The plot thickens. 158 pages of internal Microsoft emails on the matter have turned up as part of the court discovery process. This page has a good overview as well as links to the whole pdf:
http://apcmag.com/8344/has_vista_lost_all_credibility Some gems: "In the end, however, the need to placate other hardware vendors became a major factor -- particularly Intel, which was keen to keep selling its 915 graphics chipset, which couldn't handle Aero at that point. 'In the end, we lowered the requirement to help Intel make their quarterly earnings so they could continue to sell motherboards with 915 graphics embedded," general manager John Kalkman wrote. "It was a mistake on our part to change the original graphics requirements.'" "In an email to Ballmer, Steven Sinofsky wrote, 'No one really believed we would ever ship, so they didn't start the work until late 2006. This led to lack of availability. For example, my home multi-function printer did not have drivers until 2/2 and even pulled their drivers and re-released them [Brother].'" "Sinofsky continued, 'Massive changes in the underpinning for video and audio led to a really poor experience at RTM, especially with respect to Windows Media Center. This change led to incompatibilities. For example, you don't get Aero with an XP [graphics] driver, but your card might not (ever) have a Vista driver.'" That last one many of us saw coming a mile away, as Microsoft was forced to re-write the entire audio/video subsystem at the last minute to placate the Hollywood crowd and allow for HD playback. --- Brian
