Why Vista Release Date Really Slipped

anzev writes "A team manager for Windows for 5 years has decided to write a blog-essay about what caused Windows Vista project to miss the due date. Philip tells us in the blog, that Windows developers are writing an average of 5000 lines of code (which is *only* 1200 lines less than the national average of 6200 lines of code per year). He addresses issues like the Vista code being too complicated, the processes the developers have to follow too complex and a lot more. All in all it gives a nice insight into why Vista will be late, from a different perspective. Oh, and Slashdot gets mentioned too ;-)."

Slashdot

[linvir]

Admittedly, this essay would be easier written for Slashdot, where taut lines divide the world crisply into black and white. "Vista is a bloated piece of crap," my furry little penguin would opine, "written by the bumbling serfs of an evil capitalistic megalomaniac." But that'd be dead wrong. The truth is far more nuanced than that. Deeper than that. More subtle than that.

Far more nuanced. Some parts of Vista are bloated pieces of crap. Some, on the other hand, won't even ship. And still others will be incredibly efficient, presumably the important stuff like federal backdoors and DRM.

I don't see things in black and white! There are shades of grey in there too!

(I'm only kidding by the way, and in reality don't give a shit about Vista)

grammar

[Sathias]

Obviously the other thing that is too complex is the whole to/too/two thing ;)

Spelling error

[ChowRiit]

Vista code being /too/ complicated...

Re:SLOC: Vista vs. Linux

[linvir]

According to this data [tripod.com], those figures put Vista somewhere above Piccolo after merging with Kami, with Red Hat at the level of Super Saiyan Vegeta (after time chamber). In the words of the late great Leonard Nimoy, fascinating.

Also, what bracketing convention does each of those use? Are Red Hat artificially inflating their count with 15,000,000 lines consisting of

{

and another 15,000,000 consisting of

// loop starts here

?

Dependencies

[yobjob]

Windows code is too complicated. It's not the components themselves, it's their interdependencies. An architectural diagram of Windows would suggest there are more than 50 dependency layers (never mind that there also exist circular dependencies). After working in Windows for five years, you understand only, say, two of them.

Duke Nukem Forever and?

Vista code being to complicated...

[Minwee]

...as bear is to taking a crap in the woods?

...as Pope is to being Catholic?

Re:Give Vista Developers A Break

[plover]

You project management plan looks great in Microsoft Project. Then you print it out and re-wallpaper the offices only to have the developers sift through it and go, "What the fsck?"

Actually, Windows developers go "What the CHKDSK.EXE?"

Re:Lines of Code?

[ichigo 2.0]

Agreed. Hell, one could fit Vista on one line if you want, just make it a really long one. :P

Longest software project in history?

[MacBrave]

From the blog:

The largest software project in mankind's history now threatens to also be the longest.

Nah, that would be Duke Nukem Forever........

Re:Longest software project in history?

[Cheeze]

At least they didn't name it Duke Nukem Eventually.

The "forever" part gives you a timeline.

Re:SLOC: Vista vs. Linux

[cow-orker]

So the difference is that Debian is nicely modular while Vista is impenetrable spaghetti code.

Figured as much.

Re:Slashdot

[mwvdlee]

It's not just black & white, it's black, white and atleast seven shades of brown.

Minor Mismanagement of Manpower?

[Lectrik]

From the summary:

All in all it gives a nice insight into why Vista will be late, from a different perspective. Oh, and Slashdot gets mentioned too;-).

So they admit that Vista is late because their programmers were too busy bashing the PS3, reading TFA and generating FUD on slashdot?
Realy people, I'd expect management to delegate that to the suits in PR or Marketing

42

[Anonymous Coward]

 

Re:Twas ever thus

[samsonov]

Maybe if the team manager wasn't writing a blog, and concentrated on managing his team, Vista might not slip so much. I'll consult my Gantt chart and get back to you.

Simple

[TheConfusedOne]

Bad shape by a constant = Windows 4.0 to Windows XP
Bad shape by an order of magnitude = Windows 98 to Windows Me
Bad shape by an infinite order = MS Bob

Re:SLOC: Vista vs. Linux

[geordie_loz]

I didn't think that Leonard Nimoy was "late", wikipedia [wikipedia.org] and imdb [imdb.com] make no mention of it.

Has this just happened, or are you personally aquainted with said gentleman and simply lamenting his constant tardiness?

He's not dead, Jim...

[Akardam]

In the words of the late great Leonard Nimoy, fascinating.

Uhm... as far as I know, whilst Leonard Nimoy is great, he is by no means late. He's still ticking. He would probably find your conclusions about his state of being, illogical .

Re:SLOC: Vista vs. Linux

[Criterion]

"In the words of the late great Leonard Nimoy, fascinating."

Good grief man, Leonard Nimoy isn't dead, don't use "late" like that. I went running looking for news after I read this... are you trying to give me a heart attack?!?

Live long and prosper.

Am I the only one ...

[Grismar]

... who think this writer should lay of the Ctrl+B for a bit? The emphasis in my inner voice is driving me bonkers.

If I would work this slow...

[guruevi]

5000 lines / year boils down to about 25 lines / 8 hours, close to 3 lines per hour. What the heck are they doing there. Not to mention that in a big company like that, you have project and code management:

#Source control code
#
#Windows Vista (forever) v4.4.4

oooh, an hour work

#
#This code will open a port so we can control users
#
main () {
          void port(5000)
          #I ran into some problem here
          # Fixme: crashes randomly
                              function (open) {
}
}

OK, time for lunch...

Re:SLOC: Vista vs. Linux

[mikeypimp]

45, it was written in Perl.

The "Real" Reason

[Guysmiley777]

...from a Microsoft shill. "It's been delayed so long because it is such a great operating system! If it wasn't so darn good it would have been out already."

Ugh.

The real problem!

[allenw]

Hmm. I can't help but wonder if the real issue isn't the gratuitous use of bold type. Turning bold on and off in their editor of choice must cut down on their productivity by several lines a year.

Ha!

[catdevnull]

Slashdot gets mentioned, too...

Looks like Slashdot speaks for itself:

  "Server too busy"

OMG HIGHLIGHTED TEXT!!!111

[RealGrouchy]

This msdn article's formatting is really annoying. But really it is a piece of a bigger problem that faces the younger generation. I say they should scrap it. Otherwise, people will only read the bold text!

- RG>

Re:SLOC: Vista vs. Linux

[babbling]

Stop telling them what to do.

Re:SLOC: Vista vs. Linux

[heinousjay]

I miss the days when people didn't constantly believe everything used to be better.

Re:Give Vista Developers A Break

[tbone1]

Yeah. Poor Paul Allen was fucked over so badly, he cries and cries every time he flies across the country on his private jet with his very own NBA team.

I'd cry, too, if I owned an NBA team with guard play like that.

Re:Give Vista Developers A Break

[Golias]

Tell me again, what does Windows Vista do that Linux doesn't?

Five things Vista will do which Linux does not:

1. Run MS Office
2. Play WMV files
3. Cost $300 retail
4. Come pre-installed on almost every new computer
5. Lack proper security
6. Become infected by malware in a matter of hours

Re:SLOC: Vista vs. Linux

[AndrewStephens]

I didn't think that Leonard Nimoy was "late", wikipedia and imdb make no mention of it.

There has been no confirmation from Netcraft either.