Posted on 12/01/2006 7:49:10 PM PST by Zakeet
As he took the stage to usher Windows Vista to market, Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer last week tried to put the software's laborious birth behind him. The company's 71,000 employees -- and the entire PC industry, for that matter -- could be excused for breathing a sigh of relief, too.
"It's an exciting thing to finally be here, and that's probably all I'll say about the past," Ballmer said at the unveiling from Nasdaq's cylindrical high-tech building in New York's Times Square. Office 2007 and Exchange Server 2007 also were introduced, and 30 more products will follow over the next year, all part of the same technology wave. "This is the biggest launch we've ever done," Ballmer said. Microsoft will spend $450 million marketing it all.
Yet for all the design missteps, overly ambitious plans, and personnel changes that led to a five-year lag between versions of Windows, questions about the future of Microsoft's software are top of mind for customers and partners. Ballmer swears to never let as much time elapse between Windows versions; the question now is how the company can keep churning out innovative products on a compressed timetable.
"Vista is the last of the Big Bang operating system releases from Microsoft," Credit Suisse research analyst Jason Maynard wrote in a report last month.
(Excerpt) Read more at informationweek.com ...
Thanks for the response, Texan. I found the restore facility one of the best features in XP specifically for that reason: recovering from the installation of bad drivers. I wouldn't change OS just to save a few minutes in that process.
AV software - I use AVG at home - it's free but for commercial customers if they didn't need AV that would definitely be a significant savings - hard to believe it won't be required, though.
"Show me just what Mohammed brought that was new, and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached." -Manuel II Paleologus
Do you always find it easy to rationalize your stealing?
I can't disagree but in my case I think it's because the virus threat has been around for 20 years; in fact the only infection I've ever had was the Harmon virus before AV software was as common as it is today and the need for AV software has been beat into me until it's "you gotta do it". Time will tell.
If it's possible it would be a big help. Heck, behind driver issues I think the second most common problems are with AV programs that use far too many system resources and sink their claws in so deep that it takes a clean reinstall to remove them. Grrrr.
Grisoft is very, very good. Another you may want to put on your list is Avast, also free for personal use.
I like it. I like it a lot. If I find the time, look for it on YouTube.
I'd appreciate it if you'd let me know when you post it. I also thought of an animation variation which might be useful. Have the red circle w/bar-covered Windows logo actually sailing out of a window, perhaps with an added "falling" sound effect.
I have seen some eagerness from many quarters on this subject for Microsoft to get involved...In my opinion, it would be a bad thing.
There is a key point that many people seem to be unaware of (especially those who don't have much experience with Apple) and that is: Apple and Microsoft are not comparable companies except that they both produce OSes and associated software. Apple makes the majority of its money off of hardware, and that is what drives most of its strategy. It makes cool software to sell its hardware. Microsoft is nearly the exact reverse, making most of its money off of software with less profit on hardware.
I think the reason some people would be excited about Microsoft getting its hooks into Linux is that it would make it more "mainstream". That would have its advantages and disadvantages, which to those of us who understand a little better how Microsoft works, translates into a more negative assessment.
I have not put IE7 on mine, it auto loaded on my father's pc and he is not happy.
Use Firefox and if you travel, use Firefox Portable and put it on a thumb drive and everything is right there.
I really hate how IE-7 gets automatically put on the Windows Update. When I realized it wanted to install IE-7 on my workstation at work, I removed it from the update list. Internet Exploder isn't just a web browser, it affects the operating system too. I can't afford to have the main workstation down at the office.
I was watching football. My wife called from the other room, 'it wants to upgrade my Explorer, what should I do?'
I yelled 'click OK' and went back to watching the game.
Once it loaded, I didn't get to watch the rest of the game as I spent the next hour trying to explain to her how to use it. I'm still hearing about it every time she boots up.
Needless to say, it's not on my computer. When Mom's not happy, . . .
Apple has had this for quite a while now. Using xGrid, you can submit your supercomputing jobs, and the system will run it however you've set it up. For example, it'll use your Mac cluster constantly, and whenever the screen saver on ANY of the desktops in your organization kicks in, xGrid will use them too. Using the Internet, it'll also harness the computing cycles of systems you may have in remote locations.
He wrote "innovative," not "new to Microsoft." Name a new feature of Vista that isn't already in OS X or other operating systems -- aside from the activation/DRM scheme, which benefits Microsoft and the copyright cartel, not consumers.
Two is the automatic max. You can probably get a reactivation for free if you beg Microsoft support enough. Of course, the concept of even having to do that is pretty bad.
A bunch of stuff in Vista is rewritten. OTOH, a bunch of stuff in Vista is also old code with wrappers (kind of how mail in .NET is just the old CDONTS with a .NET wrapper). This means many of the old bugs are still there.
It is MUCH more than System Restore. It remembers everything: changes in files, overwriting of files, etc. What's amazing is the user interface that Apple uses to achieve this -- like using a time machine on your computer (hence the name).
I just ported out a signal from my video card to a 46 inch HDTV and ran flight sim, looked wonderful.
Only problem was that my flight yoke is attached to the desk which faces the opposite position of the TV.
Most of the new cards out there (mine is just a lowly Nvidia 7600GS) have an Svideo out that splits into a component out.
Makes for a hell of a monitor.
BTW, FSX has a great sailplane, and you get towed up and have to find thermals. I'm waiting for folks to come out with more freeware aircraft, I'm bored of the ones included, and most of the ones from FS9 don't convert too well.
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