Windows Vista

[Doc Holliday]

I've worked a long time in a software development company and when you want to send a release out there you always have to decide between the Quality Control department that never wants to release a software and the marketing/sale department that is ready to release anything to generate sales. Microsoft is not different and a bug free software is Utopia.

For as long as I can remember there has always been the "..oh my God this is terrible..." kind of reviews about any Microsoft OS when first launched, this one will be no different. XP is btw, the best personal computer OS I've seen and work with in over 20 years of working in the computer industry. Windows environment is over 90% of the computers out there so you'll get Vista one day or the other, resistance is futile.

My advice to you is wait for the first Service Pack release before making the move but don’t delay too much because there will be less and less security patches available for pre-Vista release, it’s only normal that you don’t put much development/support effort into older releases. If you’re running on any Windows OS prior to XP and you’re on the internet with it, you’re basically tied, naked with your butt up in the air and a “free buffet” add painted on your back in the sodomite section of a maximum security prison (I tried to find a less graphic metaphor but couldn’t come up with it…).

[MC Habber]

docholliday said:

I've worked a long time in a software development company and when you want to send a release out there you always have to decide between the Quality Control department that never wants to release a software and the marketing/sale department that is ready to release anything to generate sales. Microsoft is not different and a bug free software is Utopia.

But Microsoft appears to have a special talent for producing seriously, fatally flawed software. The only reason that they get away with it is because of marketing and money. I don't know whether they hire too many incompetent people or if it's just an organizational thing, as in marketing working against the software developers (I know in some cases the latter has been a problem for them). It's been said of MS that they "don't understand security," and this is certainly the impression that they give.

Just to give a random example: Windows Media Player. I can't imagine how they managed to make this thing so slow. It's a least a factor of 100 to 1000 slower than it should be, just to display a modest music collection. I mean, it's almost like it was a deliberate decision, because I think it would take a significant effort to make something perform that badly. How does something like that not get fixed over several years and releases?

To be fair, it's not only MS that produces bad software. Apple's iTunes suffers (or did, at least) from a different but even more annoying performance problem. But there are decent software products out there, and most of them are not made by Microsoft.

[M. Beaux-Eaux]

[Habs_fan_in_LA]

mrbozo said:

I know nothing about Vista, but XP reminds me of Kovalev!

Sometimes it is lightning quick, and the next shift it's like watching paint dry. I haven't figured out why it can be so different at different times?

[Cranky]

I'm absolutely elated at MicroCraps failure. Vista actually can delete software MicroCrap think that you should not have. Think about that. MicroCrap cooperated with NSA. Yup, the same NSA that snoops on people. If that doesn't scare people then they are nothing more then sheep.

The day MicroCrap dies is the day we are all better off.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

www.theinquirer.net/default.aspx?article=39087~

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


Microsoft admits Vista failure

Actions speak louder than PR


By Charlie Demerjian in Beijing: Saturday 21 April 2007, 12:20

WITH TWO OVERLAPPING events, Microsoft admitted what we have been saying all along, Vista, aka Windows MeII, is a joke that no one wants. It did two unprecedented things this week that frankly stunned us.
Dell announced that it would be offering XP again on home PCs. The second that Vista came out, Microsoft makes it very hard for you to sell anything other than MeII. It can't do this on the business side because it would be laughed out the door, but for the walking sheep class, well, you take what you are shovelled.

This is classic abusive monopoly behavior, Microsoft wrote the modern book on it. It pulled all the major OEMs in by twisting their arms with the usual methods, and they again all fell into line. Never before has anyone backpedalled on this, to do so would earn you the wrath of Microsoft.

But Dell just did. This means that MeII sales are at least as bad as we think, the software and driver situation is just as miserable, and Dell had no choice but to buck the trend. If anyone thinks this is an act of atonement for foisting such a steaming pile on us, think again, it doesn't care about the consumer.

What happened is the OEMs revolted in the background and forced Microsoft's hand. This is a big neon sign above MeII saying 'FAILURE'. Blink blink blink. OK, MeII won't fail, they have OEMs whipped and threatened into a corner, it will sell, but you can almost hear the defectors marching toward Linux. This is a watershed.

The other equally monumental MeII failure? Gates in China launching a $3 version of bundled MeII. Why is this not altruism? Well, it goes back to piracy and how it helped enforce the MS monopoly. If you can easily pirate Windows, Linux has no price advantage, they both cost zero.

With MeII, Microsoft made it very hard to pirate. It is do-able, you can use the BIOS hack and probably a host of others, but the point is, it raised the bar enough so lots of people have to buy it. Want to bet that in a country with $100 average monthly salary, people aren't going to shell out $299 for MeII Broken Edition?

What did MS do? It dropped the price about 100x or so. I can't say this is unprecedented, when it made Office 2003 hard to pirate it had to backpedal with the student edition for about $150. This time though, things are much more desperate.

If you fit Microsoft's somewhat convoluted definition of poor, it still wants to lock you in, you might get rich enough to afford the full-priced stuff someday. It is at a dangerous crossroads, if its software bumps up the price of a computer by 100 per cent, people might look to alternatives.

That means no MeII DRM infection lock in, no mass migration to the newer Office obfuscated and patented file formats, and worse yet, people might utter the W word. Yes, you guessed it, 'why'. People might ask why they are sticking with the MS lock in, and at that point, it is in deep trouble.

So, it did the unthinkable, and dropped the price. I won't bother to hunt down all the exec quotes saying how people can't afford clean water would be overjoyed to sell kidneys to upgrade to the new version of Office, but they are out there. This was a sacred cow, and it is now hamburger backed up against the wall.

These two actions by Microsoft are proof of what I suggested three years ago. Microsoft has lost its ability to twist arms, and now it is going to die. It can't compete on level ground, so is left with backpedalling and discounts of almost 100 times.

What we are seeing is an unprecedented shift of power. It is also an unprecedented admission of failure. And the funniest part about the moves made? They are the wrong things to do. Microsoft is in deep trouble.

[Cranky]

machabby said:

docholliday said:

I've worked a long time in a software development company and when you want to send a release out there you always have to decide between the Quality Control department that never wants to release a software and the marketing/sale department that is ready to release anything to generate sales. Microsoft is not different and a bug free software is Utopia.

But Microsoft appears to have a special talent for producing seriously, fatally flawed software. The only reason that they get away with it is because of marketing and money. I don't know whether they hire too many incompetent people or if it's just an organizational thing, as in marketing working against the software developers (I know in some cases the latter has been a problem for them). It's been said of MS that they "don't understand security," and this is certainly the impression that they give.

Just to give a random example: Windows Media Player. I can't imagine how they managed to make this thing so slow. It's a least a factor of 100 to 1000 slower than it should be, just to display a modest music collection. I mean, it's almost like it was a deliberate decision, because I think it would take a significant effort to make something perform that badly. How does something like that not get fixed over several years and releases?

To be fair, it's not only MS that produces bad software. Apple's iTunes suffers (or did, at least) from a different but even more annoying performance problem. But there are decent software products out there, and most of them are not made by Microsoft.

MicroCrap is a monopoly and like EVERY monopoly everywhere, they do not do anything they don't have to or want to.

Do you know what Gates biggest lament was and is? That they don't control the internet. He said it striaght out that if MicroCrap controlled the internet, it would be a much more "structured" enviroment. Meaning every word, every action would make MicroCrap MONEY.

DIE MICROSOFT DIE!

[duster]

Don't hold your breath HA. I've been working with Microsoft prop heads in Redmond and elsewhere now for over a decade and have seen some remarkable things. There is very little Gates and his minions won't do. Monopolistic practices notwithstanding, it started with slight but important tinkering to RFCs, forcing Digital to sign over to them their cluster technology, playing around with connectivity to SNA, and making bloated code an art form, among many others. In the latter case, a lot of it has to do with Redmond's philosophy of how it develops code for applications which it stubbornly refuses to change. Now, it's full speed ahead vendor arm twisting and getting users to essentially find the "undocumented features" for them. Only Big Blue is truly out of reach especially since they spun off their PC division. They caught on to Gates after the OS/2 fiasco.

Billgatus of Borg is not evil. He's just misunderstood and wants to be loved...

Vista? The first thing I tell people is do not install under any circumstances and beware of MS's Mission Critical slideware.

[Cranky]

duster said:

Don't hold your breath HA. I've been working with Microsoft prop heads in Redmond and elsewhere now for over a decade and have seen some remarkable things. There is very little Gates and his minions won't do. Monopolistic practices notwithstanding, it started with slight but important tinkering to RFCs, forcing Digital to sign over to them their cluster technology, playing around with connectivity to SNA, and making bloated code an art form, among many others. In the latter case, a lot of it has to do with Redmond's philosophy of how it develops code for applications which it stubbornly refuses to change. Now, it's full speed ahead vendor arm twisting and getting users to essentially find the "undocumented features" for them. Only Big Blue is truly out of reach especially since they spun off their PC division. They caught on to Gates after the OS/2 fiasco.

Billgatus of Borg is not evil. He's just misunderstood and wants to be loved...

Vista? The first thing I tell people is do not install under any circumstances and beware of MS's Mission Critical slideware.

I also try to discourage people from buying into Mr. Biligatus of Borgs latest creation. Witness my constant message in this thread.

The EU is taking chunks of MicroCrap. China is getting a 3 dollar bundle while we get screwed for whatever they can extort. My next set of computers is getting either umm...the Enteprise Edition (wink wink) or Linux. I already paid for 5 XP's and I am not about to pay for 5 more just because I retired some 3 year old conmputers.

My biggest problem is that I look after all the PC's (yes, I'm cheap) and I can't run what I am not familiar with. Linux will parallel XP in my next home putter and hopefully, I will feel confident enough to switch the office computers in 3 to 4 months.

After reading about NSA, Vista looked REALLY suspicious and incredible bloated from the get go. I strip all the unused processes in XP as a normal course and was stunned to see a HUGE array of executables running in Vista. Why? What are all those executables doing that I don't know about? Besides, why bother when I got XP running so stable for us.

Anywho....

Unless I see some REAL benefit, Mr. Billgatus of Borg will not see any money from me.