Dvorak gets Windows 7 horribly wrong
John C. Dvorak has always been the P.T. Barnum of PC pundits, willing to write deliberately provocative things to draw attention to himself. But his most recent column in MarketWatch is an unfortunate example of how that tendency can go horribly wrong when it’s combined with factual errors.
Dvorak’s main thesis is pretty ho-hum stuff: Microsoft’s future rides on Windows 7. But then he drops this little bit of Barnum in there:
Microsoft may be pulling a fast one with the beta release because this is not the finished product. Let me explain.
As a beta program it probably does not have any of the security measures built into it the way a release product would. For one thing security is not too important with a beta product since hackers have not targeted it in any way, nor will they until the final product ships.
All that zippy performance that everyone is jacked up about will disappear once the burden of security precautions and patches begins.
For all we know the whole OS could turn into an incredible pig after this happens.
That is, to put it as kindly as possible, pure crap. The security features you see in the beta release of Windows 7 are those you will see in the final product. The idea that there’s a big pile of code being held back is ridiculous.
It’s really sad that some readers of this column (which is aimed at investors, not techies) will actually believe this nonsense. The question for me is, does Dvorak really believe this nonsense? In other words, is he cynical or senile?
Update: I just went back and read the column again. I was especially struck by how crude and juvenile the writing is. It’s similar to what I see in comment threads from anti-Microsoft zealots. I wonder if JCD is having this column ghost-written?
I really think he needs to change careers.
Well said Ed….I believe it’s time for Mr. Dvorak to be put out to pasture. The worst part of this is that some of the “investors” will actually believe this stuff.
I was surprised to learn Dvorak still has a column. He’s a shock-jock.
While I don’t agree with Mr. D’s assumption, neither one of you have proof to the contrary of your assertions. We do know that Microsoft is introducing a few more features in between beta and release. Will any of those be security related? Maybe, and maybe not. Let the guessing continue.
Well, his recent article was something about MS’s business model being over. So I guess he’s painted himself into a corner now and is just trying to be consistent. You’re right about the security stuff being pure crap. Don’t know what orifice he pulled that out of.
Very odd to conclude that Microsoft would intentionally forgo the free testing they get with betas in order to surprise people with security features later.
This phrase: “security measures built into it” in particular smells like someone who’s never written software before. Does he think there’s a a magic script to “securify” the app before it goes out the door, and they just don’t run it unless they’re doing a full release? It doesn’t make any sense. Even if that *was* how it worked, they’d lose a lot of valuable testing by doing so.
I’m actually surprised that you read the column enough to comment on it.
I gave up on Dvorak, what, about 20 years ago?
John needs a sabbatical. His writing is deteriorating, seemingly with each new column. Where once I looked forward to his next article, I now approach with caution. He spews forth writing that at best is provocative but tired and lacks any fact checking.
We can only hope he’s right, because UAC is completely broken in Windows 7, and so far Microsoft show no sign of fixing it…
http://arstechnica.com/microsoft/news/2009/03/opinion-ms-should-kill-win7-uac.ars
What’s sad is that I often times find myself agreeing with Dvorak’s opinions on TWiT podcast, but then he goes and write crap like this all the time.
He could be really good if he just took the time research (or even think things through). It seems like when he actually knows what he’s talking about he can form a good opinion about it (even if it is childishly written sometimes).
From experience I can also attest that Microsoft products actually get faster after the beta – not slower. They will release a product which has been built from the ground up to contain the proper security measures, but performance optimizations come later when the product is all hanging together nicely.
So, just take a look at previous Betas and you will see the pattern of performance improvements not degradation.
Dvorak doesn’t believe anything he says. He’s a curmudgeon and a (literal) character. He should be laughed with and at, and never taken seriously as a pundit.
When some idiot quotes it as fact I can laugh them out of the room. Stuff like this makes it easier to spot an idiot.
He has stated this as fact a few times on Cranky Geeks when other panelist have praised Windows 7 and I always think he does believe it but I can’t believe anybody would take him as a reliable source
What does worry me a little is that Windows 7 is great on a clean build but when OEMS start adding their crap new machines will be slower than we are experiencing now
http://tinyurl.com/bo2zyz
[Readers: This link is safe and very relevant. - Ed]
Actualy, it is hard to say if Mr Dvorak will be correct on this or not.
But any one arguing saying that this will not happen, take a look at Vista or WinXP, the beta versions of both of these ran a lot cleaner and faster then there current builds.
Now I hope that Mr Dvorak is wrong, but look at Microsoft history before you start to argue that he is wrong.
Am I the only one who thought of the Dvorak keyboard layout after seeing the headline here?
Though it’s true that AV software and crapware tend to slow down computers a lot, what he’s saying is just ridiculous. Well despite his profound knowledge about Windows, at least we still get his idea – it’s not over till the lady sings.
Dvorak has always tried to shock us with his revelations. I recall his article from early 2007 where he said this about the soon to be released iPhone:
“What Apple risks here is its reputation as a hot company that can do no wrong. If it’s smart it will call the iPhone a “reference design” and pass it to some suckers to build with someone else’s marketing budget. Then it can wash its hands of any marketplace failures. (source: http://www.marketwatch.com/news/story/apple-should-pull-plug-iphone/story.aspx?guid=%7B3289E5E2-E67C-4395-8A8E-B94C1B480D4A%7D)
Dvorak could be right though about Microsoft’s business model being over the hill and on the decline. They do have some challenges. Especially daunting is the fact that less than 10 percent of their enterprise customers have adopted Vista. These are arguably their most important customers. Will more than 10 percent of these customers have adopted Windows 7 three years from now? I rather doubt it.
>>”We do know that Microsoft is introducing a few more features in between beta and release.”
Ummm, ever heard of RC1?
Yeah, Dvorak is wrong more than he is right. Still, he’s great entertainment. His writing used to really strike a nerve, until I realized that he’s pretty much full of it. Now, I just chuckle and move on.
@davesmall: About Vista or Win 7 adoption in the enterprise: go back and research XP. It took nearly FIVE years before XP really took off in the enterprise. Heck, the company I work for only upgraded to it about two years ago. Prior to that, we were a mixture of NT 4, Windows 2000 and….drum roll…Windows 98! We upgraded from Office 97 at about the same time. We are now going to Office 2007, but only because we are getting rid of Lotus Notes for email.
Bottom line: corporations are a poor measure of how well an OS does and everyone seems to miss this point.