This Thread Is About Vista, Please Comment About Your Likes And Dislikes And Problems About Vista

Is Vista helping boost PC sales?
It's tough to get a handle on whether Microsoft's OS is spurring people to buy, or if they'd be buying anyway.
By Ina Fried
Staff Writer, CNET News.com


news analysis Speaking to a crowd of hardware engineers last week, Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates trumpeted the fact that the company has sold 40 million copies of Vista since the operating system hit the market.

But does that milestone mean the operating system is causing more PCs to be sold?

It's a natural question to ask, but a difficult one to answer. One reason it's hard to suss out Vista's impact on PC sales is that consumers don't really decide whether they prefer a new operating system. When Microsoft releases a new operating system, it becomes the default on nearly all machines sold at retail stores. So if consumers want a new PC, they basically get Vista.

That makes it tough to gauge whether Microsoft's latest creation is actually spurring people to buy new PCs. Market researcher In-Stat issued a report Wednesday saying Vista is not having a major impact on the PC market. The firm said some people delayed purchases last year to wait for the new operating system, a move that added some sales to this year, but that the software is not leading others to speed up their new PC purchases.

"My view is that, as a motivating factor to go buy a PC, Vista is not enough," said Ian Lao, the In-Stat analyst who wrote the new report.

But there hasn't been a groundswell of grumbling over the new operating system either. "It's not the scenario like (new) Coke and Coke Classic," Lao said. "There isn't a big revolt going on."

Dell did see enough demand for XP that it has brought back the older operating system as an option on some consumer machines. Dell, HP and others still offer XP for small- and medium-business customers as well.

As for the PC market as a whole, Lao said it's shaping up largely as expected, something he said he foresees continuing.

"I see the rest of the year panning out, for the most part as it would have originally," he said. Consumers "will purchase a PC if they were already planning to."

NPD analyst Stephen Baker said that the market has shifted somewhat during the early part of this year. While the trend toward notebook computers has continued, desktop sales and pricing have finally stabilized some, although Baker said he doesn't attribute either those changes or overall consumer sales patterns to Vista's release.

"That would require you to believe that on the consumer side, people actually buy their PC based on what operating system is inside, and I really don't believe that is the case," Baker said.

Microsoft, for its part, says Vista has helped the overall PC market as well as the company's own business, noting that the operating system was a key part of its strong quarterly earnings report and contributed to a PC market that grew 10.9 percent worldwide in the first quarter, according to IDC.

"Though it's very early in the product lifecycle, we're pleased with the market response to date for Windows Vista," Microsoft said in an e-mailed statement. "We're looking forward to continued growth and broad adoption of Windows Vista around the world."

The corporate factor
An influential factor in the PC market is businesses upgrading their machines, and there has been little indication that corporations are buying large numbers of PCs as part of a rush to Vista. Microsoft has maintained that the corporate move to Vista will outpace prior transitions, most notably when it claimed in September that business adoption of Vista in its first 12 months would be twice that of Windows XP.

An HP representative said Wednesday that the company is starting to see increased interest from some corporate customers in Vista, perhaps a sign that some businesses have completed the testing needed to qualify the new operating system. "There is now growing evidence that transitions are under way in large corporate accounts," the HP representative said.

But others are predicting a far slower pace of Vista adoption, looking to next year as the time when most businesses will start to consider buying Vista. Even in the PC business, some of Microsoft's closest partners, notably chipmaker Intel, have yet to push Vista out to their own employees.

Lao said many businesses upgraded large numbers of PCs in 2005 and 2006, making them unlikely to move to Vista this year or even next year.

"I'm seeing this more like a 2009, 2010 thing, where corporations will start to make wholesale conversions," Lao said.

Another reason Vista may not be having much of an impact on PC sales is a lack of software and hardware targeted specifically for the new system.

While Microsoft has put a lot of effort into ensuring compatibility with existing software, it will take time before there are any killer apps specific to Vista. While some of Vista's benefits, such as built-in desktop search, are available out of the box, many of its advances, such its new presentation engine or its peer-to-peer sharing technology really only come alive once developers write programs that take advantage of those features.

On the hardware side, there have been a few showcase Vista-optimized PCs, most notably HP's TouchSmart all-in-one and a sleek white Toshiba Portege with a secondary "SideShow" display. But many of the computers on the market largely resemble their XP predecessors both inside and out.

"There are certainly things you can do with Vista," Baker said. "The computer makers certainly have not pushed the envelope on any of those things quite yet."

Some additional PCs that harness Vista features are expected in the second half of this year, as computer makers gear up for the back-to-school and holiday buying seasons.

"We're going to see new industrial designs from almost all the major computer makers," said Samir Bhavnani, research director at Current Analysis West. "I think you are going to see Vista spur growth in the back half of this year."
http://news.com.com/Is+Vista+helpin...086.html?part=rss&tag=2547-1_3-0-20&subj=news

 

Why You Don’t Need Windows Vista - This Is Unbelievable - It Is Windows 98 Reincarnated!

http://www.lockergnome.com/nexus/bl...s-unbelievable-it-is-windows-98-reincarnated/




THE VERY OD ARTICLE ON 98
Why you don’t need Windows 98>

By Daniel Will-Harris

5-25-98 - Normally computers are not big news. We use them every day and they’re an integral part of our lives, and yet, unless some hacker cracks a code, or people are worried about the Year 2000 bug sucking all the money out of their bank accounts, we don’t see them on TV news.

But lately, the political babble about Microsoft and the Department of Justice has, perhaps, overshadowed the real question people need to ask themselves about Windows 98--“Do I really need to buy it?”

The answer, in my opinion, is “no.” And the reason is simple: “At the moment, there’s just no compelling reason, and there are compelling reasons to avoid it.”

>Reasons to avoid it

Let’s start with the reasons to avoid it. First, while not the major operating system upgrade that Windows 3.1 was, it still is an operating system upgrade that replaces many vital system files. Chances are about 100% that the mission-critical software you rely on now was not developed with these new changes, however minor, in mind. That means that despite all the testing Microsoft has done, there are sure to be incompatibilities with software, printer drivers, scanner drivers and other things you rely on. Since publishing tends to work computers to the max, the chances are even greater that you’ll run into unexpected problems because of these changes. I don’t know about you, but when I get my system running right, I don’t want to mess with it unless I’m sure it’s going to continue to run right. There are no such assurances with Windows 98.

>Reasons you don’t need it

The change from Windows 3.1 and Windows 95 was huge--you were going from a 16-bit system to a 32-bit system. You got long filenames and a much more stable system. To get the most out of it you needed to upgrade your applications software to new versions, but when you did, you got new features, new power, and it was worth the trouble.

Windows 98 is a much more minor upgrade--it’s more like a bunch of utilities and “bug fixes” than it is like a new operating system.

Its biggest claim to fame is that you see everything through the browser, the Internet Explorer. Big deal. Remember, Microsoft is busy giving away the Internet Explorer (complete with the very same “take over your desktop if you want it” interface that Windows 98 offers). If you want that new interface, download it for free from the Microsoft site. I have heard horror stories about installing IE with the “Active Desktop,” so my copy of IE was installed without this feature, but if you want the Win98 interface, this is basically all you need to do to get it for free.

Win98 comes with Outlook Express, a very good e-mail program, NetMeeting, a very good internet collaboration tool, FrontPad, a good HTML editor, and NetShow for viewing streaming media. All these also come with IE--for free. Get the picture?

The most major change is probably “Fat 32,” the new hard disk system that’s a lot more efficient. On your current 2 GIG hard disk, every file takes 32K--even the zero K and 1K files. That’s a lot of wasted space. The new system only needs 4K per file, so on a 2 GIG hard disk you can save as much as 500MB, if you have a lot of files.

Of course, if you have used the current DriveSpace utility without problems, as I have, you can use it and get the same results (I recommend that you place all your Internet Favorites and Internet Temporary files on a DriveSpace disk, because it can easily save you hundreds of megabytes of wasted space from all the tiny little files it uses). Some people may find this compelling enough to upgrade, but even though I’m always strapped for hard disk space, it’s not enough for me--I’ll just buy a five more ZIP drives and move things from my hard disk to the ZIP disks--at half the price. Plus, I can still use my Norton Utilities and other hard disk utility programs that won’t work under FAT32.

>Utilities

Most of Win98’s features are really utilities. There’s a new disk defragmenter that’s supposedly smarter about where it puts files. While this is good, you can buy a much better disk defragmenting system that does the same thing, safely, for Win95 (as well as WinNT and even Win98) and includes disk drive repair and data recovery as well. It’s called SprinRite and is from Gibson Research Corporation. It works on hard disks and even ZIP drives.

Win98 has a new, improved “ScanDisk” that automatically runs if your computer isn’t shut down properly. If you’re a smart user you always run ScanDisk if your computer isn’t shut down properly anyway. Same with the disk cleanup feature--something for people who don’t spend a few minutes a day deleting temporary files.

There are new features that check system files and replace corrupted ones, and check your system registry and back it up. Those are good features, to be sure, but you’ve gotten along without them for years, haven’t you? I have.

And if you have a TV card (who does?) then you basically get “Web-TV” like capabilities, as if your browser isn’t enough. You can watch CNN and view their web site at the same time. That sounds like a real productivity enhancer to me.

>Useful features

Win98 does have some features that will come in handy, in the future. One is an on-line upgrade manager that checks for the latest patches, tells you what you need and installs them automatically. You can get an idea of how this works if you have IE4, since it uses a similar system for upgrading and downloading new parts.

And, oh yes, you can finally use multiple monitors at the same time, as Mac users have been able to do for years. Some people will find this valuable. Me, I run my graphics card in high-res mode so I have a lot of pixel-real-estate to work in, and I know how to use ALT-TAB to switch between Windows, or click on the task bar at the bottom of the screen, so I can live without this feature. If you can’t, and you’re willing to deal with two graphics cards and all the installation fun I’m sure that will entail, then upgrade away.

>Political reasons

Finally, there’s the political side of why you shouldn’t upgrade. In an earlier column I talked about how the only way to really get your message across to the software industry, Microsoft included, was to “say it with cash.” And here’s your big chance. Software companies make a lot of money from upgrades--that’s why they like to release them regularly (and get ready, because with more web-linked software, I predict you’ll have to buy a monthly or yearly “subscription” to software just to keep it running).

Microsoft really has been acting like a bully lately--thinking so highly of itself that it not only bullies other software and hardware makers (even small font designers who pose no threat to it), it even thinks it can bully the United States government, and the world market. On one hand they say they’re not a monopoly, on the other they encourage all the major computer makers to go to Wall Street to say that if their minor OS upgrade is delayed it will damage the entire world economy. They can’t have it both ways.

If you buy Windows 98, you’re voting for Microsoft (and if that’s what you want to do, that’s your decision). If you don’t buy Windows 98, you’re voting to say that you think Microsoft is not doing right by you--which is my opinion.

I’m a firm believer that competition is good for the consumer. Microsoft claims they just want to be free to innovate, but innovation has never come all from a single company, especially Microsoft. Look at how the Mac market stagnated because Apple thought all innovation had to come from within. That same thing can and will happen with Windows and the software you must use every day if there aren’t other companies with a chance in the market.

Do you really want to encourage Microsoft to charge you for what it had given away for free because it was so desperate to compete with Netscape? (Competition Microsoft would love to and has tried with all its might to crush). Competition is good, and Microsoft has clearly become anti-competitive.

Do you want to say it’s OK for Microsoft not to fix buggy software? Look at Word, which has major bugs that have yet to be fixed (outlining, document map, graphics that disappear) because Microsoft seems unconcerned about the competition from Lotus and Corel. What are you going to do, switch to another word processor? Probably not.

So you can continue to send your money to Microsoft, thereby telling them you think they’re doing a fine job, or you can hold off buying Windows 98 until there’s an absolutely compelling reason to do so. Holding off might also tell them that they should be charging $50 for this upgrade, since half of what they’re “selling” theyre already giving away for free.

When should you upgrade? When you buy a new computer--that’s a good time because then you get a totally fresh installation, and besides, it won’t be long before you can’t buy a new computer with Windows 95. Or if you need some new DVD or TV or other device driver that’s better supported.

But until you really need this upgrade, think long and hard about buying this upgrade. Your $100 might be a lot better spent, and the message you send to Microsoft might just be priceless.

>Anti-competitive

It’s hard to have over 90% of a market without being a monopoly. Yet Microsoft claims it is not a monopoly. Most people don’t understand why this is important, or why it is dangerous.

MS has become such an industry bully that in any other industry people would be outraged. This is like having only one phone company, only one car company, or only one airline to choose from--and imagine the "innovation" and value that breeds.

People get confused because they think, “Well, there are lots of brands of computers to choose from,” without realizing that while the computers are from different companies, the thing that makes them run all comes from the same place. It would be like buying a Cadillac and getting the same interior you get with a Hyundai--that’s not choice.

The danger in this situation is two-fold. First, once you get locked into the Microsoft system (and I admit that even I am locked into it--with a big investment in software and learning), it’s expensive, and difficult to get out.

But the real economic danger lies a few years down the road, especially if the anti-trust suit fails, when Microsoft has even less competition and even less reason to stay “in line.” At that point, Microsoft can start to do and charge whatever it wants. What are you, or the government going to do about it? So suddenly you’re paying $20 a month to use Windows. Every month. And $20 more for Word. It’s like a cable bill from hell. And yet you’re hooked. Microsoft calls it innovation--after all, you get monthly upgrades with features you may or may not need, and hopefully, regular bug-fixes. If you don’t like it, what are you going to do? You’ll have no choice.

Microsoft is becoming the USSR of the software world. They give you what they want to give you and you will like it and there’s no escape. “You will wear these brown shoes with your black outfit because you don’t have any choice and eat this pumpernickel bread with your spaghetti because we say they taste good together.”

I used to be a big fan of Microsoft--they have done good things for the computer world, and I use and like Windows. But I don’t want to give away my choice to Microsoft. I don’t trust them, or any single company to make all the decisions in my computing life.

Computers are too important to our lives now to entrust them to any one company. Yet this is what is happening now and frankly, it frightens me. The best way you can make your voice heard today is to “say it with cash” and not buy the Win98 upgrade. It’s simple, and it makes sense--you don’t really need it yet anyway.

Update: I’m not the only one who feels this way. Read these articles to see some additional perspectives:
http://www.will-harris.com/wire/html/win98.html

 

Microsoft makes it hard to downgrade Vista

We XPect you weren't XPecting this

By INQUIRER staff: Thursday 24 May 2007, 10:30
SYSTEM INTEGRATORS are up in arms, incandescent and the rest, because Microsoft hasn't made it easy for them to downgrade the Vista OS to Windows XP.

According to CRN US, Microsoft is aware of the problem and trying to fix it.

The wire reported that partners need to phone the Vole and get a special key so that XP can replace Vista.

One system builder said the downgrade to XP is "a joke" and if customers have 100 desktops and don't want to move to Vista, it takes a good old while to manually enter the XP keys.

There's more, here.

We reported some weeks ago that sales to large enterprises are counted by Microsoft as Vista sales, although the first thing many of them are doing are downgrading to XP while they evaluate the outlook. µ

http://www.theinquirer.net/default.aspx?article=39833

System Builders: Microsoft Makes Windows XP Downgrades Tough

CRN logo By Paula Rooney, CRN
5:00 PM EDT Wed. May. 23, 2007
Microsoft has made it difficult for new PC buyers and channel partners to use Windows XP downgrade rights, system builders say.

At the Redmond, Wash., software giant's system builder summit last week in Phoenix, several channel executives criticized Microsoft's activation requirements, which force partners and customers to call the company to obtain a special override key to activate Windows XP on new PCs with Windows Vista pre-installed.

The intent of activation is to reduce piracy, but requiring customers and partners to call Microsoft and get a unique key to reactivate XP on every new Vista PC purchase frustrates new PC sales and hinders customer migrations to Vista, according to system builders.

Vista's general release came in late January, and the operating system now comes pre-installed on all new Windows PCs. Users can activate the new OS electronically. Typically, though, small and midsize businesses and enterprises wait several months before considering an upgrade to a new OS and tend to use the old platform until all the kinks are worked out and applications are tested.

Microsoft executives said the company is aware of the issue and is working on a solution.

Still, system builders said they're feeling the impact of the problem in the field today, and they gave Microsoft a lot of grief over the downgrade program at the summit.

"There remain more problems with the execution of Vista rather than the quality of the operating system. For instance, the Vista downgrade to XP is pretty much a joke," said one system builder, who requested anonymity. "You cannot market it with an XP system and the activation has to be done manually. What if you are a customer with a 100 desktops? You'll have to manually key something on each system."

Another system builder said the issue is a problem for Microsoft as well.

"Downgrade rights from Windows 98 or 2000 were much easier because you could install the older operating systems with any valid COA, and it would work. Obviously, this isn't the case from XP to Vista," said Todd Swank, vice president of marketing at Nor-Tech, Burnsville, Minn.

"It's a real dilemma for Microsoft. We've heard of some customers getting a new Windows XP COA number when they call the activation line, which creates problems because then customers are basically getting two licenses for the price of one," Swank said.

There is a workaround: Technicians can install XP without a new Certificate of Authenticity using a Volume License CD. Yet system builders are concerned that such a method would look shady to customers, Swank said.

Microsoft is working to resolve the complexities involved in using XP downgrade rights, said John Ball, general manager of U.S. system builders for Microsoft.

"It will be sooner rather than later," Ball said, promising a solution well before the end of the year. "Senior [Microsoft] executives have heard the feedback, and there is a lot of focus on getting this right. It's an issue globally, and we're focused on it."

One system builder in the managed services space views the situation as an opportunity to pitch services to customers. "I do handle [downgrades] for them, but I don't think it's hard. I guess system builders tend to whine a lot," said David Stinner, president of US itek Group, Buffalo, N.Y. "You can turn it around into an opportunity. We can do downgrade rights for customers, put Vista Business on it and install Windows XP Pro so they have 50 machines. And when they are ready to go to Vista, we'll upgrade them because we have the Vista keys already on it. "

Industry observers said at least some of the difficulties are getting ironed out. For example, some employees in Microsoft's global technical support team told some customers initially after Vista's release that they were not allowed to use downgrade rights to XP at all. But that was incorrect.

"Downgrade has always been a bit of a pain, especially for an operating system. You always had to have a valid CD," said Jeffrey Sherman, president of Warever Computing, Los Angeles. "However, the problem is that XP requires activation, and they won't reactivate a product key that's already been activated. However, the staff in India doesn't seem to have gotten that information, so they simply tell you that they won't activate XP."
http://crn.com/software/199701468;jsessionid=2N2NWHJNOKQEYQSNDLPCKH0CJUNN2JVN

 

Where is our Vista upgrade?

No show five months after release

By Dean Pullen: Thursday 24 May 2007, 11:25
CONSIDERING THE widely held belief that the Microsoft Vista upgrade program has been an utter mess, we decided to test the system's abilities ourselves.

Whilst not particularly desiring Vista on our lovely Sony Vaio, we thought it best to sign-up to the programme in order to not only see how long the process took, but also in an attempt to get whatever we could out of Microsoft.

It should be noted that Microsoft refused several times to supply this hack with any form of Vista since its release, stating that too many copies have already been sent out, which we're pretty sure is the best way to approach PR with the press over such a critically received product. Nice one guys.

Having performed the necessary steps to request an upgrade from the Moduslink website, via a Sony site link, which included the serial of our laptop and the Windows COA key, on March 7th, we received confirmation of the order on the same day.

Having paid £17.63 for 'postage and packaging' - those DVDs must weigh an awful lot, we started to wonder where the order had got to considering it was now May.

Just over two months later on the 8th of May, we contacted Moduslink in order to question where the order was. We received this rather odd e-mail 8 days later:

Your current status is still only COA validated.
Please send the copy of the proof of purchase of your computer together with your order confirmation number. You can do it by e-mail (PDF only), fax or if you prefer white mail you can send us a copy. The address is listed below. Please do so before the 31st of May.
After approving your order, you will receive a confirmation when your order is being shipped; unfortunately we cannot provide you with a specific shipping date yet. Shipping takes approximately 4 weeks time.

More oddly, the Moduslink website order tracking screen stated that our 'order is approved'.

In this instance the laptop was actually an insurance replacement, and thus didn't have an easily locatable receipt. We contacted Moduslink to attempt to clarify the issue asking how we could provide proof of purchase details.

We then received this e-mail (again, eight days later) in utter contradiction to the previous statement made by Moduslink:

Thank you for contacting the Upgrade Redemption Support Centre.
You don't have to worry anymore about the proof of purchase. We already checked everything.
Due to the huge amount of orders we have received we are unable to give a specific date. Please be informed that you will receive a confirmation once we have shipped your product.
However, your order has been fully processed and validated and payed for.
Should you have further questions, please contact us again.

Quite whether we ever needed proof of purchase or not, is difficult to ascertain.

So, coming up to five months after the official release of Windows Vista, three months after our order, and we're still waiting along with many many other users - even for an estimated date of delivery.

Not just delivery times are affected - the whole process has been shambolic, as credit cards have been refused, proof of purchases have been disappearing, and orders have been cancelled for no reason. Similar tales of woe appear all over internet forums. Whilst we haven't had too many problems, the huge wait is hardly acceptable.

People all over the UK are still waiting for their expected upgrades, months and month after their order.

Speaking to the Guardian several weeks ago, Robert Epstein, Microsoft UK's Group OEM Manager said: "It's getting a lot better now," says "We're getting them out of the door now - they should be shipping within four weeks."

Clearly this is not the case.

Any problems or similar tales, please e-mail us at the author's link provided at the top of this article.

We'll keep you updated, unlike Microsoft and Moduslink. µ

See Also
Pirates release fully cracked Vista install
Dell doesn't ship 64-bit versions of Vista
Vista MSDN RTM impresses
Vista is leaked
http://www.theinquirer.net/default.aspx?article=39834

 

i will get vista but it needs more compatibility give it a year the price will go in half and also they will release sp-1 which i will buy but i have 0.99ghz of ram would i be able to have vista aero if i got it or could i install it without aero then after use boost button with memory card to make bigger ram then install it over that so aero would work
plz help me thanks.....
i have a vista sidebar and stuff installed on my laptop using vtp6

 

June 4, 2007 2:35 PM
The Vista Contradiction


Joe Wilcox
Joe Wilcox

OEMs may not be doing enough to give consumers that "Wow," if desktop PCs for sale at retail are any indication.

Yesterday, I spent some time looking at desktop PCs at local Best Buy and Circuit City stores, in Wheaton, Md. I did a similar exercise with notebooks, about three weeks ago. I had wanted to check out desktops at the same time, but found none active in Best Buy and Circuit City stores located in Bowie, Md.

Shocked is the only way to describe my reaction to finally seeing new Vista PCs on store shelves. It has been the norm for desktops to pack more computing punch than notebooks, but that's not what I observed yesterday. Many notebooks matched, and often exceeded, desktop configs where it counts for Vista: graphics.

I could find in neither store a single PC with more than 64MB of integrated graphics. Three models -- priced in the $800 to $1,000 range -- came with 32MB integrated graphics. You read that right.

There would appear to be a disturbing trend toward integrated graphics with less dedicated memory and more pulled-from-system memory. It's a longstanding approach to notebooks and makes more sense on portables because of integrated options from AMD and Intel and factors like cost, battery life and heat.

"For standard PCs, we're seeing more and more move to integrated graphics, given that retail needs to be at a specific price point," said Stephen Baker, NPD's director of industry analysis.

The average selling price, or ASP, for U.S. retail PCs in April was $696. NPD hasn't yet released stats for May.


The question: Are integrated graphics that largely share system memory enough to deliver a sustained satisfactory user experience? I say no. Baker took the position of yes, based on economics and consumer buying habits.

"There are very few consumers that need performance," Baker said. "There really is not a big market for performance PCs. It's a niche market."

He emphasized: "Yes, the experience might be better with the discreet graphics, but the market does not support the additional cost."

Such a position would seem to contradict Microsoft's Windows Vista objectives. The most immediate benefit is visual, with respect to the Aero graphical user interface and Windows Presentation Foundation. The visual eye candy and GUI experiences around digital content could improve as developers release more supporting applications.

Based on personal Vista testing, I'm skeptical that a PC with 32MB dedicated graphics and another 200MB or so shared memory is sufficient for a sustainable good Vista experience. In Best Buy yesterday, three PCs -- two from Gateway, one from HP -- in the $900 range with 17- or 19-inch flat-panel monitors, had 32MB of dedicated graphics. One of those systems, pre-loaded with Windows Visa Home Premium, couldn't load Aero.

None of the PCs on display came with more than 64MB of dedicated graphics, and the highest Windows Experience Index ranking was 3.3. Even a $1,999 Sony VAIO T2080, which is a stunning desktop, packed only 64MB of dedicated graphics.

I find the Windows Experience Index to be an excellent tool for assessing hardware's Vista readiness, by the way.

"Well, it looks like Windows Experience index is working, and working perfectly," wrote Microsoft Watch commenter Michael to the earlier post on notebook graphics. "It makes [it] much easier for consumers to judge the performance and make the right decisions."

Something else: At the Best Buy, except for the high-end Sony VAIO, the monitor resolution was set wrong on every PC. The Best Buy store bundled most of the computers with monitors, which typically supported 1440 by 990 resolution but were set to 1024 by 768. I corrected the resolution when checking each computer's Windows Experience Index rating. Where's the "wow" if Vista looks fuzzy because the monitors aren't properly set up? Circuit City only had some PCs set up with the wrong screen resolution.

My earlier post on notebook graphics generated lots of comment discussion among Microsoft Watch readers about what should be good enough.

Setomi wrote, "I noticed the same thing while shopping for laptops. Graphics is the weakest link and to make matters worse, you can't upgrade it."

Retail Notebook Market ShareReader Jesse made a dramatic purchase: "Basically I ended up getting the MacBook Pro just to run Vista because of the lack of good laptops with performance. In the end I am kind of unhappy because I want to run the 64-bit version of Vista, which the HP would have done, but the resolution of the HP in the store wasn't good enough for me."

Are Microsoft Watch readers the niche described by Baker? He and I had a lively discussion about dedicated-shared graphics versus fully dedicated. Baker's a really smart analyst, and I rarely disagree with him. Or maybe he took the more pragmatic view about what to really expect from the retail market.

"A lot of companies see [integrated graphics] as cost-effective and more appropriate for their customers," he said. "This is a volume-based market, where people generally default to an acceptable experience level."

Baker said that the integrated-shared graphics met the acceptable level, if not the best.

Maybe, I take the view of how things should be. Consumer excitement over the iPhone, which is a fairly expensive mobile, comes from the visuals and they are stunning. Vista's visuals are compelling, too. Could they be better if OEMs delivered heftier graphics? I say, yes, absolutely, at least when more available applications tap into Aero and also Windows Presentation Foundation.

There is a contradiction here, if my view of how things should be is the right one. Microsoft made the visual experience a priority, while OEMs and retailers shortchange consumers on PC graphic capabilities. Surely, there are other places OEMs could cut costs—unless Baker is correct and consumers don't care enough about the visuals.

So, I ask: How much does the visual experience matter to you? Do you care about the eye candy, and, therefore, are you willing to pay for it? Example: Dell has sent me a couple of recent e-mail sales offers on lower-cost PCs, where fully dedicated graphics would add $50-$100 to the computer's cost. Would you pay that much more for 256MB of dedicated graphics memory versus 64MB dedicated and another 200MB or so more shared with system memory?
http://www.microsoft-watch.com/content/vista/the_vista_contradiction.html?kc=MWRSS02129TX1K0000535