Hi Mike,

SNIP
>>And I'm no mechanic, so I hope I don't downplay the complexity of a motor vehicle, but its taken almost a hundred years for Ford Motor Company to create a machine that can move and they're still being recalled like mad because theres something wrong with them. Meanwhile, Windows has evolved in 10 years to millions and millions of lines of code to do more sophisticated things, IMO, than move a passenger.
>
I don't think you give enough credit to the auto industry and where it has come from to where it is today. It has, after all, been around for about 100 years. There has been tremendous progress. I see it in my mere 40 years of observing it.

In addition, the two products (cars versus software) are radically different. BUT just because nobody's gonna get killed by malfunctioning Win systems or their apps doesn't mean that QUALITY can be thrown overboard! What poor quality does is show disregard for customers, and that is a serious problem in any business.

I'd bet that, considering all aspect of a car's production versus a software product, the car is a far far more complex undertaking. To claim that Win having tens of millions of lines of code excuses it from good quality is, in my humble opinion, an error.

Finally, since MS now produces such behemoths, it is incumbent on MS to DEAL WITH THE PROBLEMS THIS CREATES. I remember clearly IBM having to do just that way back in my mainframe days.
MS already gets the benefit of innumerable beta testers for virtually all of its products. But there are problems with such arrangements, two coming to mind are:
1) Very poor control. There's no real telling how thoroughly any function were tested, not to mention the loosely related software that might typically be installed (the OS version, various utilities, etc).
2) Poor "client type" feedback. The people involved in betas generally put up with tons more 'crap' than an "average user" would. People involved in betas can operate with lousy documentation, or even no documentation.

VPF's need for hotfixes BEFORE it even has hit the shelves is bad for the product. Don't forget that the vast majority of users of any product do not use the internet to keep abreast of product issues. The vast majority expect to buy a product and use it as advertised. Period.

regards,

JimN