5 ms·

It's surprising because you might think Bill Gates would have some pull at his own company. Most of these issues he raises have been problems for years, and hav

It's surprising because you might think Bill Gates would have some pull at his own company. Most of these issues he raises have been problems for years, and have gotten even worse in some cases!

jrockway 18y ago
That's a good point; he shouldn't have to point things like this out. It should be obvious that you shouldn't clutter add/remove programs with "tests" and so on. (etc.)
markbao 18y ago
Many of these problems are still prevalent in Microsoft. Confusing processes and the like. So, it's not Gates. Gates is a good guy and he sounds like he gets it. Is it the corporate structure then?
- jrockway 18y ago
  > Is it the corporate structure then? Yeah, probably. However, it's hard to keep a big company like Microsoft under one person's control. Look at Apple's success; they have a tiny product line (compared to Microsoft), and so Jobs can make sure everything is good.
  - hugh 18y ago
    Really? I've got no interest in counting them all up, but I thought Apple would have more products than Microsoft.
    - dcurtis 18y ago
      Well, think about... Windows Vista. Ultimate, Home Premium, Home Basic, Business, Enterprise, Lite. Microsoft Office. Microsoft Office Professional, Microsoft Office Standard, Office Small Business, Office Ultimate, Office Enterprise, Office Professional Plus. Microsoft Mouse, Microsoft Intellimouse, Microsoft intellimouse Explorer, Microsoft Intellimouse Explorer Bluetooth, Microsoft Intellimouse Presenter. Windows Media Player, Windows Media Player Ultimate Pack... Compared to: Mac OS X iWork Mighty Mouse iTunes I think the lesson here is obvious.
      - michaelneale 18y ago
        yes - but many of those MS products are just configurations of the one thing, not a separate product.
        silencio 18y ago
        This is not necessarily a good thing for end users when there's a handful of different versions of Vista. Assume the average consumer in the US...that's Vista Home Basic and Home Premium and possibly Ultimate to choose from. At first glance do you know what the differences are? Or whether or not you need an upgrade or full version? (Let's not even get into the other versions of Vista, System Builder/OEM, EU versions, Windows Server et cetera.) Compare with OS X (ignoring OS X Server). There are only two versions, period: OS X and OS X Family Pack. How obvious is it what the difference is between the two? Very. You just count the number of computers in your household you want to install OS X on, and buy accordingly. No upgrade/full version worries, no "what does this have over the other one?" worries, no buying something you don't need... Sure, OS X doesn't come in so many "flexible" configurations as Vista does, but the thing about it is that you could just do that on your own if it meant so much, and otherwise you get a default config that works for most people.
        michaelneale 18y ago
        Its a terrible thing for consumers.
        narag 18y ago
        Yesterday I spent some time online looking for a new laptop. I would like 14'', thin-and-light, and long battery life. I needed no more than five minutes to know all the offer from Apple. Other companies like Sony or Asus are extremely annoying with dozens of "lines" of very similar products with confusing names. I didn't look at HP, but I remember it was weird, because they kept the Compaq brand so it was even worse.
        rms 18y ago
        Lenovo's T series is probably the best one in that class. Linux is well supported. Not sure that it is a better buy than a Macbook though.
- huhtenberg 18y ago
  It comes down to the priorities. Microsoft enjoys near monopoly hold on the end-user market (give or take) and they didn't arrive at this position by providing great end-user experience. So there's basically no need for them to improve it -> low priority. Don't fix what's ain't broken (what's sort of working) approach.
- ricardo 18y ago
  When Microsoft started out it operated under a pretty flat organizational structure, similar to how Google is run. They've gotten fat in the middle (management) over the years and it's stifled any chance they've had of getting anything done. See this blog post from a former MS employee about the year it took to design the shutdown menu in Vista: http://moishelettvin.blogspot.com/2006/11/windows-shutdown-crapfest.html http://moishelettvin.blogspot.com/2006/11/windows-shutdown-c...
  - swdesignguy 18y ago
    Interesting read.
noonespecial 18y ago
What's scary about Microsoft is that a company so big can develop software at all. They're like a mountain that can walk. -Paul Graham One of my favorite PG quotes.
- DaniFong 18y ago
  Now we know. The singular intensity of Billg has meant that, even now, everyone has a bit of Bill's soul in them. A cult of personality is a modest foundation for a culture of trust, which ordinarily never springs in bigco.

It's surprising because you might think Bill Gates would have some pull at his own company. Most of these issues he raises have been problems for years, and have gotten even worse in some cases!

jrockway 18y ago

That's a good point; he shouldn't have to point things like this out. It should be obvious that you shouldn't clutter add/remove programs with "tests" and so on. (etc.)

markbao 18y ago

Many of these problems are still prevalent in Microsoft. Confusing processes and the like. So, it's not Gates. Gates is a good guy and he sounds like he gets it. Is it the corporate structure then?

jrockway 18y ago
> Is it the corporate structure then? Yeah, probably. However, it's hard to keep a big company like Microsoft under one person's control. Look at Apple's success; they have a tiny product line (compared to Microsoft), and so Jobs can make sure everything is good.
- hugh 18y ago
  Really? I've got no interest in counting them all up, but I thought Apple would have more products than Microsoft.
  - dcurtis 18y ago
    Well, think about... Windows Vista. Ultimate, Home Premium, Home Basic, Business, Enterprise, Lite. Microsoft Office. Microsoft Office Professional, Microsoft Office Standard, Office Small Business, Office Ultimate, Office Enterprise, Office Professional Plus. Microsoft Mouse, Microsoft Intellimouse, Microsoft intellimouse Explorer, Microsoft Intellimouse Explorer Bluetooth, Microsoft Intellimouse Presenter. Windows Media Player, Windows Media Player Ultimate Pack... Compared to: Mac OS X iWork Mighty Mouse iTunes I think the lesson here is obvious.
    - michaelneale 18y ago
      yes - but many of those MS products are just configurations of the one thing, not a separate product.
      - silencio 18y ago
        This is not necessarily a good thing for end users when there's a handful of different versions of Vista. Assume the average consumer in the US...that's Vista Home Basic and Home Premium and possibly Ultimate to choose from. At first glance do you know what the differences are? Or whether or not you need an upgrade or full version? (Let's not even get into the other versions of Vista, System Builder/OEM, EU versions, Windows Server et cetera.) Compare with OS X (ignoring OS X Server). There are only two versions, period: OS X and OS X Family Pack. How obvious is it what the difference is between the two? Very. You just count the number of computers in your household you want to install OS X on, and buy accordingly. No upgrade/full version worries, no "what does this have over the other one?" worries, no buying something you don't need... Sure, OS X doesn't come in so many "flexible" configurations as Vista does, but the thing about it is that you could just do that on your own if it meant so much, and otherwise you get a default config that works for most people.
        michaelneale 18y ago
        Its a terrible thing for consumers.
      - narag 18y ago
        Yesterday I spent some time online looking for a new laptop. I would like 14'', thin-and-light, and long battery life. I needed no more than five minutes to know all the offer from Apple. Other companies like Sony or Asus are extremely annoying with dozens of "lines" of very similar products with confusing names. I didn't look at HP, but I remember it was weird, because they kept the Compaq brand so it was even worse.
        rms 18y ago
        Lenovo's T series is probably the best one in that class. Linux is well supported. Not sure that it is a better buy than a Macbook though.
huhtenberg 18y ago
It comes down to the priorities. Microsoft enjoys near monopoly hold on the end-user market (give or take) and they didn't arrive at this position by providing great end-user experience. So there's basically no need for them to improve it -> low priority. Don't fix what's ain't broken (what's sort of working) approach.
ricardo 18y ago
When Microsoft started out it operated under a pretty flat organizational structure, similar to how Google is run. They've gotten fat in the middle (management) over the years and it's stifled any chance they've had of getting anything done. See this blog post from a former MS employee about the year it took to design the shutdown menu in Vista: http://moishelettvin.blogspot.com/2006/11/windows-shutdown-crapfest.html http://moishelettvin.blogspot.com/2006/11/windows-shutdown-c...
- swdesignguy 18y ago
  Interesting read.

noonespecial 18y ago

What's scary about Microsoft is that a company so big can develop software at all. They're like a mountain that can walk. -Paul Graham One of my favorite PG quotes.

DaniFong 18y ago
Now we know. The singular intensity of Billg has meant that, even now, everyone has a bit of Bill's soul in them. A cult of personality is a modest foundation for a culture of trust, which ordinarily never springs in bigco.