Microsoft's Vista is definitely a "New Coke" moment...of truth

Allegations abound that Microsoft is logging calls to measure demand for "Coke Classic" (also known as Windows XP). Why, well, apparently 165,000 people have already signed a petition to keep "Coke Classic" around.

Perhaps Microsoft is a victim of its own success with XP (which I never liked - I'm a Windows 2000 guy if I'm forced to use a Windows machine at all). Or, more likely, it has simply failed to offer much of value in Vista. At least, not enough to justify upgrading to a bloatware system like Vista.

Will Microsoft persevere in forcing the world to Vista? Perhaps. But the Windows ship is starting to leak as more and more people desert for the Mac.

Or will it capitulate to its customers and simply ride out the next few years on XP until Windows 7 comes along? Doubtful.

[oxtail01]

What an arrogant little piece of trash reporting. Saying "I'm a Windows 2000 guy if I'm forced to use a Windows machine at all." shows your total lack of journalistic objectivity and your small pea-sized brain. I'm no big MS fan and don't intend to "upgrade" to Vista either but at least I know well enough to use XP instead of 2000. You actually get paid for writing this trash?

[The_Decider]

this is an opinion piece obviously. I am not sure how that is confusing.

[baggyguy1218]

Oxtail, thats pretty harsh. It was not trash, it was a short article giving information that is known to most people having interest in operating systems.

Personally I use XP but if I bought a new PC with Vista I would not go balistic and set fire to my new PC. I have used Vista and it is "fine, OK, it works, no real issue to speak of". Keeping XP is a good idea for MS even if they have spent millions of hours creating Vista. I do not care and not many other people that actually use a PC to do thier work care either. Do what I do, do worry about it.

[jimmyed2000]

I think it is interesting that, in the current environment of uncertainty about XP?s end-of-life schedule, Windows 2000 ended its life two years ago and yet Matt still uses it. This leads me to wonder, when XP does finally die from Microsoft?s perspective, how many people will decide to stay with XP anyway. This is the end of the rational and reasonable part of my post.

<rant>
Now I?d like to address oxtail01. With all due respect you need to take a look at your own posts.

Strike One: You accuse Matt of being arrogant and trashy. Yet these are samples of your posts and comments on CNET: ?get a clue?, ?hip, maybe describes her size?, ?AppleBerry - sounds more like dingleberry?, ?wow - you really know how to say "sucks"?, ?How stupid is this??, ?The sales figure is pretty pathetic.?, ?Belkin sucks in real task?, ?Laughable article - CNET, get real?, ?Your pathetic rant don''t hold up!?, ?what scummy hole you came out of??, ?What's the fricking point of this baseless article??, ?All you geeks should stop crying about the price, when you're already spending thousands for all kinds of crap.?, ?There's NOTHING in this article that's worth consideration?, ?Unfortunatedly, such naive and brainless articles seems to be the norm for you guys.?, ?worthless reviews?, ?cheap gimmick?, ?piece of C...?. oxtail01 your posts are mostly trashy and arrogant and baggyguy1218 above is only one of many people who have objected to your comments.

Strike Two: In September 2007 you said about a review of Microsoft?s Zune - ?There's no reason for this article unless the author got paid by MS to push a product that NO discerning consumer should buy!?. But in March 2008 you wrote of the Zune ?it's probably the BEST purchase I made last year ... Ok, so the software sucks, but I'm willing to live with it?. Within three months of saying that no discerning consumer should buy one, you bought one? You continually say that you are not a Microsoft fan but that there is no viable alternative then you buy a Zune over an iPod?

Strike Three: In your comment above you say ?I'm no big MS fan and don't intend to "upgrade" to Vista?. However in your CNET profile, under ?My Products? -> ?Got It? at number 7, is (drumroll please) Windows Vista Home Premium. Dude, you own it! You don?t have to be proud about owning it, but you should at least be honest.

You feel you have the right to voice your opinion that Matt has a ?small pea-sized brain?. I support your right to do so. I feel I have the right to come down to your level and voice my opinion that based on all your blog-rage and anger you have a small pea-sized pee-pee that is probably floppy too. I assume you support my right to do this. Now that we are all supportive of each other?s rights I consider this topic closed.

</rant>

[Sumatra-Bosch]

Walk into most any hospital and you'll see NT everywhere. It works. It's well documented. End of story. And Microsoft is still issuing patches for critical issues knowing that certain industries are deeply vested in NT. XP is going to be around for a long time for a lot of the same reasons.

[Stariun]

You guys shouldn't be angry at the writer. It's his choice so you can't be saying he's harsh but I'm wondering how he's so sure Vista is a bloatware if he hasn't or doesn't used it.

Hmmmm.

I remember on time he reported some fake OS marketshare story claiming his source was from Hitslink (http://news.cnet.com/8301-13505_3-9937838-16.html) but when I checked Hitslink what he claimed was false.

He later wrote giving excuses (http://news.cnet.com/8301-13505_3-9938600-16.html)

What a writer he is.

[ChrisLang]

Yeah, I still use W2k too. Nice lean OS. You just have to use FireFox as your browser since most big sites now use AJAX highly and you can only run Internet Explorer 6 on W2k and it don't compile AJAX.

With the new release of FireFox 3.0 it now actually rivals IE's speed of rendering pages and no longer sucks the life out or your RAM.

I am only running a Gig of RAM and the machine runs nicely with just that.

As far as Vista, my server admin buddies are using it at home and this is why: Their girlfriends, their mother and anybody else can use the Vista machine and they are relatively safe from the stupid things unskilled users can do to computers.

I am a very skilled programmer, web developer and internet marketer, so why don't I have a Mac? Because I have a Windows 6 Mobile phone and I am basically carrying a computer in my pocket that flawlessly syncs with my address book, Office and beats any other mobile platform because of that.

Also since I develop sites in ASP.NET I need a server that can run the code to debug the app. By far the best web language to develop high end apps in. So, Windows server = Windows 2k = Windows phone. It all works together and there is no reason to go elsewhere.

Windows is what? Unsecured? No more than any other platform, it just happens to be the most highly used. If I was going to write malicious code I would write it for the most highly used OS.

What? IE in unsecured? No more that FireFox, once again it just happens to be the most highly used browser. FireFox is more unsecure due to the plugins installed with their own vulnerabilities.

What is the least secure part of your home network? Your wireless router. I can over run the thing in a heartbeat, take control of the router, plunder the machines connected to it and then use the wireless system to jump to the next router in your neighborhood and do the same. Lather, rinse, repeat. Firewalls, I went through 3 of them in a minute on my buddies machine just to see if I could do it and I got in through the router.

[Cyril Demaria]

I used XP for a certain time. Then I needed to buy a laptop which was actually provided with Vista (no choice, unfortunately). The first thing that I noticed was that my Philips webcam and my Sony MP3 player could not work with it - and none of the two was willing to develop a software for Vista.

Then, it's all about not being entitled to do this and that, about security alerts, patches, rigidity and overall... stress and frustration.

I am now considering to replace my laptop and... maybe buy a Mac and put XP on it. Or buy a Lenovo and *before* check if I can replace the (highly probable) Vista licence by an XP one.

My call: Vista is ready to go to the trash - and fully deserves it.

Now I must say that I am fed up with Apple too (hence my will to avoid their OS) and their exactly similar attitude towards users: control, limit and provide frustration (DRM, iTunes, etc.).

My new MP3, in case you wonder, is a Cowon (so simple: plug, transfer and play). I will never buy an iPod, a Sony MP3 player or a Microsoft Zune.

Sometimes, I regret the time I was able to really master what my machine was doing and even if I had to deal with Norton Commander and Dos commands, I could actually DO and understand what was going on...

From Zürich, Switzerland.

[purcell429]

To quote you:

"my Sony MP3 player could not work with it"

"I will never buy an iPod, a Sony MP3 player or a Microsoft Zune."

So which is it?

Anyway, your pissed that your Cowon (is that a real brand? Or did you make it up? Or is it some cheapo Chinese knock off?) doesn't work with Vista or OSX? Go call Cowon and complain, assuming they have a customer service center...

[cubeah]

I absolutely agree with oxtail1, since this is supposed to be a news story what has the authors opinion about anything got to do with news. If I wanted an opinion I certainly wouldn't go looking for him but someone smart enough waiting to be asked first.

[mikeburek]

@Oxtail01 - Why do you read CNet? It seems you have a problem with every article. It would seem you are the arrogant one, except that you are not even secure enough in your arrogance and you have to keep finding people who you can belittle. Is "oxtail" your own idea or is that what people call you because it refers to the rear end of an animal?

[mikeburek]

@Oxtail01 - Why do you read CNet? It seems you have a problem with every article. It would seem you are the arrogant one, except that you are not even secure enough in your arrogance and you have to keep finding people who you can belittle. Is "oxtail" your own idea or is that what people call you because it refers to the rear end of an animal?

[don woodard]

You got that right. Not only arrogant, but a total Krap head as well. I am so tired of Cnet ludites that are stick in 10 year old technology writing articles like they have something important to tell everyone. This jerk is most likely a Mac Maven and would not even know what to do with a 3 button scroll mouse. Cnet needs to update with some new people that know about the new technology and can write something that is not total Bull....

[Gunady]

From your blogs, it seems that you hate microsoft so much. What have they done to you? Poor boy..

[apexadam]

As a PC and MS user since 1985, I am equally concerned with Matt Asay's article. If MAC is the holy grail, why use any Micorosoft operating system. I say this with a bit of hypocrisy as I have made the comment in the last year of contemplating leaving Microsoft for Macintosh. Too much investment though. I find it pretty ridiculous that a man is commenting on XP or Vista when he is a self-avowed MAC fan who uses the stable but cryptic NT/2000 OS. That's what MAC people wish were true, that like NT/2000, Microsoft never moved past the DOS ages. All you MAC fans, tell me, do you a use a single button mouse?

Perplexed,
apexadam

[ribarra]

I agree with Cyril. Vista has lesser support. last week I was about to purchase a laptop from HP. They only came with Vista and I for my job, I use software not compatible with Vista. So called them to see if I could obtain credit for not receiving the operating system, and they said that it was not possible. I looked up on other brands and it was the same story.

Yesterday, I accessed again HP's website and found that they were offering "Vista with free downgrading to XP". Hooray for HP; vou've got a new customer! Greetings from Lima, Peru.

[misticdog44]

i have grown so tired of all the looser xp crowd.VISTA ROCKS you could not pay me to have xp agian,If that was the only choice I would have to go MAC.keep up the goodwork MICROSOFT