Posted on 01/30/2007 12:16:33 AM PST by ShawTaylor
HUNDREDS of computer enthusiasts were in Harvey Norman's Alexandria store in South Sydney at the stroke of midnight last night to be among the first in the world to buy Microsoft's latest PC software, Windows Vista.
Prized copy: William Tsang shows his copy of Windows Vista signed by Bill Gates as he is served by Gerry Harvey at the midnight launch of the new operating system in Sydney Australia was the second market in the world, behind New Zealand, where the software was put on sale. As part of the global launch, one Harvey Norman customer walked away with a copy of Windows Vista signed by software mogul Bill Gates. A Microsoft spokeswoman said it was the only signed copy sold outside the US - the five others had been reserved for the New York launch.
Rutland Smith, general manager of Harvey Norman computers and communications, said the retailer had stacked $10million worth of Microsoft's software into its stores in preparation for the night.
The first buyers were likely to be computer hobbyists with a special interest in keeping ahead of the technology curve, Mr Smith said. "But it won't be long until it becomes more openly used by a mass audience."
It is estimated that Microsoft's Windows software is used on 90per cent of computers worldwide.
(Excerpt) Read more at australianit.news.com.au ...
The corporate suits jumping on Vista upgrades are crazy - the kinks need to be ironed out, business case to be made, etc. The vista reviews are unfavorable.
The same reason people line up for the latest "big" book or CD release, or movie opening, or concert ticket, or cellphone, or iPod. It's all obsessive fanboy behavior, every product out there has a crowd of obsessive fanboys, the only question is are there enough of them for stores to consider being open at midnight to serve them.
They'll be forced to upgrade if they want to buy new PCs, and then you'll have to maintain both XP and Vista boxes, that's when they decide to upgrade to Vista. That's how MS gets you, if you want new machines they come with Vista installed, you don't have a choice.
Yeah, like ten years to get ya know the small kinks out and security bugs! LOL!
The only thing I can think of is that they're ubergamers who ran out and got GeForce 8800 cards and want to see what DirectX 10 looks like. :p
Serious companies have downgrade rights that allow them to install their own image on OEM-supplied computers. They may come with Vista, but companies that need to will still be able to replace them with XP.
In reality, I think you'll find that larger companies with mature processes will move to Vista because there is a good business case to do so. The rest will migrate on their own time, or not at all. After all, there are still companies out there on NT 4.0.
We still have a bunch of Windows Professional 2000 boxes, and by far it's the most stable Windows version ever.
Because reviewers said the same thing about Windows XP back in 2001. Reviewers hated the Luna desktop and new interface, but actual users loved it. Reviewers were wrong then, and they are wrong now.
"We still have a bunch of Windows Professional 2000 boxes, and by far it's the most stable Windows version ever."
Got any evidence from a reputable source to support that, ridiculous, sweeping assertion of yours?
..I'll be using W2K SP4 at home for a long long time...
While I'm sure that's true in your environment; in mine I haven't noticed that to be the case at all.
Just to be clear; the Aquarium screen saver was not a Microsoft product and was added by HP.
I have 1 yr old toshiba laptop that cost 800 dollars that cannot even be upgraded to run vista.
...and the world collectively yawns.
What? His "assertion" was a statement of his personal experience. His "reputable source" is himself.
Why are you bashing the guy for relating his personal experience?
FWIW, my own personal experience has been the same. I'm a computer professional, and Windows 2000 is the most stable Windows I've worked with.
Thanks for the link. I guess it's not for me.
There is no DRM when ripping CDs on Vista, either. iTunes runs fine and will rip CDs to unencrypted MP3. Exact audio copy will work just fine.
There is a massive load of FUD being dumped about Vista.
The DRM only applies to content that has DRM -- HD-DVD, BluRay, purchased music and video and CableCard recordings. Media that does not have native DRM, like over the air HDTV, MP3s and the like do not have DRM added by Vista.
Because of US copyright laws, if you want to run HD-DVD, BluRay or other new "premium content" on your computer, you have to play by the content providers' rules. We haven't heard from Apple yet, but if they want to support BluRay or HD-DVD, they will have to add the same kernel-level DRM support.
Doubt it! Vista is the ME of XP. Theres nothing in it that makes an upgrade appealing enough to spend $199! I don't think people are going to want to risk buying Vista after remembering the nightmare of XP's first release and all the SP's they had to go through to secure it.
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