Comments on: FAQ: Getting a handle on Windows Vista

The new version of Windows is about to make its debut for businesses. Here's what you can expect.

[landlines]

...or how about naming it "Alzheimers"?

...because, if history is any guide, the new OS will 'forget' how to read your existing data files, will 'forget' how to use your existing programs, and will not recognize you, your computer, or any of your existing peripherals.

Oh yeah...it will also forget the MS "we're really, really serious about security" pledge.

[198775425444042216790779840523]

Are they serious?

"simplify an array of other tasks, such as adding a PC to a home
network or connecting a laptop to a projector"

...they can't be serious...... I don't use windows based computers...
always have used Macs... All I do is plug the damn thing in.... or
open up the lid and I am connected.... Can't windows do this?
Connect to a projector? How can that be complicated? I connect to
projectors all the time...around the country.... i've never even
thought that it might be a problem.

Oh brother...

Well, aren't YOU a cliche. I think the whole "Mac user who is surprised Windows can't do ______" persona went out of style a few years ago.

As a professed Mac user are you truly as surprised as you imply you are by Windows' supposed limitations or are you just hoping we'll suddenly realize what we've been missing all these years and switch?

[zaznet]

It's not new either.

Yeah, I used to use a 386 Laptop and a projector many years ago. This is nothing new, just that most home users are not familiar with it.

Most cars have four wheels, but you still hear them advertise how good those four wheels are depending on the "new" features of any given model.

[TMB333]

What's the Date?

Why is it that this story claims to be published July 26, 2005 and the first 60 talkback posts are dated April 2005?

Is it that CNET recycles old posts from old stories to make it APPEAR that people are really interested in their articles?

[qazwiz]

my comment

my april comment was to a story that suggested a mid 2005 release

that has been pushed to august but only developers

us consumers don't get to see until next year thus confirming my thoughts

[Hallie Miles]

July 26???

Hey, at least it was from the same YEAR -- now it's appended to a January 27, 2006 story!!

What a waste of time...........

[msims]

NGFS was to Cairo what WinFS will be to Vista

Windows NT 4.0 (Cairo) and its future file system that Microsoft intended to develope for Cairo (codename for Windows NT 4.0) was called NGFS (Next Generation File System) was supposed to be released when Windows NT 4.0 went gold but decided to pull it out at the last minute.

Then what was NGFS is now WinFS and is currently still in beta test and won't be included in Windows Vista but will be released in service pack 3 for Windows Xp and latter in 2007 for Windows Vista.

[ip_fresh]

Windows Vista

Windows Vista brings clarity to your world, so you can more safely and easily accomplish everyday tasks and instantly find what you want on your PC.

David
http://hostcube.media-press-release.com

[omaryak]

Virtual folders = smart folders

People seem to forget that Apple was first to market with this concept first in iTunes, then in OS X Tiger.

We haven't forgotten...

...we simply don't care.

I have two Dell Dimension 4550s. These computers are 3 years old and they still aren't obsolete, despite what the marketers tell me. If I spend several thousand dollars, I can buy a pair of machines that are, at most, 40% faster and include a bunch of bells and whistles that aren't especially compelling. NCQ, DEP, and 64 bit extensions for software that for all practical purposes does not yet exist -- whee!

I am not going to buy a Macintosh to run OS X. I am not going to buy a MacIntel to run OS X. (OT: If you haven't guessed, I am not going to buy new machines to run Vista.) Apple has marketed nothing to me, and is irrelevant. Microsoft is going to market this feature to me, and I will eventually buy it.

Whine about who gets credit until you have a stress induced heart attack, but I spend the money, and I make the rules. I and a lot of the other 90% of the existing computer market are going to have more interest in Vista than OS X because Vista will run on my existing machines. Apple has had too little market share for far too long to dictate that consumers will have to buy new hardware simply to get a new and supposedly better OS, and that is why Apple is going to remain a bit player in both hardware and OSes for the foreseeable future.

[Mendz]

I'm a Windows fan

I like the way Windows Vista is looking good...

Well... Ok fine, I admit it, I like the eye candies of OS X so I'm just glad some of them are in Windows as well.

I am not exactly excited about the transparent window stuffs but really more with the new applications: Windows Defender (because it needs defending alright), Windows Calendar, Windows Mail and Windows Media Player 11 (beautiful copy of the centered Quicktime controls).

And of course on the technical side, Windows Presentation Foundation, Windows Communication Foundation, Windows Workflow Foundation and the new security (attempt) features.

Windows Vista = more yummy DRM

You will eat what you are fed!

How much did microsoft pay news.com paid for this article?

[k1t3]

Windowz pwn

Windows is the best gaming OS. Also, i hope they will include a free Antivirus in Windows Vista

[JulesLt]

Flamebait

C'mon. I know Mac users can be annoying, but OS X is a really nice
piece of software engineering, and certainly no toy.

If it was that bad, MS wouldn't be implementing so many of the
same ideas in Vista - and you can always drop down to the Unix
CLI if you want to do real men's work - although of course you
can't make the machines, even the quad-core G5s, look ugly
enough to convince people they must be serious.

[JulesLt]

Microkernels

More stable. Less efficient. Lost the war by being unable to
deliver - Apple's kernel is a hybrid kernel. MS still have a project
looking at a microkernel and one day a true microkernel system
may become viable - just as Unix was a non-viable choice for a
home computer OS back in the late 80s.

And yeah, the MS kernel has been pretty stable for some time,
but they're still plagued by problems caused by third party
drivers. (I know, I saw my first BSOD in years last week after
installing printer drivers).

Again - if the Unix approach is so bad, why are MS further
isolating the kernel from drivers in Vista?

[JulesLt]

Competition good

It's damned if they do, damned if they don't.

If they didn't put this stuff in, Apple fans would say 'OS X can do
blah'. If they do, they've copied it.

I'm a Mac user but somewhat realistic - and also aware that the
likes of RiscOS, BeOS and Sun all contributed ideas that the
public think are Apple's, just like Xerox did.

A good idea is a good idea. The best thing to do is better it, but
the worst thing to do is something different just for the sake of
it.

[JulesLt]

productivity

Funny, I'm sat here being able to use the scroll wheel to zoom
around, with the right click working, and the ability to instantly
zoom out 10 different windows using a single (middle) mouse
click (and it uses my graphics card to make that happen), then
zoom back in to the one I want. No alt-tab switching.

It's worth reading an essay over on Joel on Software on this very
subject. Anyone switching from one system to the other feels
that way - it's not working the way you expect so you find it
unproductive. It's not, it is just different. You have years of
skills built up using Windows that no longer apply, and that
makes you blame the system.

Mac users will argue that Macs are more productive. The truth is
that productive working methods are more productive.

Also the 'on stabilisers' comment is a bit off. You're mistaking
something that is designed to be 'easy to learn' as 'limited'. If
you want to take the stabilisers off, you can get right down to
the Unix terminal.

[rcrusoe]

Vista is Big Media's Dream Machine

IMO, Vista has been stripped down to XP SP3 which is bad enough. Add in its draconian DRM and a Vista computer will no longer be a PC (Personal Computer) since you will be severely limited in what you can do on it compared to XP.

As far as I'm concerned it will be a machine limited to those tasks that the MPAA, RIAA, and Microsoft choose to allow (subject to change).

That goodness that the day when you HAD to run Windows on a business machine are long gone.

[Llib Setag]

BFD

Big F Deal to you keeping your job at Microsoft is the real truth...

The Dawn of Vista = The Sunset of Microsoft.

[Llib Setag]

Get a long, Longhorn...mooooo!

C|NOT : "Getting a handle on Longhorn"?

does that have anything to do with the Zune's "squirt" feature?

Longhorn...in your dreams Billy "BOB".

[BillTheCat]

Business is business - not vista

I work with a major corporation that has thousands of Windows 2000 boxes running with a lot of custom software on them. When the company tried XP, everything failed and M$ told them to get new software. That wasn't a viable option due to time so, the work-horse systems remained at Windows 2000. That is where they remain today.

The company spent thousands of dollars and bought those extorted upgrade licenses only to find that nothing would be delivered for years. Remember those?

Buying Vista isn't even on the horizon as an upgrade and migration strategy. If there is another desktop OS, the future will probably not be a Microsoft product at all.

[Ryo Hazuki]

Business is productivity - not childish bashing

If that major corporation is stupid enough to not be sure their software is compatible with a new OS before going for it, that's their problem, not Microsoft's. And if you're going to talk about compatiblity, I'd love to see you naming a single OS that gives you more flexiblity in that field.

Regarding the so-called "extorted" upgrade licenses, I don't know exactly what you consider "extorted", maybe the fact you can't just use them in illegal ways.

What I do remember is many people saying Microsoft would never come out with an acceptable OS and now that Vista is coming out those people are simply being proven wrong.

Buying Vista may not be on *your* or *your company's* horizon as an upgrade and migration strategy, but I hope you're not assuming every person/company will be as dumb as to never upgrade to Vista, because a recent study by IDC reveals more than 75% worldwide enterprises are planning to, sooner or later, make that step. And if *your* future will probably not be a Microsoft product at all, if there is another desktop OS (yes, there *are*, you should learn before you talk), I wish you good luck making your software work on it, the rest of the more than 85% of the markt will sooner or later be running Vista, you can bet on that.

[bunner05]

Rip off

Sounds like this new version of Windows is just Microsofts way of
stealing all the stuff that Apple already uses... and this is comming
for a person who uses maily microsoft. Just another attempt by
Mircosoft to step-up to the Apple level.

[Llib Setag]

C|NOT: It's 2006 people...

What is with all the 2005 comments / responses from over a YEAR
AGO???

This is what happens when you update to MS Vista for BUSINESS
servers...