The Vista Mistake

There's a lesson here, regarding biting off vs. chewing, that everyone can learn from. Steve Ballmer:

"We made an upfront decision that was, I'll say, incredibly strategic and brilliant and wise -- and was not implementable," Ballmer said [to financial analysts last week]. "We tried to incubate too many new innovations and integrate them simultaneously, as opposed to letting them bake and then integrating them, which is essentially where we wound up."

UPDATE: Lawrence Walsh weighs in:

"Let's be frank, Microsoft had no choice in taking on more than it could chew. When it took the wraps off Longhorn in 2002, it was on the eve of launching Windows Server 2003 and losing a battle of attrition with malware writers and hackers around the world. End users were going crazy -- and broke -- trying to keep up with the constant barrage of patches for Windows NT, 98/SE and 2000; bug hunters -- people who search for application vulnerabilities -- were making mincemeat out of the newly released Windows XP. The chief security officer of a top 10 bank relayed to me a conversation she had with Bill Gates: "Either you fix this or we're going to find a replacement.""

Posted by Joe Caponi at 10:25 AM, August 1, 2006

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