Why Microsoft must abandon Vista to save itself

Cnet News ^ | September 26th | Don Reisinger

[Halfmanhalfamazing]

While Vista was originally touted by Microsoft as the operating system savior we've all been waiting for, it has turned out to be one of the biggest blunders in technology. With a host of issues that are inexcusable and features that are taken from the Mac OS X and Linux playbook, Microsoft has once again lost sight of what we really want.

As we're more than aware, Vista Ultimate comes at a premium. For an additional $160 over the Premium SKU price, Ultimate gives you a complete backup and restore option, BitLocker Drive encryption, the ever so popular Windows Fax & Scan, and the "Ultimate Extras." But what started with a promise of "Extras" by summer, quickly turned into an apology from Microsoft and the eventual release of DreamScene and Windows Hold 'Em (among others) today. And while each of the "Extras" runs just fine, Microsoft's "Extras" blunder is just another reason why the company must abandon Vista before it's too late.

[MarkL]

Command Line scripting is so passe.

You must not work with Active Directory much... Ever use netdiag and dsdiag? Other then replmon, can you suggest any graphical AD and network communication (as far as Windows interserver communication diag) tools?

Mark

[potlatch]

So Vista’s not very “Buena for Microsoft”, lol.

Thanks a lot Seadog for all the links, very good of you! I am not familiar with Linux, need to read up on it.

[devolve]

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I’ll read up on what I’ll need

OK!

I’m finished!

[potlatch]

I’ll find ‘other’ links for you.

[devolve]

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My dinky WebTV Plus runs my video recorder, amplifier, TVmy DirecTV, and PIP and screencapture and 6 email accounts too

But not my Mr. Coffee or my microwave

[potlatch]

Good thing too, as your Mr. Coffee would just dribble all over the floor!

[potlatch]

No new carafe yet?

[devolve]

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Not yet

But I improvise in the meantime

Mrs. Pyrex almost fits and a fork manually controls Mr. Autoshut-Off nicely

[potlatch]

LOL, that almost sounds obscene, lolol!!

[devolve]

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Whoops!

I thought this was the “Cooking With Candy Channel”!!!

[MarkL]

XP certainly can't have an alternate OS in a window on its desktop -- it can't be the chip - it must be the OS and its limitations.

Huh? Microsoft has Virtual PC, then there's VMWare. I'm not sure of the latest version of Virtual PC (I used it before M$ bought it), but I've used VMWare for years...

In this image, I'm running Novell's Linux Desktop within a VMWare virtual machine. If you look at the tabs across the top, you can also see that I'm also running a Windows 2003 server, a NetWare 6.5 server, and another Windows XP workstation (with a Novell client on it), all on the very same WIndows XP Pro workstation. BTW, these are all fully functional systems. I can logon to both the WIndows and Novell servers from other computers on my network at home.

Mark

[potlatch]

You are watching the wrong channels, lol.

[devolve]

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Could be!

I cannot understand why PCs use only part of the screen for the tools & text and float sky and other stuff around wasting space

On a much smaller screen than my WebTV - TV monitor

The text is tiny - the stuff displayed too busy

I can access anything fast - the only limitation is my 56K dialup

But WebTV has cable and satellite options too

When PC users seem my WebTV setup and TV and amp they seem amazed

Oh well -

I guess I should be missing security software and scans and firewalls and viruses and software updates and chatting on FR with others on how to get rid of popups and weird invaders

Is all that stuff that much “fun”?

[potlatch]

I don't know where you got the idea that a PC only uses part of the screen. The 'floating sky' and other things you mention must be what we use as 'screen savers' when we are not using the PC. This is a picture of your post and what I was looking at. You have seen my 'screen captures' before devolve, so I am puzzled.

This photo would cover my whole 19 inch screen!

You are also 'missing' programs that let you do a lot of things.

[devolve]

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OK

My resolution is not as good but the text appears larger and clearer on my WebTV - TV screen on what I compose / design

I’ve seen all kinds of webpages and even the WH site and all the supposed pro designed pages are not as good as your

The only thing I notice is that (body BGs and (table BGs on your PC appear abt. 1024x768

Mine are at 560x420 <body BG and 544x408 (table BG

So I had to learn to design graphics and webpages that would be PC compatible

But I only see the LS 70% +/- and upper 408-420 pixels displayed

My audio beats any computer setup I have seen anywhere and the flat monitors I see at mega bucks are indeed quite good image quality

Why a PC or PC software cannot be designed to keep animated graphics moving when an audio link is clicked on baffles me

It makes a huge difference in viewer-user experience

PC users must go to an identical webpage to get the same initial FX and even then the .gifs all go dead if an .mp3 or a .wav menu selection is clicked

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Your screenshots are less complex and busy than many I have seen

Different software and different webpages shown displayed are another puzzle to me

“Frames” on WebTV are a pain

But a webpage designed for MSN - WebTV viewing leaves nothing to be gained

Your “toolbars” are handy in my F-Keys or Favorite links or WebTV popup for Info, Find, Go-To, Options (esp. audios), Recent (TV & webpage displays of 12 - 3 rows of 4), Save, Favs folders, Home, Search (MSN Search)

My only “toolbar” is the vertical LS in the WebTV email pages - abt. 18% of LS of the screen

Webpages, FR - all are 100% all the time - except for a tiny bottom horizontal 12 pixel high area which displays image filename, song filename, webpage title

I’ve got my WebTV set for large text

So I can read text perfectly 15’ away and use my wireless keyboard as I sip a cool one

I see mucho changes to home PCs in the future

Much the way audio tape gizmos, VCRs, etc, became CDs and DVDs

The Apple cellphone/email/video cam/text message/internet page/MTV stuff on a tiny screen wil be a huge bonus for Opthamolgists and Surgeons and Opticians fur sure!

What I really want is a cellphone ringing as I walk down a sidewalk or eat in a restaurant

It has become an insane obcession and parody of life

[potlatch]

I can set the font at a number of sized and it is very sharp and clear. You can’t tell that by that image.

I don’t have to have all the toolbars that you see. I choose to have the one with fast links to certain things.

When I click on music my Windows Media Player opens.

There are many different ‘browsers’ and I use “Internet Explorer”. They all display differently.

There are so many advantages devolve that I can’t begin to explain them all!

[grey_whiskers]

And if I had a nickel for every time I've heard that...

Apparently, Bill Gates really does...

Cheers!

[devolve]

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My WebTV Plus has IE and some sort of Firefox too

But it has audio that I’ve heard many Firefox and other software is limited on or cannot handle

About 3 years ago MSN added a .zip plugin software update and my WebTV handles .gz or .zip on .mp3, .wav, and .midi compressions and they sound just as good as the original but cut filesizes from 6%-95% on various format music and load on my 56K dialup much faster

No “Windows Media Player” opens on my (Microsoft owned since abt. 1997) WebTV

A “slide-up” tool gizmo appears only if I hit my “Options” buttom while an audio is loading or playing - Stop - Pause - Play - running digital clock

Pretty nifty gadget

WebTV Plus receivers seem to be much superior and more advanced than PCs for music

And just adding a quality amp and great stereo speakers will shake the glass on cars driving by 5 blocks away

I can add a new hi-def monitor to my WebTV in about 1 minute

That would also update the TV picture quality and the text on the internet too - It all is run thru my WebTV receiver

Maybe a bit later

[potlatch]

[WebTV Plus receivers seem to be much superior and more advanced than PCs for music]

But you aren’t able to save music to a hard drive and ‘have’ it there. I can also burn to CDs or DVD.

An animation stopping for a minute is of little importance usually.

The main thing is that you love what you have and are able to do amazing graphics.