An overpriced, resource hungry, not-much-different-than-XP-except- for-being-a-DRM-crippled-OS is not what consumers (and more importantly, businesses) are clamoring for. Our story from yesterday about Dell was only one shot in the war of the people vs M$.
Microsoft admits Vista failure
WITH TWO OVERLAPPING events, Microsoft admitted what we have been saying all along, Vista, aka Windows Me Two (Me II), is a joke that no one wants.
It did two unprecedented things this week that frankly stunned us.
Dell announced that it would be offering XP again on home PCs. […] This means that Me II sales are at least as bad as we think, the software and driver situation is just as miserable, and Dell had no choice but to buck the trend.
[…]
The other equally monumental Me II failure? Gates in China launching a $3 version of bundled Me II. Why is this not altruism? Well, it goes back to piracy and how it helped enforce the MS monopoly. If you can easily pirate Windows, Linux has no price advantage, they both cost zero.
Microsoft has lost its ability to twist arms, and now it is going to die. It can’t compete on level ground, so is left with backpedalling and discounts of almost 100 times.
What we are seeing is an unprecedented shift of power. It is also an unprecedented admission of failure. And the funniest part about the moves made? They are the wrong things to do. Microsoft is in deep trouble.
And the $3 dollar “legal” XP is getting a lot of competition from the $1 Pirate Vista version with bundled Office and Photoshop…
I just don’t believe this strategy.
One more thing: What is there in Vista that can’t be done in XP?
HD?… Well that’s a 1st world delusion. The rest of the world will watch HD on cheap Chinese standalone players…not in the home PC.
Security? That is a vague concept for the rest of the world.
Let’s face it: XP is just ok for most of people. Only in two years time, powerful enough hardware will be available, cheap enough, for everybody to switch…That’s when I’ll move on…
#26
“Lots of good Mac sites out there. Check em out for more tips. ”
Didn’t Apple shut them down because they were a threat to their service centers?
#31
THAT IS A HORRIBLE VERSION OF XP, AVOID AT ALL COST.
Does this means the true reason behind the delay of OSX leopard is to make it PC compatible?
They could easily snatch a large chunk out of M$ if it runs smoothly on Pentium 4s..
sheva – good point. Until the rest of you have used Vista you really have NOTHING but an uneducated and ignorant opinion of it. Quit buying into the hype like a bunch of sheep. Try it, or dont, but at least keep your uninformed opinion to yourself.
#35
Don’t forget that they were saying similar things about XP when it first came out.
Many have forgotten how XP used to crawl when it ran in a P3 with 128mb of Ram..
36. Angel- exactly. The fact that it is a little more demanding of hardware, big fucking deal. The hardware requirements are nothing. Its called progress, get used to it. I have been using it for 6 months on 512MB Ram and it runs fine. On 1 GB Ram it runs fast. It handles multimedia beautifuly. The people who think MS is going down because of this are full of shit.
Early part of March I bought an HP Desktop with Vista. I had to return it because it didn’t work with the Goldmine contact manager. It had something to do with Vista compatibility and the Borland Database Engine. The amusing part of this is that Goldmine now indicated that it no longer would support Goldmine Standard apparently because Vista is not friendly with it and Goldmine didn’t get it together to get it to work.
This opens the door for Google or some such company to have another online Contact Management Program. Sorry about the grunts. /al
#36, 37: Oh, come on, people. Of course the problem of the hardware upgrade requirements is a temporary one. Computers wear out, people buy new ones that can support Vista, etc. That’s a minor issue. The problem is the DRM and other draconian lockdown measures that are not wanted by purchasers, plus having to shell out money to get it. Overall, Vista provides nothing to the average home and business that XP doesn’t already provide AND does it without the DRM crap, extra hardware requirements, etc.
Vista supporters, please explain to us exactly what we are getting in Vista that we don’t already have in XP. In other words, why should I or anyone want to buy it? A pretty user interface ain’t enough.
#39, Comment by Uncle Dave — 4/22/2007 @ 7:54 pm
When you get an intelligent answer, please email it to me. You’ve got my address from the ‘comment post’.
BTW, don’t; forget this massive work explaining the negative cost benefit analysis of Vista that came out a while ago.
#41, Comment by Uncle Dave — 4/22/2007 @ 9:08 pm
“Executive Executive Summary —
The Vista Content Protection specification could very well constitute the longest suicide note in history”
I remember posting this a month or so ago, but can’t find it now. Thanks for refreshing my memory.
1. the $3 deal.
Is to SUCK people in so that can charge you $200 for MS Works or Office. And all the other products you WILL NEED.
2. Vista??
Its Pretty..
3. MS will slowly CUT all the products Needed to use 2000/XP… Even Print.net has gone ALL XP and no longer supports win2000. Weird.
4. IF MS had its way.
You would get sketchy Updates that would SLOWLY kill 2000/XP, so that they wouldnt work properly anymore and the Online updates would go away(remember these are 4-7 years OLD…
Which would kill the OLD office the Old 2000/xp, the OLD word, EVERYTHING…same thing happened before….remember ALL the games for 98 that ran VERY WELL….and on 2000/xp they choke??
like i care…
WINDOWS 2000 on anything above 2ghz/256 ram JUST ZIPS LIKE A ROCKET 😀
W2K WAS AND (sadly) STILL IS THE BEST OS THAT CAME OUT FROM REDMOND (or should I say “from Armonk?” 😉
I have xp desktop too, but all the crappy eye candy is off, it looks like W2K, and with most of the XP-native crap eliminated – it simply is a W2K 😉
Yeah, Vista… I’ll upgrade to it if those DRM-irresponsible Hollywood idiots bundle a starlets to suck my balls with each copy 😛
Wow! Four happy faces and offensive language all in the same post. I’m betting it’s a new record for posts on this site. 🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂
39. Uncle Dave- to answer your question, I dont really recommend people upgrade. I dont see a cost benefit upgradeing from XP if you need to put more money in hardware. But when they go to buy a new computer, there is no financial hit, because as always its bundled in. The advantage that I see, at the moment is the way it handles multimedia, the thing that I use my computer for recreationally. It really is very fast. Yes, I bought a Dell 17″ Inspiron, Dual-core, 1MB Ram, 160Gb HD, TV Tuner Option, Loaded with programs, (some crapware, promptly removed, it took minutes) . With a 20 in. LCD screen thrown in for my desktop system, free shipping. for $1400.00. I am a support tech, so it is necessary for me to do this, I certainly didnt do it enthusiastically. All I am saying at this point is it works very nicely, networking is a snap, I have not encountered any DRM problems, If DRM slows down the computer, I certainly have not seen it, I would report it if I had. The bottom line for me, is its not something I have to have, but if your buying new, its not something to fear either.