3 ms·

Had this article been written in 2019 or so, I could buy it. It seems strange in an article from 2000 to hold up Microsoft as some shining beacon of software e

by na85 6y ago

Had this article been written in 2019 or so, I could buy it. It seems strange in an article from 2000 to hold up Microsoft as some shining beacon of software engineering excellence. This is, after all, the company that gave us Windows ME, Vista, and Windows 8, to say nothing of the Zune. Or Clippy.

ahstilde 6y ago
Do you feel like no good software has come out of Microsoft since Windows 95? That Microsoft has poor engineering practices? They're still 75% of all PCs, have a significant cloud presence, and an even greater gaming presence. Their office suite continues to be the greatest digital productivity tool since the calculator. And they have the largest grasp on developer mind share becuase of Github and VScode.
- neolog 6y ago
  > Their office suite continues to be the greatest digital productivity tool since the calculator. MS Office is only as successful as it is because of the 1990-2010 Windows monopoly.
- na85 6y ago
  >Do you feel like no good software has come out of Microsoft since Windows 95? No, but I feel like a lot of really bad software has come out of Microsoft since Windows 95 >They're still 75% of all PCs Purely because of marketing and abusive monopolistic practices in the early days
sideshowb 6y ago
Word and excel were both ground breaking when they first came out.
- tralarpa 6y ago
  In what sense were they groundbreaking? I think Word was a little bit special among DOS programs because it used the mouse. What else?
  - sideshowb 6y ago
    I just remember moving to word from clarisworks and thinking omg this software is so much more capable.
pjc50 6y ago
I think it's important to distinguish between poor product decisions and poor software engineering. Vista and 8 were both transitional chimeras where a new idea had been introduced but the consequences not fully worked out, nor had the rewrite completed by the time the software had to ship. Even in the 90s Microsoft were known for developer evangelism - Code Complete was the book people touted all the time.
bargle0 6y ago
Zune was a marketing failure that got run over by the iPod. They were generally well regarded by their owners.

by na85 6y ago

ahstilde 6y ago

Do you feel like no good software has come out of Microsoft since Windows 95? That Microsoft has poor engineering practices? They're still 75% of all PCs, have a significant cloud presence, and an even greater gaming presence. Their office suite continues to be the greatest digital productivity tool since the calculator. And they have the largest grasp on developer mind share becuase of Github and VScode.

neolog 6y ago
> Their office suite continues to be the greatest digital productivity tool since the calculator. MS Office is only as successful as it is because of the 1990-2010 Windows monopoly.
na85 6y ago
>Do you feel like no good software has come out of Microsoft since Windows 95? No, but I feel like a lot of really bad software has come out of Microsoft since Windows 95 >They're still 75% of all PCs Purely because of marketing and abusive monopolistic practices in the early days

sideshowb 6y ago

Word and excel were both ground breaking when they first came out.

tralarpa 6y ago
In what sense were they groundbreaking? I think Word was a little bit special among DOS programs because it used the mouse. What else?
- sideshowb 6y ago
  I just remember moving to word from clarisworks and thinking omg this software is so much more capable.

pjc50 6y ago

I think it's important to distinguish between poor product decisions and poor software engineering. Vista and 8 were both transitional chimeras where a new idea had been introduced but the consequences not fully worked out, nor had the rewrite completed by the time the software had to ship. Even in the 90s Microsoft were known for developer evangelism - Code Complete was the book people touted all the time.

bargle0 6y ago

Zune was a marketing failure that got run over by the iPod. They were generally well regarded by their owners.