“I would buy a Mac today if I was not working at Microsoft” (2004)

I think the context of this occurring during Longhorn (LH) development is important. For anyone that doesn't know Longhorn[1] was the precursor to Vista. They tried to do a lot of big things but it dragged on for years before they had to recalibrate, abandon a lot of ideas, and ship Vista.

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Development_of_Windows_Vista

Re: “I would buy a Mac today if I was not working at Microsoft” (2004)

#5

Post by hdjjhhvvhga » Fri, Jul 23, 2021, 9:25 AM UTC

I think LH refers to what appeared later as Windows Vista. It's kind of nice to see a Microsoft executive had the same opinion of this product as their customers.

Re: “I would buy a Mac today if I was not working at Microsoft” (2004)

#6

Post by johanj » Fri, Jul 23, 2021, 9:27 AM UTC

hdjjhhvvhga wrote: post #5

I think LH refers to what appeared later as Windows Vista. It's kind of nice to see a Microsoft executive had the same opinion of this product as their customers.

Yes, the codename for Windows Vista was Longhorn.

Re: “I would buy a Mac today if I was not working at Microsoft” (2004)

#7

Post by zokier » Fri, Jul 23, 2021, 9:33 AM UTC

hdjjhhvvhga wrote: post #5

I think LH refers to what appeared later as Windows Vista. It's kind of nice to see a Microsoft executive had the same opinion of this product as their customers.

No, that's the opposite, read the followup: https://twitter.com/TechEmails/status/1418259351140188166?s=...

Re: “I would buy a Mac today if I was not working at Microsoft” (2004)

#8

Post by perceptronas » Fri, Jul 23, 2021, 9:49 AM UTC

basisword wrote: post #4

I think the context of this occurring during Longhorn (LH) development is important. For anyone that doesn't know Longhorn[1] was the precursor to Vista. They tried to do a lot of big things but it dragged on for years before they had to recalibrate, abandon a lot of ideas, and ship Vista. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Development_of_Windows_Vista

I am not sure if it fits this topic/forum, but there is a joke made by Jobs on youtube [1] about Longhorn/Vista.

[1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3jCh7D_OpKM

Re: “I would buy a Mac today if I was not working at Microsoft” (2004)

#9

Post by hdjjhhvvhga » Fri, Jul 23, 2021, 9:52 AM UTC

zokier wrote: post #7

hdjjhhvvhga wrote: post #5

I think LH refers to what appeared later as Windows Vista. It's kind of nice to see a Microsoft executive had the same opinion of this product as their customers.

No, that's the opposite, read the followup: https://twitter.com/TechEmails/status/1418259351140188166?s=...

When reading his reply[0] it's obvious he was right in the original email when he said he saw no solution to this problem. They even tried to start from scratch and the result was still arguably the worst Windows edition ever.

[0] http://web.archive.org/web/20070107170621/http://windowsvist...

Re: “I would buy a Mac today if I was not working at Microsoft” (2004)

#10

Post by pvitz » Fri, Jul 23, 2021, 10:06 AM UTC

hdjjhhvvhga wrote: post #9

zokier wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No, that's the opposite, read the followup: https://twitter.com/TechEmails/status/1418259351140188166?s=...

When reading his reply[0] it's obvious he was right in the original email when he said he saw no solution to this problem. They even tried to start from scratch and the result was still arguably the worst Windows edition ever. [0] http://web.archive.org/web/20070107170621/http://windowsvist...

In my opinion, Windows ME was worse. I decided to use Windows 2000 and then XP. 2000 was very stable compared to what we were used to with the 95/98 series.