The Vista launch event in New York yesterday was an extravaganza. The only real issue was the half-hour of waiting in line outside in the freezing cold, as the line of press was literally around the block. I bet every tech journalist in the tri-state area was there.
They had a group of percussionists for a warm-up, then cleared the stage for a second group who only played a single song before Gates came up. Talk about fast stage work.
Bill Gates not only talked about the OS features, he also spent a lot of time talking about how much time was spent testing and evaluating Vista. I always wonder when I see him if he will ever spend any of his billions on some nice clothes.
Ballmer was his usual exuberant self, and continued to stress how much testing and evaluation was involved in the Vista development while talking about the new features for integrated media.
Microsoft VP Mike Sievert gave a live demo of Office 2007 functionality as well as a live demo of cross-platform head-to-head UNO gaming between a Vista machine and an XBox.
There were also demos set up all around the reception area from the various Microsoft Vista partners, each showing a different facet of Vista from gaming to suport of portable multimedia devices.
As a nice touch, Bill and Steve brought out one of the many Vista Beta families brought to the event to use a touchscreen button to officially “launch” Vista. They also brought out a Kevin Rollins of Dell, Tom Bradley of HP, Hector Ruiz of AMD and Sean Maloney of Intel and gave each of them a framed CD-ROM set of Vista Ultimate to commemorate the launch.
Two hundred dollars I just cannot bring myself to spend.
All form no substance. I hear a lot about how great Vista is, but no specifics on why it is so great. They should have called this the Microsoft smoke and mirrors show.
I am attempting the download upgrade right now. Oh sweet, they will keep all the software I buy from there on the ‘download locker’ so i dont have to keep track of my licenses anymore.
Also, props to MS for the download speeds. The main file is coming down at more than a megabyte a second.
I have it for free through my MSDN account, yet have had zero impulse to try to install it… then determine how broken my primary applications are.
When’s SP1 coming out?
Hmm let me see. Should I buy VistaME or spend money on the new Norah Jones album, the new John Birmingham novel, and a couple of West Wing season. I wonder which will be more rewarding?
First guess, NOT the Microsoft crap.
I saw Gates on the Daily Show last night. I didn’t realize he gesticulates so much. When asked whether Vista is an improvement for users, Gates motioned his hands as if to mimic someone being violated from behind.
A lonely voice of dissent here: I’ve been using Vista Ultimate for a few days now and I love it. No, no major substance yet, except that all apps seem to work faster and I had no issues upgrading from XP to Vista. But I just enjoy the way it looks and feels and I keep uncovering minor thing here and there.
Happy computing to y’all and cheer up a bit, would you?
Even Microsoft admitted that most Vista sales are going to be in new systems, not from people upgrading existing computers.
Also, even though there is a lot that techies don’t like about Vista, it is a very powerful and flexible program that will empower the average Joe and Jane to use their computer as a houshold media management system. We may gripe about DRM and security issues and Microsoft in general, but the average user will only be interested in the new functionality.
I read, “For every dollar of revenue Microsoft earns on Windows Vista, the rest of the industry will collect $18, according to estimates by IDC”
371,000,000 hits for Vista from Google. Mega ads being served. Google is making money on Vista, selling ads. So Microsoft makes $1 and Google out earns Microsoft on their own product by a 2 to 1 margin or 4 to 1, whatever, all while running Linux. Microsoft is paying Google to post this link. (Please use embedded links or tinyURL! – Ed.)
Google doesn’t need Vista, but Microsoft appears dependent on Google to advertise Vista. That’s what the ads show. The Google ad at Dvorak Unc. here says don’t buy anything from Gates until you read this…therichjeerk.com. Again Google makes money on the counterpoint ad, which is why Google is on top, I guess.
I’ve had Vista Ultimate running on my laptop for the last couple of weeks, and I’ve been quite happy with it. It manages networking (especially WiFi) connections more intelligently than XP, and the “ReadyBoost” (flash-based disk cache) feature does significantly improve performance. The 3D flipping between open windows is quite handy at times too.
“Even Microsoft admitted that most Vista sales are going to be in new systems, not from people upgrading existing computers.”
Good point. Anybody with half a brain would launch this sort of product during the Xmas shopping season. It is January and people are paying off Xmas bills, not rushing out to buy new PC’s. The store opened at 10 p.m. last night to sell. I stayed home. I was tempted to go out to see what kinds of idiots were at Comp USA at 10 p.m. on a weeknight buying into this.
the whole upgrade path thing bothers me – how you have to have a base OS before installing Vista. So now its:
1. wipe machine
2. install 2k/xp
3. install vista
bad idea. Sure, they need to make a ton of cash on a product 5 years in the making, and all that, hence reinstalling a base OS (which may or may not guarentee more revenue – I’ve bought 1 copy of xp since release, but im sure the large majority hasnt).
It its time to wait the minimum 1 yr to see how many bugs & errors & security holes are actually there.
How long is this Vista hype fest going to last?
How did we ever compute without freaking 3D flipping?
In 10 years Dvorak will be writing Whatever happened to 3D flipping!
8. “it is a very powerful and flexible program that will empower the average Joe and Jane to use their computer as a houshold media management system.”
Empowered? What exactly does that mean? Does my car empower me to get to work in the morning? Do my wearing of pants empower me to not get arrested out in public? Who the frick speaks like that other than corporate marketing morons with nothing of substance to say? I can understand why a spokesperson for Microsoft would use such BS corporate-speak, but I can’t understand why an unbiased blogger would.
And I have hundreds of movies and CDs on a central computer in my house, which all other computers can easily access. If I’m in the kitchen and want to watch a show I recorded the night before, I can. If I’m in the living room and want to listen to some music, I can. We’re using W2K, how are we not empowered?
And exactly how does the inclusion of DRM, which limits choices and options, make a machine more “powerful” and more “flexible”? One would certainly think DRM goes hand in hand with less power and less flexibility.
You should at least pretend to be unbiased from now on.
Empowered?
And exactly how does the inclusion of DRM , which limits choices and options, also make a machine more “powerful” and more “flexible”? After you flip in 3D, you flop in 3D. It the new new thing. They had some idiot on the news, a beta tester I think, saying MS left out the burning feature until she bitched about not being able to burn a CD. Every CD-DVD burner comes with a burning program. The way it looks, all this software will start having problems with Vista DRM.
#16 Jim, any 3rd party burning software written for XP doesn’t work in Vista, that’s what she was complaining about.
Most video cards with extra functions, like ATI All-In-Wonder doesn’t work, official from ATI no driver until Aug-Sept.
17. No burner support!? Wow, I can’t wait to empower myself with all of that powerful flexibility and flexible power!
And no drivers for TV cards?! Wow, Vista is going to be one empowering “houshold media management system.” If by “houshold media management system” you mean a system that inhibits you from burning media, watching media, or listening to media.
“Most video cards with extra functions, like ATI All-In-Wonder doesn’t work, official from ATI no driver until Aug-Sept.”
I read that it hogs up your video memory. I guess the ubergeeks at MS figure everybody can toss their $$$ videocard and upgrade. You can then flip in 3D!
19. “You can then flip in 3D!”
No, it empowers you to flip in 3D with powerful flexibility! 😉
I am building a new system and I am going to wait at least until Vista SP1 before I upgrade the OS, if even then. Probably what will happen is that some killer game will be directx10 only and I will reluctantly succumb.
MS has said that they plan to support XP until 2009, but I imagine that pressure from business users will keep it going even longer than that.
Ubuntu!
22. Ubuntu doesn’t sound like an empowering powerful and flexible houshold media management system. It sounds more like a jam band in the vein of Phish.
Does it come with empowering flexible and powerful DRM? Does it empower you to upgrade your weak and inflexible peripherals and software to more poweful and flexible versions? Does it empower you to talk and write in a powerful and flexible BS marketing-speak?!
22. Ubuntu doesn’t sound like an empowering powerful and flexible houshold media management system. It sounds more like a jam band in the vein of Phish.
Does it come with empowering flexible and powerful DRM? Does it empower you to upgrade your weak and inflexible peripherals and software to more powerful and flexible versions? Does it empower you to speak and write in a powerful and flexible BS marketing-speak?
Jerk-face and Jim,
Yes, I used the word “empower”, and no, I am not a shill for Microsoft.
I stand by my comments. The average person who didn’t do a lot of the things you power users do because they didn’t know how or couldn’t figure out which program to use will now be able to do those things. Sitting in front of a computer that you feel comfortable using is empowering, no matter how you may want to sneer at the concept.
24. Thanks for that empowering comment. The power and flexibilty of your words means so much.
To everyone complaining about the high price of Vista, Newegg is selling the OEM version of the Home Premium edition for only $125 shipped.
That’s a full version, not just an upgrade.
Oh, and good write up of the event Alix. Why didn’t we all get an invite?! 😉
All hat and no cattle…..Reminds me someone!!
Time to do what most Seattites will do: hit up friends and relatives who work for M$ for their massively/insanely discounted versions of Ultimate. 🙂
I’m willing to spend 50 bucks on my copy. It is a step in the right direction for Microsoft. The transition to 64-bit isn’t going to be easy, but I think Microsoft is doing it right.
28. No offense but I hardly consider $50 to be “massively/insanely discounted.” I have a friend who works for the University of Michigan. The university worked out some great deals with Microsoft.
I was able to get W2K when it was released for only $25. I was offered XP Pro for $15. Given those prices, I highly doubt that even the ultimate version of Vista will cost anywhere near $50.
So, drop your friends in Seattle and find some new friends in Ann Arbor.