Microsoft follows the same fate as Apple: barely feeling the pulse of trends in technology. One consumer trend Microsoft doesn't follow is having 1 multi-capable operating system for 1 price. Seriously, why is it necessary to have 30 flavors of an OS that confuses consumers? I've had many clients who have confused Windows Home with Media Center, and I've had a couple that bought Home thinking they had Professional. The only thing it does is it keeps people like me in business. However, more of my time is spent trying to differentiate what version they have instead of working on the problem. Add Vista to the XP edition mess and you have people jumping to a Macintosh, which is understandable - who wants to waste time on researching an OS when they can be productive?
To be fair, I've read non-Microsoft speculation about multiple editions, but I haven't read anything official about it yet. Looking back at history, however, Microsoft runs like our government: keep throwing money at a problem thinking it will get resolved instead of creating a new solution. That does nothing but waste money and leaves an opening for new ideas, which is why I'm really thinking of switching to a Linux OS for my main computing environment. Windows code is bloated and outdated, the menu design wastes window real estate (read: Vista), and there are multiple versions to do the 1 thing that everyone wants it for. So what reasons do I actually have as a consumer to purchase Windows 7 when I'm content with the Fisher-Price designed Windows XP?
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