Windows is a legacy system

Source: NY Times

Digital Domain
Windows Could Use a Rush of Fresh Air
By RANDALL STROSS
Published: June 29, 2008
Microsoft’s flagship software, Windows, built upon the same core architecture as preceding versions, seems to move an inch when its competitors take a lap.

Here's a telling quote:

...Windows seems to move an inch for every time that Mac OS X or Linux laps it.

The best solution to the multiple woes of Windows is starting over. Completely. Now.

I don't think there is much reason to look for growth or innovation with Microsoft Windows. So I'm saying, what we have today is the best that there will be, as Windows is a legacy system with no further significant innovation to be had.

What frustrates me when I boot up my machines which both have Windows Vista is that even though they are booting up faster they are still too slow, even if from hibernation, when I realize that I'm waiting on things that I do not need.

One of the issues in the past with the idea of starting over is dying as the web takes over for everyday use, so the OS can become a black box and conceivably in the future most users will not even know what their operating system is.

That's the future, when the browser is boss and who cares what the OS is as long as you have full browser functionality, as cloud computing takes off, so then the OS is a commodity which I think Microsoft fears.

So did Microsoft sit on Internet Explorer for so many years, after crushing Netscape so that it could eke out a few more years of dominance? I'd say, no, as the evolving web simply wasn't ready to move things forward and as readiness enters the system, rapidly products are being developed so even if they did (wild speculation, not saying they did), it would have been a pointless exercise in futility, as they say.

The browser wars are really about the move of the underlying operating system from center stage to under the hood. As the hood closes on Microsoft Windows, other engines can drive the vehicle, and take all of us far faster and far further than we've ever gone before...