Speaking of people who know what they're talking about, Wil Shipley bet Bill Gates that Microsoft couldn't ship Vista on time. And I quote:
You said, "If the feedback from the beta tests shows it is not ready for prime time, I'd be glad to delay it." Glad? Really? Well, get used to happiness, I guess. Because you know that, if you're lucky, in January you're going to squirm and weasel and release a "limited version" that you "recommend" only for, uh, say, professional IT guys who only have one eye, and suicide kings. Then, when you get a bunch of press on how crappy that version of Vista is, you'll quietly cut more and more features from it until you end up with the "home" version, which will look mysteriously like XP with some new paint.
But what do I know? You're the billionaire, I'm just some dude with a blog and a fistful of design awards.
So put your money where your mouth is, big guy. I'm calling you out. I'm steppin' to you. You just got served. If you really believe what you said, this is a slam-dunk. This is money in the bank, baby. Unless, uh, you know full well there isn't a chance in hell you can ship that giant spaghetti monster to consumers "on time". (Where "on time" means "only six years late.")
If you've never heard of Wil Shipley before, that's ok. You're not the only one. What does Shipley know about shipping software? Well, he works for Delicious Monster. Hello, they're only like the biggest company on the planet. Duh. Anyways, they write software for the Mac. So they're very familiar with Vista and it's development. And didn't you know that you have to have a minimum of 4 graphic design awards before you can run a Ship Room?
Personally, I think he should have to follow through. I also think it should be videotaped. And since Bill would probably put it in his foundation anyways, i don't think Señor Shipley should be able to write it off on his taxes as a donation.
[via Windows Connected]