Ask Your Vista Questions Here.

ZIppyDSM
i all ready started posting vista info this morning

link

http://forums.afterdawn.com/thread_view.cfm/72/295688#2989568

 

Haiku for VISTA

Windows VISTA crashed.
You see the Blue Balls of Death.
No one hears your screams.

ABORTED effort:
Reflect, repent, and reboot.
You ask way too much.

With searching comes loss
And the presence of absence:
Out of Memory.

You step in the stream,
But the water has moved on.
Screen. Mind. Both are blank

 

Micro$hit is going to allow Dell to sell XP because of the overwhelming requests for XP, BUT only thru the end of this year. Vista will never be fixed by then. Linux looking better every day.

 

ALL YE ALL VISTA HATERS,READ THIS...
LOOKS LIKE YE HATERS ARE LOOSING

Will Vista's *real* sales performance please stand up?

By Joel Hruska | Published: April 12, 2007 - 11:50PM CT

Measuring the sales performance and market impact of a product like Windows Vista is never easy, even under the best of circumstances. Microsoft serves a worldwide market of consumers across an array of market segments from basic consumers to high-end business IT, so any attempt to draw broad, soundbite-compressed conclusions on launch performance inevitably paints the specific and individual traits of emerging international markets with a very broad overall brush. This lost or obscured data could potentially explain why Microsoft Vista sales (and sale trends) are either excellent or disappointing, depending on whom you talk to. The problem doesn't seem to be confined to the press—even Steve Ballmer evidently isn't sure what to expect.

Recently released earnings statements from Best Buy and Circuit City muddy the waters still further. Although both companies say that that demand for Vista impacted their PC segments, the direction of impact was different for each company. In Best Buy's case, the company reported a 10 percent overall increase in PC and computer service sales, while Circuit City reported a $12.2 million loss for the quarter, and stated that sales were less than expected. Unlike Best Buy, which aggressively pushed Vista sales, upgrades, and systems, Circuit City focused on keeping Vista PC inventory lean—and in the process, drove some business straight into the arms of their competitor. Yet it seems each day we hear stories about how no one actually wants Vista.

So how's Vista really selling? 20+ million units don't lie: Vista is selling well, certainly well enough that it will eventually take its place as Microsoft's most "popular selling" OS.

By comparison, Apple's most recent release, OS X Tiger, sold approximately 2 million copies in its first month. Calling Vista a "failure" would seem both short-sighted and a little silly at this early date.

Still, demand isn't as great as some had hoped. Major PC manufacturers such as Acer are saying that Vista has a negligible impact on sales, certainly less than they were hoping for. Some of the confusion ultimately stems from the fact that PC market growth has moved into developing nations where piracy is rampant and low-margin systems (which are less likely to be Vista capable) are a significant driving force behind segment expansion.

Current information indicates that Vista has had a significant impact on consumer-oriented system sales and a smaller-to-negligible impact in other markets. With corporate customers tending to adopt a wait-and-see approach, and Vista's existing sales numbers having been buoyed partly by the expansion of the PC market, existing data seems to indicate that rather than being good or bad, the trends we're seeing reflect "business as usual" in the PC industry.

http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/pos...s-real-sales-performance-please-stand-up.html

 

Dear Mr. Gates: save Vista, open-source it

Apr. 13, 2007

Although Microsoft may claim otherwise, Vista, from both from a technical and business point of view, is proving to be a failure. Why not turn it over to people who have shown time after time that they can deliver the goods?


Let's look at the facts, shall we?

Spread the word:
digg this story
Microsoft claimed that more than 20 million copies of Windows Vista were sold around the world in February 2007, its first full month of sales. I, and many others, don't believe those claims for a minute. What's a lot more important than what I think though is what Goldman Sachs, the international investment bank, thinks. And, Goldman Sachs thinks that Microsoft is no longer worthy of being on its must buy "conviction list."

Why? Goldman analyst Sarah Friar in a research note wrote, "Product upgrade cycles should provide strong revenue and profit growth in the next 12-plus months. Normally, this would make us view the stock as a must-own. At the same time, these launches may also mark the end of an era, as changing technology and business models seek to diminish Microsoft's hold on the desktop, which in turn significantly depletes the cash cow."

Besides, maybe Vista won't do that well anyway. "Investor nervousness remains high, particularly given uncertainty regarding spending plans in 2008 and recent negative management comments on Vista." Negative management comments? Why yes, Microsoft's own CEO Steve Ballmer warned analysts that "some of the Windows revenue forecasts I've seen are overly aggressive.''

Looking ahead, Goldman also sees, "Changing technology and business models in areas such as software-as-a-service, virtualization and open source seek to diminish Microsoft's stranglehold on the desktop, which in turn significantly depletes the company's cash cow."

Even sites that work to promote Microsoft's products, like Redmond Channel Partner senior editor Lee Pender have admitted that "For now, though, Vista has to be a disappointment. Given how long it took to release and how much of a financial boost Microsoft needs from it right now, Vista just isn't building the momentum or gaining the kind of market traction that Redmond would like to see. Maybe the main problem with Vista is that XP is actually too good -- or at least too mature and familiar. Those stringent Vista hardware requirements don't help, either. And despite the half-a-billion dollars Microsoft is spending to promote Vista, the new OS hasn't exactly captured the public's imagination."

He won't get any argument from me. I've been dismissive of Vista's chances in the marketplace for some time now. It's more than just poor business execution, Vista has major technical problems. For example, as Microsoft blogger Mary Jo Foley points out, we all know now that Vista's Fast Boot feature is actually a bad joke.

Other users have found that even some of Vista's "features" are actually annoyances. Even Windows fans, such as noted blogger and former TechTV host Chris Pirillo, have given up on Vista. What I find most troubling about Vista's future is that after all those promises of how much better Vista's security will be, now we're finding out that Vista security is just as lousy as the rest of the Windows family.

I predicted that Vista would have serious security problems from the start, but I find this current crop of problems -- the ANI cursor mess and the three CSRSS (Client/Server Runtime Server Subsystem) bugs -- especially disturbing. That's because these are problems that are common to the entire Windows family. Vista was supposed to be all new and all better. Yeah. Right.

CSRSS is an essential subsystem of Windows that manages most Windows graphical commands. It wasn't rewritten. ANI, on the other hand, is a trivial program that animates cursors. It wasn't rewritten either. So what are we to think? After years of work, after years of being told Microsoft was making security job one, Windows users are stuck with the same old, same old when it comes to security.

I have a modest suggestion. Since Microsoft can't fix the buggy old code under Vista's pretty new Aero exterior, why not open-source it and let free software developers do the job for them. I'm serious.

Open-source software has its bugs too, but generally speaking open-source developers fix their programs' security in hours to weeks. Microsoft? Please. Months can go by before security holes are fixed and, in the meantime, crackers create so-called zero-day attacks to exploit long-known security problems.

Besides, as I've pointed out before, Windows is fundamentally flawed because even Vista is based on a single user PC operating system that's trying to work in a world where all computers are networked to all other computers.

I first saw this kind of problem back in 1992 with Windows for Workgroups, and 15 years later security holes showing that basic flaw are still showing up. This gives an even stronger reason to sic the open-source developers on Windows. Look at Linux. Without the advantage of having any of Unix's source code, Linus Torvalds created an open operating system that also freed itself of many of the problems that came with the earlier Unix distributions.

After all, if Linux wasn't better than SCO OpenServer and a host of other now long forgotten x86 based Unixes such as Consensys, Interactive, UHC, Microport and Univel, we'd still be talking about Unix instead of Linux as competition for Windows.

Since Microsoft's developers themselves are unhappy with how Vista had been developed and with the years of delay, why not try something different? Why not turn it over to people who have shown time after time that they can deliver the goods?

If Microsoft doesn't, I foresee Microsoft bowing to the inevitable and releasing Microsoft Linux in 2010. Hey, Oracle is giving its own house brand of Red Hat Linux a try. Why not Microsoft? After all, it's not like Microsoft can deliver a quality operating system.


-- Steven J. Vaughan-Nichols
http://www.linux-watch.com/news/NS2930812631.html

 

Yeah well I dont believe a damn thing bestbuy says, thier all a bunch of liars and con artists, and bad con artists at that.

 

Retirement time for Windows XP

Windows XP will stop being available on new PCs from the end of January next year. Several technology web sites are reporting that Microsoft plans to stop selling the operating system even though consumers have given a lukewarm response to its latest launch, Windows Vista.

A poll by US market research firm Harris Interactive found that only ten per cent of those interviewed were planning to upgrade to Vista in the near future. All versions of XP, including those made for media centre or tablet PCs, are affected by the decision. Microsoft has confirmed that from January 31 next year computer makers such as Dell and Toshiba will not be able to buy licences for the software so they can install it on new machines.

However, Robert Epstein, Microsoft’s European spokesman on Windows licencing, said withdrawing XP licences had no implications for long-term technical support for the product. “This is purely about availability of brand new licences for brand new machines,” he said. “We’ll continue to support XP for some considerable time.”

In most developed markets, demand for XP is particularly strong among small and meduim-sized businesses. Some experts believe that Microsoft’s move to kill XP is unlikely to warm users to Vista. In recent times, many users have complained that Vista’s start-up, shut-down and application load times are far too long compared with Windows XP. Doubts have also been raised about Vista’s security, after it emerged that Vista was affected by recent widespread hacks involving Windows’ animated cursors.

http://www.7days.ae/en/2007/04/15/retirement-time-for-windows-xp.html

 

Oh joy soon all XP keys will be illegaitmized 0-o

 

ZIppyDSM
watch this thread on vista,this is where i will be posting stuff on vista..theres a hot read posted there now.././.

link
http://forums.afterdawn.com/thread_view.cfm/477586

from what i read there will not be any activations on xp,so start loving vista,microsuck and the RIAA IN 5 YEARS OR MORE ITS OVER FOR XP..

 

--------------------------------------
So is MS secretively quicking the end of XP support,updates and activation?

 

Mainstream support for Windows XP from Microsoft is scheduled to end in 2009, though as an OS it'll still be viable during the Extended Support phase. To the best of my knowledge that phase lasts five years, so Microsoft will theoretically keep offering security updates and such to XP until 2014.

 

--------------------------------------------------
any chance they will cut it before its time in order to prop up vister?

 

*guy in the dark corner coughs "cracks, hack activations" cough*

 

April 16, 2007

Concern grows over looming demise of Windows XP
Microsoft could face backlash over January 2008 kill date

By Paul Krill

Microsoft's plan to phase out Windows XP and drive end users on to the Windows Vista platform is beginning to cause concern among end users, if the emerging web discussion Internet discussions are typical.

Microsoft plans to end shipments of Windows XP to original equipment manufacturers on 31 January 31, 2008. It will also stop selling retail licenses at the same time. Editions affected include the Professional, Tablet PC, Professional x64, Home, and Media Centre editions of XP.

This is just 12 months from the official launch of XP’s successor Windows Vista.

Contributors to SiliconValley.com cited issues with the suitability of Vista on existing machines and said they might just go to Linux instead.

"If Microsoft forces us to make a choice of Vista or Linux, they might just be unpleasantly surprised as to the choice many of us will make," one contributor wrote. "I am telling anyone who has not yet upgraded from Win 9x to XP that they had better do it right away because Vista will never run on their Win 98-era machine. If they don't upgrade to XP right away, they will have to switch to Linux. The only alternative to that is to throw away their computer and buy a brand new one!"

Another contributor said it was "time for enterprises to stock up on shrink-wrapped copies of XP Pro."

A contributor to the Direct2Dell site expressed similar reservations.

"I don't care how much you've tested your systems with Vista, it simply will not be enough," the chatter said "In the corporate world, there are countless applications that are going to fail miserably with Vista in offices that are standardized on XP Pro."

Dell on its http://direct2dell.com/one2one/archive/2007/04/04/10397.aspx
Direct2Dell site said it plans to continue offering XP for now. "Dell recognizes the needs of small business customers and understands that more time is needed to transition to a new operating system.

The plan is to continue offering Windows XP on select Dimension and Inspiron systems until later this summer," the company said.

In a statement, Microsoft acknowledged its Vista emphasis.

"Windows Vista is safer, easier to use, better connected, and more entertaining that any operating system we've ever released, and we're encouraged by the positive customer response we've seen to date," the company said in a statement.

"It's standard practice to allow OEMs, retailers, and system builders to continue offering the previous version of Windows for a certain period of time after a new version is released, and this information as it applies to Windows XP has been available to our partners and to the public," since last year, the company said.

Microsoft has reported that more than 20 million copies of Vista shipped from January 30 to February 28, the first month of general availability. A Harris survey of home-based users in March, however, found that only 12 percent of the 2,223 respondents planned to upgrade.

There are pluses and minuses to upgrading, according to analyst Michael Cherry, of Directions on Microsoft. Security features, such as BitLocker Drive Encryption, are driving upgrades, he said. However, hardware issues have been a problem, Cherry said.

"The major factor I think that's putting a damper on it is people being uncomfortable with what the hardware requirements are," said Cherry.

Questions have arisen about configuration matters such as the circuitry of graphics cards, he said. Lawsuits have even arisen about what it means to be Vista-capable, Cherry added.

Although Cherry said he did not have specific estimates on Vista shipments, he said Vista appears to have not affected PC sales rates, either upward or downward.

Vista shipments have been about as expected, said analyst Brett Waldman of IDC, who also acknowledged equipment issues with the new platform.
Shipment levels so far are similar to what XP presented, he said.

To run Vista's Aero interfaces requires an advanced graphics card, Waldman said. A lot of low-end PCs do not have that, he said. Otherwise, upgrading a PC to 1GB of memory should make it Vista-capable, said Waldman.

Microsoft's decision to cancel XP shipments was "what we expect," Waldman said. Business customers, however, are putting Vista upgrades on hold. "They're waiting 12 to 18 months to evaluate it," said Waldman.

The upcoming Windows Server Longhorn platform, meanwhile, is looking good, Directions on Microsoft’s Cherry said. "It's very stable."

http://www.computerworlduk.com/technology/operating-systems/windows/news/index.cfm?newsid=2603

 

Longhorn? They forgot to put sql support into the core. pretty good for a server app methinks.. These guys really don't know what they are doing.

 

I just bought new laptop loaded with vista and at first, did not like at all too much fufu. Now 2 months later getting better picture of it and not so bad, alot of better things under the cov er so to say, they are still working out the kinks though so i let them and download as needed. This works for me! I like being on the leading edge of new things, so for the gernal lay person or newbie like me this looks very overwhleming at first, just stick with it and learn it and also if you have nothing to hide let microsoft tweak it for you as you have errors, its getting better and better already!

just a suggestion, will let you know if change my mind, still have some questions too.:>

 

You sound like a commercial for Linux.

And since it's free, it's really worth a try.

 

He sounds more like one of those "oh damn, i don't want to lose face because i did the must stupid thing ever, so let's pretend everything's peachy keen, fine and dandy" types to me...

 

oh boys boys, no you are so wrong, i am not an ego seeking male techie (oops did I judge you like you misjudged me?) anyways all i was saying is when your opeating system in plastered all over my new pc then you can talk till then i have to work with what i get right? so why should i dis it like you when i can learn it b4 most do and get all my kinks worked out by the people that know the system than have to do it later (which btw we will) on my own. Free--nothing is free!!!!! Linux??? not sure what that means oh thats right im not a techie like you!!! Most of you techie's are so predictable so many percent of you will dis anything you did not come up with yourself. Again if you have better op system then by all means I will be happy to try....... Oh Yea!!! instead of all the time you waste being so negative maybe you can spend it using your talents and come up with solutions for my problems or others. Oh was this to harshhhhh, just trying to keep up with "ones who know". smile:>