Vista gonna be a contender?

[gryphon]

Scar5150, have a look at the WikiPedia article Andrew posted in his first reply. You are looking for something yet don't know what to expect. You are already looking at Aero in your screenshot. :)

[Andrew]

With the $300 million ad campaign they first came out with a jerry Seinfeld and bill gates commercial.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=afR5J7eskno

A very confusing commercial. I think they are selling shoes.

Of course I know they are trying to build a better brand, but I'm not sure how someone will watch that and think that they should buy a Microsoft product.

At least the mac PCvsMAC commercials try to show the downside of vista even if they don't discuss mac product.

[Megashrap]

Scar5150, have a look at the WikiPedia article Andrew posted in his first reply. You are looking for something yet don't know what to expect. You are already looking at Aero in your screenshot. :)

So were is it exactly on the top bar the red part? No biggie Maybe i'm just not understanding wtf aero is. :P

[Andrew]

Aero is like the upgrade from win98/2000 to the look of winxp (the green start button/blue tasbar instead of all grey colours).

If your vista looks the same as XP, then something weird has happened.

So were is it exactly on the top bar the red part? No biggie Maybe i'm just not understanding wtf aero is. :P

Assuming that red part on top bar is your desktop background then yes that is it.

What are you expecting it to look like?

Did you read

http://www.computerperformance.co.uk/vista/vista_aero_windows.htm ?

It shows you exactly what it is.

EDIT:

iTunes 8 takes down Vista with 'blue screen of death'

How hard would it have been for Apple to have a couple vista machines to test itunes 8 on?

I'm sure they are happy to do this. Make vista look bad and hope it drives people to mac so their stuff works.

[gryphon]

I guess they have something similar to what Microsoft has. Then again knowing Apple maybe they don't...

http://davidweiss.blogspot.com/2006/04/tour-of-microsofts-mac-lab.html

[D2k Sardaukar]

I don't know, but Vista is not that bad. I have it since my new PC and it runs great, looks great and works better (everywhere searching options and stuff like that). Okay, I had one time a blue screen, but that was because I had done a (bad) overclock.

I got Vista 64-bit, cheapest one with aero effect (90 euro).

[Andrew]

More internal MS vista emails released

Basically shows more proof MS screwed consumers over to help intel profits. Collusion.

They allowed the i915 and i945 when they should not have. This helped intel make around $1 billion in revenue and retain market share.

There is a pdf link in the article to court documents.

here is a direct pdf link to only the emails as an exhibit (much better read than the other pdf, only 4 pages).

[gryphon]

Intell blamed MS for not upgrading the OS enough so that customers need to buy new hardware (like Apple does). So MS was partially forced to make Vista as eye-candy as possible. Force users to upgrade their hardware. As we all know XP run on anything. No need to buy new hardware.

the links between Intel and Microsoft's Vista OS have been there from the beginning... What can you say, life suc** being a chipmaker if people can run the current OS on 10 year old hardware....

[Andrew]

Microsoft's decision to change Vista Capable marketing for Intel angered HP, others

Basically MS told HP and other computer manufacturers what the min spec for vista would be. Then MS changed its mind and screwed over those manufacturers who had already plans to not sell intel 915 and 945. Other manufacturers sold intel 915 and were able to sell computers for less.

Microsoft feared Mac vs. Vista comparison in '05, insider e-mails show

In 2005 people should have bought a mac instead of vista because mac did everything vista did, 1 year before vista was even released.

Russell went on to defend Vista, specifically its ability to "run on a very wide-ranging set of systems from the minimally capable to the incredibly capable," he said. "Apple doesn't do that."

Yah, vista will run on 1gb+ intel 965+ machines nicely. But anything lower and it is inefficient. Not sure what he meant by a wide range. I presume back in 2005 macs were running nicely on the hardware they came with? Had anyone bought a mac that ran slow because the hardware was below what it should have been?

[gryphon]

Not sure what he meant by a wide range. I presume back in 2005 macs were running nicely on the hardware they came with? Had anyone bought a mac that ran slow because the hardware was below what it should have been?

Due to the way Apple releases it's products that is not possible. OSX can only be bought with corresponding hardware that is capable of running the OS. For people who upgrade OSX to a newer version, all Apple software has a pre-installation check that confirms your system hardware requirements. When found inadequate the software won't install.

(how's that for backwards compatibility)

[Andrew]

Windows XP: The OS That Won't Quit

Dell is now charging $150 to upgrade from vista to XP.

XP pro costs more than vista.

XP is required for netbooks since vista is not scalable.

Can't wait for windows 7! Only one more year. ;)

Possibly best quote of the article:

"Were this Apple, you wouldn't have the option to use an old OS at all. Granted you probably wouldn't want to, which speaks to the problem here."

[Andrew]

Microsoft extends XP life... again

Hurray another 4 months of XP.

There must still be demand for it.

Maybe stop selling XP once windows 7 is out. Then consumers can choose between vista and win7. Or will MS not allow vista sales once win7 is out?

[Andrew]

I'm looking at laptops for people, and dell has some on sale ($130 off). The default vista version is home basic. Add $30 for home premium. I'm looking up differences between home basic and premium, and it appears the only important difference is aero (and apparently games!?). But aero is not needed to get work done, and if they want eye candy, linux can do that.

Any disadvantages to home basic that basic web surfing people would need? I presume all normal apps work on it (firefox, openoffice, google earth etc).

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Windows_Vista_editions

And laptop currently looking at

http://configure.dell.com/dellstore/config.aspx?c=ca&CS=cadhs1&l=en&OC=NI15_F_2E

[gryphon]

Personally I'd go for another model. Don't like the esthetic's of the one you configured.

For using an internet browser and starting up OO.o almost any computer will do :)

[Andrew]

Found a similar laptop for $100 less than the previous ($500). And it's a different product line for businesses. Comes with little crapware installed as well.

http://configure.dell.com/dellstore/config.aspx?c=ca&CS=cabsdt1&l=en&OC=NB_V1510_FSI_CB15F10

I don't think anyone will be able to beat that. :O

How are the aesthetics gryphon? I know nothing about them.

They even offer the XP pro $90 downgrade (will still get vista basic).

Damn now I want to buy a laptop :(

[gryphon]

It's basically my way of saying the laptop looks like sh***.. ;)

Like the other one thought. Currently I have a MacBook, although it was a though choice between this one or a Dell XPS (RED) laptop for me. :)

[Andrew]

Gendarmerie saves millions with open desktop and web applications

The French Gendarmerie's gradual migration to a complete open source desktop and web applications has saved millions of euro, says Lieutenant-Colonel Xavier Guimard. "This year the IT budget will be reduced by 70 percent. This will not affect our IT systems."

70% decrease in costs.

Most of these savings are on proprietary software licences. Up until 2004 the Gendarmerie acquired 12.000 to 15.000 licences annually. In 2005 it bought just 27. "Since July 2007 we have bought two hundred Microsoft licences. If one of us wants a new PC, it comes with Ubuntu. This encourages our users to migrate." Guimard estimates Gendarmerie since 2004 has saved 50 million euro on licences for standard office applications, hardware and maintenance.

50 million euro saved. Mmmm.

The decision in 2004 to move to open source, was raised by one of the Gendarmerie's accountants. "Microsoft was forcing us to buy new software licences. This annoyed our accountant, who tried OpenOffice." According to Guimard the proprietary software maker then started lobbying the Gendarmerie, which is how the general manager found out about the experiments. "When he saw OpenOffice worked just as well and was available for free, it was he that decided it should be installed on all 90.000 desktops."

Hilarious. MS pissed off an accountant, who decided to investigate why he was spending $ every year on software licences. Then he found out openoffice could do exactly what was needed to be done for free. MS found out about this and started lobbying the organization which caused the general manager to investigate. Then 90k computers switched to ubuntu.

In 2007 the Gendarmerie decided to replace even the desktop operating system. Guimard: "Moving from Microsoft XP to Vista would not have brought us many advantages and Microsoft said it would require training of users. Moving from XP to Ubuntu, however, proved very easy. The two biggest differences are the icons and the games. Games are not our priority."

Biggest difference is icons, and windows can play games, but they don't want to play games. Both OS in the end get the job done. One costs $x each year in licenses, the other is free.

This is what scares MS (and every other company). People thinking for themselves.

[gryphon]

This is what scares MS (and every other company). People thinking for themselves.

Propaganda works both ways ;)

Think that after the German Government switched a couple of years ago more EU and Asian companies and government institutions have switched. Some very successfully, others in the UK came back on their knees to MS just to get MS Office back.

Most of the conversations lately have been about saving costs in the IT department. Both opensource and vitalisation seem to do very well for those purposes.

Don't forget MS is even switching to an more open software policy.

Isn't the next UBUNTU going to support a form of cloud computing out of the box?

[Andrew]

Isn't the next UBUNTU going to support a form of cloud computing out of the box?

Nope.

Doing a google search it is 9.10 (October 2009) version that will have "cloud computing".

Ubuntu now has 'cloud computing inside'

Ubuntu has a habit of promising something and failing to deliver the hype. Best example is a new theme that has been promised for 2 years. It's always going to be introduced in n+1 release. Not that the default theme bothers me, it is more of a joke that they say they will get a radically new one out, but never do.

Isn't cloud computing another buzzword that over hypes something? Similar to web2.0?

I still havn't filed a Freedom of Information Act request to see how much my province wastes on software licenses. :(

[gryphon]

Nope.

You mean they gonna have multiple releases between now and October? :P That's one hell of an upgrade cycle...

Isn't cloud computing another buzzword that over hypes something? Similar to web2.0?

It's just a cluster, only now for public uses ...

[Andrew]

Yep. April 23, 2009 (9.04) and October 30, 2009 (9.10).

Every 6 months new release. Each release gets updates for 18 months (mostly security and bugfix released software). Every 4th release is a long term support (LTS) that gets 3 years on desktop and 4 years server support. When new release is out, people on older releases are notified and can upgrade, or stick with current version (and upgrade later when support runs out).

It's really a great thing. 8.10 would not run on my old computer at all (xubuntu/kubuntu/ubuntu). But 9.04 alphas are running fine (last alpha, alpha 6 released today). It's nice to have software/drivers(kernel) updated every 6 months. No one is forced to upgrade every 6 months, but for people who want latest software (like me), it is great. Only takes a couple hours to format/install OS/install apps every 6 months since I want latest software. I'm still using 8.10 on my new computer, but plan on formatting and fresh install once 9.04 is out mainly because of updated software/drivers and ext4 file system sounds promising. I don't do the normal upgrades because of my poor internet connection, better off spending the bandwidth downloading an .iso

To be honest the only time I spent on my winxp partition in past 3 months was to play games. Everything else is done on Ubuntu.

[Andrew]

So, I've looked over 3 different vista laptops in past week. All slow. 2 were infected, but even after getting rid of virus still slow (one required format, which for whatever reason put winxp on, which turns out is good thing because winxp runs faster than vista business original did *GASP*). Hardware should not have been a problem, they were all equal or faster than my desktop.

WTF is the reason it takes 5 seconds to load control panel classic view? I'll never understand why control panel is so slow on every vista computer I see. 56 icons should not take forever to show up.

windows experience rates the current laptop I have as 3.1

Why does it take two confirmations to remove something from start menu? Then the start menu disappears after you've confirmed it so you have to open it again. So goddamned annoying OS.

ubuntu 9.10 alpha 4 works nice and fast from usb stick (1:20 to fully loaded desktop, vista is at 2 min fully loaded desktop). A lot faster than the installed vista OS. Boot faster, doesn't require antivirus slowing computer down. And it has compiz enabled by default, so you get all the eye candy (most eye candy is turned off in vista, except vista look).

The owner of laptop said it was slow and asked me to speed vista up. Quite frankly there is nothing I can do without going and learning all about vista stuff and turning everything off basically making it not vista anyways. There is barely any programs running in background (systray has 2 programs, 1 being AVG, the other dell quickset, not including volume/wireless/battery).

[gryphon]

you're still bothering with Vista?

I just finished installing Microsoft Hyper V 2008 R2 server and are still waithing for my Snow Leopard DVD to arrive. Until then it's Windows7 for me although I hate the default Windows bar.

[Andrew]

I'm bothering with vista because that's what everyones computer came with for past 3 years. These people are not going to spend $150 to upgrade to win7 (they wouldn't know how even if they wanted to). No one I know will be getting win7 until October 22 assuming they go into a store and buy new computer. So I'll feel free to complain about vista for couple years to come, and especially until win7 is released, and every time I have to fix a damned vista laptop. Darn OEM crap (and licenses and not having ability to have customized install disk for every computer) that makes it difficult to simply format/reinstall OS and apps and updates in less than 60 minutes.

The good news is that people will probably be throwing out perfectly good vista laptops in order to get win7 laptops. Cheap laptops for me!