Microsoft and "Vista Ready"

There have already been oodles of articles out there talking about the fiasco that is the "Vista Ready" vs "Vista Capable" fiasco. Simply put, there's evidence (including internal emails) that Microsoft lowered the standards required to meet Vista Capable. This resulted in machines with the Capable sticker barely being able to run Vista at all, let along certain advanced features, most noticeably the Aero interface, and much user annoyance and confusion.

This gives me a good opportunity to point out a common misconception about Microsoft. One that most people have, and which leads to a great deal of confusion about why Microsoft does what it does.

The confusion, simply stated, is that people think Microsoft makes software. It doesn't.

Now, now, I know what you're all thinking. What about Windows? and Office? and SQL Server, and MS Money, and all of the other Microsoft products lining the shelves at Best Buy? Okay, so Microsoft also makes advertisements. So is it an ad company? How about a payroll company, since it pays its employees?

My point is, those boxes of bits are, when you really get right down to it, in the same category as ads and pay stubs - nothing more than a means to an end. And that end is, of course, money. (The green paper stuff, that is, not the aforementioned program.) In other words, Microsoft doesn't make software; it makes money through its expertise at making software.

So why should you as a random consumer of Microsoft care? Because each and every decision that makes will have an implied footnote, a hidden subtext that reads like a banner out of Office Space: "Is this good for the company?" Each potential action will be weighted based on how much money it makes, or loses.

Sure, there will be plenty of consideration about what's good for customers, but let's face it - if Microsoft went out of its way to screw over consumers, it would have a difficult time convincing those same customers to give it money. Beyond that, Microsoft is a big company with a lot of people in it, and no doubt quite a few of them really do try to do right by their customers.

But in the end, like every other publicly traded corporation, Microsoft has to answer to it's shareholders. And each and every decision is evaluated, not on how popular it is, or on technical merit, or if it follows standards, or even ethics - but what it does for the bottom line.