Microsoft desperately wants my love -- and yours

http://www.linux.com/ ^ | December 12, 2006 | Robin 'Roblimo' Miller

[Señor Zorro]

I spent December seventh, eighth, and ninth in Seattle as Microsoft's guest. Microsoft flew me there from Florida at its expense, put me up in a nice hotel...They didn't quite play the old Beatles song "Love Me Do" in the background, but it was the event's unstated theme.

[snip]

In any case, there were five participants. And our first formal event, the morning after the introductory supper, was a tour of the Microsoft Home of the Future -- under a non-disclosure agreement (NDA).

The young gent from the Inquirer wouldn't sign the NDA, so he didn't take the tour. Since I wanted to immerse myself in the fullness of the Microsoft experience I signed it and took the tour. Funny thing: I didn't see any really new technology that warranted an NDA. "But you've never seen all that technology put together like that, have you?" Asked/stated a Microsoft marketer. No, I replied, I hadn't. But I've seen the same or similar technologies used or speculated about in many other contexts, usually less-glowing ones.

[snip]

... The Bosses have now converted to the Security Religion and everything is different these days. Howard claimed IIS is now more secure than Apache (as witnessed by number of patches, a measure with which many might quarrel) and Vista is the most secure version of Windows ever, so secure that you may not even need antivirus software for it.

[snip]

Microsoft seems to have backed down on some of the dumber Vista license terms but isn't making any provision for the growing number of us who run multiple OSes on a single computer through virtualization, which is still a sticking point for many leading-edge computer users.

[Señor Zorro]

The article is actually decent length and worth a read, but it's hard to make a good <= 300 word excerpt.

It makes perfectly good sense for a business, any business, to try to win people over to their new product. The most telling thing, I think, about this article is in that first page: "Funny thing: I didn't see any really new technology that warranted an NDA. "But you've never seen all that technology put together like that, have you?" Asked/stated a Microsoft marketer."

It wasn't about new technology, or even new uses for old technology, it was about trying combine it in a way that was just unique enough to slap a new logo on it.

[Bloody Sam Roberts]

I still won't be shelling out a dime for Vista. When XP goes EOSL I might have one machine running XP that is disconnected from the internet (for apps) and the rest will be Linux...which can run Wine or CrossOver Linux if I really need to run a MS app.

I won't be forced to pay MS any more money. They can kiss my...

[ShadowAce]

[rzeznikj at stout]

"It makes perfectly good sense for a business, any business, to try to win people over to their new product"

Completely agree. MS, like any other business, has to do that in order to remain afloat.

"Howard claimed IIS is now more secure than Apache (as witnessed by number of patches, a measure with which many might quarrel) and Vista is the most secure version of Windows ever, so secure that you may not even need antivirus software for it."

Heh, I'd like to know what this dude's smoking...

Seriesly, saying that Vista is secure enough not to need antivirus software is like saying your house is secure when in reality, all the doors are unlocked, all your valuables are in plain sight in the living room, and you have a huge sign out in the yard that says ROB THIS HOUSE!!!

[Still Thinking]

Vista is the most secure version of Windows ever, so secure that you may not even need antivirus software for it.

Vista is the most secure version of Windows ever. It's so secure even you aren't even allowed to run it.

[Vinnie]

I don't plan on running Vista.

When I have to upgrade my computers I plan on going Mac.
Until that time XP will do.