Interesting thought piece from a long-time (since Windows 1.0) user of Microsoft's operating systems. Julian recounts a recent "adventure" in helping a friend configure an XP laptop and the realization he's had that things are headed in the wrong direction.

"So what has this got to do with Longhorn. Well I'm reading more and more about how Intel and Microsoft in conjunction with the hardware manufacturers will be bolting DRM in various forms right in the middle of the OS. I'm reading about how I won't be able to do what I want to do. The only reason I stay with XP is because so much software appears on XP first, Apple later and if you're lucky and Linux hardly at all. But if significant software I want to run is prevented from running, It's finally going to tip me over the edge to switch.

The other side to this is that MS is getting into the classic big software project mentality. Whatever the bug or feature is, it will be fixed in the version that comes out with Longhorn. Because all the software is so intimately tied to the OS, there's come a point where they can no longer ship each individual piece early and often. Everything has to wait for the big release. And that big release therefore ends up being vast and untestable. And late."

It's well worth reading the entire post. Agree or disagree, he makes some excellent points and raises some very valid concerns. What do you think?

Hat tip to Om Malik.