With both Mars rovers experiencing problems, NASA is conceding that it was probably a mistake to use Microsoft's Windows operating system to power the rovers. A NASA engineer, speaking on the condition of anonymity, said that at the time Microsoft's software was the only game in town. He also said that although NASA has tried rebooting the rovers several times, the problem doesn't seem to be going away.

A few engineers had recommended using an Apple based system, but after it was realized that the rovers would only work with 10% of the rocket propulsion systems, the idea was scrapped.