158 Pages of Microsoft's Dirty Laundry

KrispyRasher writes "Even internally, Microsoft couldn't agree on what the base requirements to run Vista were, but that didn't stop it from inaccurately promoting the OS as running on some hardware. 158 pages of Microsoft internal emails reveal scandalous truths about the squabbles that took place in the lead up to Vista's launch."

Comments

Re:The bigger problem is Vista running

[Laebshade]

go download the latest Ubuntu, install it on your "Vista Capable Machine" , try using it for a while, then honestly look and see if it isn't superior for desktop use than Vista.

Call me when Ubuntu has media player classic (or at least a clone), vsfilter/vobsub, ffdshow, and full surround support for my X-Fi card. Yes, I know I bought the card, and therefore it's my fault. Yes, I know it isn't Ubuntu's fault. But the fact remains that these things are keeping me from switching to Ubuntu. Even if I didn't have the X-Fi sound card, I still wouldn't switch without vobsub support (rendering subtitles correctly [for anime] is a big deal to me).

Re:Maybe 2008 is the year...

[syousef]

Office is certainly a cash cow, but the the document format lock-in that keeps it so is disappearing. Things like OpenOffice have pretty good interopability and Microsoft seem to be getting increasingly forced to open up their standards.

It's worse than that. In their hurry to force people to upgrade and maintain the facade of security, MS is dropping support for older Office formats from newer versions of Office. That means while Open Office will open up your Word 6 document, latest MS Office won't. They're also planning to drop VBA so that reduces compatibility even further. These guys have become expert at shooting themselves in the foot!