Windows XP is first and foremost the first truly new and important consumer product from Microsoft since Windows 95. Miss this point and you miss everything. That's why the PC industry as a whole is pinning its hopes on XP as a catalyst.
While I certainly agree that Microsoft hasn't had anything compelling to offer consumers in the past six years, why exactly does the PC industry pin its hopes on XP as a catalyst? A catalyst for what? Sure, XP's hardware requirements may help memory and disk sales, and assemblers of PC boxes (not exactly glimmering pillars of innovation), but how will it help, say, software companies? What kind of catalyst will XP be for Adobe, or Macromedia, or Corel, or Alias|Wavefront, or Avid?
How about consumers: Why would a consumer "upgrade" to XP? Because he is tired of seeing his software work after six years of futzing with incompatible upgrades and Registry Wars, and is hankering for some new systems integration challenges? Because he never really liked his scanner, pen tablet, or video capture devices anyway, and wants to have to replace them? Because he's sick and tired of not paying enough for Windows?
This all sounds more like a catalyst for the already beleaguered software industry to go into a vicious tailspin.
Dave |
