You lost me at M$ - New comment on Low Hanging Late Harvest Fruit.

Anonymous has left a new comment on your post "Low Hanging Late Harvest Fruit":

"Rules of the road" look nice, except aren't really tied with reality - namely, the reality of what is the demand for M$ products. With Apple, Google & Linux at its heels, all Microsoft has done over the last 15-20 years has been leading by reaction. Granted, the only way one can lead is by _listening_ first, then doing something - I don't think Microsoft is in the listening game anymore and has become a legend in its own mind over the last 20 years.

If I am 'wrong' (or whatever - you don't agree, bla bla) - then why have Linux, Mac OS X and Google w/its web presence become the new trendsetters? Why have certain segments of the population become 'die-hard' for these few brand names?

How about Microsoft ditches Windows or creates an emulation layer of sorts to fit the needs of 95% of its customers while rewriting Windows and making it look more like UNIX (or their brainchild, Singularity)?

I'll bet you an initiative like that will get all the geeks back in Redmond. But it'll be a long, cold, freezing, bonecrushing day in hell before we ever see that now, isn't it?

Marketing and innovation are the only two things a business like MS should be doing - MS gets a B or C+ for Marketing, but a freakin D or F for innovation (unless you consider reactionery innovation, which again, doesn't count).

Yes - it's hard, and MS is big and all that - but you either will do it, or the next Windows release is going to bring Windows even closer to where it should've been about 5-7 years ago - in its grave.

Stop complaining about your compensation - and first push management to create new, trendsetting products, then expect to get some results. Let's see some announcements first about a TOTAL WINDOWS OVERHAUL - then we can go and bitch about getting results, payraises, bonuses, etc.

There's no doubt that Microsoft's engineers can pull anything off (much like Google's), but something is amiss from the company as a whole ... Blame whom you like for it. I just know what I'm observing, as a MS Windows (as well as a Apple OS X and Linux) user/developer...

(M$? - EEEENK!)