IE9.

2. Put these into IE9:

2.1. File API: Directories and System: http://dev.w3.org/2009/dap/file-system/file-dir-sys.html

2.2. IndexedDB

2.3. WebSockets

3. Adopt WebKit for the next IE.

4. Accelerate the IE release cycle to every 6 weeks.

5. Code the next major Microsoft product range in Javascript, HTML, CSS.

6. Put a copy of Proverbs on every Microsoft desk.

7. Put a copy of Ecclesiastes on every Microsoft desk.

Re: Ask HN: What do you want to tell Microsoft?

#287

Post by ttrashh »

seltzered wrote: post #92

I recently got a windows 7 machine. Some things that bug me as a programmer using it, and make me wish I just paid up and got a mac: 1) WPF - I am trying to use this in my work life. It scares me when I hear your ex-product manager twittering that it's dead. I now feel like I should've done my app's front-end in qt or swing. 2) Will microsoft create in-built, tested, virtual desktop support already? More people use l…

#1) I don't get this one. WPF/Xaml/Silverlight is the best thing to come out of Microsoft in years. I really can't imagine doing front end development in another tech.

MossyBlog is full of shit. Who cares if Silverlight/WPF merge? Do you really think they would push Silverlight as the dev platform for their new phone OS if it was going to be replaced by html5?

Re: Ask HN: What do you want to tell Microsoft?

#288

Post by bonzoesc »

sandipagr wrote: post #263
philwelch wrote: post #251

On a corporation-wide strategic note, I have two thoughts: Embrace maturity. Expand only in limited, strategic ways. With apologies to Mitch Hedberg, if you follow the tech industry long enough, you start to get mad at Microsoft. There's Microsoft's iPhone (Windows Phone), Microsoft's Google (Bing), Microsoft's iPod (Zune). Someone needs to tell Microsoft, "man, just be yourself." Microsoft seems obsessed with coming…

Maybe I am mistaken but wasn't windows phone there before iPhone, MSN search before Google? The same argument can be also applied to other companies. There's Googles iPhone, Google's Facebook, Google's Windows, Google's Office and what not. I personally don't think its bad to compete on those fronts. The technology is changing and so companies have to adapt to these changes. I don't really see them going after every…

Kinda? The problem is that once a competitor shows up and does well (Google search, iPhone), Microsoft flails with their legacy stuff (Windows CE Mobile Phone Series 6.5, Microsoft Windows Media Audio PlaysForSure) for a couple years, and then apes the competitor as much as possible while throwing anybody who was invested in their products under a bus of incompatibility.

Re: Ask HN: What do you want to tell Microsoft?

#289

Post by agscala »

gaius wrote: post #139
JunkDNA wrote: post #121

Some points: - It's annoying in this day and age to be forced into using the entire MS Stack when I need to work with one specific technology. For example: if I want to test a web app on various versions of IE, I have to run Windows. OK fine, even though IE is the only browser that is tied to one OS, I'll let that go. However, if I want to use the Microsoft-provided free MS Virtual Machine images, I have to run them…

MS needs to really decide how much longer they want to push an OS that is based on Windows/DOS heritage and not unix You know the "Windows/DOS" stuff in NT is an emulation layer, right? It's known as WoW, Windows on Windows. The NT kernel is the work of Dave Cutler, of DEC VMS fame, and it is actually very, very good (form your own opinion about what has been layered on top of it).

Oh, so that what the WoW in the SysWoW64 folder name means

Re: Ask HN: What do you want to tell Microsoft?

#290

Post by bonzoesc »

kennedywm wrote: post #194
unexpected wrote: post #12

Personally, I think Microsoft needs to make the strategic "pivot" to selling experiences - not necessarily operating systems. They've done a great job of this with Xbox and Windows 7. I was incredibly sad when the Courier got cancelled. This was a big head pound moment for me. At it's core, MS sells software, but increasingly, it seems apparent that consumers are going to spend their dollars on hardware/software comb…

The Courier was precisely the device I wanted. I don't know if they had it working as well, or could make it work as well, as it did in the videos. I remember describing a device like the Courier the day before I saw it. HUGE disappointment.

They had a plastic mockup to film with and added the screens in post. It never existed beyond a video and some photos.
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