Posted on 05/18/2006 12:27:12 PM PDT by Mr. Blonde
On Thursday, the company kicked off a campaign aimed at helping customers prepare for the new operating system, which is set for a mainstream launch in January. As expected, Microsoft gave details of two programs. The "Vista-capable" program allows machines that meet a minimum set of requirements to tout themselves as able to run the new Windows. Computer makers who meet higher requirements will be able to tout their machines as "Premium Ready," indicating the PCs are able to take advantage of higher-end features, such as Vista's Aero graphics. "There's really no reason to wait until the launch of Windows Vista to start shopping for a PC that can deliver a great Windows Vista experience or to start thinking about upgrading your current PC to windows Vista," product manager Greg Amrofell said in a telephone interview. Microsoft also launched on Thursday a "Get Ready" Web site, which includes an Upgrade Advisor tool to help people determine just how Vista-ready an existing PC is. The downloadable program is designed to tell people which features and versions of Vista their PC is able to run, thereby abstracting some of the complex requirements of Vista. For example, Aero graphics require a certain amount of memory bandwidth--a measurement of PC performance that few people are likely to know about in their machine. The advisor tool will simply say whether a PC will work out or not, rather than focus on specific requirements. That way, customers "don't have to spend time in the footnotes of complex system requirements," said Mike Burk, the PR Manager, Windows Client. That said, Microsoft did publish official minimum requirements for Vista on Thursday, largely matching the Vista-capable specifications. Systems need an 800 MHz processor, 512MB of memory, a 20GB hard drive with 15GB of free space and a CD-ROM drive. That guarantees access to Vista's core features, but not Aero and other premium features. To be classified as Vista-capable, a computer needs an 800MHz processor, 512MB of memory and a DirectX 9-capable graphics card. Premium Ready machines need a 1GHz processor, 128MB of graphics memory, 1GB of system memory, a 40GB hard drive and an internal or external DVD-ROM drive. While Microsoft has provided some clarity on checking a PC for Vista, it's not a straightforward process, said Michael Cherry, an analyst at market research firm Directions on Microsoft. "I don't understand why it has to be this complex," he said. "Why can't this be written up on a one-page piece of paper in a manner that you don't have to be an electrical engineer to understand?" Most shipping PCs should be Vista-capable, Microsoft said. For example, all systems introduced by Dell this year are Vista-capable. The majority of Dell's Vista-capable machines will support Aero graphics and more than three-fourths of its models can be configured to run the fancier graphics. Dell is also offering 17 custom-configured systems that are designed to support Aero. "Our sense is that the vast majority of PCs do meet the requirements for the Vista-capable logo," Amrofell said. As for Premium Ready, he said that "a good number of PCs do meet the bar, and that's going to grow over the next few months." The marketing programs and upgrade tool are designed to ease some of the uncertainty around Vista well ahead of the back-to-school and holiday shopping seasons, the two biggest PC selling times of the year. Vista had long been expected to arrive by the 2006 holidays, but Microsoft said in March that it would not arrive on store shelves until January. Kevin Johnson, head of the business unit that includes Windows, said in an interview with CNET News.com this week that Microsoft is likely to have some kind of discount or upgrade program to help those who buy a PC this holiday season upgrade to Vista. "Yeah, there's likely to be something," Johnson said, without giving specifics.
Regarding the CPU overtemp shutting down your system in the same way as a powerloss, I wouldn't be suprised at all if that was done through the BIOS as a safety mechanism to keep the board from melting into a puddle of slag. It it is the BIOS doing it, then it would be equivalent to the OS of an abrupt powerloss because it would likely be bypassing the OS completely.
What antirepublicrat is talking about is completely different, ,and I think it's been clarified enough to make it clear.
This is just plain wrong. There's really no sense in arguing with you. It's like you're trying to say 2+2=5. If you don't understand or won't accept to learn there's not much I can do to help. Hey you made a mistake...not big deal, but keeping on trying to say you're not wrong when you clearly all...well it reveals not only your lack of understanding but also your underlying character.
No he's wrong and it's proven in his last post. A BSOD is a very specific thing. It's a kernel crash in Windows. If the BIOS does something (like abrubtly shuts down the machine) it is not considered a BSOD because it's not a kernel mode crash.
There is one type of user mode crash that will call a BSOD, but that's not even in the area we are talking about becuase we are talking powerloss/bios issues.
"System failure" is what produces a BSOD. Check "Automatically restart" to not see a BSOD anymore, instead you will experience (as the option indicates) an automatic restart.
Is that obvious enough for you?
It's like you're trying to say 2+2=5.
2+2=5 for sufficiently large values of 2.
I'm talking BSOD, and have been from the beginning. You took the subject into power loss issues.
Right...to which you replied it's the same thing as a BSOD. Geessh...it's right in this thread just read what you wrote...remember you replied to my post which wasn't directed to at anything you said.
Let's see I replied to zeugma's comment...
If you've ever experienced your computer restarting for no apparent reason, you have had a BSOD that was supressed by a configuration setting.
That's not always true. sometimes the hardware will go caput on you...like if your CPU overheats. It will just turn off without even telling the OS.
I like the way 2003 handles that though. It at least tells you your computer was shutdown unexpectantly when you reboot.
Which hitting the reset is clearly different than a hidden BSOD. Proof is that there is no dump file created (assuming that a dump file is set configured to dump). However, even then it would write an event. There are definately big difference between a reset and a BSOD. A BSOD is captured by the OS...a soft reset (or hard reset) is not.
You injected power loss into z's BSOD comment.
That's not always true.
For no apparent reason. You keep ignoring that bit of text. CPU melting is is an apparent reason. And that's a shutdown, not a restart.
Which hitting the reset is clearly different than a hidden BSOD.
You are going GE on me, twisting my words into something I didn't say, and then showing your own words to be wrong.
Correct. Now go back and read WHY I did. If can can grasp that...then you're learning. Otherwise, I guess you're still hopeless.
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