Article in the Wall Street Journal (click on the title of this entry, or click here to go to the article – available on the web at the time of posting).
First, a disclaimer is required I guess: At the time of writing, I work for Microsoft.
OK, got that out of the way. This is an interesting article. I can’t say I have ever been a fan of Jim Allchin. My first experience of him was attending an internal conference in June 2000. A video showed presentations from the previous 3 conferences, all claiming that Windows NT 5.0 (renamed Windows 2000) was about to ship (it finally had). One clip showed a very emotional Mr Allchin talking about Windows. “Nutter” was my first impression…
I have to say, this article is one of those moments that open your eyes to the bigger picture. “Respect” is my current impression. This is the guy that is trying to stop all those bugs and security issues from happening once a product has shipped. Yes, it’s a prize pain in the butt that the product has been delayed, but it should be a darn sight better product thanks to what Jim Allchin has tried to achieve.
Update October 2012: 7 years later… oh well, Vista turned out to have a whole set of challenges of its own. Wonder what the story will be for Windows 8
Joining Dots 
One would hope that Mr Allchin will receive full recognition for his stoicism and determination in fighting his corner to bring such essential (but well overdue)improvements to Windows technology.Hopefully Vista (formerly Longhorn) will be the beginning of the end of the famous 'patch'era!!