Heeeere comes VISTA!!!!
p2pnet.net News:- Bill and the Boyz rely almost totally on spin- and adver-babble to sell themselves and their product. They swim in it. But if you thought their their equine excreta is about as bad as it can get, there’s worse to come.
The business community have had their versions of Vista since last year. Tomorrow, however, is WOW-Day, the day Bill Gates, the richest man the world has ever seen, will start forcing his made-over XP on ‘consumers,’ as all those hundreds of millions of gullible, hapless marks he confidently expects will make him and his merry men even richer, are correctly known, .
And this means media everywhere will be flooded with ‘impartial’ write-ups, ads, self-annointed pundits parroting PR bilge like it’s news, freebies, podcasts, you name it, and all devoted to trying to convince us to buy Vista.
But before you rush out, wallet in hand, you might want to read the fine print, and if you want chapter and verse on why Bill’s idea of what you need may differ considerably from what you really do need, go through Peter Gutmann’s excellent Cost analysis of Vista DRM.
Meanwhile, "Vista – the upgrade to the Windows operating system that runs on more than 90 percent of the world’s computers – is almost certain to be a product success," says the BBC, one of the main reasons being, "consumers have little choice but to buy Vista since nearly three-quarters of new computers sold this year will come preloaded with it".
Is Vista, "arriving years late and the target of critics and hackers," the, "last gasp of a dying giant, compounded by founder Bill Gates’ withdrawal from the day-to-day business?" – asks The San Francisco Chronicle. Or, "is it yet one more example of Microsoft’s ability to spend billions, borrow the best ideas and emerge atop the technology world?"
Meanwhile, "Microsoft could face a backlash from consumers over its pricing plans – with the cost of Vista versions in the US roughly half the price of equivalent versions in the UK," says the BBC.
"Prices for the OS in the UK range from about £100 for an upgrade version of the Basic package to £249 for a copy of the upgrade to the Ultimate version of Vista.
"In the US prices start from $100 (£52) for an upgrade of Vista Home basic to $249 (£127) for the equivelant Ultimate version. "
And, "Derek Wall, a spokesman for the Green Party in the UK, said: ‘So-called digital rights management (DRM) technology in Vista gives Microsoft the ability to lock you out of your computer. Vista requires more expensive and energy-hungry hardware, passing the cost on to consumers and the environment.
"This will also further exclude the poor from the latest technology, and impose burdensome costs on small and medium businesses who will be forced to enter another expensive upgrade cycle."
Microsoft has defended its use of DRM (Digital Restrictions Management) consumer control, "saying it is only acting on the requests of content rights holders," of which it isk of course, a major example.
Stay tuned.
Also See:
fine print – MS Vista: read the fine print, January 29, 2007
made-over XP – A WOW moment with Bill!, January 29, 2007
Peter Gutmann’s – Cost analysis of Vista DRM, December 22, 2006
The San Francisco Chronicle – What’s next for Microsoft?, January 29, 2007
BBC – Microsoft starts Vista hard sell, January 29, 2007
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January 29th, 2007 at 8:02 pm
Go on to google and search for
the longest suicide note in history
Only few people are saying same.
Only 52 pages of google searches or approximately 550 pages.
January 29th, 2007 at 11:23 pm
Despite what the BBC says, there is a way to clearly send the message that Vista is an unwanted presence as an OEM install. If there is an enormous movement of people purchasing a retail copy of Windows XP (or, better yet, Windows 2000) with their Vista PC, then wiping Vista off of the computer and demanding a EULA-entitled refund, Microsoft could easily get the picture. Of course, there would need to be a substantial amount of people doing this, and most don’t know that you ARE entitled to a refund of Windows in the first place.
January 30th, 2007 at 4:11 am
I just learned that the $6000 I spent on a home theater is worthless for doing what I want it to do. To let me watch HD movies. This really sucks. I’ll tell you one thing, Im going to use my system as I intended to. If I cant play an honestly bought DVD on my system, I will try to figure out where on the web I can download it. That is unless Microsoft, Pioneer, and all the other equipment manufacturers upgrade my equipment for free.
I have never downloaded music or movies, but I hear that it is pretty easy. It is only a shame that I have to become a thief to avoid being completely screwed. But it is beginning to look like there is no other alternative.
Any suggestions on where to get HD movies that will play on my system?
January 30th, 2007 at 5:16 am
I can see the hardware manufacturers getting an email that goes something like this:
Send 2 million to our numbered account or else your device will be revoked.
Two days later after hardware manufacturers ignore the threat the manufacturers keys are leaked and all of the manufacturer’s devices are quickly rendered useless. THANKS, BILLY BOY!!!
January 30th, 2007 at 4:05 pm
I’m surprised no one has mentioned Linux yet, and how there is going to be a mass exodus to it once Vista hits the shelves. You know the story, how Linux is going to rule the world any day now. I keep waiting for that day to come, but it never does. Me? I’ve given up on Linux personally. I’ve tried a number of times over the past few years to make it work for me, but sadly I always hit a dead end that makes me so angry I have no choice but to go back to XP. Poor driver support, lackluster software, gaming, and most importantly? Ease of use! They all need to be severely improved before we’ll truly see a mass exodus.
Since I really REALLY hate DRM, having been bitten by a form of it very recently, I’ll be sticking with XP for at least the next year or so, hopefully longer, and until then avoiding Vista like the plague (apt terminology me thinks). If it so happens that I absolutely cannot avoid Vista down the road, which I personally think will become inevitable when XP is no longer supported by anyone, then maybe I’ll look into running it on a sand-boxed PC made up of old hand-me-down parts. Hopefully Linux will be a more realistic option by then, but that is just wishful thinking. Linux developers seem to despise everything about Windows, refusing to make their OS anything remotely like it, and unfortunately that also seems to include the ease of use that I mentioned. Which is why there won’t be a mass exodus any time soon, at least not by the average joe home user.
I’ve been running Windows XP Pro since the day it showed up on the P2P networks, back in early October 2001. I’m sure everyone remembers the “corporate” version that was leaked back then. It has served me extremely well all these years. Despite all of Microsoft’s efforts, nothing has stopped from updating to SP1, then SP2, and all the little updates in between, security related or otherwise. The whole activation thing, which was new at the time and being railed against by the general public (Symantec had just started using it too) was extremely lame, and I didn’t want anything to do with it. Even then it was obvious what would happen as this type of control evolved, and so it has looking at Vista. I still feel that this is the wrong way to go, and I can guarantee you that if it wasn’t for these greedy corporate execs trying to control what I do, how I do it, what I do it on, and when I do it, I can assure you that I would have paid for the software a long time ago.
I really do prefer to pay for things, especially when it comes to well designed software. That includes free open source projects, which I will happily donate to if I feel it is deserving, which a great many are. I own tons of PC games for example, each and everyone bought and paid for. Well, except for the ones that use Starforce copy protection. I avoid those altogether, having chosen a long time ago to boycott any game that uses it. There really are a lot of things I wouldn’t mind paying for, if only these execs would get their heads out of their asses. Make it affordable, reliable, of decent quality, and above all ditch the DRM and attempts at controlling every aspect of your customers lives, and you will have ALL of my hard earned dollars on a daily basis.