Ok, so I’m only going to say this once: I’m just a little bit scared that Windows 7 will be good.
So far, ‘people’ seem to think that Microsoft have more or less go it right and that people will actually bother to upgrade to Windows 7 from XP (development cycle that reminds me of when Microsoft released Windows ME – the only Operating system to ever suck more than Vista – followed by XP shortly after).
I’m scared purely because I unashamedly hate Microsoft for far too many reasons to list here and I want them to fail. There’s something that I may say again. But it has got me thinking.
When Google announced that they were working on the Chrome OS they took a cheap shot at Microsoft:
However, the operating systems that browsers run on were designed in an era where there was no web. So today, we’re announcing a new project that’s a natural extension of Google Chrome — the Google Chrome Operating System. It’s our attempt to re-think what operating systems should be.
Microsoft is a behemoth. Anytime you have an organisation this big the cogs will necessarily move slower as more and more time is dedicated to actually running the organisation rather than getting on with the business of writing software.
So they are necessarily slow to react (as the Google quote points out). There has been 8 years (?) between Windows operating systems that are vaguely worth using. This has allowed Linux to flourish as the release early, release often ethos, coupled with it’s major rival being a slow moving, bug ridden giant has meant that Linux has been able to produce a use friendly operating system that is cutting edge in comparison. In fact this could well be one of the underlying factors in many Linux distributions moving their focus to the desktop from the server.
Many of the ‘improvements’ in Windows 7 are things that have been available to Linux and (Mac OS) users for a very long time and Linux will continue to move ahead while Microsoft continues to play catch up.
So while Microsoft will make up a lot of ground with Windows 7 it will be the equivalent of taking one giant step forward, then stopping again, while Linux continues to scuttle along ahead.
It reminds me of Matt Mason’s Pirate’s Dilemma. When there is a market failure (an unresponsive and dated operating system), those existing outside the current market (Linux – free in all senses of the word) will flourish.
Hopefully for Windows users, Windows 7 will greatly improve their life. And let’s face it there isn’t going to be a mass migration to Linux anytime soon. But Linux will continue to innovate, setting the bar higher and higher until we do start to see a major share of the market going to Linux.
