03-26-2007

Microsoft Bumbles Vista at a Crucial Time

I recently ran across a blog post entitled Vista – Arrogance & Stupidity that takes a look at Microsoft’s new Vista operating system and its flaws. The article does a good job of detailing why users and institutions may want to avoid Vista for the foreseeable future.

  • It’s an exercise in frustration to try to upgrade an XP computer to Vista. Few Vista drivers are available except for new devices designed for Vista, and manufacturers don’t plan any.
  • Even many current printers don’t have Vista drivers, and many never will. Developing Vista drivers and getting them approved by Microsoft is just too expensive.
  • Vista is effectively a Windows price increase. Vista Home Basic, shipped with lower cost consumer market computers, is rather minimal, This often forces a $79 upgrade to Home Premium (equivalent to Windows XP Media Center) or Ultimate for $139. Vista’s built-in Anytime Upgrade handles that – have your credit card ready. Actually all versions are on the machine but must be “activated”.

On a related note, Eric Steven Raymond recently wrote a detailed article entitled “World Domination 201” that explains the importance of operating system positioning as the world transitions to 64-bit hardware. In a nutshell, the transition from 32-bit to 64-bit processors presents a window of opportunity for competitors to overthrow Microsoft’s OS monopoly. The article goes on to outline a strategy that might help Linux to gain ground during the transition phase.

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Posted by Matt in tech | RSS 2.0

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