WinXP widens lead over Vista

[Adam Parker]

ORIGINAL: Jim_H

Here's one (more) perfect example of why Vista sucks: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/7126902.stm

What an absolute shambles! Microsoft must have had an enormous amount of complaints to do something like this! They certainly wouldn't make a u-turn with something as major as the anti-piracy component of their OS unless it was seriously fubar.

LOL! Jim this article talks about product activation that was introduced with XP, not about the performance of Vista.

[Adam Parker]

ORIGINAL: ravinhood

Thing is your average joe consumer doesn't build their own systems. You have a majority of users out there scratching their heads because their games and/or other programs aren't working when they PLUG them in.

Like the same folk who can't get their DOS games running past Windows 98. XP killed my DOS games for me - though I've never tried the DOS Box downloadable utility.

Hold one, Vista comes with XP compatibility mode built in?

[ravinhood]

But does it come with DOS compatibility like XP does for some DOS games? There's still plenty of DOS games I can play on XP without even using DOSBOX and man if you can't use DOSBOX you seriously have issues with easy to use interfaces. It's nothing more than mount c: c:\
and mount d: d:\ -t cdrom and you're in business. Man I'm 50+ years old and I can easily use it. Cmon you gonna let an old man outdo yah?

[leastonh1]

ORIGINAL: Adam Parker
LOL! Jim this article talks about product activation that was introduced with XP, not about the performance of Vista.

Erm, the article is actually talking about Vista disabling itself. I know activation came in with XP, but what's that got to do with the article about Vista?

The headline on the BBC page is "'Kill switch' dropped from Vista". I was talking about MS making another mess of their OS and didn't mention performance at all in my last post.

Were you talking about someone else's post in this thread?? Can you clarify please?

Cheers,
Jim

[ravinhood]

Get em Jim get em

[leastonh1]

ORIGINAL: ravinhood
Get em Jim get em

Now now, ravinhood, no stirring please![:'(]

I was (and still am) a bit perplexed by Adam's post, I must admit.

[Terminus]

This is interesting:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/7126902.stm

[pad152]

Remember 10,000 flys can't be wrong!, Sh*t must be great![;)]

[SMK-at-work]

ORIGINAL: Bossy573
Really though, if you have the hardware it is not a bad OS. But it clearly wasn't necessary.

Pffftt....of course it was necessary...how else could M$ continue to make monopoly profits??!![8D]

[ravinhood]

ORIGINAL: Jim_H

ORIGINAL: ravinhood
Get em Jim get em

Now now, ravinhood, no stirring please![:'(]

I was (and still am) a bit perplexed by Adam's post, I must admit.

I'm not stirring whatever gave you that idea? Some of you people just read too much into my posts think they mean something YOU think they mean. [:D] Until you can look into my mind and actually see what I am thinking you need to stop thinking what you think I'm thinking. [:D]

@SMK but, isn't Bill still getting royalties for every installed copy of XP? Why would he need to make another OS to monoplize the market? My theory is he wants to just make joe consumer that already has XP upgrade to something else and waste more money, the new buyers are already getting screwed and many of them will end up having to back buy XP so it's a win/win for Bill once again.

[Zap]

Agreed. A real improvement in the OS would warrant an upgrade and forking out my money. But MS'S scheduled money making skeem angers me and I want to

[SMK-at-work]

@SMK but, isn't Bill still getting royalties for every installed copy of XP? Why would he need to make another OS to monoplize the market?

 
'cos he gets a royalty for every upgrade too.  No-one upgrades from XP to XP, but significant nubmers are upgrading from XP to Vista..that's all extra profit.....
 
And humans are curious creatures..........without Vista more & more people would look to other OS's just to see what they'er like...vista gives them that while keeping the money exactly where it should be[;)]

[MrBoats]

I bought a new laptop in July to replace the old one and the desktop. Vista Home basic came with it. I am tempted to go back to XP, but I don't want to have to go through the reinstallation process and all that that entails. I'm able to run all of the Matrix titles I own fine under Vista. The RAM usage is my chief complaint, but readyboost seems to help in that area. If I had a choice I'd have picked XP, but I can live with Vista. I did figure out that it's a bad idea to install anythoing in the program files folder. That's my two cents on the matter.

[Adam Parker]

ORIGINAL: Jim_H

ORIGINAL: Adam Parker
LOL! Jim this article talks about product activation that was introduced with XP, not about the performance of Vista.

Erm, the article is actually talking about Vista disabling itself. I know activation came in with XP, but what's that got to do with the article about Vista?

The headline on the BBC page is "'Kill switch' dropped from Vista". I was talking about MS making another mess of their OS and didn't mention performance at all in my last post.

Yebut, you missed the line: "It was introduced in 2006 as a voluntary option, but became mandatory with the release of Vista.."

Meaning it was something that plagued XP albeit voluntarily too.

I mean whaddaya you expect the BBC to give us? A swipe at "Vista" (the boogey man sensation of the moment as evidenced by this thread) or a swipe at "prroduct activation"?

This was the same outfit that announced weapons of mass destruction in Iraq. It's the m-e-d-i-a, man!

Whatever is in vogue makes a headline doncha know? [>:]

[Adam Parker]

ORIGINAL: ravinhood

Get em Jim get em

I repeat, I am not going to die having an epitaph;"he supported Microsoft".

I just like Vista and it likes me

[NefariousKoel]

ORIGINAL: Adam Parker

Yebut, you missed the line: "It was introduced in 2006 as a voluntary option, but became mandatory with the release of Vista.."

Meaning it was something that plagued XP albeit voluntarily too.

I mean whaddaya you expect the BBC to give us? A swipe at "Vista" (the boogey man sensation of the moment as evidenced by this thread) or a swipe at "prroduct activation"?

This was the same outfit that announced weapons of mass destruction in Iraq. It's the m-e-d-i-a, man!

Whatever is in vogue makes a headline doncha know? [>:]

My bold..

Yes, it was supposedly "optional" in Windows XP but if you didn't check each and every XP update, it would've installed itself automatically. I am wary of Microsoft pulling some sh*t like that so I turn off automatic updates and do it all manually along with checking what each update file entails. I caught that one and told it to never d/l it.

Average users won't (and generally don't know how) to do that so whether they have Vista or XP - they have that jacked up anti-piracy software in their system. Just when you thought it was getting bad in games. [:@]

It's a good thing they're taking it out of Vista as that was a major concern for me in having it mandatory.

[leastonh1]

ORIGINAL: Adam Parker
I repeat, I am not going to die having an epitaph;"he supported Microsoft".

I just like Vista and it likes me

Well, you're one of the lucky ones Adam. I don't want Vista because I work in IT and see MS fallout from crap products every day. Vista offers me nothing innovative enough to spend £1,000 on a new, high enough specced PC to run it. I can get better performance and just as pretty gfx from a Linux box on a PC made from spares. I can play all the latest games on my P4 XP pooter, so I'm quite happy.

Windows is simply a cash cow and MS are milking it. Good for them and good for those like you who enjoy the experience with Vista. I can think of many better things to spend my money on.

Regards,
Jim

[leastonh1]

ORIGINAL: ravinhood
I'm not stirring whatever gave you that idea? Some of you people just read too much into my posts think they mean something YOU think they mean. [:D] Until you can look into my mind and actually see what I am thinking you need to stop thinking what you think I'm thinking. [:D]

LOL!

Ok, I concede the point ravinhood. I misunderstood your motives and profusely apologise. If I offended you in any way, I am sincerely sorry for that.

[:'(]

[Adam Parker]

ORIGINAL: Jim_H

Windows is simply a cash cow and MS are milking it. Good for them and good for those like you who enjoy the experience with Vista. I can think of many better things to spend my money on.

Regards,
Jim

You know Jim, I honestly agree with you on that. I still can't get over a company that sells a product that requires its owner to invest further in security software because it's software has vulnerabilities. Further, a company that provides things such as Windows Firewall and the new Windows Defender that must be turned off to run marginally better specialist security software like Norton or McAfee etc.

And then has the gall to launch its own separate Anit-Virus software, one has to buy because it knows its own OS is at risk!

To me there are laws being broken here: "Buy Windows, we know its unsecure, so now go buy our extra software to make it secure!" [&:]

Security software isn't like Microsoft Office! It's not an extra! MS is informing us that a fundamental aspect of its OS is broken, "so now buy something extra to fix it - or we warned you"?

Now that's what I don't like.

But as a new PC buyer, someone unskilled in DYI IT, statements saying how bad Vista is, can really have an affect on my purchasing decisions. The opinions here nearly did.

And all I'm saying is: "Hey let's stop the hype. Vista in November 2007 is different from Vista in January 2006. Buy the right hardware from a capable vendor and you will have a great time".

Kind regards,
Adam.

[leastonh1]

Hi Adam,

They are breaking the law and are blatant about it too. But, let's face it, they can afford to be. Was it IE they were being fined $1m per day for a few years ago? I remember the amount, but not the reason. $1m per day!!!! That's an outrageous amount of money, but mere pocket change to the likes of MS. The fines they get aren't punitive enough. They should be high enough to hurt the business directly or they are ineffective and can be ignored.

I also understand and appreciate your position if you lack the knowledge or wherewithall to build a PC. I'm fortunate enough to be able to do that, but I'm still in the same position as everyone else. At some point, I either spend a fair amount of money and go with Vista (or a successor) or I walk away. I don't like Macs (don't even ask hehe!), so that only really leaves Linux.

I do love Linux as an OS, but the games are the thing I would miss dearly. The OS itself and all the other software is as good as and often better than Windows. It's more stable and secure, needs very modest specs to run quickly and is completely free. It's a hell of a dilemma and MS are betting, up to now anyway, that people will go for Windows and risk it.

My honest opinion is that those safe bet days are numbered. Linux is maturing very nicely now and is obviously viable enough for the likes of Dell and some other big investors. Like it or not, Ubuntu has done an amazing marketing job on Linux and has some heavyweight investment behind the project. It's not going anywhere and MS can't buy them out. MS are interested in Linux too, which probably indicates just how worried they are, as they should be. I think MS will, sooner or later, have to get their act together and improve quality control or begin to go into decline. It won't happen quickly, but it's coming and may have already started. The rumours are that Vista sales aren't up to expectations, XP has gone back on sale because customers don't want Vista. That's the market speaking and even MS can't afford to ignore that. People are sick to death of flawed releases and the endless frustrations of running MS software.

I am glad there are people out there who are getting on alright with Vista. It really saddens me at this time of year especially that some have invested money they probably don't have on a piece of equipment that won't work properly until patches are released.

Regards,
Jim