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Bill Gates: top ten greatest hits (and misses)

engadget.com — Damn, Bill, you have come a LONG way. Look at you there back in '82, you handsome devil. As part of our tribute, let's take a quick look back at the top ten greatest (and not so great) products created on Bill-time, shall we? Don't worry, it'll only sting a little.

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  • Mystalic, on 06/27/2008, -26/+8Damn, beat me to it. But a great article - damn Gates and Microsoft have a cool history.
  • binorgog, on 08/07/2008, -3/+100Good article, first sentence of the Vista piece is dead on. I still remember August 1995, standing in line at CompUSA in Towson, MD for a midnight release of Windows 95, MS PLUS and finally the real reason to be there in line, you could buy 4 megs of ram to boost your machine to 8 megs of ram for ONLY $200.00 if purchased with Win95.

    Stayed up all night installing and playing. Miss those days.

    Where is my boot disk anyway!
    • Garlik, on 06/29/2008, -10/+1Under your bed?
      Under your closet?
      In your closet?
      Come out of the closet!
    • FutureGuy, on 06/29/2008, -0/+7They missed Sync, .Net and Exchange.
    • tama00, on 06/29/2008, -16/+1VISTA SUCKS DA *****!!!!!!!

      LUNIX FOR LIFE1!
      • notzak, on 06/29/2008, -0/+8I think Vista would be a very successful OS if it did what you said it did.
    • voodoochild461, on 06/29/2008, -2/+2That store just recently closed.
    • LtXenodite, on 06/29/2008, -0/+4Boot disk? Pff I still have my 50 original Windows 95 install floppies safely in my desk drawer :)
    • OBKenobi, on 06/29/2008, -2/+2"Microsoft's already scrambling to get Windows 7 together to capture the multitude of users that've decided to skip Vista altogether, let's just hope it's not too late."

      Hope it's not too late? Let's hope those bastards get hit by a comet and vaporized.
  • viditbhargava, on 06/27/2008, -8/+14great work by Bill...yeah some were failures but the others have made the computer world.
  • digitalgopher, on 06/27/2008, -12/+54The guy is a legend already and will go down in history as one of the pioneers in the industry.

    • Fartag, on 06/28/2008, -21/+7Ah that's very interesting! Digg has been very well represented with these types of claims all week. But I'd like to know what he _really_ pioneered before I write him in as the "grandfather of all computing and master philanthropist of the Universe" candidate.

      For example, has he:

      Invented the OS? Invented DOS itself? Invented the personal computer? Invented the windows-like GUI? Invented the Internet? Invented the web or web browsers? The mouse? Anti-competitive business tactics? TCP/IP? Word processing? Spread sheets? BASIC? Paint software? Peripherals? IPC? Multi-tasking? Parallel processing? Force feedback on peripherals? Had the unfathomably visionary dream of providing everybody in the world with a computer despite Commodore, Apple, Atari, and various other companies pushing for it? Invented game consoles? Used embrace extend and extinguish methodologies often as a monopoly? Used anti-competitive tactics as barriers and attacks on non-MS technologies? Pursued deals with hardware vendors to exclude competition? Hoarded patents? Slung patent FUD against competition? Used front corporations for legal attacks on competition? Pursued exclusionary deals with hardware companies? Pursued "protection" deals with Novell to split and destroy Linux? Paid _high_ hundreds of millions to attacking open source on many fronts? Pushed forward FUD advertising campaigns? Pushed core software DRM? Protected pathway DRM? Overbearing EULAs? Using DMCA like taking down info about proprietary implementations of open source protocols on public boards? Software bundling as a monopoly? Product tying? Successful attempts to corrupt standards boards? Room stacking? Lobbying with resources greater than a "healthy" Enron? Incredible array of general nastiness, and riding on mediocrity when a monopoly is attained, and constant struggle to make the "playing field" as unlevel as possible against all non-MS tech? (etc.)

      I'm having a really hard time coming up with "pioneer" and a deep admiration by my understanding of the answers to these and other questions. But if anyone can clear this up, then maybe we can keep this crazy Microsoft love train rolling on forever! Long live Vista!
      • HappyTux, on 06/28/2008, -7/+4"I'm having a really hard time coming up with "pioneer" and a deep admiration by my understanding of the answers to these and other questions. But if anyone can clear this up, then maybe we can keep this crazy Microsoft love train rolling on forever!"

        +1
      • lokoluis15, on 06/28/2008, -5/+18You know, Henry Ford didn't invent the car, yet he is renowned as the grandfather of automobiles. Sometimes taking a good idea and implementing it better, in a way everyone can use is harder than having the good idea in the first place.
      • Rikkochet, on 06/28/2008, -6/+10Maybe not, but he made it all accessible to use, and then marketed it and won acceptance.
        People like that are, I'm sorry to say, greater than the people who dream up new ideas, because they actually make things happen.
      • relayer2112, on 06/28/2008, -6/+4"Maybe not, but he made it all accessible to use, and then marketed it and won acceptance.
        People like that are, I'm sorry to say, greater than the people who dream up new ideas, because they actually make things happen."

        Nope. It was Compaq and the rest of the clone makers that deserve praise for this, not BG and M$.
      • Fartag, on 06/29/2008, -0/+6@lokuoluis15

        Ford is much more the grandfather of the "modern assembly line" (building factories to do it), and made the existing automobile through it widely available, and cheaply, etc helping many more people afford one. So he's indeed associated to the automobile and mass diffusion of it into society.

        First, did Bill Gates revolutionize mass production of software? Did he make DOS widely available or did IBM? Did he invent software copying, recordable media, etc? Mass production itself is a wonderful thing, and Bill Gates did nothing on this front to my knowledge. I'd like to hear instead about those folks that actually did though, from the physicists and engineers to the assembly line.

        Bill Gates and/or Microsoft _has_ advanced the anti-copyability of software though through various copy protection schemes up to modern day Windows Genuine Advantage ("advantage" indeed!) and diverged into other realms like protected pathways and other user limitations.


        @Rikkochet
        Bill Gates did indeed market MS-DOS (clone of CP/M PC-DOS) to IBM, but how did he make this "newfangled computer" that supposedly nobody had ever heard of before win popular acceptance?

        This has happened through other manufacturers. Have you heard of the great Commodore up to and including Amiga, for example? Does anyone seriously doubt we'd have personal computers today at the rate and direction we were going? We'd have them now and unless something _worse_ happened, be in a far less technologically costly position as well.

        And those that dream up new ideas are absolutely essential, I can't understand anybody slighting those guys. Those that implement and make available new ideas are essential too, two essential parts of the whole invention / distribution process. What new ideas did Bill Gates implement, what did he mass produce? I'm not saying there were _no_ new ideas, just about everybody on this planet has new ideas. But I'd like to hear the _good_ ones and especially the non-obvious ones and see if this all matches up with "pioneer".

        It seems without some significant increase in opposing evidence that you guys might be after some kind of Mao complex where we must exalt and never disagree with "our leader" no matter the enormity of opposing facts and scarcity of supporting facts. Should we just vote in the most inaccurate history possible and bury factual and opposing viewpoints? For what purpose? That's religion, that's propaganda. Bill Gates and Microsoft has _harmed_ this industry and many others overall by the vast majority of accounts I know of.
  • Superperson, on 06/28/2008, -14/+68Digg needs a Bill Gates section.
  • UltramegaOK, on 06/28/2008, -10/+20Microsoft BOB was awesome.
    • stopbrorape, on 06/28/2008, -0/+21"Bob suffered an early death in 1996 due to general hatred for the little bastard."
    • FutureGuy, on 06/29/2008, -2/+2I was a cool piece of software for its time, just looked aweful.
  • estvir, on 06/28/2008, -25/+5- Vista itself was not delayed
    - The list of cut features is incredibly small and much of what they planned out to accomplish was done so albeit a little differently ( http://www.osnews.com/story/19055/Vistas_Mythical_ ... )
    - I'm sorry, they overlooked improvements to Media Centre? Engadget has a wild, stupid bias against MS but even that is hard to swallow. It received a considerable upgrade including a rather huge overhaul of the interface.
    - XP.. as a hit? Wow, you people really have short memory or you're just a bunch of kids who got onto the Internet a year ago and suddenly thought you knew everything.
    - They aren't 'scrambling' to get Windows7 out.

    Another quality piece of journalism. Someone with half a clue (MJF, for example) and who has been around for awhile should write something like this. It's depressing that this type of article is considered good/worth being shared.. but than again, even the slightest more info and many of Engadget's readers would get bored and go back to MySpace and watching videos on YouTube. Hell, the writers themselves would probably abandon it at the thought of having to actually research something and not pump out some regurgitated rubbish.
    • digitalpencil, on 06/28/2008, -1/+7- vista was delayed
      - the list of cut features was impacting enough that a large proportion of the user-base decided to either downgrade, or to not bother with it in the first place. WinFS, virtual folders.. these were the reasons i upgraded, not for aqua-esque eye candy.
      - XP was a hit, a troublesome hit that took way into SP2 for the majority of bugs to be ironed out, but a hit all the same.
      - whilst i'm of the opinion that we won't see Win7 until 2010, there is sufficient evidence (leaked roadmaps) to suggest MS are trying to get it out as early as 2009 (2nd 1/4). in this sense, they are 'scrambling'

      Don't be so damn defensive, it's an article, about Bill Gates.. your OS does not define you and whilst i'm not generally a fan of the mandatory MS-bashing, this article wasn't that. It was recalling MS' long history, where they've gone wrong and where they've gone right, released in the light that Bill is finally leaving. Moreover it's not alone, another popular tech pub, Gizmodo which is also frequently accused of anti-MS bias (although i think this is interpreted when any journo writes anything positive about Linux/Mac) just released an article, http://digg.com/microsoft/Things_No_One_Gives_Micr ...

      PS: When he says' Sadly, improvements to Media Center, aesthetics and even that quirky little sidebar got overlooked in the process' i think he's referring to an already disgruntled user-base overlooking these improvements.
      • estvir, on 06/29/2008, -5/+1- No, VISTA was released in November when Microsoft said it would be. So, as I said, VISTA itself was not delayed.
        - The list of cut features barely qualifies as list. What are you missing, WinFS? That's more or less present/possible.. what else? Come on, what else? Monad? That was never destined for Vista. Did you not read the link I provided?
        - XP was not a hit, if you look at stories back than you'll see people saying the bloody EXACT SAME THING, for example:

        http://blogs.zdnet.com/Bott/?p=382
        http://www.theinquirer.net/gb/inquirer/news/2002/0 ...
        http://blogs.zdnet.com/Bott/?p=481

        - No, they're not 'scrambling.' If you look at previous gaps between releases, the people who have retired from MS therefore having others in place with different methods (Sinofsky instead of Allchin), etc they are not scrambling.
        - If that's how he meant it, fine, but who's problem is that? Moronic people without stupid, incessant biases.
      • digitalpencil, on 06/29/2008, -0/+1calm down little estvir.. you'd think you were responsible for the release!
  • johndi, on 06/28/2008, -2/+30I don't know which I hate more clippy or the search dog. Sure, they are both easy to turn off, but I truly hate them both.
    • AboveandBeyond, on 06/28/2008, -11/+15still better than steve jobs and apple fanboys..now that's ***** annoying!
      • eyefork2, on 06/28/2008, -5/+4I can't have a logical conversation about PCs and Macs anymore. Steve Jobs and the Apple fanboys have created this hatred inside of me that I cannot rid myself of.
    • mossblaser, on 06/28/2008, -2/+10The dog - it didn't even pretend to be a useful addition.
  • doctechnical, on 06/28/2008, -11/+50I haven't seen such an enthusiastic outpouring of goodwill since John Lennon got shot. You'd think Bill Gates was dead with all the press he's getting.

    MS-DOS? The only effort Bill Gates put into DOS was writing the check for the company that created it: Seattle Computer Products.

    That's not a screenshot of Visual Basic, looks like PDS or Application BASIC (or whatever they called it). I will cop to this: Microsoft's strong point has always been it's language tools. I still fire up PDS when I need to whip up something quick and dirty.

    And damnit, digg me straight to the center of the earth, but I *liked* Bob. I thought it was cute. It was also sort of an admission of failure ("Windows is so simple anyone can use it! Except it isn't, so you'll need this animated dog"). It also had some built-in apps that didn't suck, like a check-book program, a greeting-card thing, address book, etc. Now I'm going to go find a Bob torrent, just to be contrary :)

    And OS/2 Warp rocked. It was a better DOS than DOS, and a better Windows than Windows.



    • tian2992, on 06/28/2008, -0/+5Visual Basic was originally made for Macintosh, but when they made the contract for Microsoft Office, Microsoft demanded that they stopped development and that Microsoft could make it.
    • jynweythek, on 09/17/2008, -0/+5actually that IS a screenshot of visual basic, for DOS. see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Visual_Basic#Timeline ...
    • zyxxyz, on 06/29/2008, -0/+4OS/2 Warp was outstanding, and technologically superior to Windows 3.1 and Windows 95 is nearly every way possible. I held out as an OS/2 user for years, until I finally decided I'd had enough of dual booting just to play Win95 games. It was a sad day and I still miss OS/2.
    • Wakuko, on 06/29/2008, -2/+1"You'd think Bill Gates was dead with all the press he's getting."

      Oh come on, we all know he's spending a couple of millions in all this goodbye fanfare.

      It is all so fake it feels gay.
  • IDIGTHEDIGG, on 06/28/2008, -16/+33IE is considered a "hit"?
    • potterboy, on 06/28/2008, -3/+33Yes, it is profitable, the majority, and back in the day it was fairly decent.
      • pixelguru, on 06/29/2008, -5/+4Profitable??? HA!
        Explorer was given away for free, and cost the company a boatload of cash to develop, maintain, and defend in court - it was the centerpiece of the whole anti-trust case against them.

        Explorer never made Microsoft a dime, but it did give them a degree of control over the emerging internet. They repaid this to us by breaking every standard they encountered. The web has been dragging a giant explorer-shaped boat anchor behind it ever since.
    • Frost9999, on 06/28/2008, -1/+32If you measure it's installed base, there's no question. Even crappy pop tunes that make number 1 are considered a hit.
    • Dylson, on 06/28/2008, -2/+9Yes.
    • Rikkochet, on 06/28/2008, -1/+6No, it's a total flop, because it's only used by non-Firefox users?
    • hcl40u, on 06/28/2008, -2/+4Earlier versions of IE were better. It was the browser I switched to from Netscape Navigator.
    • laelfrog, on 06/28/2008, -4/+5It should have been listed as a "hit" and a "miss".
    • Syphon8, on 06/28/2008, -2/+1As much so as Vista is a miss.
    • FutureGuy, on 06/29/2008, -1/+8omg you were born just yesterday, already on digg?
    • zyxxyz, on 06/29/2008, -1/+3IE was a huge improvement over Netscape circa 95-96. It didn't become the market leader ONLY because it was bundled with the OS.
  • SushiCW, on 06/28/2008, -1/+26Visual Basic definitely belongs on the list, but I don't know what Engadget is talking about: "discontinued in 1998?" "Met its demise?" On the contrary, Visual Basic (in its .NET incarnation) is STILL one of the most-used (and most-abused) programming languages in existence.
    • mossblaser, on 06/28/2008, -0/+9vb.net is quite a different beast. I used to know vb (blushes) but I could never master .net (a stroke of luck as I found out later...).
    • FutureGuy, on 06/29/2008, -2/+3VB.net rocks, not as much as C# but close.
    • phantasmah, on 06/29/2008, -1/+0VB 6.0 (the last iteration before .NET) was actually released in mid-1998. Even if it were the last version of it, its still inaccurate to say the product was "discontinued" that year. And Microsoft provided main support for VB 6.0 up until March 2005.
  • fatas, on 06/28/2008, -6/+56IE deserves to be on that list, it is the most convenient browser in the world.
    When someone finds bookmarks to porn on your browser you can always say
    "Bloody spyware these days."
    • AboveandBeyond, on 06/28/2008, -14/+2IE7 is way faster than firefox 3

      i regularly use it when i want to open a quick window for a quick search...oh IE was also the first to come up with ajax style websites.
      • Rikkochet, on 06/28/2008, -0/+13Load both browsers.
        Navigate to digg.com (for example)
        Open 10 new tabs of various stories.
        Come back and say that.
        IE7 is acceptable, but the tabs are dreadful to use and the extension capacity for Firefox makes it king.
      • AboveandBeyond, on 06/28/2008, -13/+2you missing the point, yes firefox might be faster in loading pages, but that difference is useless to me, a few milleseconds is not a big deal, especially as the internet connection takes the most time but when it comes to launching browsers, IE is a winner by miles and that difference is important.
      • kraetos, on 06/29/2008, -0/+4Microsoft didn't invent Ajax. Microsoft invented XMLHttpRequest, a key part of Ajax. But they didn't invent JavaScript, and they did not come up with the idea of interactive web applications.
    • spookyttws, on 06/29/2008, -3/+4I hate to use the Microsoft talking points, but as (I think) Bill Gates himself pointed out (a few years back) "Internet Explorer is needed to download and install Firefox." or something along those lines. Firefox would not be as large as it is if access to it wasn't so easy.
      • Pinhedd, on 06/29/2008, -1/+5actually it is not. Many years ago, my friend's father blocked IE on his computer. I had to use window's built in command prompt based FTP client to download it.
    • dzhastin, on 06/29/2008, -1/+1Amen! If I only had a dollar for every time I've been able to use that excuse...
  • digitalpencil, on 06/28/2008, -0/+41omg.. just looking at that ME screenshot makes me writhe.
    • KMartSheriff, on 06/28/2008, -0/+1The first computer I ever bought had ME installed on it. It was a Gateway. I remember the first thing I had to do when I got it out of the box was reinstall Windows ME. Yeah, sure it was a pain in the ass, but I didn't know any better at the time, and played many games on that thing. *sigh* Good old days.

      On that note, Windows ME can DIAF.
    • illdourmum, on 06/29/2008, -0/+2ME was despicable... i downgraded to 98 SE and got all my friends to as well
    • iMOSESi, on 06/29/2008, -0/+0ME was complete crap. I will never forget the day I got XP. Yes, I suffered that long with ME.
  • Dylson, on 06/28/2008, -22/+13Vista is a true failure.
  • lioneljaffry, on 06/28/2008, -11/+9Enough already with the Bill articles. Granted, he's an influential and important figure in the history of computing, but cmon, it's not like he died - he's just changing job.
    • scy1192, on 06/28/2008, -1/+7you don't want to see what happens when Jobs leaves Apple...
  • earthforce1, on 06/28/2008, -13/+22The Zune didn't make the failures list?
    • KazamaSmokers, on 06/28/2008, -13/+10The Zune is a great little piece of hardware. The iPod has the cool factor, but the Zune is an excellent MP3 player despite its inherent dorkiness. And if you don't mind brown, you can pick up a 30GB player for about $75 bucks.
      • earthforce1, on 06/28/2008, -1/+15It could have potentially blown the iPod out of the water wireless networking, except for the "feature" of having anything transferred over the wireless link self destruct after a couple of plays, thanks to the DRM. This rendered what could have been its killer feature completely useless.
      • crowbar77, on 06/29/2008, -2/+5Thank the record companies.
      • CorwinShiu, on 06/29/2008, -4/+2I'll rather use a zune then an ipod. Much better feature wise and price wise and it's layout/theme is much better. I picked up a sansa e280 though; 8 gbs for 70 and it has an expandable microSD slot. I needed the flash memory for running; otherwise I would have gotten a zune.
    • crowbar77, on 06/28/2008, -9/+8Why would it? Considering it came into an extremely competitive market late, I think it met fairly close to their expectations. We'll have to wait a few years to find out whether it was a success or not.
    • KMartSheriff, on 06/28/2008, -3/+6Yeah, I was surprised about that too. I mean it hasn't been a complete failure, but let's be honest it's not doing very hot.
    • FutureGuy, on 06/29/2008, -3/+5Zune 2 is awesome, both hardware and software, now hold on a sec let me run for cover.
      • manstein01, on 06/30/2008, -0/+1Hardware-wise it is excellent. Software...not so much.
    • iMOSESi, on 06/29/2008, -1/+2I must say I like my Zune. The iPod does have the cool factor, but it has become an annoying trend. For God sakes I've seen little girls jamming out to Miley Cyrus on mini's!
  • djpray2k, on 06/28/2008, -6/+18Good article but a bit over the top as is this talk of microsoft being a pioneer. They did some amazing things for the industry but real innovation was bought in. DOS, the graphical user interface and more.

    Gates is a great businessman and made some great deals but he owes a lot of it to other people.
  • awesometastic1, on 06/28/2008, -1/+17Visual Studio and C# anyone??? Probably one of the few things microsoft produced that is great in it's own right (not only great due to context alla windows 3.1 and company).

    on and let's not forget MS SQL Server which is clocked as the second fastest RDBS in existence behind Oracle. Though both lack the freeness appeal of MySQL.
    • mossblaser, on 06/28/2008, -0/+4MS SQL does also rather suck in the portability department and thus will struggle anyway.... Also it isn't all that standard in terms of its implementation of SQL...
    • Wakuko, on 06/29/2008, -1/+3C# is a vulgar copy of JAVA but better not touch that nerve...
      • awesometastic1, on 07/03/2008, -0/+1you are showing your lack of knowledge of C# there (and of the inner workings of Java). Just cause the syntax is similar has nothing to do with the languages themselves. Syntax is pretty irrelevant for the most part.
  • iamgreg007, on 06/28/2008, -0/+6I would have added Q Basic to that list as well. It came preinstalled with MS-DOS and allowed a generation of would-be programmers a free and (relativaly) simple programming language to take that first step towards geekdom with. I can't even count how many days I spent trying to debug my simple blackjack or text based RPG programs.
  • IWDA4, on 06/28/2008, -5/+6Games for Windows - Live wasn't really a flop.
  • hadak, on 06/28/2008, -4/+9Xenix? And I thought I knew it all...
    • illdourmum, on 06/29/2008, -0/+1when i read that i was like o.O
    • mrBitch, on 06/30/2008, -0/+1RE : " Xenix? And I thought I knew it all... "

      The more you learn about history, the better you are able to understand why things are as they are now.

      In the case of Microsoft, here's an abridged timeline up to 1993 :

      1. 1974: AT&T decides to supply Unix-source free to academia
      (Ok, nothing to do with MS, except as a comparison - See point 4)

      2. 1980: 25Aug: Microsoft's 1st-ever Operating System "Xenix" is announced (based partly on BSD Unix).

      3. 1981: 27Jul: Microsoft buys "86-DOS" from Seattle Computer for $25k - changes name to "MS-DOS"

      4. 1981: Oct: MS is unwilling to make sources available to anyone (except possibly OEMs), in particular to universities, which they regard as security risks.

      5. 1982: 22Jan: MS agrees to develop spreadsheet, database, and paint program for Macintosh.

      6. 1982: Paul Allen resigns for health reasons, leaving Bill Gates as sole CEO of Microsoft.

      7. 1983: Mar: Microsoft MS-DOS 2.0 rewritten from scratch. MS-DOS 2.0 copies Unix directory structure but reverses the slashes because forward-slashes were already used...

      8. 1985: Jan: Microsoft's Mac expert is moved to the (now) 2-years-late MS "Windows" project.

      9. 1985: 25Jun: Bill Gates tries to convince Apple to allow Mac clones.

      10. 1988: Mar: Apple files look-and-feel lawsuit against Microsoft.

      11. 1989: Microsoft buys 16% of SCO for $25M

      12. 1990: 22May: Windows 3.0, supports 386

      13. 1992: MS announces Windows NT.

      14. 1993: July: MS actually releases Windows NT.
  • moobies, on 06/28/2008, -8/+2Way to go, Billdo!
  • chapium, on 06/28/2008, -1/+22Despite Vista's flaws, its nowehere near as bad as WindowsME. At least its stable.

    Also where's Windows 95? I'd say thats one of their greatest accomplisments.
    • Petrushka72, on 06/29/2008, -4/+2"Buy Windows Vista -- not as bad as ME."
  • GenghisKahana, on 06/28/2008, -9/+8Another Bill Gates stroke piece. The dude's finally doing some good stuff with his foundation, but celebrating many of his 'rip off's' is taking it a bit too far!
  • CCmachined, on 06/28/2008, -7/+13IE's gotten more people on the web over the years than any browser < excuse me? i only ever used IE when i was forced to (brought up on netscape and then firefox, since ever)
    they mean "the Windows monopoly shipped this ugly POS browser with it, and so more people are now using the web in a craptastic way." what a joke. it was Microsoft's decision to include it as a Windows component that got people onto the web, not the browser itself.
  • Gee1004, on 06/28/2008, -3/+11Most of the people are too young to see all the lawsuits that Microsoft had, plus they made their money on the overpriced cost on licenses and $10-$20 for every guinea pig that wanted to test drive a beta copy throughout the years. Lastly, the OS's that were failures just to bring in money. All of this is forgotten because of his foundation. A Robin Hood but takes from everyone. LMAO
  • axis, on 06/28/2008, -0/+9Passport is no on the miss list? Wasn't that supposed to make it easier for me to sign in to everything online?
  • 3leggedHorse, on 06/28/2008, -10/+4XBOX rocked PWND PS2 it was the *****. Soz but in my book the 360 is a miss, hardware failures, software failures after updates PGR 3 would not even load, Half life 2 ***** up at the end of the first game in orange box. No inbuilt wifi etc etc. The only partial saving of it is live.
    • Syphon8, on 06/28/2008, -0/+2PS2 slayed Xbox.
    • 3leggedHorse, on 06/29/2008, -1/+2Clearly u never played Halo, the series went down hill after that. But ***** it that game and live lorded it over PS2. But in my opinion having a 360 and PS3, apart from live being a bit better than PS network PS3 pisses on da 360.
      • Syphon8, on 06/29/2008, -1/+1Go view some sales please. PS2 killed Xbox. And Xbox 360 is killing PS3.
  • Tribunis, on 06/28/2008, -11/+5Windows Vista has to be the most publicized epic fail ever.

    I have never even heard of BOB
  • gravel, on 06/28/2008, -0/+5Good article. Vista has be ok for me and I use it on a laptop. Still prefer XP because SP3 is smokin' fast.
    Microsoft is a very important company and hopefully they will get new and exciting leadership. Steve Ballmer maybe be good at sales, but he seems pretty crazy to be the frontman.
    • Petrushka72, on 06/29/2008, -0/+2"Still prefer XP because SP3 is smokin' fast."
      Um, well, yes I suppose it is -- but only in comparison with Vista.
  • shaba1, on 06/28/2008, -2/+2i think .Net is a hit
  • SilverBlade2k, on 06/28/2008, -9/+2Why isn't his famous quote: "64K of memory ought to be enough for anybody" in the list?
  • workharderscum, on 06/28/2008, -0/+4Misses - forgot windows ultimate extras.
  • hackiavelli, on 06/28/2008, -3/+1DirectX really deserved to be on the list rather than just an honorable mention. It was the biggest and best thing to happen to PC gaming since the GPU (as anyone who had to spend hours configuring their computer to get a game running in the pre-DirectX days can attest to).
    • Cryoniq, on 06/28/2008, -0/+4Uhm.. no.. MS bought their way in as usual. If OpenGL had been embraced, which it is going to be from here and on, you wouldn't belive how far ahead we would have been today. Microsoft slowed down the development.. a lot..
      • hackiavelli, on 06/29/2008, -1/+1Microsoft bought their way into everything on the list so I don't see how that's an issue. And DirectX provides APIs for a slew of features (like sound) which OpenGL doesn't touch.

        The Khronos group itself is independent so there's nothing Microsoft could do to stop it beyond releasing a better product (which they did).
  • Super6, on 06/28/2008, -0/+3I still have a smart watch...
  • Cryoniq, on 06/28/2008, -4/+6This just show how easily manipulated human beings are. Seriosuly. Windows been pure crap and put down a LOT better alternatives and crapped on people and companies. And you give that psycho credit for causing billions of dollars in losses each year and destroying sensitive data never to be seen again?

    Humanity is doomed, and it is all your fault. Seriously.
    • Syphon8, on 06/28/2008, -1/+1Windows has one decent competitor, and not quite enough stuff just works on Linux yet.
    • IronDonut, on 06/28/2008, -1/+0That is business my man. Survival of the fittest.

      If you are talking about Windows 3.1 vs OS/2 I think Windows 3.1 was a better product. Here is why; Windows would actually run on the computers that were available at the time. Windows was a fit for the real world and the market. OS/2 required so much computer the average person or business couldn't afford them.

      Then just as computer power became cheap enough along came Windows NT which was technically superior to OS/2 and still a better market fit.

      • Cryoniq, on 06/28/2008, -0/+2You know that OS/2 was a cooperation between IBM and Microsoft right? And that Microsoft screwed IBM over "turning" OS/2 over to them and then directly after popped up Windows NT, that was a lot of OS/2 in it and the plan.
        OS/2 was something that was VERY praised among companies, and Microsoft made sure to kill it. And with what? Well.. *cough* Windows NT.. a much worse alternative.
        IBM and OS/2 was far ahead in time. But it was killed =/
      • IronDonut, on 06/29/2008, -1/+0Oh I know all about it. I also know that when I made the switch from OS/2 to Windows NT in 1995 I was very happy for superior development tools and an OS platform that didn't blue screen constantly.

        Windows NT was leaps ahead of OS/2.

      • tba2287, on 06/29/2008, -0/+2Question: why didn't Microsoft just market NT, or an NT-based OS to consumers back in the mid-'90s, instead of giving them DOS-based 95/98/ME? It was much faster and more stable, and the term "Blue Screen of Death" wouldn't have conjured such a connotation.
    • MrSarcasm, on 06/28/2008, -1/+1You forgot to add "/sarcasm"
  • IronDonut, on 06/28/2008, -2/+1I know this was a more consumer based list but on the nerd side;

    ASP.NET / C#
    Visual Studio
    Sql Server
    Windows 2003

    Microsoft makes some strong products on the server side.
    • Cryoniq, on 06/28/2008, -0/+2Don't forget Microsoft ViriiExchange...
    • Hangly, on 06/29/2008, -0/+2And some really weak ones. Anyone remember SMS?
      Also SQL is not an enterprise-class database. Anyone who is serious uses Oracle.
      • legendxx, on 06/29/2008, -1/+1You mean anyone who loves to say they love Oracle just to feel nerdier than the next IT nerd. Same thing between Windows and Linux.. sure Windows does everything and then some.. but some people just enjoy the feeling of being nerdier.

        MSSQL 05 is fine.
      • Hangly, on 06/29/2008, -1/+1That's why so many companies use it.

        Oh wait, no they don't.
      • IronDonut, on 06/29/2008, -1/+0What are you talking about? Many companies use Sql Server as their enterprise database. Most companies use Exchange as their enterprise messaging system.

      • IronDonut, on 06/29/2008, -1/+0What are you talking about? Oracle and Sql Server are used by many companies. I've used both on many corporate applications. Both do their job very well. Sql Server is easier to deal with on a day to day basis because of the fantastic user interface.

        > That's why so many companies use it.
        > Oh wait, no they don't.
  • Krystof82, on 06/28/2008, -2/+1Although its a miss for Vista, at least the author admitted it was a great, secure, and reliable OS. It's short-comings were from bloated prices, other companies refusing to update drivers to force people to buy newer products, and ignorant people who have never actually used Vista, but attack it because they heard it from someone(and that person heard it from someone, etc). It has never crashed for me, no viruses, everything works properly, and all my friends who also have Vista have said the same.
    • legendxx, on 06/29/2008, -1/+2I've used Vista. I did not spend any money on it and am extremely glad. You ***** Vista-Lovers need to realize its not about security or performance. It's about features. Just because it 'hasn't' crashed for you IS NOT A REASON TO USE/SUPPORT IT.

      Vista is slower than XP accross the board.
      Vista is still not secure enough. You're all still using 3rd party AV software right? I don't care how secure something is.. if you need an addon to really lock it down then you're really back at square one.
      Vista has zero new features worth any price tag. Modders were able to make XP look and function exactly like Vista in a month.. MS took 7 years. Your beloved 'Start menu search' and every other new feature is available on sourceforge.
      There are a lot of other foundation problems with Vista that you probably don't even notice but are signs of things to come. The NT kernal has had it's time in the sun and should not be built upon any more. You can only load so many bells and whistles onto one chassis.

      Why why why do you idiots encourage MS to release more ***** products with no feature enhancements by giving them your money every time they release and OS. Every release of OSX has some new ground-breaking feature like time-machine (which still does not have a decent windows equivalent - even by a 3rd party). I hate mac fanboys and will never be caught dead with a mac in my lifetime but goddamn they could out with some good ***** every couple of months.

      So yes Vista is the biggest miss by MS to date.. easily.
      • mrBitch, on 06/30/2008, -0/+1RE : " will never be caught dead with a mac in my lifetime but goddamn they could out with some good ***** every couple of months. "

        Wow, apart from your emotional issues - your summary is spot on.
  • ashwinashwin, on 06/28/2008, -0/+2internet explorer? i read an article a while ago that made an excellent point - IE kicked off the antitrust problems but it gave microsoft little benefit in terms of revenue, control over the internet, etc... so not sure if it should be on a greatest hits list.
    • zeabu, on 06/29/2008, -1/+1no control over the internet? Talk with people that make webpages, they'll tell you they make two versions of their page, a MSIE one, (and sometimes) an all-other-browsers version.
  • badassninja, on 06/28/2008, -2/+6Man keep this ***** off of digg.There has been so many ***** MS posts to make it to the front page in the last week that it is sick. I'm 70% that Microsoft them self has something to do with this and need to send them the message that they are not welcome here.
    • Wakuko, on 06/29/2008, -0/+1I agree with you 100% and know for sure all of this fake standing ovation is paid by billy boy.
    • Pinkshisno, on 06/29/2008, -1/+1Does that mean that Apple pays for all the massive Apple news that always gets posted too then? Oh but it's Apple so it's OK, right?

      I for one I'm glad because I get tired of the Apple circle jerks here on Digg everyday
      • badassninja, on 06/29/2008, -1/+2Yes. I don't use macs but it's very understandable why mac would have fan boys. Microsoft fan boys confuse the F out of me. A massive influx of pro Microsoft stories on the front page most likely means that Microsoft is paying people to make it happen. And paying for diggs is never ok.
      • Pinkshisno, on 06/29/2008, -1/+2I don't think the influx of positive Microsoft stories is a result of Microsoft paying people to. It's possible, but I think the reason of all these stories is because Bill Gates is retiring, and people want a piece of the pie. If they see that a positive post on Bill Gates made the front page, people with desires to get their articles on the front page will post stories on Microsoft. It has happened before and you see it everyday (see Politics or any blockbuster video game soon coming out like GTA articles).

        Also look at where the articles come from; they are Gizmodo and Engadget articles, articles that always make the front page of Digg, regardless of content. Perhaps Microsoft is paying those sites though, who knows.

        Personally I'm no loyal fan to either Microsoft, Apple, even Linux. They all have their strengths and weaknesses. I also understand why there are negative opinions on Microsoft and for the most part these people can make valid points.
  • dhughes, on 06/28/2008, -0/+4 I remember in the early 1990's when Microsoft was almost non-existent on the Internet, Netscape was 'the' browser.

    It was almost like waiting for the other shoe to drop when MS finally discovered this Internet thing, it was amazing to see how little attention they seemed to show to it until Internet Explorer arrived.
    • tba2287, on 06/29/2008, -1/+1Gates was smart enough to know that the rise of the Internet would lead to the proliferation of web-based apps, which he feared could render products such as Windows and Office obsolete (which wasn't going to happen in the era of dial-up, but is a feasible concept now). He felt that providing a competitor to Netscape would give MS an advantage for how consumers go online.

      Also, while IE is lousy at following standards, don't forget that Netscape didn't follow standards either. For example, the blink tag was a horrible concept, and was one of several non-standard tags that ushered in the era of "Best Viewed in Netscape X.x" or "Best Viewed in IE X.x or higher." MS simply followed their actions and flouted W3C's rules as well.
      • Hangly, on 06/29/2008, -0/+2Microsoft was very very slow to pick up on the internet. AOL, Prodigy, Compuserve and a dozen other online services had been offering internet access for years before Microsoft realized it existed, and even then they responded by imitating the above (by launching MSN.)
        It wasn't until much later that they developed a browser or browser-based applications, the latter only long after Sun's Java had existed for quite a long time.
      • mrBitch, on 06/30/2008, -0/+1@Hangly RE : " .. had been offering internet access for years before Microsoft realized it existed, and even then they responded by imitating the above (by launching MSN.) "

        It's amazing that almost no-one remembers that MSN was originally launched as a COMPETITOR to the internet.

        Microsoft devised MSN as an attempt to kill the internet. I remember - I was there at the launch.

        When this failed, MS then re-launched MSN as a MS services hub network.
  • hoopy22, on 06/29/2008, -1/+5Good article. However, the days of Microsoft's dominance are numbered. They will be a force for years, true, but computing in general is headed to open source. There's no way to stop it. Even though it may be considered niche today, the next few years will IMO, be a watershed time for open source. Example, I have two PC's at work, one is all MS, the other is Ubuntu with Open Office. I use them both an equal amount of time. I tend to favor the linux box though, don't really know why, but I do.
  • pixelguru, on 06/29/2008, -3/+5The Gates Foundation = Penance

    ...and it's going to take a long time to absolve his sins.
  • Shuelin, on 06/29/2008, -1/+3I have Media Center on my computer and it works ~50% of the time, major problems with creating DVDs, definitely should not be in the hits list.
    http://thegooglehouse.blogspot.com
  • miaow, on 06/29/2008, -0/+2all those supposed 'hits' but what do we use out of choice ? preinstall dual-boot OSs on home computers and lets see all their 'hits' in 5 years time
  • GregFD3S, on 06/29/2008, -0/+6IE !== Success

    How can they call it a success when it takes Microsoft 3 versions to get it right?
  • TroHax, on 06/29/2008, -1/+7Dugg for the description of why vista really sucks.
  • ixelr8, on 06/29/2008, -4/+3I'm still not experiencing any problems with Vista that all those Mac and Linux users keep complaining about...
    • clockdist, on 06/29/2008, -1/+2Because you're probably running it on Vista-certified hardware (or something close).
      • Petrushka72, on 06/29/2008, -1/+2You mostly need considerably better than Vista-certified hardware for Vista to work even tolerably well.
      • ixelr8, on 07/01/2008, -0/+1Yeah, that's If you want your OS to run well, Mac OS X is also a memory pig too; every OS has it's hardware requirements so your precious UNIX Based system aren't free of that either.
  • macmangb, on 06/29/2008, -7/+6Again more digg spam from Microsoft zealots. Just go get a computer that just works and you won't feel the need to every single pro-ms fluff piece you find on the net here.
    • Wakuko, on 06/29/2008, -2/+3We are out of luck, M$ controls what gets posted on digg since they got a share of kevin rose's ass.
  • Hangly, on 06/29/2008, -0/+2Media Center was a hit?

    I would knock that off the list and add Visual InterDev. That thing kind of rocked.

    For that matter where is Windows NT/2000? NT technology was really not too shabby.

    Other misses:

    SMS 1.2 & 2.0 (ack!!!)
    Front Page
    J++
    Publisher

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