bill - 12:32 am on Mar 11, 2008 (gmt 0)

Bill, I was generalizing.

Then you took my post out of context. There was some back and forth in the thread about whether "Windows Vista Capable" = "Windows Aero". I was pointing out that Microsoft had been pretty clear that not all versions of Vista would have that functionality and that the hardware requirements for Aero were higher.

IGNORE Vista. Simply too complicated.

Are you saying that you won't use complicated software? That may be limiting, but it's certainly your prerogative. The big issue here is that as a consumer if you're going to put down a few thousand $ for a new PC, or a few hundred $ for some new software aren't you going to perform the basic due diligence to see that the capabilities match your expectations? I'd certainly do that with any Mac or *nix machine/software I bought.

That NYT article sure does look damning on the surface, but it's pretty biased. I don't know how much credence to give to such a sensational article. I work for a very large company that makes things, and if they took our e-mails about marketing and inter-company goings on I could guarantee you that anyone could write a very similar article just by cherry picking the gripes. However, that may not be the entire context of the situation. Big companies have dynamics that go beyond what you will find in e-mails and management reports. So, that article, while well written and engaging, may not be the nail-in-the-coffin it may seem to be.