- Related Stories
-
Week in review: Vista on the horizon
January 26, 2007 -
Week in review: Apple shines, then sours
January 19, 2007 -
Week in review: Apple steals the show
January 12, 2007
After many delays, Microsoft finally released the consumer version of Vista to yawns and trepidation.
The Vista launch itself was a quiet affair in a midtown Manhattan CompUSA store (the chain had organized midnight events at several of its stores), where it seemed like there were just as many reporters and camera crews as there were customers hoping to take home a copy of Vista.
Indeed, there was more to the late-night event at CompUSA than Microsoft's new operating system. The store had offered up a smattering of impressive deals on tech gear and peripherals--including Bluetooth headsets, Webcams, printers and monitors--designed to complement to the Vista launch. But it was quite clear that the majority of the people waiting in line were eager to capitalize on the slashed prices and had no real interest in Vista or Office 2007.
Microsoft may be glad to finally get Windows Vista out the door, but consider the PC industry the second-happiest bunch. After years of waiting, PC companies presented the new operating system to their customers this week. Some, like Hewlett-Packard, designed new systems specifically for the operating system, while others, like Dell, simply rolled the new software onto its existing lineup of products.
It wasn't much of a stretch for the PC community to get behind Vista. Many companies had been making plans to unveil Vista systems in the fourth quarter of last year--until last March, when Microsoft delayed release of the operating system once again.
While Vista is a leap forward in terms of security, few people who know the operating system say the advances are enough to justify an upgrade. Many say that is no reason to dump a functioning PC running Windows XP with Service Pack 2 and shell out $200 to upgrade to Vista.
"As long as XP users keep their updates current, there's generally no compelling reason to buy into the hype and purchase Vista right away," said David Milman, chief executive of Rescuecom, a computer repair and support company. "We suggest people wait until buying a new machine to get Vista, for economic and practical reasons."
While many CNET News.com readers debated the value of Vista's security, one pointed out that there is a basic security step available to all PC users.
"Regardless of what OS you're running, you're an idiot if your computer is directly connected to the Internet," wrote one reader to News.com's TalkBack forum. "You can buy a consumer hub/firewall (which will also network your home computers) for about $30, and it's more effective than any software AV/Firewall."
But beyond its improvements in security, there apparently is no guarantee that Vista will run on your PC. Microsoft offers Windows Vista Upgrade Advisor 1.0, which scans computers for Vista readiness, indicates which of four versions will adequately run and makes upgrade recommendations, should hardware need help.
CNET and other tech sites also offer free tools to analyze a PC's Vista readiness and version compatibility. Still, such tools won't absolutely certify that consumers will be able to run the version of Vista they pay for, analysts say.
Another point to consider: while Microsoft's tool, and others like it, provide a general indication of whether a computer is Vista-compatible, they do not let users probe to see if specific features--such as Vista's new graphical interface or BitLocker drive encryption--will work. Microsoft's list of requirements for optimally running Vista Ultimate, the fullest version, or other versions, is long and detailed.
Executive comings and goings
With the debut of Vista comes the departure of Microsoft's Windows chief, Jim Allchin. Vista hit store shelves on Tuesday, and one day later, Allchin, as promised, retired after 16 years with the software maker.
It's not yet clear how Allchin's latest product will affect his legacy. While early reviews of the operating system have been lukewarm, Allchin said he is confident that time will show Vista to be a significant improvement over previous versions of Windows.
See more CNET content tagged:
Microsoft Windows Vista, Week in review, CompUSA Inc., reader, vision
Even if it were a stable, innovative and useful OS(give me a second to stop laughing), the licensing terms, DRM, an even more restrictive WGA along with lots of code bloat, and a ridiculous price tag make it something only the most die hard MS fanboy would even consider getting.
In this case, microsoft is competing with itself. They've been telling the masses for years that XP was what they needed, and now they are going to have a tough time convincing them otherwise.
Even if it were a stable, innovative and useful OS(give me a second to stop laughing), the licensing terms, DRM, an even more restrictive WGA along with lots of code bloat, and a ridiculous price tag make it something only the most die hard MS fanboy would even consider getting.
In this case, microsoft is competing with itself. They've been telling the masses for years that XP was what they needed, and now they are going to have a tough time convincing them otherwise.
Vista is another ME. MS has the only OS losing market share. It will only get worse as the shortsighted design decisions negatively impact users of all levels.
MS is irrelevant and their weak imitation of Linux and OSX will only sway the most die hard(read: most stupid).
research reports as PROOF, are either SHILLS, or the people from
the back of the class (who also need glasses and are hard of
hearing).
"Dreaming of the future" is not proof. To submit it, is merely an
admission of your mental inadequecies.
Vista is another ME. MS has the only OS losing market share. It will only get worse as the shortsighted design decisions negatively impact users of all levels.
MS is irrelevant and their weak imitation of Linux and OSX will only sway the most die hard(read: most stupid).
research reports as PROOF, are either SHILLS, or the people from
the back of the class (who also need glasses and are hard of
hearing).
"Dreaming of the future" is not proof. To submit it, is merely an
admission of your mental inadequecies.
I did not mind the change on the location of things, but the default options were selected to be lousy. The security options I can understand, but asking the same question twice is a bit stupid and very annoying ("You really want to do this?" and then "Are you really sure you want to do this ?"). Various error messages dialog boxes were minimized by default and I had to guess which of the minimized windows actually contained errors!
If I will NOT upgrade any of the other computers I own. I would have to be insane!
I am sticking with XP and that's it, already switched all my other computer to OS X and their OS update will be coming out soon with real improvements, not this BS.
That's my 2 cents.
I did not mind the change on the location of things, but the default options were selected to be lousy. The security options I can understand, but asking the same question twice is a bit stupid and very annoying ("You really want to do this?" and then "Are you really sure you want to do this ?"). Various error messages dialog boxes were minimized by default and I had to guess which of the minimized windows actually contained errors!
If I will NOT upgrade any of the other computers I own. I would have to be insane!
I am sticking with XP and that's it, already switched all my other computer to OS X and their OS update will be coming out soon with real improvements, not this BS.
That's my 2 cents.
Although the word bloated is intresting, since once before it was mentioned. So we fired up, Bussiness, Home and Ultimate and took a look at resource use vs XP. Although it was more, it was actually not a lot more. Which in comparison to other launchs is not surprising.
I still remeber in 1999 asking my boss to let me upgrade our systems to 256mb of ram and being laughed at.
My list of devices not compatible are fairly short. I have not really had many issues at all.
Now my wifes system which was AMD/Nvidia chip set based, did have some initial teething issues. As the initial driver support from Nvidia was lacking. But the past 2 months of releases has made the system really fly.
except for the part where it took you two months of upgraded/
driver releases just to get where it seems to run mostly OK.
??? Me, I am sticking with XP for the next year or so, at least for the
desk top. For the Mac laptop, well, I want to see what OSX10.5 has
to offer.
Elder Norm
Although the word bloated is intresting, since once before it was mentioned. So we fired up, Bussiness, Home and Ultimate and took a look at resource use vs XP. Although it was more, it was actually not a lot more. Which in comparison to other launchs is not surprising.
I still remeber in 1999 asking my boss to let me upgrade our systems to 256mb of ram and being laughed at.
My list of devices not compatible are fairly short. I have not really had many issues at all.
Now my wifes system which was AMD/Nvidia chip set based, did have some initial teething issues. As the initial driver support from Nvidia was lacking. But the past 2 months of releases has made the system really fly.
except for the part where it took you two months of upgraded/
driver releases just to get where it seems to run mostly OK.
??? Me, I am sticking with XP for the next year or so, at least for the
desk top. For the Mac laptop, well, I want to see what OSX10.5 has
to offer.
Elder Norm
Now someone pointed out here MS is not an inovator, which is true to a point. They are more of a stabilizer.
I often think of them as the 15th and 16th century British empire of the 20th Century.
Although ruthless, and bloodthirsty, they ended up laying down a set of tracks that the majority of the IT world has followed. They brought there form of English, and the British common law to the world.
I have yet, to see they hype that we see with Vista, roll out of any of the other camps besideds apple.
Sadley what, one other has said is fairly true, I started in this industry back in 81 as a Unix fan, and ran most of my life as a Unix/Linux user. But, sadley there is no true set standards. There are so many various versions, core to most may seam similar but then it fans out. The major fault of the open source community today is that they as a whole can not come to a common understanding.
I can't count the number of various Linux projects we have had to shelf here out of loss of support from one group or another where a dev project just ground to a halt.
Although I appluad Novell taking on the roll to bring a more commerical stable platform to Linux that can be adopted by more IT shops. I think back about Novell, when they bought Wordperfect, and were going to take on the desktop world. My fear is Novell has had a rep of buying third party products to try and ramp up market share. But the products they tend to buy are already on the down and out. Is linux dieing? no, to many home grown fans. Is its market place in the corp IT world dieing? No, but its growth has declined.
I have sat at so many county meetings where 3-4 years ago, you would hear Linux mentioned around the room at least 20% of the time. And we are talking an IT install base of millions of users. Today, when we have our county meetings, its a very very rare thing to hear the word mentioned. Unless its tied to an appliance.
Now someone pointed out here MS is not an inovator, which is true to a point. They are more of a stabilizer.
I often think of them as the 15th and 16th century British empire of the 20th Century.
Although ruthless, and bloodthirsty, they ended up laying down a set of tracks that the majority of the IT world has followed. They brought there form of English, and the British common law to the world.
I have yet, to see they hype that we see with Vista, roll out of any of the other camps besideds apple.
Sadley what, one other has said is fairly true, I started in this industry back in 81 as a Unix fan, and ran most of my life as a Unix/Linux user. But, sadley there is no true set standards. There are so many various versions, core to most may seam similar but then it fans out. The major fault of the open source community today is that they as a whole can not come to a common understanding.
I can't count the number of various Linux projects we have had to shelf here out of loss of support from one group or another where a dev project just ground to a halt.
Although I appluad Novell taking on the roll to bring a more commerical stable platform to Linux that can be adopted by more IT shops. I think back about Novell, when they bought Wordperfect, and were going to take on the desktop world. My fear is Novell has had a rep of buying third party products to try and ramp up market share. But the products they tend to buy are already on the down and out. Is linux dieing? no, to many home grown fans. Is its market place in the corp IT world dieing? No, but its growth has declined.
I have sat at so many county meetings where 3-4 years ago, you would hear Linux mentioned around the room at least 20% of the time. And we are talking an IT install base of millions of users. Today, when we have our county meetings, its a very very rare thing to hear the word mentioned. Unless its tied to an appliance.
because it is like high definition Windows with the AERO interface! Dont' listen to these ridiculous Microsoft bigots (i.e. Mac, Linux users) on here. They are just jealous and trash talking Vista.
It is funny that you mention those two makes of cars. Both are over priced, ugly, bloated, and unreliable.
Haven't you been readin' the other articles (like all over the net). IT
and computer professionals are telling people to hold off
upgrading to Vista until the first patch is released.
Just wait and see how many people are in line for MacOS X.5 when
it gets released.
because it is like high definition Windows with the AERO interface! Dont' listen to these ridiculous Microsoft bigots (i.e. Mac, Linux users) on here. They are just jealous and trash talking Vista.
It is funny that you mention those two makes of cars. Both are over priced, ugly, bloated, and unreliable.
Haven't you been readin' the other articles (like all over the net). IT
and computer professionals are telling people to hold off
upgrading to Vista until the first patch is released.
Just wait and see how many people are in line for MacOS X.5 when
it gets released.
I sat in the live cast meeting about Vista and upset that I as a
reseller of Windows software are not getting incentives, but costly
material at my expense to promote Vista.
I realize that they want to narrow the gap. Where only major sellers of
PC's (Such as HP. Dell, and Gateway..) keep creating the "Throw away
PC's" and avoid patents and universal PC standards to reduce the
options for customers to just replace parts to maintain their PC's.
They are planning to help them "Macify" the PC market. Removing
generics such as Elitegroup, PCChips.. you know them. They sell
frequently on sites like Tiger direct etc.
Distributors like ASI, DHL, & many more rely on the PC enthusiasts,
system builders, and small IT professionals to use their parts for
system upgrades, and main board replacements.
With the new Vista licensing, this effects large companies who purchase
part replacements to maintain systems, expecting to keep them running
for 5 years. IT now will have purchase completes with Licenses, in
order to use new volume licenses, which they purchased in the first
place to REDUCE unnecessary costs. This increases costs for the
customer. Also, with the limited branding of Vista, computer
enthusiasts, and game fanatics who just upgrade their computers on a
frequent basis, may consider buying cheaper PC's since they may in 1
year replace their motherboard and processor twice a year to handle the
latest PC titles.
This increases the sales of more affordable PC's, with copies of Windows
Vista, but it is going to cause a backlash.
I have already joined the Ohio Ubuntu Linux chapter as of 4 days ago,
and plan on not re-registering my partnership with Microsoft because of
this. I will be able to compete still with Dell and HP with affordable
desktops with Ubuntu, which will soon support by April all major chip
sets and printers. Since many of my customers who buy PC's are not
power users, the desktop environment and "ease of use" will draw
customers. I would able to sell a PC with a fully operational office
suite and educational packages for the cost of under $500. plus for
only $50.00 add Cedega, which supports many Gaming platforms, or even
wine, which now supports many static windows applications.
I will still have customers coming in for support, as they might need
assistance to use printers and cameras with their new systems, and
since I know about looking at system logs in Linux, I will be able to
diagnose minor (but soon to be ) hardware failures.
This is going to be an interesting year. Smaller computer stores are
going to have to compete with larger computer manufactures, and generic
brands and Distributors are going to support this effort. Since now even
states like Indiana has made a demand to put their schools on all Linux
platforms, this is going to be also a new thing occurring here in Ohio.
The chapter here has already made headway. You can review the meeting
notes at http://ohio.ubuntu-us.org/node/2
I sat in the live cast meeting about Vista and upset that I as a
reseller of Windows software are not getting incentives, but costly
material at my expense to promote Vista.
I realize that they want to narrow the gap. Where only major sellers of
PC's (Such as HP. Dell, and Gateway..) keep creating the "Throw away
PC's" and avoid patents and universal PC standards to reduce the
options for customers to just replace parts to maintain their PC's.
They are planning to help them "Macify" the PC market. Removing
generics such as Elitegroup, PCChips.. you know them. They sell
frequently on sites like Tiger direct etc.
Distributors like ASI, DHL, & many more rely on the PC enthusiasts,
system builders, and small IT professionals to use their parts for
system upgrades, and main board replacements.
With the new Vista licensing, this effects large companies who purchase
part replacements to maintain systems, expecting to keep them running
for 5 years. IT now will have purchase completes with Licenses, in
order to use new volume licenses, which they purchased in the first
place to REDUCE unnecessary costs. This increases costs for the
customer. Also, with the limited branding of Vista, computer
enthusiasts, and game fanatics who just upgrade their computers on a
frequent basis, may consider buying cheaper PC's since they may in 1
year replace their motherboard and processor twice a year to handle the
latest PC titles.
This increases the sales of more affordable PC's, with copies of Windows
Vista, but it is going to cause a backlash.
I have already joined the Ohio Ubuntu Linux chapter as of 4 days ago,
and plan on not re-registering my partnership with Microsoft because of
this. I will be able to compete still with Dell and HP with affordable
desktops with Ubuntu, which will soon support by April all major chip
sets and printers. Since many of my customers who buy PC's are not
power users, the desktop environment and "ease of use" will draw
customers. I would able to sell a PC with a fully operational office
suite and educational packages for the cost of under $500. plus for
only $50.00 add Cedega, which supports many Gaming platforms, or even
wine, which now supports many static windows applications.
I will still have customers coming in for support, as they might need
assistance to use printers and cameras with their new systems, and
since I know about looking at system logs in Linux, I will be able to
diagnose minor (but soon to be ) hardware failures.
This is going to be an interesting year. Smaller computer stores are
going to have to compete with larger computer manufactures, and generic
brands and Distributors are going to support this effort. Since now even
states like Indiana has made a demand to put their schools on all Linux
platforms, this is going to be also a new thing occurring here in Ohio.
The chapter here has already made headway. You can review the meeting
notes at http://ohio.ubuntu-us.org/node/2
Where did you get that "Editor's Desk" mumbo Jumbo. Site your
source -- I call B.S. on your claim.
I am a PC (Windows 2000, 98 and soon to be Vista) user, a Mac
User, and a linux user.
It never feels good to identify with something -- like an
computer platform -- and then get "one's nose bloodied," but it
is high time that Microsoft FINALLY get critically examined.
For decades, the masses have jumped on to the Microsoft Kool
Aid machine and tolerated mediocre offerings: it is time to
advance our industry, not set up camp.
Mac users took this same kind of heat all through the late 80's
and 1990 and look what happened: Apple listened and
responded with a totally brand new OS built on the
underpinnings of Unix.
Grow Up.
Where did you get that "Editor's Desk" mumbo Jumbo. Site your
source -- I call B.S. on your claim.
I am a PC (Windows 2000, 98 and soon to be Vista) user, a Mac
User, and a linux user.
It never feels good to identify with something -- like an
computer platform -- and then get "one's nose bloodied," but it
is high time that Microsoft FINALLY get critically examined.
For decades, the masses have jumped on to the Microsoft Kool
Aid machine and tolerated mediocre offerings: it is time to
advance our industry, not set up camp.
Mac users took this same kind of heat all through the late 80's
and 1990 and look what happened: Apple listened and
responded with a totally brand new OS built on the
underpinnings of Unix.
Grow Up.
WOW - my scanner won't work
WOW - Neither will my sound card
WOW - what a rip off
WOW - am I glad I did'nt upgrade
WOW - I am glad I ran vista upgrade advisor
sound components built-in. Funny thing. When you buy a
surround sound system for the living room it doesn't require a
sound card. Why should a computer?
- Wow M y hardware won't work under Vista
- by tim-herty February 2, 2007 8:12 PM PST
- Microsoft Vista
- Like this Reply to this comment
-
-
- Hmm
- by eddddd89 February 2, 2007 8:56 PM PST
- What's your soundcard? Any name brand (i.e. creative), recent (i.e. Audigy 2 or later) card has drivers. You just have to download them from creative. I can't really speak to there being any way to get your scanner to work and this does seem to be a recurring problem with Vista and scanners that have been around for a few years. If you scanner is new, I imagine it will have drivers soon. Also, keep in mind that the upgrade advisor came out a long time ago. Drivers have progressed a long way.
- Like this
-
- You know...
- by cooldogjones February 3, 2007 2:31 AM PST
- ...Apple Macs don't have a sound card. They come with premium
- Like this
-
Showing 1 of 3 pages (202 Comments)WOW - my scanner won't work
WOW - Neither will my sound card
WOW - what a rip off
WOW - am I glad I did'nt upgrade
WOW - I am glad I ran vista upgrade advisor
sound components built-in. Funny thing. When you buy a
surround sound system for the living room it doesn't require a
sound card. Why should a computer?