Posted on 02/19/2009 1:30:25 PM PST by Chet 99
Remember when Vista was announced, and Microsoft decided to release six different versions of the operating system, much to the confusion, disappointment, and ridicule of potential buyers? Well guess what? Microsoft is back with the Windows 7 strategy. What has it learned in the last three years? Pretty much nothing.
While Microsoft is touting the "two primary editions" of Windows 7 -- a Home Premium edition and a Professional (intended for business) edition -- the fact is it's sticking with the same six different versions (or SKUs, stock-keeping units) that it had for Vista.
The real difference is that Windows 7 Home Basic -- the much-reviled stripped-down version of Vista that was designed for bare-bones PCs -- is now being shunted to emerging markets only, though it will still exist. But to confuse matters, a Windows 7 Starter edition, which will run only three applications simultaneously, will also be available.
(Excerpt) Read more at tech.yahoo.com ...
My whole point was anyone who went 10 years and only had 2 blue screens must either hardly ever run their computer or they were extremely lucky, and that MS should have stayed with XP instead of constantly trying come up with new OS that will bring in Billions to them. Selling XP on an regular basis, making new programs for it, etc. would bring in good income and keep their customers happy.
As a DOS nut from the word go, I can tell you that simply isn't true anymore.
While not really M$ supported per se, The WinPE platform has been turned into a rather brilliant miniaturized system for doing rescue work. All of my systems have an onboard MiniXP or MiniVista, specifically so I can "just go in and do stuff".
If you are referring to "inside the operating system", you may have a bit of a point, what with DRM technology, hidden settings, and whatnot, but 3rd party (freeware) apps abound. Just replace the M$ crap with something that does the job.
I still run a DOS7/98SE partition on my testbenches, but I find myself going there less and less- Mainly just for low-level hard drive work where NT cannot do the job- DOS can still see 'em when NT fails. Other than that, and direct access to hardware, I don't use it much.
Don't be surprised if you aren't terribly impressed. 7 seems to be Vista with all the crap turned off. My Vista 32 and Win7 are pretty comparable, w/ the Win7 being a tad faster startup and running. That leads me to believe I must have more stuff to shut off in Vista :D
Basically *nothing*. I use MediaMonkey instead of WiMP to handle music, saving my rips to a separate folder than WiMPs... I rip everything to MP3 or OggVorbis, neither of which can contain DRM info in the header... All my music can be transfered, copied, whatever... with no problem at all.
WiMP still handles all my internet stuff though, for compatibility purposes, which is fine with me.
So where did you hear that the Windows 7 beta had it turned off, as you stated in post 99? From what I've seen the Vista DRM isn't really inhibiting anyone, and with the new Windows 7 it's not affecting performance, either.
Basically *nothing*.
My experience as well. While I've only ever ripped/copied/duplicated copyrighted material as a proof of concept test, I've done many different audio/video formats and media types and never hit the slightest snag on XP or Vista. But to listen to the whiners I shouldn't even be able to boot up either without getting a blue screen.
Oh, you can, and you will, if you are content to allow WiMP to do the work, or any of the Windows partners' apps. including ipod.
As a service tech, I have seen whole libraries wiped out because the hard drive died. Even though I could rescue the actual files, they would not play from the newly formatted system, or were "docked" one transfer (most DRM allows for 3-5 copies), at the least.
I have also seen a whole library destroyed (for all intents and purposes) because the DRM suddenly and inexplicably determined that the whole bleeding library had been "pay to play" and removed the ability to play every single song in it. I fixed it by converting every single song from WMA to MP3, loading MediaMonkey, and telling WiMP to pi$$ off.
The owner, who I know personally, paid for every one of those songs, most of which were CD rips.
1.] Save your stuff to MP3, or better yet, OggVorbis, which is an Open format, lossless, and will never see DRM. If you use WiMP or iPOD, both can be set to rip to MP3, but will not use .OGG. MediaMonkey plays/rips .OGG just fine.
2.] Use a media player that does not keep track of copying internally. WiMP and iPOD both do. This means that if you copy a song to an MP3 player, the media player remembers that you did, and may not allow the song to be played in the machine until it is deleted from the MP3 player. This behavior is not apparent until after the 5 copy limit is surpassed, and occurs even if the file is MP3, because i is not only the file header that is in play, but also a white/black list kept by the media player.
MediaMonkey does not do such tracking, and any open source media player would be a sure fire bet as well.
There's been speculation. No, you can't start claiming lies because I did say "I've heard," which is true. We'll see when it comes out. So far my only problems with 7 in a VM are the poorly thought-out interface (the new stuff, and many dialogs and windows are just repainted Windows 2000 ones) and difficulty installing Adobe Reader.
I guess you're a law breaker like the rest of us.
I'm not looking for an argument, just accurate info.
I guess you're a law breaker like the rest of us.
Very rarely, only as a test, to prove the crybabies wrong, again. It makes their constant whines of victimhood all the more pitiful.
Still, you have broken one of the worst industry-purchased laws ever enacted by ripping a DVD. Welcome to the civil disobedience club. Now try doing it regularly to exercise your fair use rights. A right is useless unless exercised.
If I'm ever brought up on charges I'll just plead guilty and pay the fine, instead of running around like Chiken Little claiming MY rights were the ones violated.
Uh huh. If no one is seeing the BSOD, is it really there?
Nortons hasn’t been relevant since Norton’s 2002. Bug resource hog, and bloatware. I usually uninstall the trial ware crap like that or McAfee ASAP with a new computer.
If they don’t see the BSOD then they aren’t running windows, or have never run early versions of windows!
I’ll have to look you up on Harmony Central. I read a few of the forums there.
Glad to hear that. You should use that as your tag line and respond to all Apple threads by swordmaker and antirepublicrat
antirepublicrat is an Apple stooge/lackey. Any chance he gets him and his minions try to be the Apple rah rah cheerleaders while pissing in the pool on Microsoft/PC threads
FWIW, this sounds ominous to me for MS. In a mature market like PCs, the inroads made by Apple and Linux are significant, particularly when you consider the changeover costs for new programs, etc. I know most Linux programs are open source, but you still have to invest a significant amount of time in finding them, etc. This strategy sounds a lot like IBM right before they crashed and had to rebuild themselves. IBM was selling a business class laser printer, and wanted one for the home market. They put an additional chip in their business class printer that slowed it down significantly, lowered the price to half, and sold it as a home printer. Similarly, they retarded the speed of their PCs so they wouldn't compete with their more profitable mini-computers. IBM thought their only competition was other IBM products, failing to recognize that other manufacturers had no problem with upping speeds. MS must have spent extra time making a crippled version of Windows, meaning they're assuming there is no competition.
With the resistance to Vista and the slowing economy, I think this is a very dangerous strategy. Some organizations, like colleges, have IT departments that are soaked to the skin in MS, and will never change. The mainframe guys used to act the same way.
Personally, I hope MS stays successful to some extent, although I avoid their products.
No kidding. My college uses McAfee, and I can go make a pot of coffee while waiting for Outlook to start up.
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