Windows Vista is here... (a quick overview)

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I don't really mind the fact that Microsoft has a monopoly as much as I hate their "holographic anti-copy disks," which goes with what Wordplay is saying. Even though it protects against piracy, it's very downgrading to the customer to be forced to make multiple payments on the same product, especially if they have multiple computers in their household. Games have been falling into the same trap, and as more and more anti-piracy springs up, products produced by corporations such as M$, might as well be Spyware for all the hidden monitors and RAM-consuming anti-piracy barriers; both of which are installed privately and without the customer's acknowledgment-- that is, unless you consider the fine print hidden in the middle of a 15 page readme, surrounded by a veritable ton of legal fluff to be "displayed information." These copyright protections are swiftly becoming ridiculous, and I for one am against shelling out hundreds of dollars to get the same OS for every computer I have.

 

I think that was Palladium good thing it did not catch on.

Anyhow, the Windows monopoly is bad, because it allows them to do things they otherwise would not be able to. Apparently, the Digital Rights Management (DRM) in Vista is pretty bad. See this article (
http://www.cs.auckland.ac.nz/~pgut001/pubs/vista_cost.html )
by an academic in New Zeealand. It's kid of technical, but it's easy to get the general idea.

 

Yeah, I remember it indeed. It's too true.

And what about the "Get The Facts" Linux VS M$ server OS, which is basically M$ just stomping Linux?

What does that have to do with M$? No, they don't get pissed because I offer a *service* which they are free to take or not. And if they don't like my prices or work, well, they just can go elsewhere - there's the difference - You just can't do with M$. Don't like Winblows? There's still Mac or Linux, but if you're a gamer, you're pretty much screwed and stuck with M$, like it or not.

You know, that reminds me of the episode when I tried to buy a Winblows-less laptop. I never was able to, and had to build my own. It's almost a wonder I didn't got sued for not installing Winblows.

 

Good article, khaavern. Thank you.

Taken out of context:

Having been involved with Personal Computers since their early days I do feel that Micro$soft is a monopoly and my impression is that it will do anything it can to force other OS's out of business. Granted this my personal opinion but it is based on things which have happened in the past.

There are people who will buy Vista simply because it is new. There are people who will buy Vista simply because they are not aware that they have other choices.

 

Competition is great, monopolies simply kill innovation.

 

Vista: Wow! > €200 > WOW!!
We have 3 PC at home. Imagine, €600 just to upgrade Windows. I rather buy a new computer or something else for my computer.
This is what monopoly brings. Very high prices and other things.

 

What about focusing on Vista for a change?

Here is a nice article about Vista, that at least anyone who is considering to buy the product should read: http://kadaitcha.cx/vista/dogsbreakfast.
It is quite fun, if you do not take it too seriously.
But there are also many valid points in that article, the GUI development team should take a long hard look at KDE for a good example on how to properly make a GUI.

 

I'm not really a techno person (never mind my high score on "are you a geeK") but boy do I hate the switch. I hope I can delay anything to do with Vista for a long time - but the computers I use at home and at work are aging and I'll bet I have to replace something soon, and there I'll be, stuck with Vista.

Ugh.

 

Yeah, 3rd party virus scanners, firewalls, and anti-malware programs choke and die with Vista. Last I heard, the top makers of the afore mentioned utilities were fighting M$ so their products could eventually run on Vista.

In other news, I went to Circuit City to price cameras, but while I was there, I played around with the Compaq loaded with Vista they had on display. The Aero/Flip 3D feature is actually pretty cool. There's no delay from when you press the Windows button and TAB. Hitting the TAB button causes the 3D pages to switch smoothly. Minimized windows have pop-up thumbnails when you hover the mouse over it on the task bar. The setup they had was pumping in RSS news feeds to the sidebar, and had a rather large analog clock (oddly located just above the system clock in the system tray).

I dinked around with it for a bit longer, seeing the differences between XP and Vista. It's actually very easy to use. The search bar in the 'Start' menu is great. I typed "control" and hit enter, and the Control Panel came right up.

Will my brief encounter with Vista make me want it? Of coures not...but it was fun to see it working.

 

In my case I'm not going to upgrade, I didn't upgrade to XP till I bought a new PC and it came pre-installed...might as well do the same thing with Vista, wait till I need to buy a new computer and have it preinstalled...so much easier

Anyway Microsoft have already begun work on the next version of windows...which I can't remember the name of, Venice or Vienna or something...as to my source it was some computer magazine lying around in the staffroom at work

 

Montresor, that flow chart was awesome!

By the time M$ releases a new OS, they usually have the next Generation alread in the works. I read somewhere that M$ is promissing that the next gen OS *will not* take as long to develop as Vista did.

 

Kitrax, the word is that Vista was the last *big* OS. M$ claims to have made Vista in such a way that different pieces can be upgraded independently (just imagine, 'download component A today for only $99.95 or be faced with discontinued support from M$' ). This would make sense considering the fiasco that was Vista's development (too bad there's no comprehensive developer diary, it'd be as entertaining as hell). Of course, the Vole isn't exactly known for its decisiveness so there could very well be another huge OS release planned.

 

I played with Vista a bit at Best Buy today, and there were some neat things, but I still have no plan to upgrade to Vista until they have been up for about 2 years. I am glad that I am buying a PC when at least some companies still let you choose XP. If everything goes right with the taxes, I will be ordering my new PC from buyxg.com on Friday.