Comments on: Vista won't be abandoned so here's how to fix it

Microsoft abandons Don Reisinger's plea to abandon Vista--and it's for that reason that Don outlines some ideas for helping Windows keep its OS afloat.

[Chiatzu]

Home basic is good....to poop on! I like the idea of trimming the excess and getting rid of the confusion Microsoft likes to create for its customers. Ultimate works. I'd bet a good share of Vista buyers dont' get Ultimate, but buy Home Premium instead. Even those two versions alone would be better than the muck they've got now. Microsoft obviously did all of these full to stripped down versions to take advantage of the customer confusion. They'll use basic for a while and discover it doesn't do what they thought it would or needed it to do. Bam. Do an upgrade over the Internet and charge it to the credit card. By the time you upgrade from one version to the other, you'd probably spend enough to buy the Ultimate version in the first place.

Open source is a great idea. But Bill from the get-go has been all about copy protection, proprietary code, and keeping his software close to home. I just don't see them doing it unless they have no other alternative.

I think Vista is being bashed because it deserves to be. It's a resource hog, slow to copy files, UAC gets in the way more than it should, too many confusing versions and prices, problems with older hardware and software, and lots of people are not liking it for their own reasons. We expect more from a company of this history and size, and they didn't deliver the goods for the money you have to spend on it.

[RichieVega]

Sorry dude, but you remind me of me about 20 years ago when the first IBM PC came out and I thought it was not gonna go any where, boy was I wrong at the time, of course I came from a MainFrame environment, so there. Where are you coming from to be so negative about Windows Vista. I have been running Windows Vista Premium since May 2007 and have got to tell you, I have loved it. I sure don't miss the "crashes" I used to so often get on Win XP, or Win 98...so that said, please consider that the next OS out there in the Windows world is Vista, and I gots to tell you not only do I like and enjoy it, but so do my clients and friends and family. I may not be a "major" revamp to look like Apple's latest OS, but you know what it sure has made networking, file sharing, file maninuplation easier and I haven't had any crashes since I upgraded. So there, negative backwards thinking person! Oh, and if you like "open source" so much then why not switch to the "fastest" growing and selling and pre-installed OS out there Linux and it million versions...lol.

[er3s]

1) Open Source? This isn?t a solution to every problem. The problem isn?t open source; the problem is trying to satisfy everyone. Remember how unusable XP was when it was released, but of course no one remembers that, they just remember they?ve waited so long for Vista and their old dos game with 55 C++ vulnerabilities won?t play anymore, so they aren?t upgrading. Vista finally offers users some control over what gets installed and makes you consent, Ubuntu and Mac OS have that, sure it?s not as annoying, but no one complains about typing their password when the installer runs on those systems. Microsoft can?t do anything right can they? Well if you can do better, start typing.
I agree that Microsoft has lost focus. What happened to the company that spit out office, windows and developer tools? We are now focused on destroying Google and Apple. Why not focus on making great products? Hire the best talent, give them a clear vision, and then go to town, it?s amazing what you can accomplish when you ?specialize? in what you?re good at. Stop aiming all over the dart board, maybe then faith might be restored. Isn?t that what we tell our Children, you need to find a niche and fill it.
2) Yes, why not one Edition, "Windows Vista". No home, premium, ultimate, or business. Just give us One Edition, like Mac OX, keep it simple stupid. Remember the spoof about the Microsoft iPod? It?s frustrating having to compare SKUs for my parents, so I bought them a Mac.
3) Yes, Google is search engine and an ad revenue giant. Do you see them making their own OS (maybe there are), but who cares, focus on what you're good at.
4) Online? Does anyone actually use live.com? Seriously, it's almost as bloated as hotmail. Stick to what you're good at OS's. Hell, I got rid of hotmail because GMail is so much better, why? It?s simple.
5) Incompatibilities. Things are going to break-deal with it! Didn't Apple make that shift as well, and now we get asked for our passwords to install stuff. If only Microsoft was smart and released Vista in the pre-2000 era, this could've all been avoided. And if you're going to install Norton 2003 on Vista or XP, you get what you get. Most people would never say, ?I installed Firefox 1.0 and it constantly crashes,? they?d upgrade. And why did you get Gram a PC, get her a Mac, it was made for her.
6) Faster... personally I find Vista faster in almost everything. Except deleting files. But apparently Leopard also has file copy bug, I?m sure if you look hard enough on youtube you can find it.
7) Product releases... if you really want people to buy it, and then sell it for next to nothing. Come on, OSX is $9.99 if you got your Mac in the last year... You can't beat that. Make your money off people who can actually afford, Corporate America.

[zcollvee]

Awesome!