G
Guest
Microsoft seems to be forgetting that their greatest strength against Apple is that when the mass-majority of folks go into a Best Buy, Microsoft's OS looks familiar but Apple's looks alien (ameliorated by ubiquity of iTunes, iPhone, etc.). The more different Microsoft's OS looks, the greater the risk they have of folks making the switch to Apple.
They can take aesthetic chances--they must. But they must also be loud and clear about the ability to run whatever they create in "classic mode". E.g., I generally like Win7, but run Taskbar Tweeker so that the behavior of my taskbar remains "classic". There is no such freeware option for their ribbon bar on Office--I.e., to use drop down menus. As such, even after 3 years of having to use 2007 at work, I still hate it. I can get Office 2007 (2010?) free as a grad student, butI have so far passed. When MS stops supporting Office 2003, that's when I make my break to Libre Office.
They can take aesthetic chances--they must. But they must also be loud and clear about the ability to run whatever they create in "classic mode". E.g., I generally like Win7, but run Taskbar Tweeker so that the behavior of my taskbar remains "classic". There is no such freeware option for their ribbon bar on Office--I.e., to use drop down menus. As such, even after 3 years of having to use 2007 at work, I still hate it. I can get Office 2007 (2010?) free as a grad student, butI have so far passed. When MS stops supporting Office 2003, that's when I make my break to Libre Office.