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Good article on MS Vista and how MS operates its monopoly

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Lou
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Good article on MS Vista and how MS operates its monopoly

#1 Post by Lou »

This is an enlightening article for the 'unwashed masses', in my opinion. :)

http://www.pbs.org/cringely/pulpit/2006 ... 01308.html#

Excerpt:
"Microsoft -- a company that eventually learns from its mistakes -- will not make that particular mistake again, certainly not with Windows Vista, in which they have a $5 billion investment.

What we'll see for ourselves and read about over the next six months, then, are users complaining about Vista instability, an inevitably emerging vulnerability to hackers, and applications that don't work as well as they do under XP. Enterprise customers will hold back in droves. But does any of that make Vista a failure? Nope.

Those who are trying to figure out if Vista will be successful haven't yet grasped the concept that Vista will be forced on the market, and in time it will be the only operating system you can buy from Microsoft. Of course it will be successful. Will people upgrade their existing systems? Of course not. Microsoft operating systems are always designed for future PC's, not for the installed base. Part of the plan is to make Vista work poorly on current computers so we'll all have to buy new ones. This strategy has been around for years and there is no reason to believe we won't fall for it again. Sure, some percentage of people and firms will upgrade, but most of the upgrades will come with whole new computers.

Think back to the Windows 95 introduction, where one of the selling points was that the new OS would work fine on a 66 MHz 486 computer. The truth was that it would RUN on a 486, but not well, so after a try of Win95 on our old hardware, rather than go to some other operating system we all bought new machines. And we'll do that again with Vista."
Devuan Jessie - IceWM - vimperator - no DM
KISS - Keep It Simple, Stupid

thamarok

#2 Post by thamarok »

There are also some stuff you should note when even coming near Vista:

1. Vista will run only on one machine, this means, if you install Vista to your new machine but then you decide to upgrade the motherboard, Vista will think it's another computer and you have to buy Vista again.
2. Vista will allow you to reinstall only one time.. And we know that Window$ has to be reinstalled every day, don't we? So this is really going to be a pain in the ass for Window$ gamers, because if the system doesn't work, they backup their games and then install Window$ again, but whoops? They can't??

Sources:
http://www.allenx.net/archives/windows- ... erred-once
http://blogs.zdnet.com/Bott/?p=156

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DeanLinkous
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#3 Post by DeanLinkous »

thamarok wrote: 1. Vista will run only on one machine, this means, if you install Vista to your new machine but then you decide to upgrade the motherboard, Vista will think it's another computer and you have to buy Vista again.
2. Vista will allow you to reinstall only one time.. And we know that Window$ has to be reinstalled every day, don't we? So this is really going to be a pain in the ass for Window$ gamers, because if the system doesn't work, they backup their games and then install Window$ again, but whoops? They can't??
not true anymore - license revised

Lavene
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#4 Post by Lavene »

thamarok wrote:There are also some stuff you should note when even coming near Vista:

1. Vista will run only on one machine, this means, if you install Vista to your new machine but then you decide to upgrade the motherboard, Vista will think it's another computer and you have to buy Vista again.

2. I heard that Vista will allow you to reinstall only 5 times.. And we know that Window$ has to be reinstalled every day, don't we :P
Not to sound pro MS (I don't even own a windows licence... and don't plan to) but in all fairness:

They have changed that. You can install Vista unlimited times on as much hardware you want. They realized they alienated every HW enthusisast in the world by having such a limit.

What you can not do however is to *run* the same copy on several machines at the same time. But you can in the end move your copy from machine to machine.

But being MS the above is true... sort of. Because If you purchase and upgrade online, say from Basic to Premium, you can only transfer that upgrade once. So if you purchase an upgrade from Basic to Premium, change your HW once, then again you have lost your upgrade... nice uh?

So MS has been marketing the 'big change' in the EULA but failed to mention that it only apply to your original licence... nice uh?

From the Vista EULA (Available HERE):
15. REASSIGN TO ANOTHER DEVICE.
a. Software Other than Windows Anytime Upgrade. You may uninstall the software and install it on another device for your use. You may not do so to share this license between devices.

b. Windows Anytime Upgrade Software. The first user of the software may reassign the license to another device one time, but only if the license terms of the software you upgraded from allows reassignment.
And what really drives me crazy is the fact that people will *still buy* it... again and again and again because 'they need it since everyone else is using it'. Well duh!!!

Tina

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DeanLinkous
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#5 Post by DeanLinkous »

Agree that vista dominance will be automatic. It already is. Purchase a new computer now and it comes with a "free" upgrade to vista so in actuality M$ did roll out vista before the holidays just in a round about way.

Grifter
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#6 Post by Grifter »

Lavene wrote:And what really drives me crazy is the fact that people will *still buy* it... again and again and again because 'they need it since everyone else is using it'. Well duh!!!
Yeah, that's part of why I switched when they announced xp, it makes me sad
Eagles may soar, but weasels don't get sucked into jet engines...

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hcgtv
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#7 Post by hcgtv »

Lavene wrote:And what really drives me crazy is the fact that people will *still buy* it... again and again and again because 'they need it since everyone else is using it'.
I call it the McDonald's syndrome:

When a family travels the US, they are more inclined to stop and eat where they see familiar surroundings. Even though the food at McD's is probably the worst on the planet, it's "Your kind of Place".

Windows falls in the same category, it's "Your kind of Desktop" ;)

Personally, I like XP, finally the stability of Win2K for the user base. I really don't see anything that I need in Vista, I run the Classic look on XP, so Aero is not something I lust over.
Last edited by hcgtv on 2006-12-09 18:40, edited 1 time in total.
Bert Garcia - When all you have is a keyboard

thamarok

#8 Post by thamarok »

McDonalds has the worst food on the planet!
I like those Pizza & Kebab services more :lol:
(Because they are Linux compatible :P)

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dawgie
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#9 Post by dawgie »

"User Lock-in" looks like it may be a problem. Vista will include "Information Rights Management".
http://www.informationweek.com/news/sho ... queryText=

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Dargor
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#10 Post by Dargor »

Personally, I like XP, finally the stability of Win2K for the user base. I really don't see anything that I need in Vista, I run the Classic look on XP, so Aero is not something I lust over.
You forgot to mention running everything as root, not that its something anyone should like, im not beating on you for saying xp is fine(ish) and there isnt much reason for anyone to go to vista. but some of the cracks i come across have dodgy executables that i dont know if i should run.

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hcgtv
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#11 Post by hcgtv »

Dargor,

I was referring to the stability of XP, Win98 was very crash prone, like I had to remember to save my work every 5 minutes.

I don't support Windows machines anymore, I'm out of that line of work, but the machines in my household are easier to keep running and I don't have family coming up to me every 30 minutes with a BSOD.

Yes, running everything as root has it's drawbacks but Windows was never designed to be a multiuser operating system like Unix was. I'm very careful on my WinXP laptop, like I think twice before running something new and I scan it for viruses. I don't open up any emails from anybody I don't trust and I never open up anything with attachments.

Windows, be sure to wear a prophylactic ;)
Bert Garcia - When all you have is a keyboard

thamarok

#12 Post by thamarok »

Dargor wrote:
Personally, I like XP, finally the stability of Win2K for the user base. I really don't see anything that I need in Vista, I run the Classic look on XP, so Aero is not something I lust over.
You forgot to mention running everything as root, not that its something anyone should like, im not beating on you for saying xp is fine(ish) and there isnt much reason for anyone to go to vista. but some of the cracks i come across have dodgy executables that i dont know if i should run.
I like to run as root, that's why I hate some Linux distributions which don't allow that.... If there would be a choice in every Linux setup to choose between normal and root user..

Grifter
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#13 Post by Grifter »

Well you'll learn one day (:
Eagles may soar, but weasels don't get sucked into jet engines...

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DeanLinkous
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#14 Post by DeanLinkous »

thamarok wrote: I like to run as root, that's why I hate some Linux distributions which don't allow that.... If there would be a choice in every Linux setup to choose between normal and root user..
What about being root do you like? I honestly have never understood why anyone would "like" to run as root. I cannot figure out what there is to like or dislike about any user account. :D

thamarok

#15 Post by thamarok »

Maybe it's because I'm lazy to type sudo and my password again and again :P
And rootbeer is good, I don't like "DeanLinkous-beer" (even if it would be alcohol free) :wink:

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DeanLinkous
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#16 Post by DeanLinkous »

how often do you sudo dude? I never sudo, I occasionally drag and drop and password or click and password but even that is rare.

(sorry OT - shutting up now)

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hcgtv
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#17 Post by hcgtv »

I need sudo once a day, when I do apt-get update, other than that I'm running in my user account.

I felt it restrictive at first, but I've grown to enjoy the security of knowing I can't trash my system while working on scripts.
Bert Garcia - When all you have is a keyboard

thamarok

#18 Post by thamarok »

I mess around with the / folder quite a lot and I compile every day atleast 7 new programs which need sudo and I develope stuff which also does need sude, so why doing sudo 100 times a day if I can run as root?

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