McLaws says Vista Needs More Time and Scoble says McLaws is right on Windows Vista ship date. Pirillo has been saying this for several months now, and has been labeled a “nitpicking whiner” for his attacks on Windows Vista’s UI and UX. Welcome to the club, boys – I’m happy to no longer be standing out here alone. I’m singing the “I Told You So” song today, which sounds a lot like the Blackeyed Peas hit: “My Humps.” Microsoft Windows is bleeding influencers like never before. And now, further commentary from the memetic echo chamber:

• Windows Vista just ain’t gonna be ready – Duh.
• Beta testers know best- Delay Vista – Double duh.
• Scoble Says Windows Needs More Time – and Scoble also admits that he wasn’t the first.
• Robert’s right – Windows Vista needs more time – Actually, Pirillo’s right – and Ed Bott fought with Pirillo many moons ago on this very subject.
• Delay Vista for quality’s sake – I don’t think a delay will save this one, Marc.

Windows Vista will not be a failure on the scale of Windows ME – but it’s certainly looking to be one of those “Growing Pains” releases that Microsoft must bounce back quickly from. And by quickly, I mean: Microsoft must issue a significant upgrade of the OS within a year’s time. Security is important, but future service packs best be laden with performance increases and feature refinements. I tried telling y’all long before the McLaws admission – VIsta just ain’t comin’ together.

George is getting very upset!

• Windows Vista: Lipstick on a Pig
• User Interface
• 65 More Windows Vista Mistakes
• The Truth About Windows Vista
• Windows Vista RC1: a Piece of Sith
• Is the Windows UI Important?
• Microsoft Windows Vista vs. Apple OS X
• The Vista Bashing Bandwagon
• The Windows Vista Challenge
• Leopard vs. Windows Vista

I wish I was making this up – I really do. I also wish that someone at Microsoft would wake up to the fact that the user experience in Windows Vista is 10x worse than it was in Windows XP (if only because they couldn’t get developers to adhere to XP guidelines, and now Vista apps look even more Frankenstined). I wish Microsoft would hire somebody to look at this stuff before it ships – and do something about the problems before the world has to deal with them.

I wish users didn’t have to put up with this level of sloppiness from a multi-billion dollar company. I wish I didn’t have to play the “bad guy” and point out that Classic Mode is still the only way to experience a clean, consistent Windows environment. I wish more people would look past Vista’s translucent veneer to see that it’s nothing more than lipstick on a pig. I wish people would see that I care more about this product than most Windows users do. I wish geeks cared more about UI… so that I wouldn’t feel like such a sore thumb here. Thanks to Brandon for posting this – and thanks to Ryan for pointing out that Windows 3.1 is still alive and well in Windows Vista (screenshot).

• Robert and Robert: Duh!
• User Interface
• 65 More Windows Vista Mistakes
• The Truth About Windows Vista
• Windows Vista RC1: a Piece of Sith
• Is the Windows UI Important?
• Microsoft Windows Vista vs. Apple OS X
• The Vista Bashing Bandwagon
• The Windows Vista Challenge
• Leopard vs. Windows Vista

Dinner with Lili Cheng and her band of Merry Men (and Women) indicated that there were still a few more Vista UI fixes coming down the pike in pending releases. I’ve been reporting and recording as much as humanly possible, but until Microsoft officially assigns Lili as the Goddess of ‘All Things UI’… we’re screwed. Guess what else is probably not going to be fixed in Vista? Errant ToolTips. Sloppy, sloppy, sloppy – but this is an oversight that will likely slippy, slippy, slippy.

Correct me if I’m wrong, but Lili’s team needs to be given the final say on whether (or not) an app is ready for core inclusion BEFORE it’s included. As of right now, there’s no UI accountability; any team can submit any code they want at any time – with nobody signing off on UI. Since this isn’t handed down from on-high (where I believe Lili sits anyway, but not with a true ability to clean these problems before the world sees them), we’re left with the classic Microsoft “it works, therefore it’s good enough” mentality. The inmates, indeed, are running the asylum.

…and I get labeled a “nitpicker” for pointing out ways that Windows Vista can look better? Give me a break. It’s obvious that some of Microsoft’s developers aren’t designers – painfully so. The only people who have the right to call me a “nitpicker” are those responsible for user interface and user experience. IMHO, Jim Allchin’s legacy isn’t necessarily Windows Vista – it’s the power he hands to people like Lili moving forward [a thought that is equally shared with Ed Bott].

“User Interface” isn’t just about software design – it’s the communications gateway between a company and its most vocal supporters.

• Robert and Robert: Duh!
• Windows Vista: Lipstick on a Pig
• Windows Vista RC1: a Piece of Sith
• 65 More Windows Vista Mistakes
• Is the Windows UI Important?
• Who Needs Windows Vista?
• Windows Vista: Download vs. DVD
• Windows Vista Stories
• Microsoft Provides Windows Vista Activation Workaround
• Microsoft: Give me a Million Dollars to market Windows Vista for you