Vista - Arrogance & Stupidity

i stumbled onto this interesting article earlier this morning, and i thought that i'd make a thread about it.

anyhow it's pretty long, so i'm not even going to attempt to quote the whole article, ill just quote a little bit of it to give you a little taste. ;)

Quote:

---

Upgrading to Windows Vista has been banned by the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT), the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), technology giant Texas Instruments and other corporations and government agencies (V1, V10, V11). These organizations are evaluating their options, but overseas it's turning into a stampede to get out of Microsoft software (V15).

---

A little further down the article:

Quote:

---

What should Microsoft do? Their most basic mistake is "one size fits all", holding that an entertainment device is equally suited for business. This is now obviously and painfully false. Microsoft should immediately develop a version of Vista for business with DRM completely stripped out. Perhaps they could disable playing of "premium content" entirely if they could do it cleanly - "premium content" has no place on business computers anyway.
Will Microsoft do this? No. Instead they will "stay the course", increasing PR expenditures, working on ways to kill Windows XP to force Vista adoption, and ramping up their misinformation and FUD (Fear, Uncertainty and Doubt) attacks on Linux to "full rabid" shrillness.

---

Anyhow here's a link to the full article, i found it interestin' enough.
http://aaxnet.com/editor/edit043.html

cheers
acidtone..:)

So this guy is pissed about DRM? Don't use Media Player. Pluse the media edition is included on Vista ultimate definitely not a wise choice for business who actually block media content for the most part.

Quote:

---

Quote:
What should Microsoft do? Their most basic mistake is "one size fits all", holding that an entertainment device is equally suited for business. This is now obviously and painfully false. Microsoft should immediately develop a version of Vista for business with DRM completely stripped out. Perhaps they could disable playing of "premium content" entirely if they could do it cleanly - "premium content" has no place on business computers anyway.
Will Microsoft do this? No. Instead they will "stay the course", increasing PR expenditures, working on ways to kill Windows XP to force Vista adoption, and ramping up their misinformation and FUD (Fear, Uncertainty and Doubt) attacks on Linux to "full rabid" shrillness.

---

Looks to me like Mr. Grygus is just upset at Microsoft in general.


Microsoft released Vista home basic ( XP home), Vista home premium (media), Vista Business (professional) and Vista Ultimate to combine the security of business with the extra content home premium gives you.


so yes... microsoft does have a vista for business....!!!


As far as costs...you can get vista ultimate for as little as $200 for the OEM...all they require is an internal component to make the purchase (i.e. a fan).

Quote:

---

A confusing new user interface. Vista actually reduces user productivity according to a consulting firm's study (V7).

---

Wrong. You can disable the VISTA theme altogether and the user will practically have the same interface as XP.

Quote:

---

Blamed for so many security problems, Microsoft has placed security responsibility right where it doesn't belong, squarely on the shoulders of the average user. Confusing security pop-up dialogs are so common users get used to just hitting "Yes" automatically to everything, including malware.

---

I agree. Microsoft defenitely needs to work on that.

Quote:

---

Most existing software is not compatible with Vista. You will have to purchase upgrades to almost all the software you run and many programs will never be upgraded to Vista.

---

Just as it happened when XP was released. How many Windows 95/98 work natively with XP...?

Quote:

---

It's an exercise in frustration to try to upgrade an XP computer to Vista. Few Vista drivers are available except for new devices designed for Vista, and manufacturers don't plan any.

---

20+ Upgrades I've done so far were piece of cake....

Quote:

---

Even many current printers don't have Vista drivers, and many never will. Developing Vista drivers and getting them approved by Microsoft is just too expensive.

---

Canon/HP/Epson have already released new printers compatible with vista. Many of the previous versions of these printers have the drivers built in to vista. Some of the printer's features are not fully supported...such as duplexing...but according to the HP, Canon and Epson representatives, they're working very hard to get those issues straightened out.

Quote:

---

Vista is effectively a Windows price increase. Vista Home Basic, shipped with lower cost consumer market computers, is rather minimal, This often forces a $79 upgrade to Home Premium (equivalent to Windows XP Media Center) or Ultimate for $139. Vista's built-in Anytime Upgrade handles that - have your credit card ready. Actually all versions are on the machine but must be "activated".

---

Vista home basic is aimed exactly at the lower cost consumer market...so what is the problem? XP Home edition was never aimed at the high end units...
You can get Vista home premium computers as low as $450.

Quote:

---

Vista Activation is a hassle and failure prone, but Microsoft says they'll be turning the screws down even tighter due to rampant piracy already taking place. This does little harm to the pirates, just to legitimate users (V5).

Vista Activation, should it fail or be aborted, phones home to Microsoft with enough details to identify your computer and possibly your location (V3).

---

The activation takes seconds to complete....why would anyone want to abort it? As far as failing...if the machine is not connected to the internet...it will fail. I have called M$ in the past for offline activations...and its been very very smooth.

Quote:

---

Vista's much ballyhooed security has already been shattered in various ways, and Microsoft's One Care, intended to protect Vista from malware, has scored at the very bottom in independent tests of anti-malware programs (V2).

---

Very true..but no1 is forcing the user to use one care.

My take on this guy...he's a Linux whore who's just pissed off at microsoft in general...and not vista.

I don't think that is really about Vista? more about M$ marketing...........

I do feel that there should be a "lower grade" (cheaper) alternative for commercial users............ as RoadClosed rightly points out, the media stuff just isn't needed.

As for "upgrading"............. duh? what planet do you live on? ............... like nobody round here upgrades operating systems.......... OK, service packs yes, but the whole OS? only when the box is replaced.

Sure, there are those who have bought "Vista ready" boxes........... those should update just fine............ just try it with a Win2000 box ;)

Originally MS was going to allow home basic to be licenseed on multiple home computers. Haven't read the EULA even though I have 2 Vista Machines. Another validated family plan is Home premium. For one copy you can buy additional "family" copies for 49 US. Not bad. and since all the version share the same core you can do it from within winders.

Gee, old software won't run on the new OS? aww no! is it possible that is because....ITS A NEW OS??

Not everything has drivers? again...ITS NEW. Give them time. Its not as if getting drivers for linux is easier.

Quote:

---

Vista Activation, should it fail or be aborted, phones home to Microsoft with enough details to identify your computer and possibly your location (V3).

---

No, all a failed activation can return is your IP address. Unless you named your PC "I live on 46 Dove Street, London, L12 6AF" or something. Then from your IP they would have to trace it through your ISP and thats assuming it didn't just return the NAT address of "192.168.0.59" (I assume they are smarter than that of course) needing court orders etc. Then the whole "Innocent until proven guilty" kicks in.

Why don't I use linux? a whole number of reasons.

1) I like games. So sue me.
2) I like my drivers to be written by the company not some geek in his parents basement who happens to have the same printer as me.
3) I think the whole "Information/Software should be free" movement is bollocks. If I was to work my ass off writing software then spend the rest of my life supporting it, I would want paying. I need to eat.

The one point here not being addressed is why the big companies/organizations are banning the upgrade. There are several.

1) Legacy hardware upgrade costs. Budgets are tight and many of the older boxen will not run Vista efficiently.
a) The cost of new hardware
b) The cost to deploy enterprise wide
c) Unexpected/unbudgeted rollouts are sitting ducks for budget auditors.

2) Regression testing. NIST in particular has to do several things before they can deploy an OS.
3) User acceptance. Change interrupts business processes.
4) Custom app/core app support. If you can't run your custom core business solutions on Vista, what's the point of migrating?

Anyway, these are just a few reasons you're seeing this movement. It is important to note that the same thing happened when Win95 came along but the difference being public perception/acceptance of OS upgrades from MS. If you ever wonderd about the power of reputation then take a close look at MS today vs. 12 years ago.

Think business folks, the days of separation between security and/or technology and the business process(es) are things of the past.
--TH13

Hi,

Quote:

---

I like my drivers to be written by the company not some geek in his parents basement who happens to have the same printer as me.

---

Hmm,you have not seen perhaps ,companies are also putting up drivers for linux too
www.linux-drivers.org

Quote:

---

Hmm,you have not seen perhaps ,companies are also putting up drivers for linux too

---

That is true most manufacturers are getting real good at releasing Linux drivers. Printers do often lack however. ATI kicks ass at supporting Linux.

//EDIT speaking of video drivers, that is a major smack off with MS in my book. Take Nvidia, the MS Vista driver DOES NOT SUPPORT OPEN GL. Many games use it. So one has to rely on the manufacturer but unless you have a late model Video Card, the Vista driver will not even load. So you are stuck and YES I blame MS and Nvidia. Open GL is NOT some new fangled process. It's been around since the term "frag" was coined.

So what does the lemming do? Buy a stinking new video card. I am so ashamed. ;)

Yeah.. I like how the original author kind of neglects the fact that almost every major corporation has a ban on new software being deployed before it is tested.

They forgot to say how many of those same companies have policies against running untested version of linux. You can't run redhat or any version of linux on any of my companies laptops as far as our policies are concerned. It is not part of our standard enterprise software package.

It usually takes anywhere from 6-12 months for a piece of software to be tested and given the OK to be included in our "approved" software group. I just received an email the other day detailing the time line for the Vista testing. So while you can't run it right now, you will be able to run it in the next couple of months.

Quote:

---

Microsoft has placed security responsibility right where it doesn't belong, squarely on the shoulders of the average user.

---

Oh yeah.. I forgot. It is the responsibility of masterlock to make sure I lock my door everyday when I leave. Consumers need to wake up and realize that it is ultimately them that is responsible for their own security. Whether it is computer security, physical security, or financial security.