''Microsoft Makes Third-Rate Products'': Old Interview Of Steve Jobs Viral Amid Outage

A widespread technical malfunction originating from Microsoft's Azure backend disrupted operations across airlines, banks, and major corporations globally on Friday, impacting services from customer communications to financial transactions. Amid the outage, an old interview of Apple co-found Steve Jobs criticising the tech giant's products went viral on the internet. In a 1995 interview with tech journalist Bob Cringely, Mr Jobs said that Microsoft lacks originality and taste in their products.

''The only problem with Microsoft is that they just have no taste. They have absolutely no taste. And what that means is - I don't mean that in a small way. I mean that in a big way. They don't think of original ideas and don't bring much culture into their products," Mr Jobs said in the interview. 

Watch the video here:

Steve Jobs about Microsoft - They make third class products. Today many people would be feeling it.#Microsoft #bluescreen #Windows

pic.twitter.com/IYnKvGaFaf

— Ashutosh Mishra (@caashutosh22) July 19, 2024

While Mr Jobs acknowledged Microsoft's success and achievements, he also expressed concern about the quality of their products. 

''Well, why is that important? Well, proportionally-spaced fonts come from typesetting and beautiful books. That's where one gets the idea. If it weren't for the Mac, they would never have that in their products. And so, I guess I am saddened. Not by Microsoft's success. I have no problem with their success. They've earned their success for the most part. I have a problem with the fact that they just make third-rate products,'' he added. 

CrowdStrike, a leading cybersecurity firm, confirmed that the widespread outage was not caused by a malicious cyberattack, but rather was a result of a software update issue affecting Microsoft Windows systems. The security firm's CEO has said the issue has been isolated and a fix has been deployed. 

The outage, attributed to an update by global cybersecurity firm CrowdStrike, disrupted Microsoft's Windows systems worldwide, affecting financial institutions, airlines, hospitals, and media channels. In India, this caused airline check-in systems to crash, leading to delays and the cancellation of dozens of flights.

Airports across India are still grappling with issues from yesterday's massive outage. Although the situation has improved significantly since Friday's chaotic scenes, passengers continue to face challenges, particularly at Delhi's Indira Gandhi International Airport (IGI).