Dear Microsoft: You Suck

I spent the past several days getting Parallels Desktop 6 and Windows 7 set up on my 17in MacBook Pro.  I need a working copy of Windows on a system I own to run SeeYou, a gliding flight viewing software.  I didn’t want an ugly piece of PC hardware sitting around, so I went the virtualization route.  Parallels essentially virtualizes Windows applications so they look and feel just like they do on a native installation.  It’s really, really neat and I’m happy that I have this set up.  I’ll probably be using it for some real world work as well.

Parallels costs $79, a price I find very reasonable.  Windows 7 Home Premium (the least expensive version you can buy in a store, more on that later) non-upgrade costs $199.  Yes you’re reading that correctly.  This is essentially the same OS they sell to OEMs for comparative peanuts.  When I saw the price I nearly choked.  I was ready to spend $49, or even $74, but not $199.  

Apparently Microsoft sells an “inferior” version of Windows 7 to OEMs for their lowest end computers.  That makes 4 Windows 7 versions for sale.  But why should their be more than one version at all.  All Apple computers come with a single fully featured OS.  They don’t try to charge you extra to get the “best” features like Expose.  When they come out with something new that works on my existing hardware, like Facetime, they give it to me for free.

Bill Gates won the PC wars by being ruthless and crushing competitors.  Steve Balmer is a pathetic hack whose only qualification for CEO was that he happened to be around for a long time.  There are just so many reasons to hate the company, and then they find one more way to force you to bend over and take it.  They cripple the Mac Office version in ways that make it not compatible with most serious Excel work.  We’re forced to use their crappy software in the professional workplace because it became the standard two decades ago.  

The company wonders why people pirate their software.  It shouldn’t be that hard to understand.  You’re overcharging for an inferior product.  We’re all sick and tired of it.