Microsoft Australia’s Nick Hodge doesn’t like that I highlighted in a post Microsoft’s failure with the Windows 7 beta launch.
I don’t know what else to call it though. Lets see: Microsoft says you’ve got a day to download 2.5m copies of a 3gb program, and the servers crash.
That’s a fail.
The problem going forward is one of economics. I understand from a PR perspective why Microsoft has now opened it up for 2 weeks with no cap on downloads (it’s a smart move PR wise), but the net result is possibly tens of millions of people with Win 7.
Oh, but it’s a time release, and expires August 1 is the response.
So what.
The sort of people downloading Win 7 are going to just as easily crack the time code when in the coming days someone releases a crack, and in effect Microsoft has just basically supplied the next generation of unauthorized copies of Windows. I’d say pirated, but lets see….they were given the copies by Microsoft itself.
Will some go out and buy the real thing later? maybe, but I’m betting it’s not a majority. Word of mouth may come into play, although the Win 7 reviews are mixed so far; some love it, some pointing out it’s just Vista with some interface improvements.
Microsoft has an opportunity to convert people back, and what better way than giving it to them. Better still, open source it, and then charge for support/ upgrades/ patches etc.
Millions of people are interested in Win 7, how much better would it be if Microsoft tapped into that community to make the product even better.
The gates open.
Actually, pointing out the fail is a fair-cop.
I don't think we are expecting 2.5 million people downloading 3Gb in 24 hours (and I do not know the daily numbers) — but forgetting to front-end the figures is a lesson someone has learnt in the teams that manage this.
Open sourcing, piracy, post-August “hacks” … interesting scenarios and worthy speculation of what could occur.
In terms of tapping into the community: that's what the wide distribution of the beta is about. Haven't heard any disaster stories.
Anyways, customers will ultimately decide.
ps: twitter is the worst place to attempt to be articulate and have a rational discussion. I dont think I made myself clear in my 140 character spurts of requests/responses.
pps: my dig at your “doing this just for digg” was uncalled for, and I public ally apologise for tweeting it.
Yeah, it was a fail, but who cares. I've got Windows 7 now and it's pretty good. A lot of the people who bag Vista genuinely want Microsoft to release a solid operating system in 2010. If for no other reason than to shut the mactards up.
As for open-sourcing, now that would be an epic fail (anyone can provide support, updates, patches if it is open source — what is in it for Microsoft?). Why throw away a business model that is actually making money, when it isn't evident yet that the Facebook/Twitter business model is actually going to bare fruit? I.e. how are they going to make money outside of advertising — they are not Google. Somewhere, someplace, someone has to actually sell something (for which they get cold hard cash in return) so that they can go and spend some of that money on advertising on social-networking sites that don't yet have a business model that can sustain them without the help of VC's.
Microsoft won't make the same mistakes with Windows 7, it is going to be a solid operating system, and all those epic fails that were associated with Vista are going to be replaced with comeback kid headlines.
It's a cycle. Apple will release a shitty product sometime soon and everyone will be talking about the end of Apple's golden era. Just wait and see…
Btw, do you think Apple should open-source Mac OSX?
Yeah, it was a fail, but who cares. I've got Windows 7 now and it's pretty good. A lot of the people who bag Vista genuinely want Microsoft to release a solid operating system in 2010. If for no other reason than to shut the mactards up.
As for open-sourcing, now that would be an epic fail (anyone can provide support, updates, patches if it is open source — what is in it for Microsoft?). Why throw away a business model that is actually making money, when it isn't evident yet that the Facebook/Twitter business model is actually going to bare fruit? I.e. how are they going to make money outside of advertising — they are not Google. Somewhere, someplace, someone has to actually sell something (for which they get cold hard cash in return) so that they can go and spend some of that money on advertising on social-networking sites that don't yet have a business model that can sustain them without the help of VC's.
Microsoft won't make the same mistakes with Windows 7, it is going to be a solid operating system, and all those epic fails that were associated with Vista are going to be replaced with comeback kid headlines.
It's a cycle. Apple will release a shitty product sometime soon and everyone will be talking about the end of Apple's golden era. Just wait and see…
Btw, do you think Apple should open-source Mac OSX?
Actually, pointing out the fail is a fair-cop.
I don't think we are expecting 2.5 million people downloading 3Gb in 24 hours (and I do not know the daily numbers) — but forgetting to front-end the figures is a lesson someone has learnt in the teams that manage this.
Open sourcing, piracy, post-August “hacks” … interesting scenarios and worthy speculation of what could occur.
In terms of tapping into the community: that's what the wide distribution of the beta is about. Haven't heard any disaster stories.
Anyways, customers will ultimately decide.
ps: twitter is the worst place to attempt to be articulate and have a rational discussion. I dont think I made myself clear in my 140 character spurts of requests/responses.
pps: my dig at your “doing this just for digg” was uncalled for, and I public ally apologise for tweeting it.
Yeah, it was a fail, but who cares. I've got Windows 7 now and it's pretty good. A lot of the people who bag Vista genuinely want Microsoft to release a solid operating system in 2010. If for no other reason than to shut the mactards up.
As for open-sourcing, now that would be an epic fail (anyone can provide support, updates, patches if it is open source — what is in it for Microsoft?). Why throw away a business model that is actually making money, when it isn't evident yet that the Facebook/Twitter business model is actually going to bare fruit? I.e. how are they going to make money outside of advertising — they are not Google. Somewhere, someplace, someone has to actually sell something (for which they get cold hard cash in return) so that they can go and spend some of that money on advertising on social-networking sites that don't yet have a business model that can sustain them without the help of VC's.
Microsoft won't make the same mistakes with Windows 7, it is going to be a solid operating system, and all those epic fails that were associated with Vista are going to be replaced with comeback kid headlines.
It's a cycle. Apple will release a shitty product sometime soon and everyone will be talking about the end of Apple's golden era. Just wait and see…
Btw, do you think Apple should open-source Mac OSX?