
Microsoft executive Mundie interview: cyber crime stalled smartphones - evo_9
http://bgr.com/2012/10/25/microsoft-executive-mundie-interview-cyber-crime-stalled-smartphones/
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tptacek
_“During [the time that Apple was building the iPhone], Windows went through a
difficult period where we had to shift a huge amount of our focus to security
engineering,” said Mundie. “The criminal activity in cyberspace was growing
dramatically ten years ago, and Microsoft was basically the only company that
had enough volume for it to be a target. In part because of that, Windows
Vista took a long time to be born.”_

From what I can tell, this is a true statement.

It is also the case that the market shifted away from a model lead by major
releases of new operating systems (Apple does them, but charges a pittance for
them), which is the model Microsoft's entire business was rigged around. But
as someone who was involved with Microsoft during the Vista years (less than
many of my peers, but still): they did spend an enormous amount of time and
money addressing security issues in their software during a time period where
Apple enjoyed a rennaissance.

I'd still chalk Apple's win up to better product management, but what Mundie
is saying here is pretty true.

