Vista dawns, world yawns
In spite of a marketing deluge, Microsoft's latest operating system has yet to see adoption by any but the most dedicated enthusiasts, news reports say -- and it may be scaring off potential customers through draconian licensing.
Although the Redmond-based developer crafted a series of publicity stunts to promote Vista -- its first significant upgrade to Windows in well over five years -- first-day reactions to the much-ballyhooed system software were lukewarm at best. A skyborne dance routine in Manhattan and elaborate laser show in Shanghai did little to "wow" prospective owners as Microsoft's marketing campaign had promised.
Many stores that had planned midnight showings were surprised at the lack of devotees queuing up to buy Vista. CompUSA's premier store on San Francisco's Market Street only saw a fraction of the 500-plus shoppers its manager had hoped for at the stroke of twelve. And in an unintentionally hilarious piece of irony, many of those who came to shop -- including those at the head of the line -- were there only for discounts on gadgets rather than Microsoft's software darling. Similar stories surfaced in other parts of the US.
Indeed, Microsoft's claim to the biggest Windows launch ever were undermined by its own business. The size of the launch has already been dismissed as the result of natural momentum: with more Windows users already in the market, Vista is guaranteed almost by default to sell more units than XP as more owners exist to buy upgrades or replace old systems with new ones, The Washington Post learned from analysts.
"This is going to be biggest version of Windows ever. But that's just inertia," said research firm Gartner's Steve Kleynhans. "Will it really dominate the market or change the market in the way earlier versions of Windows did? It remains to be seen."
The software giant may even have inadvertently discouraged the technically savvy from buying into its plans by seemingly punishing those who buy upgrade copies of Vista. A thorough look at the End-User License Agreement for the Microsoft package has revealed that the license key for an existing version of Windows becomes invalid the moment a Vista upgrade is installed. This would all but make it illegal in the company's eyes to use the earlier software, even on the same system as part of a multi-boot solution.
Microsoft hadn't said in the EULA that it would deliberately block activations of new Windows XP installs, but has already taken heat from the Internet community for allegedly driving honest upgrade buyers towards full-sized (and thus more expensive) copies of Vista. When combined with the newly-added hassle of installing the old OS instead of simply validating the old disc as in the past, many are asking just who, if anyone, Redmond hopes to entice with its much-delayed refresh.
Although the Redmond-based developer crafted a series of publicity stunts to promote Vista -- its first significant upgrade to Windows in well over five years -- first-day reactions to the much-ballyhooed system software were lukewarm at best. A skyborne dance routine in Manhattan and elaborate laser show in Shanghai did little to "wow" prospective owners as Microsoft's marketing campaign had promised.
Many stores that had planned midnight showings were surprised at the lack of devotees queuing up to buy Vista. CompUSA's premier store on San Francisco's Market Street only saw a fraction of the 500-plus shoppers its manager had hoped for at the stroke of twelve. And in an unintentionally hilarious piece of irony, many of those who came to shop -- including those at the head of the line -- were there only for discounts on gadgets rather than Microsoft's software darling. Similar stories surfaced in other parts of the US.
Indeed, Microsoft's claim to the biggest Windows launch ever were undermined by its own business. The size of the launch has already been dismissed as the result of natural momentum: with more Windows users already in the market, Vista is guaranteed almost by default to sell more units than XP as more owners exist to buy upgrades or replace old systems with new ones, The Washington Post learned from analysts.
"This is going to be biggest version of Windows ever. But that's just inertia," said research firm Gartner's Steve Kleynhans. "Will it really dominate the market or change the market in the way earlier versions of Windows did? It remains to be seen."
The software giant may even have inadvertently discouraged the technically savvy from buying into its plans by seemingly punishing those who buy upgrade copies of Vista. A thorough look at the End-User License Agreement for the Microsoft package has revealed that the license key for an existing version of Windows becomes invalid the moment a Vista upgrade is installed. This would all but make it illegal in the company's eyes to use the earlier software, even on the same system as part of a multi-boot solution.
Microsoft hadn't said in the EULA that it would deliberately block activations of new Windows XP installs, but has already taken heat from the Internet community for allegedly driving honest upgrade buyers towards full-sized (and thus more expensive) copies of Vista. When combined with the newly-added hassle of installing the old OS instead of simply validating the old disc as in the past, many are asking just who, if anyone, Redmond hopes to entice with its much-delayed refresh.
Comments
Also, the pricing seems way out of wack. When I can buy an upgrade of OS X for around $100 street and the Windows upgrades range from $90 - $260. I mean $260 to upgrade, seems steep.
After reading that all my want to upgrade my ol' windows system was destroyed.
Almost everyone I know has said they will wait until the first service pack is released for Vista before even considering the move from XP.
Even Dell is selling systems with no OS for the first time ever which is unheard of from a tier 1 system builder.
I believe Vista will end up being a decent OS but the lack of driver support is still pretty harsh at least in my opinion for a OS that is six years in the making.
Vista is a total resourse hog to run it well you need at least a 6600 conroe chip and 2-4 gigs of ram. It will run on systems with less but to truly run it well you need a well equiped mid range system which I feel is insane just to run an OS, it use to be just gaming but now even the OS needs crazy specs.
Mac OS X (Ultimate) = $129
Will all Windows Vista Features work on my 3 year old machine = Most likely not.
Will all Mac OS X Features work on my 3 year old machine = Yes.
Will I have all the drivers I need to run Windows Vista comfortably = No.
Will I have all the drivers I need to run Mac OS X comfortably = What drivers? :P
Will Windows Vista's Features make OS X look dated = No.
Will Mac OS X.5 Leopard's Features make Windows Vista look dated = Most likely yes.
Will the new look of Windows Vista make it easiers to use then its predecessor = In practice the opposite is true.
Will the new look of OS X make it easiers to use then its predecessor = Most likely yes.
Will you switch back to Windows now = No.
Will you buy Leopard = Most likely yes.
Are you glad to be rid of Windows = Hell yes.
Are you glad to be a Mac user = Hell yes.
Was there a point to all this = Yes.
What was the point = Switch.
Windows Vista Ultimate = $400 + Security software = Priceless.
Mac OS X (Ultimate) = $129
Will all Windows Vista Features work on my 3 year old machine = Most likely not.
Will all Mac OS X Features work on my 3 year old machine = Yes.
Will I have all the drivers I need to run Windows Vista comfortably = No.
Will I have all the drivers I need to run Mac OS X comfortably = What drivers? :P
Will Windows Vista's Features make OS X look dated = No.
Will Mac OS X.5 Leopard's Features make Windows Vista look dated = Most likely yes.
Will the new look of Windows Vista make it easiers to use then its predecessor = In practice the opposite is true.
Will the new look of OS X make it easiers to use then its predecessor = Most likely yes.
Will you switch back to Windows now = No.
Will you buy Leopard = Most likely yes.
Are you glad to be rid of Windows = Hell yes.
Are you glad to be a Mac user = Hell yes.
Was there a point to all this = Yes.
What was the point = Switch.
Does someone have too much time on their hands = Yes.
At the end of the day, what M$ doesn't seem to understand is that it is selling a f!@#ing operating system. Don't tell me what the f!@#! I am allowed to do with my computer. I don't plan to upgrade to this trash on my PC until XP support is stopped after the next five years. I will probably switch to Linux at that point in time.
...newly-added hassle of installing the old OS instead of simply validating the old disc...
Wow... I thought only Quark pulled that type of utter crap
On the plus side, I really like the new black theme look.
On the down side, the idea of a "ribbon" interface is simply assinine, most users will be confused beyond the point of frustration.
I will purchase Vista only when Direct X 10 becomes necessary to run the games I want to run. That could honestly be 3 or 4 years from now...
If you really want to run Vista along with your Win XP copy, just create two virtual machines, one for XP and the other for Vista. That way, if Vista has any serious bugs, you can always run XP instead.
...but... why?
On a side note, the company I work for just now (4 months ago) upgrade it's PCs from Windows 2000 to XP. I can guarantee Vista will not even be considered here.
Does someone have too much time on their hands = Yes.
Well what do you do with your hands then in that case = ?
One issue that I find interesting is all of the different versions of Windows products. I am talking about the 5 flavors of Vista that are shipping. I must admit that I just swtiched to Mac's a year ago and yet when I look at OS X, I see one version for non-server use. That makes things a lot more simple.
Also, the pricing seems way out of wack. When I can buy an upgrade of OS X for around $100 street and the Windows upgrades range from $90 - $260. I mean $260 to upgrade, seems steep.
There's 9 version of Vista, if you count 32bit and 64bit it 17 versions.
maybe 2 version of Leopord, Power PC or Intel
Stick a fork in it boys! MS is just wanting to lose.
Why the madness????
For the goodness of Apple.
--The movies looked horrible. Massive compression artifacts, choppy video, completely hosed transitions. I mean, that's probably not Vista's fault, but it that way on all the machines with Vista, meaning either the source file was bad or Vista didn't play well with the format. Either way, what a way make an introduction.
--The first machine I tried to quit out of the movie to check out Vista per se wouldn't let me. The sales guy couldn't get it to either. He started making nervous little jokes about "first impressions".
-- The second machine would allow you to get to the desktop, but it wasn't quite syncing with the monitor, so on a widescreen there was 6 inches of black space at the left and a 3:4 image on the right.
And there were slowly deflating colored balloons sort of drifting around. Just sad.
It actually reminded me of the bad old day for Macs at places like CompUSA, when all the machines had something wrong with them and nobody could be bothered to set things right.
If MS can't even get demo machines up and running in large market computer stores, there is a problem with the roll out.
But would it be worth the $300 for a full copy? Probably not. Is it worth the 5 years between XP and now? Probably not. But in Microsoft's own self-fulfilling mantra: It's the best Windows yet.
Probably should've released it a couple years ago as XP SE.
And BTW, every copy of Vista is the same, the cd images that is, you basically buy a key that will unlock certain features based on the price point. You could buy Home Basic, and then buy an upgrade key to Ultimate. After that point, your copy of Home Basic would become Vista Ultimate.
There's 9 version of Vista, if you count 32bit and 64bit it 17 versions.
maybe 2 version of Leopord, Power PC or Intel
Universal Binary.
- Xidius
Windows Vista Ultimate = $400 + Security software = Priceless.
Mac OS X (Ultimate) = $129
Will all Windows Vista Features work on my 3 year old machine = Most likely not.
Will all Mac OS X Features work on my 3 year old machine = Yes.
Will I have all the drivers I need to run Windows Vista comfortably = No.
Will I have all the drivers I need to run Mac OS X comfortably = What drivers? :P
Will Windows Vista's Features make OS X look dated = No.
Will Mac OS X.5 Leopard's Features make Windows Vista look dated = Most likely yes.
Will the new look of Windows Vista make it easiers to use then its predecessor = In practice the opposite is true.
Will the new look of OS X make it easiers to use then its predecessor = Most likely yes.
Will you switch back to Windows now = No.
Will you buy Leopard = Most likely yes.
Are you glad to be rid of Windows = Hell yes.
Are you glad to be a Mac user = Hell yes.
Was there a point to all this = Yes.
What was the point = Switch.
Sweet...