I prefer XP to Vista. Am I alone?
(Credit: Microsoft)In an interview with Computerworld UK, Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer had some interesting things to say about the enterprise and its desire to keep Windows XP instead of switching to Vista.
"If you deploy a 4- or 5-year-old operating system today, most people will ask their boss why the heck they don't have the stuff they have at home," Ballmer told the publication.
Ballmer went on to say that it's incumbent upon the business world to make employees happy and comfortable and the best way to do that is to deploy Vista as soon as possible.
According to market research firm Forrester, Windows Vista can be found on less than 10 percent of all the computers companies in North America and Europe are running. Windows XP can be found on over 71 percent of enterprise computers. Ballmer wants that to change.
But his premise that an increasing number of people will be asking for Vista doesn't really make sense. According to research firm Net Applications, Windows XP still controls almost 64 percent of the worldwide consumer market. It's trailed by Vista and Mac OS X 10.5 with 27 percent market share and 5 percent market share, respectively.
Based on those figures, I'm not convinced that there are that many people walking into their supervisor's office wondering when Vista will be deployed at the office. In fact, it's far more likely that they would rather use something they know--XP.
But Ballmer's desire to get enterprises to switch to Vista has me wondering what's so bad about Windows XP. Is it really such an awful operating system that every company should switch?
No way.
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The annoying, more secure Windows 7?
(Credit: Microsoft)Last Friday, Ina Fried detailed an interesting report from blogger Long Zheng, who "is drawing attention to an apparent shortcoming" in Microsoft's desire to make Windows 7 less annoying.
According to the report, Zheng believes that because Windows 7's User Account Control isn't as annoying as it was in Windows Vista, Microsoft is leaving its users open to more threats by third parties trying to exploit vulnerabilities. Zheng contends that due to changes in UAC, "malicious code could turn off alerts entirely with the user getting little notice that such a change had been made."
Zheng said in a blog post that he and a fellow blogger, Rafael Rivera, have designed a proof-of-concept code to prove his theory. He believes, "at a minimum, that Microsoft's default setting (should) also warn users if a change is being made to UAC itself."
In Windows Vista, a UAC prompt popped up each time any major change was made to the system. Some users found that annoying. Realizing that, Microsoft decided that in Windows 7, users would be able to decide how often they want to be notified. The default setting in the beta release of the OS only notifies users when a third-party application is making a change.
It should be noted that Zheng's contention is based on the Windows 7 beta, which means practically nothing until the final build hits store shelves. Microsoft can change that setting at any time and make this issue go away. More importantly, it can be changed by the administrator, so the issue, while present, shouldn't be blown out of proportion.
But it's because of that setting that Windows 7 is less annoying. But should we accept annoyance anyway, if it means more security? I think we should.
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As of December, Apple's Mac OS X commanded 9.63 percent of the OS market, according to Net Applications, while Microsoft still led the way, accounting for more than 88 percent of the operating-system market.
But the real story behind those figures is Apple's meteoric rise in the market. Just one year prior, in December 2007, Apple controlled just 7.3 percent of the operating-system space--a record at the time.
There are numerous reasons why Mac OS X has become so popular over the past few years. Part of it can be attributed to Apple's success and its status in the industry as the most renowned and respected company to consumers. It can also be attributed to Mac OS X itself, which is easily one of the best operating systems ever made.
And most assuredly, part of the reason for Mac OS X's success is Windows Vista. Although it currently controls 21 percent of the market, it was a failure on many levels for Microsoft. Suffice it to say that compatibility issues, User Account Control annoyances, vendor and enterprise unrest, and poor PR contributed to the blunder that was Vista.
But now, as a new Microsoft operating system starts making its way to store shelves, it's incumbent upon us to forecast its expected impact. And after downloading the Windows 7 beta and immersing myself in its environment, I think I can say, both as a Mac user (I'm writing this on my iMac) and what some may call an Apple nut (I own just about every Apple product released over the past five years), Windows 7 will not only stymie Mac OS X's growth, it will push Apple's market share back down to pre-Vista levels.
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Microsoft fights back.
(Credit: Microsoft)For quite a while now, we've heard Microsoft claim that when it unleashes its barrage of advertising, Apple and the rest of the software industry will be put on notice.
"You thought the sleeping giant was still sleeping?" Microsoft's VP of Windows Vista consumer marketing said recently. "Well, we've woken up, and it's time to take our message forward."
And it looks like the company has done just that. In what will surely prove to be just the first salvo in an ongoing marketing struggle with Apple that could bulge to an astounding $300 million investment, Microsoft has unleashed an ad campaign saying we all need to learn the facts about Vista.
"When Windows Vista debuted in January 2007, we declared it the best operating system we had ever made. 'Windows Vista is beautiful,' The New York Times raved. It's humbling that millions of you agree," Microsoft's site says after clicking the ad.
"But we know a few of you were disappointed by your early encounter. Printers didn't work. Games felt sluggish. You told us--loudly at times--that the latest Windows wasn't always living up to your high expectations for a Microsoft product...Our goal is always to make each new version of Windows better than the last. With Windows Vista, we're convinced we succeeded."
With 180 million licenses in the wild already, it's hard to argue with Microsoft's logic. But the main question that Microsoft needs to answer remains: Why should I buy Vista if XP works so well?
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