Microsoft is about to release the Windows Vista operating system, its biggest software upgrade in years. The commercial versions will be out in November and the consumer version will be ready in January. Steve Ballmer, chief executive of Microsoft, sat down to talk with Mercury News Staff Writer Dean Takahashi about the Vista launch.
It’s more like going from Hoary to Edgy to me. Not so big update. SP2 was most important.
Are you kidding? SP2 is actually a firewall, NX support, Bluetooth support, Wi-fi improvements, IE popup blocker and Windows Security Center. Plus fixes and patches. Compare this to huge list of under the hood and visual advancements in Vista:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Features_new_to_Windows_Vista
“Compare this to huge list of under the hood and visual advancements in Vista…”
And yet they still managed to leave in some *old* icons from Windows 9x, XP and even a scant few from the Windows 3.1 days. And people bitch that the Linux desktop is inconsistent. Somebody needs to seriously buckle down and finally create a completely consistent interface instead of continuing to bolt on new shit over old shit. (At least they apparently fired the guy who was overly in love with hideous shades of blue and green.) I think Windows has reached the point of bloated dissarray that was Apple’s OS-9.x series. Apple wisely decided to scrap the whole thing and start over, the right way, giving rise to OS-X.
He gives you a concrete list of new Vista features and all you can do is nitpick about Windows 9x Icons being in the UI? Are you serious?
Let’s compare the number of Windows 3.1/9x icons to the sheer number of new Vista icons (Lets note they all go up to 256×256). I’d say they are doing a DAMNED good job considering the VAST amount of detail poured into each and every icon.
Microsoft leaves depreciated things (The 3.1 horrid Font Dialog) in there for legacy reasons. It’s not something I agree with actually but I can sort of see why they’d do it.
Now, let’s stop being superficial and talk about Vista’s REAL features.
Thanks.
You’re welcome! Actually, my so called nitpicking about the icons was merely an illustration of Microsoft’s bad habit of hastily bolting on feature after feature rather than cleaning up what’s already there first. True to form, MS has indeed designed a whole host of fancy new 256×256 icons to be the face of Vista. But unfortunately, beauty is only skin deep. Most of the REAL features you point to are already present in other operating systems (in some cases, they’ve been present for years.) At this point, Microsoft is just playing catch up. Vista is pretty much (pun intended) already obsolete and it isn’t even here yet.
In other words your’re still nitpicking about old icons.
I like the old icons! I hope they keep them around forever, like that dogcow.
There have been a lot of icons updated, apparently, post-RC2.
They also recompiled the entire OS and had kernel enhancements.
Have you beta tested Vista RC2? Because your wrong with your statement that sp2 was more important.
AS for Edgy…im just finishing up dl,so will have to test for a couple weeks before i can comment…
I have tested Vista RC2 and I agree with Ballmer, (i know, I am scared), the biggest competitor to Vista is XP.
There is actual user apathy about upgrading to Vista.
I remember queuing up until midnight for Win95 being released…..
that will not happen these days, most people are happy with xp.
I have even heard a few who will remove Vista off their new machines and put vista on… why ?
There is actual user apathy about upgrading to Vista.
Actual user apathy? Think about what you just said for a second. Most real people have never even used Vista betas/RCs. They aren’t aware of the features. They don’t know what it looks like. They don’t even know the release date. The primary users of Vista, so far, have been technical users who are difficult to impress.
But I would argue that, as soon as Circuit City and Frye’s and Best Buy start displaying the fancy new machines running Vista + Aero Glass, actual real-world customers are going to buy in droves. Let’s face it: It’s pretty. And don’t underestimate the kinds of idiotic things that cause people to buy stuff. I read a story about polling done around the time Windows 3.1 came out. It turns out that the thing that spurred the most retail sales of Windows PCs was … you’d never guess it … FLYING TOASTERS! I’m not kidding. Berkeley System’s screensaver package was loaded on a lot of retail PCs, and the novelty of the thing actually caused people to snap them up. Unbelievable. But true.
Q: Do you have any concern about Apple’s upcoming Jaguar operating system and whether that will blunt the acceptance of Vista?
A: I don’t think it will have much of an impact. We respect Apple. Watch their work. They are still a relatively narrow, small competitor. They don’t show up much.
I don’t think either one of them know much about OS X!
Oh and Balmer you do a little more than watch their work old buddy!
Q: So if you rank the competition for Vista, what do you see most prominently?
A: The No. 1 competitor in a sense right out of the chute is Windows XP Service Pack 2. There are a lot of happy users.
hahahahhahahahahahaha!
Edited 2006-10-26 21:35
As much as I don’t like Ballmer, he is right: OS X is still a minor player (and will always be until it’s tied to Apple hardware), and XPSP2 is a fast, stable OS with most users being happy with it.
As much as I don’t like Ballmer, he is right: OS X is still a minor player (and will always be until it’s tied to Apple hardware), and XPSP2 is a fast, stable OS with most users being happy with it.
I was laughing about the bit that they believe Jaguar is the up and coming version of OS X.
XP SP2 isn’t too bad I’ll admit, I think a lot of folks are satisfied with it.
So they’re wrong by saying Apple has small market share and is viewed as a small competitor to Windows?
Sounds like YOU don’t know much about OSX.
What concerns me is that he dismisses Apple not on the grounds that “we have a superior product” but simply that “Apple are smaller than us.”
Takahashi: Do you think it goes down as the biggest technology project in history?
Ballmer: It probably does at least so far. It’s a story of three pieces. There was an early set of work on so-called Longhorn. (…) We spent a year Windows XP SP 2. And then we spent the last couple of years or so on what people know as Vista. If you look at that last couple of years, I’m not sure it is the biggest technology project. Obviously if you look at the whole cycle, you get a different story.
Here we have Steve Ballmer, actually implying that whatever happened at Microsoft since XP was first out, is in a way “the biggest technology project” [in history, it is implied of course].
So much for Great Wall of China, Gizeh Pyramids, Hoover Dam, Delta Works, Kansai Airport…
Takahashi: Do you think it goes down as the biggest technology project in history?
The question he should of asked:
Do you think it goes down as the biggest technology rip off in history?
Ballmer: Yes, Apple and OSX and all the innovation that has gone on there in the past five years, not to mention Linux and BSD.. we have had a hard time innovating ways how to steal there work and call it our original work.
Takahashi: can you explain MS innovation to our readers?
Ballmer: sure, we sit back and let others do all the hard work and when its ready for the “prime time” we swoop in and copy it, call it our own… this is MS innovation at its best don’t you agree.
Takahashi: I really don’t think we should print that………
Ballmer: Oh sorry, I slipped and told the truth
Vista will require “at least” 1 gigabyte of system memory, Microsoft’s Web site says, one-third more than the average 750 megabytes currently installed in most new PCs, according to a Sept. 19 report by Citigroup Inc. It costs $185 to upgrade a Dell Dimension E520 desktop computer to 2 gigabytes of memory from 512 megabytes, according to the company’s Web site. That is more than triple the cost of upgrading the PC to 1 gigabyte.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/business/290154_msftvista27.html
Vista will require “at least” 1 gigabyte of system memory, Microsoft’s Web site says, one-third more than the average 750 megabytes currently installed in most new PCs, according to a Sept. 19 report by Citigroup Inc. It costs $185 to upgrade a Dell Dimension E520 desktop computer to 2 gigabytes of memory from 512 megabytes, according to the company’s Web site. That is more than triple the cost of upgrading the PC to 1 gigabyte.
We all said something like that while waiting for XP: “It’s just plain bloated”, “Stupid visual theme”, “They ripped off every good feature from other OSes and implemented them in the MS way”, “It’s a resource hog”…
And now most people think that XP not only isn’t crap, they actually like it. No matter how long I work in IT, I don’t think I’ll ever be able to understand Joe Average’s way of thinking.
Here, at work, pretty much everyone hates our Win2K workstations, they hate their XP desktops, but for some weird reason, they keep using Windows. Even my IT partners.
Now, back on topic, there’s a lot of people who will wait a few months or even a year to upgrade to Vista. By that time, hardware cost will be lower and upgrading your system to fit Vista’s requirements will be easier, I’m afraid that Windows is going to make it again.
Here, at work, pretty much everyone hates our Win2K workstations, they hate their XP desktops, but for some weird reason, they keep using Windows.
It’s like democracy: the worst system except for all those others.
“It’s [Win XP] like democracy: the worst system except for all those others.
”
As with political systems or, for that matter, religions, most people only try one.
Edited 2006-10-27 15:07
“Vista will require “at least” 1 gigabyte of system memory,”
No s**t? Wow. My two recent Macs seem to be happy enough with 500 Meg RAM. Perhaps this will impact the Mac vs PC price comparisons people are always doing.
have you actually priced ram these days ?
“have you actually priced ram these days ?”
No. I tend to buy RAM to stretch out the useful lifetime of old machines; I usually by new machines with RAM manufacturer installed.
I gather it’s cheap? For good stuff– Crucial, etc.?
Learn how the company works first. I took buisness in college and costumer service, I know its 1# in every companies books to bring back their costumers. Whats with this software shit anyway. Isn’t OS News about companies too. Its not the product, its the company doing its best to bring in great things to benefit you in the long run. Microsoft is doing a good job, though do to having to drop everything because everyone complaing about bugs and Graphics that don’t support their system they haven’t met their (Quota/Deadline) yet. I’m not complaing about the software, be glad microsoft is doing something about it now than later.
be glad microsoft is doing something about it now than later.
So, we’re all supposed to be thankful to MS just for doing its job? Who’s the one making money? You? Me? In my humble opinion they are the ones who should be thankful to people for not moving to another platform and keep paying over and over againg just to get:
* A f*cked up first release (let’s face it: every MS OS has had a “Second Edition”, “OSR2”, “SP2”, etc)
* Terribly slow fixes and updates (but if you can wait 5 years for an OS supposed to be here way sooner I think that’s not a problem)
* Low quality support (I have to deal with them everyday, they always say “Please refer to the PC’s manufacturer” No way, you made the OS, not HP).
* WGA (Better keep my comments, I don’t want get banned from… the solar system)
But, even suffering all that, people keeps trusting and, even worse, buying MS. That’s just unbelievable.
PS: This is not a personal attack to ParaMouthBalls. No flaming here, just trying to understand how on earth MS has managed to be the #1.
PS2: I know that a Service Pack has nothing to do with a “Second Edition” or something like that. But Windows XP SP2 was huge (hey, they lost some binary compatibility, that means big changes), and XP original release was almost completely f*cked up.
@merkoth
No flaming here, just trying to understand how on earth MS has managed to be the #1.
Everybody else either gave up (IBM) or like most repeatably made weird decisions that killed or weakened them (CBM, Apple, Acorn, etc…)
The IBM AS/400’s first releases also were a mess. Unstable and the likes. Systems 36 were much better. But nowadays, it’s the most solid servers out there. Just like today’s Windows OS, XP is pretty rock solid. Vista will be even better. Maturity is important but takes time.
“But, even suffering all that, people keeps trusting and, even worse, buying MS. That’s just unbelievable.”
Actually it is not. It is not Microsoft that keeps Microsoft in business. It is the software manufacturers such as Adobe and the like who only write software for Windows or Mac OS X, and yet others who only write software for Windows alone. Until we get those folks on board with writing software for other platforms such as Linux, Windows will remain.
I love his recasting of the EU and US court judgments that Microsoft had violated antitrust laws as “advice”.