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November 5, 2008 9:24 AM PST

Microsoft hopes to rebuild trust with Windows 7

by Ina Fried

LOS ANGELES--One of the biggest problems with Windows Vista had nothing to do with the software Microsoft shipped.

Microsoft's Jon DeVaan speaks about Windows 7 as the company kicks off its WinHEC 2008 conference in Los Angeles

(Credit: Ina Fried/CNET News.com)

It was all of the things Microsoft didn't ship. In the years leading up to Vista's release in November 2006, Microsoft changed course several times, leading to wasted time and energy for hardware and software makers that had made bets on features or timing that later were changed.

In a speech to hardware makers attending the Windows Hardware Engineering Conference (WinHEC), Microsoft's Jon DeVaan said that the company is aiming to rebuild trust that Microsoft will deliver products with the promised features and at the promised time.

And Microsoft is also hoping that most partners won't have a lot of work to get ready for Windows 7. "We have the tenet that if something works in Vista it really should work in Windows 7," said DeVaan, senior vice president of Microsoft's Windows core operating system division.

The company is hoping to improve some things from Vista, particularly start-up times as well as performance when managing a lot of open windows.

Battery life is another area where Microsoft hopes software improvements will make a meaningful difference. The company said that in some cases it is getting up to an extra hour of DVD playback and at a minimum, the same PC should get 20 more minutes of time in 7 than the same system would get in Vista.

That's the difference between a cliffhanger and getting to finish your movie, one of the Microsoft workers said during a demo onstage.

Click here for more news on Windows 7.

Originally posted at Microsoft
During her years at CNET News, Ina Fried has changed beats several times, changed genders once, and covered both of the Pirates of Silicon Valley. These days, most of her attention is focused on Microsoft. E-mail Ina.

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by orimta November 5, 2008 10:38 AM PST
I say go with Mac OS Snow Leopard instead of next generaion Vista. I personally made the transition one year go, and although I need Windows once in a while (doing it with parallels) - I will never look back ;-)

my comments at http://www.commentino.com/orim
Reply to this comment
by wolivere November 5, 2008 12:33 PM PST
The comment on your site.. is a little umm short.. I don't think you said anything. Beyond plugging your own site.
by kelmon November 6, 2008 12:18 AM PST
While I have also chosen the Mac route I would only advocate this to those people who are either new to computing, need the applications available for the Mac, or who are fed up with Windows. If you are already happy with Windows then there really is very little point in switching. I originally switched because the Mac had great Java support about 5-years ago and I'd had a falling out with Windows XP.

Basically, you have to WANT to switch.
by Mark_Anderson November 6, 2008 3:37 AM PST
Two points:

1) Nobody likes people plugging their own craptastic sites.
2) Call me crazy, but wouldn't it be better to see what the release versions of both products offer before making a decision?
by Commander_Spock November 5, 2008 10:42 AM PST
Well, since Microsoft (and IBM, Intel et al) did not deliver on OS/2... just how they (Microsoft) earn some people's "trust with Windows 7" will be left to be seen.
Reply to this comment
by wolivere November 5, 2008 12:28 PM PST
Well since that day MS took over the trust of the majority of the server farms, over 90% of the desktops... so..
by scottthesculptor November 5, 2008 11:35 AM PST
I totally trust Microsoft,
to deliver another buggy, bloated, interferring OS that won't run my old software.
They've delivered with Vista and I don't see why they wouldn't keep on the same track.

I switched to Ubuntu though I'm dual booting win2k until I can do everthing I need in Linux. Vista's firewall between the user and file system was the last straw.
Reply to this comment
by Lerianis November 5, 2008 12:33 PM PST
Cut the crap, scott. I have yet to find ONE older program that is not a disk management program that will not work with Vista totally. I have yet to find ANY program, outside of that one area, that doesn't work EXACTLY with Vista with an easy update or upgrade.
by scottthesculptor November 5, 2008 3:04 PM PST
So Lerianis what is new in Vista that makes you want to use it?
Slower interface?
Clicking 7 times for something that took one click in win2k?
Inability to watch an HD movie you own on your computer?
Mindless searches?
The ability to click yes to anything that pops up in a browser without infecting the computer?

Don't get me wrong, I recommend Vista - to noobs, grandmas, and computer illiterates.
by kelmon November 6, 2008 12:21 AM PST
@scottthesculptor

I'm no fan of Microsoft but you did fail to support your statement that Vista "won't run my old software". If you can provide an example of such software then that would support your position.
by Mark_Anderson November 6, 2008 3:41 AM PST
The trouble with people like scottthesculptor is that they come up with lots of objections to Vista and announce that it failed and then totally fail to back their assertations up.

What's also ironic is that he's dual booting two different operating systems - including one that can be best described as archaic - because he can't use a common pool of apps on one OS so, forgive me, but I don't think he's in a position to describe others as noobs or computer illiterates.
by inachu November 5, 2008 11:38 AM PST
Please Microsoft!
Reduce the code size!
Stop this bloat!
Optimize it!
Reply to this comment
by timber2005 November 5, 2008 12:07 PM PST
2.75GB for the 32bit Win7, thats with the Developer tools, unoptimized code, and such. I'd say they are on the right path so far for your wishes.
by Lerianis November 5, 2008 12:38 PM PST
There isn't really any 'bloat' in Windows XP or Vista. The code is about as 'optimized' as they can damn well make it. The thing that is taking up most of the installation space on your machine: the damn drivers. They should just include basic disk, motherboard, etc. drivers, and have you download the others online!
Just enough to get your system running.
by Seaspray0 November 5, 2008 2:05 PM PST
@ timber2005.

Whoo hoo! Do you have a link to the specs?
by Penguinisto November 6, 2008 6:54 AM PST
How about specs that matter? Things like RAM footprint, CPU cycles used, application speeds, a Sandra benchmark perhaps?

Disk footprint is easy to beat - the Linux kernel is only 50MB (before optimization), and with the same apps as Windows' pre-beta dist disk, I can use less than 0.50GB.

Give us some real numbers, plz.

/P
by Commander_Spock November 5, 2008 11:43 AM PST
Just how much of that "$700,000,000,000" of Tax Payer's is going to Microsoft?
Reply to this comment
by timber2005 November 5, 2008 12:07 PM PST
$0.00. They aren't a bank, they weren't in financial crisis on Wall Street needing bailout.
by Commander_Spock November 5, 2008 7:46 PM PST
Re: "[....$0.00. They aren't a bank....]" They are in the banks (their Operating Systems and Applications); and, at least this is what this article said:

"[.....IBM, Bankers at Odds Over OS/2 Migration Path
Vendor advises OS/2 users to switch to Linux, but ATM makers are leading push to Windows...]"

http://www.computerworld.com/softwaretopics/os/story/0,10801,83884,00.html

Therefore, it is quite apparent that they must not know what they are doing to be walking out empty-handed. Huh!
by Mark_Anderson November 6, 2008 3:43 AM PST
Commander_Spock, you do realise the article you refer to is from 2003, don't you?

Seriously, if you haven't anything sensible to say then don't say anything at all.
by ppgreat November 5, 2008 11:50 AM PST
"Microsoft hopes to rebuild trust with Windows 7"

Did they have any to begin with?!? I agree with orimta: start looking at the road toward Snow Leopard.

http://www.apple.com/macosx/snowleopard/
Reply to this comment
by Seaspray0 November 5, 2008 2:01 PM PST
with 90% of the desktop market, Yes, they had trust to begin with and they still do. As for looking for Snow, lets hope it doesn't have bugs like the file copy bug from the last release. I've not seen windows make such a major f#@k up like that since millenium's defrag bug.
by kelmon November 6, 2008 12:26 AM PST
@Seaspray0

I'm not defending Apple but there was the well publicised Windows Home Server file corruption issue...

With respect to Snow Leopard, I think the goals are laudable but I will wait and see what the final product is actually like. Personally, I was far from impressed with the release version of Leopard and it took them 3 point releases to bring it into a state that I will accept.
by Mark_Anderson November 6, 2008 3:46 AM PST
Of course MS have the trust of the market. That's why they have 90% of it.

I mean, seriously.

As for Apple, well their s**t stinks too as witnessed by the lamentable quality of recent product releases.

Anyone with any intelligence whatsoever is going to wait and see what the products available offer then make a decision based on their own personal circumstances. Of course the phrase "any intelligence whatsoever" kind of rules out 99% of fanboys, regardless of their affiliations.
by goodspeed8701 November 5, 2008 11:53 AM PST
At the end of the day when WINDOWS 7 is release i will ask you fanbutt to count from the first MAC os till date agains windows 7. Remember that Vista has sold more that their entire OS.

The world knows M$ and the rebels know Mac you guys are so outnumbered
Reply to this comment
by Lerianis November 5, 2008 12:35 PM PST
Quite true. Most people are just fine with Microsoft OS's, except the whiners who try to put things like Vista on such old hardware that it specifically says on the package that it will NOT work on that hardware, yet they still try and ***** about it later.
by kelmon November 6, 2008 12:30 AM PST
@Lerianis

Well, in some circumstances the whiners have a point. If Microsoft is going to label a computer as "Vista Ready" then it damned well better be yet we know that was not always the case. It's things like this that cause trust to be lost in Microsoft.
by Mark_Anderson November 6, 2008 3:47 AM PST
It's refreshing to see that fanboy idiocy isn't confined to one OS.
by t8 November 5, 2008 2:07 PM PST
OK, it is plain to see from the replies to the posts here that Microsoft is paying people to rebut the posts. They have been caught out doing this in the past, including paying a third party to edit their Wikipedia entry.

I am sorry but maybe one or two replies to comments that are pro-Microsoft I could believe, but not every damn one. Microsoft is back to waging their propaganda war by the looks of things. Hopefully people see those replies for what they are. A bunch of people being paid to try and counter what people really think about their bloated OS.
Reply to this comment
by Vegaman_Dan November 5, 2008 6:15 PM PST
Care to back up your claims with some evidence? I'd be curious to find out who is paying people here to post comments pro or con for any particular brand. CNET would also like to know as well, I'm sure.

Bring out the names and evdience. Let's get this witch hunt underway.
by jessiethe3rd November 5, 2008 8:53 PM PST
Seriously - people are just tired of the BS that's going around Vista - most of it is a bunch of crap. It was the same thing with Windows XP...
by Mark_Anderson November 6, 2008 3:51 AM PST
As has been mentioned we're not being paid, nor are most of the objectors particular advocates of MS or Vista it's just that we're sick and tired of the mindless crap that's being promulgated by sections of the tech media and rabid fanboys. Vista isn't a 'dud' or 'failed' or 'rubbish' it's actually a pretty good OS.

You may also care to notice that there are a number of entries in this topic alone that can only be described as blatant plugs for OSX.
by w6ras November 5, 2008 3:24 PM PST
I'm not a PC, and definitely not a Mac. I'm a human so I use Linux!
Reply to this comment
by M.Hat November 5, 2008 3:43 PM PST
Who cares about adding an extra hour to dvd playback? Talk about trivial improvements. Also, I've always hated CD-DVD Writers. The software was always more trouble than it was worth. In fact I had more problems with that system than everything else put together. I now use USB memory exclusively for backups and transfers. No more disk writers for me, if I can avoid them.

I have vista and xp on my computers and xp is definitely better. Why should the poor, dumb consumer have to pay hundreds of bucks for something that--in terms of speed and complexity--represents a retrograde step? Will Win 7 be another rip-off? I'd rather have lived with a system which improves bit by bit. XP with SP 1001.
Reply to this comment
by Lerianis November 5, 2008 7:13 PM PST
Wha? I haven't every seen anyone having problems with CD-DVD Writers, ever. Unless they were installing an upgrade to Nero, and even then you just run the 'Cleantool' first to totally blow away Nero, re-install it, and you are good to go!
If you have been having problems with CD-DVD Writers, you might want to look at your systtem. And XP with SP1? You are leaving yourself open to so many intrusions over Vista that it isn't even funny!
by kelmon November 6, 2008 12:34 AM PST
With respect, adding an extra hour of DVD playback is a reasonable indication of better battery performance, although I suspect that the actual length of additional time depends on many factors. My laptop currently lasts about 3 hours for DVD playback so getting an extra hour would suggest that my battery ought to last about 33% longer, and that's not a bad improvement. As a mobile user, I'll take any improvements in battery life that I can get as long as performance isn't degraded too much.
by boe_d November 5, 2008 4:57 PM PST
I would say Ballmer is the key reason that I distrust MS. I'm not saying Bill was an angel or Windows ME was a good OS but here are the things Bill didn't do with Windows ME -

1 - Insist that all sales of Windows 98 were reported as sales of Windows ME
2 - Insist that Windows ME was the most popular MS OS
3 - Insist that hardware vendors must sell Windows ME (Yes eventually Ballmer backed down on this for a little while)
4 - Insist everyone who hated it was crazy
5 - Spend $300 million trying to convince people it didn't suck
6 - Ignore a petition by over 200,000 individuals to continue selling Windows 98

I think what he did do was something like say - yup, it sucks. We screwed up. Let's drop this like the bad penny that it is and move on with a better OS immediately. Let's not try to put any lipstick on this pig - it is a waste of resources.
Reply to this comment
by Lerianis November 5, 2008 7:14 PM PST
Well, I have to agree. On Windows ME, Microsoft messed up HUGELY. I wouldn't touch that OS with a 1500 foot pole! But with all of their other operating systems, Microsoft has done pretty good, especially since they have gone to making drivers run in 'user-space' instead of system-space so that if a driver has a problem..... no more automatic reboot of Windows, it just restarts the driver itself.
by Dalmatian28 November 5, 2008 10:24 PM PST
I just installed copy of Windows 7 on November 2 on one of my desktops....I got to say that it much more polished than Vista. I am running it on duel-core with only 1Gb of RAM, works pretty good. It boots really fast...but again if you have good hardware with clock speed over 3 Ghz... Vista will boot fast too! I am running my copy on 2.6 Ghz core two duo and ....feels light like Windows XP. If you have XP and wants something that works as well but with much better interface and all the freedom ....7 is way to go!!!
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by Sausagebiscuit November 6, 2008 5:15 AM PST
duel-core huh? are they always fighting each other, or is it a love-hate relationship. I wonder if you meant dual-core.
by mtoc November 6, 2008 3:00 AM PST
seeing is believing! SHOW ME!
if MSFT does not communicate with prospective users they are headed for another VISTA / TITANIC.
also, cut the fancy theatrics. give us a stable, fast and usefull OS.
once again, I will wait a while when it comes out to adopt. I will change if it proves superior to what I am using now, which is XP.
Reply to this comment
by Worf101 November 6, 2008 4:34 AM PST
I've an authorised copy of Windows Vista Ultimate in my desk at home. I tried it 2 different times on my home machine for two weeks per instance. Each time due to hardware probems I uninstalled it. Before you start screaming about my rig "being a s stone tablet I'm running the following:

AMD Athlon 64Fx-60
HIS X3870 PCI-E
MSI K8N Neo4 Platinum MB
2 Gig of A-Data unbuffered Ram
2 Samsung Spinpoint 500 Gig Harddrives in Raid 1
DVD ASUS 16X DVD
DVD+/-RW PLEXTOR|PX-712A
CPU FAN Thermaltake Silentboost K8
Cooler Master Stacker 830 RC-830-SSN2-GP Full Tower
BFG 650 Watt PSU
SB Audigy 2Z Platinum Sound Card
Dell Ultrasharp 2005FPW 20.1 Wide Flat Panel

I built it myself some years ago. I know it's no screamer BUT it does run the OS fairly well. Problem was/is that I'm a flight simmer and combat junky. I've thousands invested in my modded Uber-Cougar HOTAS system, Vista just wouldn't run it consistently and smoothly. So my problems were specific to several pieces of very expensive hardware. In the end I'd rather be able to use my multi thousand dollar investment under XP than be cursing at it under Vista.

I'll probably try Vista again when I build a new Denab rig next Spring. Then I'll be in 4 gig territory and will try the 64 bit version of the OS if 7's release is not immenent.

Da Worfster

I've not tried it since SP
Reply to this comment
by Mark_Anderson November 6, 2008 4:50 AM PST
Hi,

Fair enough - you may want to try SP1 and the latest AMD drivers though. I haven't used AMD cards for a while now but the 8800GTS I have certainly improved with the newer set from nVidia.
by Sausagebiscuit November 6, 2008 5:21 AM PST
First, I agree with Mark_Anderson. Graphics drivers have really become stable as of late. Anyone remember nvidia and early Vista? UGH.

Also note, that it is not totally Vista's fault for hardware issues. If the hardware vendors can't get good drivers out the door, then it too is their problem. Of course, as some have noted, Vista changed way to much on what was going to be included and thus made it hard for hardware vendors to code proper drivers until the platform had matured. I'd say the blame is about 60/40 Microsoft/Vendors.
by morningowl67 November 7, 2008 8:05 AM PST
Uhm, we operate enterprise and have just been notified on a corporate level not to deploy Vista. It is simply too unreliable, slow, and incompatible with many software packages and hardware we use even though all of it is consistent. I was very happy my boss gave me permission to roll back to XP on my system as an IT guy. Now I can actually be productive!

The company has decided to wait for Windows 7 for our next upgrade, skipping Vista altogether due to all of the issues with it. Kind of reminds me of the launch of Windows ME, another of Microsoft's huge failures.
Reply to this comment
by Dalkorian November 7, 2008 9:06 AM PST
Rebuild trust? HA! No, thanks. Screw me once, shame on you. Screw me twice, shame on me. I consider the WGA bug I was forced to suffer in ex-pee a screwing. NEVER AGAIN. Call it what you want, winblows 7 is nothing more than a fista service pack (sp2? sp3??), relabeled to get away from all the horrific publicity that fista has earned and truly deserves. With all the kill switches M$ has woven into fista's design (WGA and that Malicious Tool Removal junk are all there, just deeper into the OS), no one but M$ owns a machine that has winblows installed on it. M$ can pay the likes of Lerianis and Mark_Anderson all it wants to lie to people and tell them how wonderful enslavement to fista is, but it won't convince me to bend over again. My computer is mine, I bought and paid for it and I expect to be able to do what I want with it when I want. Linux lets me do that, winblows interferes at M$'s discretion. It doesn't take rocket science to figure that one out!
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About Beyond Binary

During her years at CNET News, Ina Fried has changed beats several times, changed genders once, and covered both of the Pirates of Silicon Valley. These days, most of her attention is focused on Microsoft.


Beyond Binary is a look at how technology is changing our lives and the people behind all that life-changing stuff, with an extra emphasis on that which emanates from Redmond, Wash.

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