None of the boosters here seem to want to admit it but the management of MSFT is definitely running scared at this point.
They see that the market is going to tank, and along with it MSFT shares. The only thing holding the markets up is manipulation.
When the market does tank, it will require them to invent a new incentive plan for their employees.
Working for 2-5 years and making millions of dollars writing mediocre code is - more than anything else - an historical anomaly.
This isn't to say that all the programmers at MSFT are bad; some are quite brilliant in my opinion. But a lot of them are just starry-eyed minions out of college, writing useless, bloated, buggy, slow features with C++ or VB instead of using C or ASM.
Furthermore, the marketing/lawyer-oriented structuring of the company further undercuts their ability to write truly compelling, revolutionary software.
I'm sitting here using Win95. There is no compelling reason for me to use Win98 or Win2000. I still write apps in text mode, because they are so much faster in screen redraws! Also, an app with well thought out accelerator keys will run rings around a mouse-centric app.
What I want from MSFT is something they should have done years ago: a separate multitasking, text-based OS/Apps, having file compatibility with their graphical OS/App offerings.
"...don't need no phreakin' pretty pictures... I needs speed!!"
A lot of the problem I have with this industry is that things are thrown away, well before their useful life is done, in my opinion for the profits of companies like MSFT and not the good of the end users.
Anyway, although most here don't want to see it, MSFT as we have known it is already dead. It will be interesting to see what sleazy tactics they come up with to try and forestall the open source movement, or whether they will instead mature and embrace the inevitable.
FWIW
Andy
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