Windows Vista is the biggest operating system from Microsoft ever and those who wants something to compare with we can say that Vista contains 50 million lines of code, about 40% more than Windows XP does. In an article in the New York Times they’ve discussed Microsoft’s problem with both Vista and Office 2007, both delayed. The problem is mainly the backwards compatibility and the huge hardware compatibility Windows requires, a clear advantage for Apple, which does not have to bother with these complex situations. Simply fewer possible harddware configurations to keep in mind.
“Windows is now so big and onerous because of the size of its code base, the size of its ecosystem and its insistence on compatibility with the legacy hardware and software, that it just slows everything down,” observed David B. Yoffie, a professor at the Harvard Business School. “That’s why a company like Apple has such an easier time of innovation.”
Source: Businessweek
