"Another of Microsoft’s chief vices is to over-engineer things. Engineers are always looking for ways to overhaul old sub-systems with monster functionality, an

"Another of Microsoft’s chief vices is to over-engineer things. Engineers are always looking for ways to overhaul old sub-systems with monster functionality, and breath-taking designs. This is akin to building a rocket powered scooter with fuel cells when all a kid wants is a skateboard to get across the street." ... "The details for why these failures occur are numerous, but the result is the same: a technology gets built that just collects dust but never gets removed, and still requires constant maintenance." This doesn't sound like innovation to me -- it sounds more like my first few programming projects. YAGNI and KISS are first principles in building excellent, long-lived software. The Microsoft portrayed in this article hasn't yet learned this, and is excitedly building the next great Rube Goldberg abstraction.