MS Upgrades To Be Smaller And More Frequent

duplicantk8 writes "Following the numerous delays to the Vista launch, MS is planning to have more frequent and smaller incremental upgrades, according to the Financial Times." From the article: "Those delays are set to end late next year with the simultaneous launch of new versions of Windows and the Office suite of PC applications in the company's most significant new product cycle since Windows 95. The new versions of the company's key PC software are likely to rekindle higher growth after a period that saw its growth rate slip below 10 per cent for the first time last year, according to Wall Street analysts. Mr Ballmer's comments are the most public sign yet of the dent to Microsoft's confidence in its core development process that resulted from the Vista delays."

Comments

Re:Beleaguered

[sg3000]

I can't find the original article, so here's the only reference I could find:

During his keynote speech at MACWORLD Expo Boston ... Dr. Amelio announced a fundamental shift in the way that Apple delivers new operating-system functionality.

Dr. Amelio stated in his keynote speech that Apple is changing its strategy to deliver new functionality through incremental releases rather than large monolithic releases. Moving forward, Apple intends to follow the industry model of shipping software releases in incremental segments. ... The motivation for this change is that Apple believes that its current model of monolithic system-software releases isn't working, and that it doesn't allow Apple to get software advancements out to customers and developers soon enough.

I found a similar statement in a Boston Globe article from August 8, 1996:

As far as Apple's new operating system, known as Copland, Amelio wouldn't give a release date, saying instead the company would begin selling components of the new operating system as they become available. Such piecemeal advances in the operating system are part of a broader shift by Apple away from big, monolithic upgrades. "Copland is going to appear, but it's going to appear over a series of releases," said Amelio.

Who would have thought that about a decade later, it would seem like Microsoft was having the same problems:

Microsoft has overhauled its core software development practices to avoid any repetition of the delays that have bedevilled the next planned version of Windows, according to Steve Ballmer, the company's chief executive.

The changes, along with plans to release more frequent, less ambitious versions of the widely used software, mark a significant shift in Microsoft's approach following one of the most troubled new product cycles in its 30-year history.

"We attempted something that was beyond the planning and conceptualisation of the system," Mr Ballmer said of Windows Vista, the much-delayed version of the software that is now planned for late next year.

"The product cycle has been longer than it should have been," he told the FT.

Of course, what fixed Apple was not doing incremental releases. They had to do a step-function switch to Mac OS X.

Re:Just last night . . .

[caluml]

From what I understand, Linux doesn't lock the files like Windows. You can overwrite a file that's already open, and all new opens of that file will use the new contents. I've certainly never seen an error like: "cp: Error: Unable to copy file - destination file locked" or similar.

Re:Just last night . . .

[mchawi]

Just write a utility to do it for you, or download one of the numerous ones that do this for you. IE:
http://www.dr-hoiby.com/WhoLockMe/index.php

I don't really see the big deal...