Version: 2008

Comments on: Microsoft e-mails reveal Intel pressure over Vista

Microsoft didn't want to have a two-tiered Vista upgrade program with both Vista Capable and Vista Premium Ready logos, but that's exactly what it got after Intel raised a fuss, and now the software maker is facing legal action.

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Hmm...
by NottaMacGuy February 28, 2008 5:28 PM PST
It's funny, I have a homebuilt PC that my kids use that has Vista Premium on it and a 945 based intel motherboard and a low end nVidia graphics card. Runs terrific with it with all the bells and whistles turned on. I continue to be amazed at news.com... bashing Microsoft seems to be the in thing for them.
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Maybe they're confused by the numerous lawsuits
by technewsjunkie February 28, 2008 5:38 PM PST
that are claiming the same.

You are blaming the messenger because you don't like the
message.
View reply
You need to improve your reading comprehension
by krosavcheg February 28, 2008 5:51 PM PST
There is only one place in the article in which the performance of
the 945 chipset is criticized. It says:

"Intel has the biggest challenge. Their "945" chipset which is the
baseline Vista set "barely" works right now and is very broadly
used. (...)"

Well, that is a quote from an e-mail written by Steve Sinofsky,
("the former head of Microsoft office development and current
head of Windows and Windows Live development") to Steve
Ballmer.

Now, if news.com is just transcribing what one Microsoft
executive told another in an e-mail, why do you accuse them of
bias?

No, really, WHY do YOU accuse them of bias?
Yes but
by MadKiwi February 28, 2008 6:08 PM PST
the fact that you are using a separate video card, even if a low end nVidia one, makes your set up more than Vista capable. Even without that card and using the integrated video of the 945 you would be able to run Aero, probably not as smoothly tho...

I dare say a 915 chipset based PC with an additional moderately powerful video card would also run Vista Aero.
Oh well what they mean is.
by Imalittleteapot February 28, 2008 6:41 PM PST
Yeah, the 945 is a great chipset. However, it doesn't support the required hardware extensions, or least doesn't support them well enough, to run the full Aero experience.

You have a separate dedicated video card that basically bypasses that chipset and never uses the graphics of it. My computer has similar setup.

Aero doesn't need a super powerful video card, but the card does require newer features built in to the hardware to support Aero.

The problem is they advertised that the chipset could run Vista alone without any help from a dedicated card. Now the debate is if Vista without Aero can really be considered Vista, and if customers were duped into buying a computer they thought could run Aero that couldn't actually run Aero.
...ummm...
by BIGELLOW February 28, 2008 9:01 PM PST
...what you said only backs up this article, so I'm not sure what point you were trying to make. The article clearly states that the 945 based motherboard is fine... it is the 915 motherboard that is a problem. Machines that that motherboard should have never gotten a sticker, and there should never have been a lesser version of Vista. If you're not going to have the Aero interface, you're much better off with XP. That's not Microsoft-bashing, it's just fact.

In fact, a lot of the quotes shown are directly from Microsoft's own managers and employees. They realized bad decisions were being made, but nobody could (or wanted to) do anything about it, because there is so much corruption in the corporation.
difference...
by SeizeCTRL February 29, 2008 6:34 AM PST
You are running a separate video card. If you were relying on the onboard video from the graphics chipset, you would not have the power to run Aero. That nVidia card makes all the difference in the world when it comes to graphics horsepower.
You bet
by Fil0403 March 1, 2008 12:23 PM PST
I find it funny too, just like I find funny almost any Microsoft story on the general (biased) media today. They don't really care if, in reality, Windows Vista Home Premium runs terrific with all the bells and whistles turned on on an average PC, they still prefer to give the idea you have to have a beast of a machine to run Windows Vista (sells better next to the huge Microsoft-haters ignorant community, you know?). News.com is not the only one amazing me, but it's certainly around the top spot, LOL... Bashing Microsoft is the "in" thing for any tech news site that wants to be successful nowadays.
an already rocky relationship
by darthstupid February 28, 2008 7:16 PM PST
intel has very much of a love/hate relationship with microsoft. they are dependent on microsoft to release new operating systems that push new hardware. however with that comes a rocky relationship as microsoft has bullied intel over the years to support various standards microsoft created.

in any case i think the two-tiered upgrade and the support for a few old intel graphics chips are the least of vista's problems...
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Microsoft is just dumb, REAL dumb.
by tfosorcim February 28, 2008 7:38 PM PST
After all its appearances in courts of law, and the legions of lawyers who run Microsoft, it still hasn't learned THE one basic rule of law: you lie once and your credibility is toast.
Why did you even respond to this blog, Microsoft. Your response is, a priori, a lie.
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Actually, that is not the case
by Leria February 28, 2008 8:09 PM PST
That if you lie once your credibility is toast in a court of law. To be blunt, there are times when people are forced to lie in order to protect their jobs, and that is the category I put most of Microsoft and their lackeys lies into: people trying to protect their business, because usually they didn't know that they were doing something wrong.
View all 3 replies
Well YES and a big NO
by eldernorm February 29, 2008 8:05 PM PST
When an underling lies to protect their job, I totally understand.
They have NO control and way.

OK, now lets talk about the execs that run the company. They
totally do not care about you and I. They have their millions to
keep them warm. And so what if you are stuck buying their
crappy pushed out the door, sold to the highest bidder junk.

Apple now makes hardware and software that runs everything
including Microsoft software. Buy crap lie to you junk or buy
the best. Its up to you.

PS. If you are a MS fanboy or getting paid by MS to say
conflicting things to confuse people, make your money now. It
does not look like it will last. A Billion here, a billion there, soon
a company can run out of money. :-)

en
I feel bad for Microsoft
by Josh Viney February 28, 2008 7:46 PM PST
I don't know why but I feel bad for them. They let external pressure from one of their most important partners push them into making a poor product marketing decision. It happens, and they'll have to suffer the consequences.

If anything the actual implementation of the strategy is to blame, not the idea behind it. What consumer could possibly tell the difference between Vista Capable and Vista Premium Ready? Even a MS executive didn't know the difference. Do you think the kid at BestBuy who sold the laptop knew? No way.
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What the?
by alabamer February 28, 2008 7:55 PM PST
Even Ballmer's response was a joke... This guy doesn't even
know what's going on, nor does he care... Then these comments
about "my 945/915 runs great and all I did was upgrade my
graphics processor..." Don't respond to articles like these... You
don't even know what they're talking about!

I don't feel sorry for Microsoft... They're still living in the days
when everyone bought their OS as soon as MS released it....
They think we need more... At one time, yeah, we NEEDED
Win3.1... At one time, yeah, we NEEDED Win95... Time have
changed. We don't need a new operating system. We need one
that works. Aero is a joke. It doesn't help anything.

My experience with the junk that is Vista is this: Oh you want
do some networking? great - I challenge you to find where we
hid it... You want to print? Cool! Where do you think we hid
that one? You want to run a remote desktop? Good luck finding
where we put that! And then when you do find what you're
looking for, everything is different and it may or may not work.
Spending time trying to get simple things working is a waste of
time. Nothing wrong with XP in that regard.
Reply to this comment
Alabamer: Is XP your first operating system?
by cinupina February 28, 2008 8:31 PM PST
If not, why did you upgrade? Was 95 or 3.1 not enough for you??
View all 3 replies
LMAO
by SeizeCTRL February 29, 2008 6:41 AM PST
CTRL+P prints in Vista just like it prints in XP. No need to drag around with the mouse and click around a few times till you find it.

The only thing that threw me for a loop in where something was hidden was the change of ADD / REMOVE PROGRAMS... and even then, that just took 10 seconds of looking at the icons and their descriptions in Control Panel.

Vista isn't that much different than XP. Then again, when XP first came out, everyone was like **** what have they done? where is everything??? XP is teh suck!!!11! It happens every time Microsoft puts out a new OS. It will happen again with Windows 7.

I actually enjoy Vista64 minus some driver problems which the only being Microsoft's problem is for their fingerprint reader which has no Vista64 support. My HP 7660 printer has limited Vista64 support using a 5600 series driver.
Agreed
by danielz40 February 29, 2008 3:01 PM PST
They have the monopolistic attitude, hopefully it will be short lived. What the hell is wrong with all those linux people? Don't they see an opportunity here, can't they fix their interface? People want a uniform, pleasing, stable, and inexpensive graphical interface. Where the he$$ is it?
Really, no one who has any brains
by Leria February 28, 2008 8:05 PM PST
Would buy a notebook computer even with a 945 chipset from Intel expecting it to run Aero. To be blunt, I turned off Aero on my computer that has the 945 integrated graphics chipset because it is simply not fast enough to run Aero no matter what I do to try to make it faster, including updating drivers and putting more RAM into my computer.

Even the 965 graphics chipset cannot handle Aero according to numerous other organizations who have tested it..... bluntly, Intel needs to get the **** out of the graphics chipset business and leave it to NVidia, ATi and others who have offerings comparable to those two companies chipsets.
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Interesting.
by Imalittleteapot February 28, 2008 8:38 PM PST
With new computers the cost of Windows is factored in one way or another unless maybe it is on sale.

If I bought a defective television I?d take it back to the store.

If I bought a TV that was too big for my living room I?d take it back to the store even if it did work.

How come, when your Vista computer didn?t work you didn?t return it? Technically, you paid for it, and you couldn?t use one of its flagship features. Instead of taking it back you just said, ?Oh well.? I don?t understand that.

Isn?t that kind of like buying a color TV to find out everything comes in as black and white?
View reply
You're obviously not in IT.
by Penguinisto March 1, 2008 9:44 AM PST
Embedded video chipsets are built for one purpose: To provide
basic but usable video for machines that have no need or use for
a full-sized GPU; servers and workstations to be precise.

Incidentally, ATI builds them as well. ;)

Do you even have a clue as to what else the 945 chipset does?
It's the designation for the entire [i]motherboard[/i] chipset,
idiot.

[i]"I turned off Aero on my computer that has the 945 integrated
graphics chipset because it is simply not fast enough to run
Aero no matter what I do to try to make it faster"[/i]

Funny... I have one that runs Linux Desktop Effects very nicely,
and those offer a lot more effects and graphics eye-candy
available than Aero could ever hope to have.

This says plainly that MSFT screwed the pooch, not the other
way around. Bluntly, Microsoft needs to "get the *** out of the
graphics business" and leave it to OSX, Linux, and those who
have offerings and coding skills comparable to those two
products' abilities. ;)


/P
View reply
Intel and Graphics
by xray777 February 28, 2008 9:02 PM PST
Someone said it best: Intel should get the **** out of graphics.

Anyone who purchases a computer and expects to use the Intel graphics chipset for any advanced applications (i.e. Vista) lacks experience and/or knowledge, and is asking for heartache. This has ALWAYS been true (for the entire time I have purchased dozens of computers over the years). They are simply behind the curve. ALWAYS spend the extra $50 or whatever to get the NVidia or ATI upgrade with your computer.

Intel graphics = a bad joke. Microsoft should have known that.
Reply to this comment
Sad, really sad
by J. Blow February 28, 2008 9:32 PM PST
Everyone at MS knew what the right thing to do was and they... CAVED? They are getting paid millions to do the right thing and they blew it. What a pathetic situation.
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Shame on Microsoft & Intel How Do They Sleep at Night?
by siranthony February 28, 2008 9:56 PM PST
Common folk's, it's right there, been there for ages, these guys have for years shared the code during development so everyone is onboard at launch. This includes any company that needs to have drivers and dll's ready for prime-time. Yet it never fails, every roll out has missing drivers and dll's. Which reeks havoc for the consumer.

The only difference then and now, is the grand scale this fiasco's reached. So I ask; "Why is it the computer industry is allowed to sell defective products without having to take responsibility or be held accountable?"

I mean this is on a scale that has cost the consumer hundreds, if not thousands in recovery time, that goes beyond the OS or hardware. How much of that data was non-recoverable?

It does not matter whether it was an heirloom picture of your grandchild, or an important contract you wrote to run your business.

It is time to upgrade Consumer Protection Laws and hold there feet to the fire of accountability. Especially when the CEO's response is HoHum!

Microsoft is in need of a big ol` fat piece of humble pie. They need to show more respect for the most important person in there corporation, the consumer. They need to have their actions match their words.

It's time to stand up and voice your concerns in a manner that causes those with the ability to change this dysfunctional pattern, a call to action. I assure you, if enough folks use their voice and direct it to those that count, things will change sooner than later.

Otherwise I feel sorry for you, not them!
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Amen to that
by theoxygenthief February 29, 2008 12:43 PM PST
If i had to add up all the time i've spent on troubleshooting my windows based PC and the time I've actually spent doing what I want on it, sadly enough, troubleshooting will win out. When I was at school I had time for this and therefore I am now way more proficient with Windows XP's insides than the average Microsoft callcentre employee. Not because I particularly wanted to be more knowledgeable, but because it's what i needed to be just to keep my computer in a state where it remotely does what i want it to.

I now work on a Mac at the office that I set up myself from scratch WITHOUT having ever owned a Mac or spent a long time working on one in less than an hour. And it's been a year and I haven't even had to or wanted to change a setting since. I haven't had to argue with it, plead for or pray for it, open it or wonder about it. I used to love getting home to my own Windows based machine after school/college/work. Now I FEAR it. I fear what's going to break today, what printer is just going to refuse to print today for no apparant reason, what crucial moment right when i've forgotten to save for 2 hours a mainstream up to date application is going to crash at, and all the other productivity sapping things windows based PC's just do all the time.
I so very much agree, but....
by chash360 February 29, 2008 5:11 PM PST
It is a very difficult situation when your products percieved quality (a computer) depends entirely on the quality of the OS software which you have no control over. (this could change if someone would stand up and compete with M$, and beat them at their own game, Linux not being a drop in replacement for M$ OS's can not do this)


The very statement that M$ made this decision, for the benefit of Intel's forecast, should have shot off big red flares with SEC.

As far as the most important person in a corperation, they will even tell you to your face sometimes, that it is the shareholders not the customers. Modern corperations are run for the shareholders, for profit and revenue gains and not just sustained, it has to grow, and grow. Sustaining consistent performance without growth will get you liquidated, spun off, or sold by most BOD's, even though you are making a modest profit. They care little about the business, employees, or customers, they will do whatever it takes to boost the stock, and line their pockets.

HP, who was mentioned in the article, made it to where they are, because the founders, Bill and Dave, rejected this notion, and recognized that a companies commitments are to the business, the employees, the customers, and the communities in which they operate, not just shareholders. If you get the chance, read the book, The HP Way, it still is truly inspiring.

Unfortunately, the fathers of silicon valley have moved on, and the new generation has deviated from their great wisdom. Apple still has a little of the HP Way in them, HP of course retains some, and from the actions of Yahoo protecting employees, against the M$ takeover, I'd say there was some there too. But mostly its disappearing, because of the globalization of greed.

Once a company goes public, it no longer controls its own destiny, the Board of Directors will decide its fate, and their decisions are based upon putting money in their own pockets.
Typos and all
by nicabod February 28, 2008 11:11 PM PST
It was a real fun read!

It seems that the author also had some misspellings, omitted words, and typos of her own. Good specimen for testing a proofreading candidate.
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Vista - The Real Crime
by wreuvenspam February 29, 2008 12:51 AM PST
The real crime behind Vista is that Microsoft is forcing people to upgrade to a new OS for a lousy bit of eye-candy that any good graphics programmer could build in 3 months.

When Microsoft drops support for an OS, people are forced to move to the new one (new peripherals will not support older OS, bug fixes, security fixes) whether they need it or not. In the case of Vista they have even been forced to move to an inferior product.

The Justice Department will never "fix" Microsoft until they deal with this problem. For example, since Microsoft claims XP is now obsolete, why not force MS to turn the XP source-code over to the open-source community. I bet they would have no problem upgrading it with eye-candy w/o forcing people to buy a new version.
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Um, no
by sal-magnone February 29, 2008 3:03 AM PST
Yeah you know what you are talking about ... Why don't you write that eye candy for XP then? Don't worry no one will want any of the other features ...


[why not force MS to turn the XP source-code over to the open-source community]
Maybe because it belong to MSFT and not the users? You think?


[been forced to move to an inferior product]
Inferior? Really? That's news. Prove it.

[are forced to move to the new one ]
[been forced to move to an inferior product]
Forced? Wait why don't they just install Linux, run their software in a VM maybe, it's free? Wait, can't give away free? Why do you think that is?
View all 2 replies
Uh Yeah........
by cross platform February 29, 2008 6:49 AM PST
They had to do something. XP was simply looking older than some ofthe 3rd party software that ran on it! MS isn't the type of companie to turn their stuff over to open source so forget that pipe dream. Microsoft will have to keep updating their OS to keep up with the times or they'll fade away and something else like OS X will take it's place. Personally I'm using Vista every day ( on my 4 year old computer that I upgraded to Home Premium from XP in October ) now and have very little trouble with it.
Odd...
by J_Satch February 29, 2008 6:56 AM PST
but I haven't been forced by M$ to do anything. Still happily running XP on a couple machines and Linux on another physical and a couple VMs. Easily wiped Vista from a new laptop (with dedicated nVidia graphics) last January which has been running XP quite nicely since. Now, what was it M$ forced me to do and when did they drop support for XP?
View reply
Re: Vista - The Real Crime
by SupplyDaddy7291 February 29, 2008 7:26 AM PST
It is this very revelation that shows the hypocrisy and arrogance of MS. The launch of Vista was a disaster for the PC consumer. Vista Home Basic was a nightmare for the unsuspecting buyer. Recall that retailers were beseiged by customers returning machines that simply didin't perform to expectations. Best Buy was removing Vista and installing XP in an effort to satisfy angry customers. There were so many stories of disgruntled Vista customers and retailers being besieged about new computers not being able to run their programs under VISTA Basic.

MS has long been seen as really indifferent to the consumer. Their attitude seems to be, "We're the 'Big Dog' here and they'll take whatever we put out there for them." This is beyond sad. Pathetic is more appropriate. Now you say XP is obsolete. To quote Charlie Brown, "Good Grief!" Will it never end? Apple, please take note and avoid this pathway!!
Almost as corrupt as the South african Govrnment
by Regterhand February 29, 2008 2:26 AM PST
Almost as corrupt as the South african Govrnment HE HE HE!!!
Reply to this comment
Now this is on target
by sal-magnone February 29, 2008 3:05 AM PST
They should never have gone down that road.
Reply to this comment
Finance vs. Vision
by jowewo February 29, 2008 3:42 AM PST
Nowadays decision makers are solely interested in short term profitability. Who cares what happens tomorrow? They will jump onto another Board of Directors someplace else. These people view the world through numbers. Bill Gates lost the vision a Steve Jobs, a Larry Page or a Sergey Brin still have. BALLMER NEVER HAD IT!

The vision of the teenager who brought Windows to the world is long gone. What is left, is a software giant whose dominant position makes its leaders think they can play... And you know what? They are right. Do you really expect Microsoft executives to sweat over this story? Their salary, stock options and other financial goodies will keep them warm for a long time. Their accountability will be limited (or inexistent). Shareholders will be happy. The only one suffering the consequences is the consumer.

A reader commented that Vista runs just fine on his "base system", good for him. Google "Vista reviews" and enjoy the ride?

The reality of the situation is that Vista is a shame of a product. We had to wait 6 years after XP to receive a new OS. What a good one! Bloated, slow, still having driver issues one year after its release, software compatibility problems, Vista is THE product you should not get for a friend!

The bottom line is that CONSUMERS WERE TRICKED AND LIED TO when purchasing their computer equipment.
Intel, Microsoft, who is to blame? It might be a shared responsibility. Justice should (will?) be rendered.

Let?s hope that consumer rights will be defended, protected and enhanced.
Reply to this comment
sudo apt-get remove vista
by giant_david February 29, 2008 4:37 AM PST
That is it!
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Wrong language.
by ralfthedog February 29, 2008 5:46 AM PST
Should be format c:

:)
AMEN
by xnoxpx February 29, 2008 2:47 PM PST
even though it doesn't work that way.
Apt-get doesn't add or remove viruses/spyware !
More Simplicity is needed for consumers
by elliottdp February 29, 2008 5:58 AM PST
MS should take a lesson from Intuit. OS install features(because there's so much(bloat)) should mirror turbo tax's questionnaire format. Even though society is becoming more technically sophisticated, the majority of people still do not have the time or interest in doing the in depth research to learn the intricacies of computers and software.

Th OS install should ask question after question in order to install the required features in order to streamline operation and functionality. This would take quite a bit longer, I understand, but in the end, the consumer's experience would be improved. Unfortunately, MS is not interested in the user's experience. Steve Jobs has a better grasp on this than Balmer, not a perfect grasp, but a much better one.

The computer OS should not be like the tax code, it should be easier and more intuitive.
Reply to this comment
Another reason to buy AMD
by umbrae February 29, 2008 6:13 AM PST
AMD has been complaining of these types of practices for years. Complain about MS all you want, but Intel is far far worse: mainly because most people don't realize it and dont care or understand the hardware. Everyone sees the OS, but when things crash do you ever consider the hardware? Probably unlikely...
Reply to this comment
Yeap...
by SeizeCTRL February 29, 2008 8:16 AM PST
I've been Intel free at home since 97. I have no problem with Vista and Aero on my Toshiba a215 laptop with ATI graphics chipset. Vista runs like a champ on it.

I do consider myself something of an AMD fanboy, so I will always go with them first.
View reply
Re bate
by valet_cruise February 29, 2008 6:25 AM PST
Will Microsoft give a rebate to those that paid the outragious price for ultimate?
Reply to this comment
I knew
by morrie 52 February 29, 2008 6:40 AM PST
That when I was trying the Vista's beta release and RC1 and RC2,that my machine was only capable of the Vista Basic,so why they come with this coverall,instead of Vista Basic and Vista Premium Plus stickers,as this was confusing to me at the time.Heck this was me thinking they were better than me,and all this to not to let Intel's figure's suffer,sod the public,let them eat cake.
Reply to this comment
Good grief
by ivorycruncher February 29, 2008 6:48 AM PST
I knew there was a reason I always liked AMD more than Intel. I have always and will continue to always hate Intel graphics chipsets. I just hate it when Intel puts names like "Extreme Graphics 2" on its chipsets, because there ain't nothin' extreme about them. They are the cheapest junk video chipsets on the market, and you will find them in pretty much every single low-end PC and laptop on the market. Probably the only reason they still make them is because they're so cheap that the OEMs love them.

Any enthusiast will tell you that motherboards like nVidia's nForce line or the AMD 690G boards have way more powerful graphics than any Intel board. Granted, you won't be running any serious games on them, but they have more than enough horsepower for media center PCs and some basic games and stuff. Any Intel board would barely be able to do much more than run Vista Aero. Anybody who thinks Aero runs just fine on an Intel chipset has obviously not seen it compared side-by-side to a more advanced chipset.

I do agree that Microsoft kinda botched this, but I'm a lot more ticked at Intel this time around. They're almost exhibiting RIAA-like behavior. The RIAA is pressuring the courts to side with them in a battle to keep a failing industry afloat, and Intel pressured Microsoft into compromising their system requirements so Intel didn't have to sweat about ruining their bottom line. If you can't keep up with the latest software, that's your problem. Don't ruin everybody's experience, because it will only come back to bite you, as evidenced by this news. I have been somewhat considering using a Core 2 Duo chip in my next computer, but now I am definitely going to continue using AMD products. I have no interest in supporting a company that treats their customers like this.
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