Microsoft Had Doubts About the 'Vista Capable' Label

dionysus writes "Last April, Microsoft was sued over its 'Vista Capable' labeling, and in hearing last week, attorneys for the plaintiffs presented evidence that Microsoft employees were skeptical about the 'Vista Capable' marketing. Some of the most damning evidence comes from Microsoft executives: 'Mike Nash, currently a corporate vice president for Windows product management, wrote in an e-mail, "I PERSONALLY got burnt ... Are we seeing this from a lot of customers? ... I now have a $2,100 e-mail machine." Jim Allchin, then the co-president of Microsoft's Platforms and Services Division, wrote in another e-mail, "We really botched this ... You guys have to do a better job with our customers."' The judge in the case is currently considering the plaintiffs' request to make it a class-action lawsuit."

Comments

What happens...

[gravesb]

when marketing gets primacy over engineers....

Re:What happens...

[Blakey Rat]

Without some level of marketing, Engineers build products that people simply don't want and/or won't sell.

Re:What happens...

[Adams4President]

At first I thought this post was meant to be funny (I actually laughed). Certainly, I and most /.ers are capable of doing this. But you can see by that post why Microsoft still has nothing to fear from Linux...even "user-friendly" Ubuntu. "get the latest beta driver"?? "install by hand in text mode"?? "start sshd and do it remotely"?? You might as well ask the typical user to perform brain surgery on himself.

Re:What happens...

[msuarezalvarez]

The typical user does not install the OS he uses.

Vista = dogfooding?

[WolfTheWerewolf]

Perhaps they should have forced it upon employees for more "real-world" testing first?

Re:Vista = dogfooding?

[jimicus]

You know something? I bet they did.

But Microsoft have a reputation for not only encouraging their developers to run the latest and greatest version, but also giving them the best hardware with which to do it.

I wonder how many developers actually had easy access to a laptop with less than 1GB of RAM to run Vista on, let alone tried it.

Wild speculation, so mod me how you like.

How interesting..

[moogied]

Putting "Vista Capable" on a machine is much like saying E85 capable on GM trucks.. while it may indeed be able to use it, no one in there right mind ever should..

Re:I like Microsoft direction.

[plague3106]

Did you even read the summary? The MS exec's first thought was of the customers. Good grief.

Re:A $2100 email machine?

[CFTM]

And that's the sound of the point that the VP was attempting to make flying over your head.

Re:I like Microsoft direction.

[Penguinisto]

Did you even read the summary? The MS exec's first thought was of the customers. Good grief.

Actually, it was their first thought after they got bitten personally by the botch-up, but IMHO not during design or at any stage before release.

If the end-using customer is their first thought, then please explain DRM.

/P

Too many editions!

[Midnight Thunder]

How many versions of the same system do you really need? Having created over six versions of the same operating system, Microsoft should have been aware that there would be confusion. Are people in the company so oblivious to the "Keep it Simple" approach? Generally a desktop and a server edition should suffice, and anything being marked a 'ready' should be indicating the expected experience and not the rationed experience.

A computer allowing me to experience 10% of what the new OS can provide me, is not ready in any shape or form. Games labelling gets this right, why shouldn't hardware? Are we dealing with crooks or incompetence?

Re:Another class action

[postbigbang]

The 4-banger Honda engine would last longer, cost less to repair if it did break, and get you better mileage, and get you up to speed in normal traffic situations most of the time.

The day of the upgrade is waning, and for good reason: no real value, just a bit of eye candy and some cheap thrills..

You're dealing with incompetent crooks.

[Lilith's Heart-shape]

Are we dealing with crooks or incompetence? I'd say it's a little bit of the former, and a metric shitload of the latter. Factor in the SNAFU Principle, and you've got a recipe for instant epic failure. Chances are that the people who actually work for a living told management that "Vista Capable" was bullshit, but management didn't believe it until they saw for themselves. By then, of course, it was too late.

Re:I like Microsoft direction.

[trolltalk.com]

If the end-using customer is their first thought, then please explain DRM.

Simple - their customers are the studios, MPAA, RIAA, etc. They want to sell them the idea of using MicrosoftWindowsDRM on their products.

What - you thought you were Microsofts' customer? You're a consumer, not a customer. And you'll consume whatever they feed you, until you get sick of it and either die or switch.

There's Your Problem

[Greyfox]

Engineers like to qualify stuff like that. It's very Dilbert-esque. The correct answer is "NO!" You have to keep in mind who you're talking to.

This may help; when they ask you will it run in that configuration, assume that if you say yes they're going to make you use it in that configuration. Then give your answer. It's a lot easier to just tell them "NO!" then.