Comments on: Microsoft unveils new betas for Office, Vista

With the test releases, Redmond wants to demonstrate that it's on track after missing several deadlines.

[nmcphers]

Last Paragraph

So what does the last paragraph has to do with the rest of the article?:

"The Motorola phone will be "dual-mode," meaning it can either make traditional phone calls or make calls over the Internet through a partnership with Verizon. In addition, the phone will be able to show whether messaging contacts are online as well as notify users of new e-mail and instant messages."

[rmiecznik]

Office 2007 Beta

I havn't seen Vista Beta, so I won't say anything about it, just hope it's better then XP because this is the last straw for me to hang around.

But I have seen Office 2007 Beta. Outlook looks more steamlined and I did acctually like it, but what I am used to as far as the Menus from Excel and Access is now in total disarray, from what I seen. Where is the File menus ? why did you make it like that, you are going to upset a lot of people with this upgrade.

[Captain_Spock]

"Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates"....

... according to this article has; "called the release of the three test versions a milestone, noting it was the first time that all three products had been at the same place in the development cycle." but my question is - what will be done differently this time around by the "folks" who were responsible at one time for the development "IBM's OS/2 Client and Server Operating Systems"... the thing is - have they (the developers) sat down with the financial and economic analyst among others who might be interested in running these new products in order to know what users need and how they work (and not what the developers feel they need and how they think they work) and; also, what compelling reasons will convince then to either move to the Windows environment from the Linux environment or from the Linux envoronment to the Windows environment!

[Peterbkz]

Beta Versions?

I can not for sure remember WHEN MS had a final release. Was it DOS 6.22? or Win 3,11? or Win 98 SE? What ever came later did NOT qualify for a final release, certainly NOT Win XP, which to this day - that is a good 5 years after its introduction - needs weekly repairs because of shoddy programming. It is really astonishing that MS is not capable to produce a real, FINAL product with probably tens of thousands of their own regular, employed programmers and how many more on contract in foreign lands. Just to remember: A hand full of programmers created an at least equivalent OS, namely Linux, free of charge! And now we are made to believe, that "Vista" fulfills our dreams of a better OS? Think again!

The essence of the problem is that Windows has always been a single-machine, stand alone OS, whilst UNIX and its derivatives were always built for multi-user deployment. Today, where networking in its broadest sense has become the essence of computing, DOS and it's Windows derivatives have never had a chance to catch up, because the basic structure for security and reliablity in a multi-user envrironment was never achieved. The DOS concept just doesn't lend itself to multi-user applications.

In view of the overwhelming majority of programs having been written for DOS, or Windows if you prefer - on account of the monopoly achieved by Windows - the only chance to run them is a Unix based machine with an API that allows for these programs to run thereon.

Imho the end of Windows is near. Its only a matter of time till the users understand that they have to rethink their future and abandon an idea that has outlived its time.

Peter B. K.

[rcrusoe]

Re: Beta Versions

I used to consider any Windows version a beta until the release of
it's first service pack. With XP, IMO, beta testing ended with the
release of SP2.

Considering how many years the Vista schedule has slipped, its
entire production run may end with it still in Beta.

[Take the Red Pill]

Software is never "final"

Even your beloved Linux has regular updates to its kernel (not to mention the software packages piled on top of it).

Hey, look!

It's OS X Tiger MS edition! YAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAY!

Now if only they tossed all of the legacy code, and made their OS closed off and built for multiple users instead of just tacked on somehow, maybe it'd be a decent OS. MAYBE.

[mactechie--2008]

Visually awful!

God I hope there is an option to revert to an Office
2003 theme! That is really ugly!

[superman9956]

oh my god

his this guy a idoit this looks awsome