Letters to Redmond

Where's Apple's x64?

Plus, readers share their thoughts on Microsoft's monolopy, Vista and pet peeves.

• By Readers of Redmond magazine
• 01/01/2008

Playing Monopoly
From the point of view of someone who wants Microsoft to make money by selling good products (i.e. Microsoft shareholders), what it's doing makes no sense [in regard to the November 2007 Foley on Microsoft column, "Is Microsoft Spreading Itself Too Thin?"].

Microsoft, however, has never competed on merit in its core markets. Instead, it has competed by leveraging its monopoly, and using any means necessary to destroy potential competitors.

Company leaders must realize that the PC operating system market is no longer as relevant as it once was, and that it will become more irrelevant as time goes on. They're scared by Google especially, the founders of which have built a company rivaling Microsoft on top of Redmond's own operating system. Because they realize that Google is, in essence, the next Microsoft -- just as Microsoft picked up where IBM left off -- they're trying their darndest to start up in any new field they can, not with the intent of making money but trying to create a new monopoly.

The problem is, Microsoft isn't so good at competing on merit. Hence, the billions of dollars it continues to throw into sinkholes.
Jared Spurbeck
Georgia

Work in Progress
I may be in the minority, but I really like Windows Vista [in regard to the Nov. 15, 2007, Redmond Report e-mail newsletter, "Vista: A Dud or Just a Slow Achiever?"]. After a very short learning curve it has been quite enjoyable to work with. I would admit that sometimes I have to look something up that's handled differently, but give Microsoft a break -- this is a new operating system. I'm equally pleased with the look and feel of Office 2007. Yes, there's much I have yet to learn, and, no, I'm not the expert with Vista that I am with XP, but that's often how progress works.
Name Withheld By Request
Oklahoma

Sloppy Programming
I thoroughly enjoy Doug Barney's editorial each month, and have come to look forward to each new issue. In the October 2007 issue, he wrote about his annoyances with computers [Barney's Rubble, "Stop Bugging Me"]. To that, I say: "Hooah!" His comment about IE's lack of printing finesse has been shared with many friends in an effort to convince them it's time to move to Firefox. For me personally, one of my biggest gripes is the Uninstall that doesn't fully uninstall. I'm sure others have encountered it: You remove the program only to find the folder and its contents are still in Program Files, or the Start Menu or -- better yet -- the Registry.

It seems that programming has gotten extremely sloppy over the years as a computer's capacity increases. A direct ratio? Hmmm, dunno. But back in the "old days," one would have to watch out for every single bit of data, as space was a precious commodity. Nowadays, instead of fixing bugs by removing the bad code, some are just being lazy and adding a "fix" after the bug, etc. Just like uninstalling a program: Leaving remnants doesn't make much of a difference, right? Um, lemme think ... No. Thanks for the chance to vent.
Kristin Holiman
Mountain Home, Ark.