Vista Review

Windows Vista is definitely a drain on any system, and I’ve heard from tons of people how much faster their systems were once they wiped out Vista and replaced it with XP. It would make sense, since XP doesn’t have Aero or the visual eye candy of Vista and all that does is just eat memory. With more memory available - your computer is going to run faster! This blog post I read today said that Windows XP even exceeds Windows 7’s performance!

One of the features that Vista touted was the built-in partition manager, but guess what - there’s a Freeware paritition manager for Windows XP too! On the other hand there have been some developments in the Linux desktop and netbook mini-notebook fronts as well. You have entire countries now wanting to throw out Windows, as Russia wants to develop a national Linux OS! But on the other hand this blog post reports that HP drops Linux netbooks in Europe. If you think that’s true then maybe it’s Google to the rescue, and there could be a mass onslaught of netbooks running Android software in the very near future!

In all my blog reading this week, the funniest thing I read was that Steve Ballmer thinks Enterprise Customers will play hell with users for sticking with Windows XP. In his words, the users will cry foul because they aren’t “getting the same OS they have at home”. Steve - look around, people are buying brand new netbooks and sub-compacts with XP loaded every day by the thousand!

Everyone seems to think that Windows 7 will be worth the wait and much better than Windows Vista. I laughed when I read this post that basically said Windows Vista is president Bush and Windows 7 is president Obama. It also mentions that some people are gonna be plenty pissed to have to pay yet another $150 to upgrade to Windows 7.

It looks like one of the features everyone is looking forward to in Windows 7 is drastically improved security (that was soooo lacking in Vista). It looks like they’re starting to learn that the people in marketing and sales are also to blame for massive failure, since the the “Vista Capable” fiasco could end up costing them $8.5 BILLION!

Are you looking forward to Windows 7?

The post Does Linux stand a chance against Windows 7 got me thinking, Microsoft has really thought about the damage that Vista has done. I mean really, I purchased my Toshiba satellite laptop 2 years ago with Vista home on it and now it has dual-boot between Ubuntu and Vista home. Honestly I spend the bulk of my time in Linux (not Windows) now. But, there are (and were) tons of laptops that wouldn’t run Vista because of the hardware requirements. Now they’re saying that windows 7 has been optimized to run on anything from the smallest of sub-notebooks (netbooks) right up to high end desktops. Hmmm…..I think the biggest part of BS I smell in that article is the line on the second page that reads “The problem was that Linux could run on a netbook and Vista couldn’t, not any consumer or OEM love for Linux,” WTF - are you kidding me? Until the XP version was even available Linux sales drove the hell out of both the eee PC in addition to the Wal-mart bargain $199 desktop. I think it’s great that MS if finally trimming down the operating system for smaller and portable devices, but it’s pretty much a $1 short and a day late. I can boot about any computer in the world with my USB key!

With the release of Windows 7 drawing ever closer, there is definitely no shortage of articles about it and Windows Vista as well.

Let’s start off with a post about a version of windows Vista I didn’t know existed “Vista Starter. Apparently this version is about as stripped down as it gets, and was designed for “developing nations”. In other words “the poor”. If you don’t have money - then you can browse the web, and that’s about it. And people wonder why Linux is popular in these countries.

I was surprised to read on Slashdot (of all places), that the Windows 7 beta seems to be going amazingly well, purportedly the most solid beta version of Windows put out to date. It looks like it’s so popular that some people are installing Windows 7 on their netbooks.

Another surprising post this week comes from Gizmodo where they answer the question “Why should you go 64 bit with Windows 7?“. Apparently the answer is memory. Like I always said - why would you want to use 4GB of memory in your box when Windows Vista (or XP, or whatever) can only use 3.3GB of it anyway in a 32 bit version. That coupled with the fact that like a year ago all kinds of devices and drivers didn’t work for squat in 64 bit windows. No more is the case I guess, and guess what? With 64 bit Windows you can use up to a Terabyte of RAM!! If you’re considering Windows 7, I guess you should be trying the 64 bit version unless you have all kinds of legacy gadgets.

Another unusual post was the one about the Microsoft REC (Retail Experience Center) store. They have setup a 20,000 square foot store (that you can’t shop at) to show retailers how their products should be displayed.

And if you’re sick of all this Windows Vista and 7 Hype, read How to make windows XP last 7 more years - you’ll be glad you did!

There’s all kinds of Windows news about this week, including the new version of Mac OS - Snow Leopard. It seems there was no mention of it at MacWorld, and it was Apple’s chance to beat the Windows 7 launch in mid-2009.
It seems as though in an attempt to foster good thoughts after the bungled “Vista Ready” campaigns, Microsoft will offer free Windows 2007 upgrades for anyone that buys a PC after June 2009. Is that really a deal? I mean come on - windows 7 is supposed to be out by that date. They should offer Windows 7 for free to anyone who buys a PC in 2009 period. Looks like there are 2 restrictions to the upgrades, you have to upgrade to the same language version, and you have to upgrade to the straight path (ultimate to ultimate, etc).

You know, this recent article reminds me of one Vista quirk I never wrote about, the fact the IE stores all it’s downloads in My documents -> Downloads folder. It’s funny I think that Windows seems to remind you about every GD thing in the universe you don’t want to know about (storing passwords, visiting secure sites) - but it never bothers to tell you where the downloads go. New users are just confused until they figure it out.

I read a post about Michael Dunner comparing Vista and Windows 7 security, bringing to the surface once again the problems with the evil UAC (User Account Control) in Vista. This is by far the most annonying feature that Microsoft has ever invented. I’ve blogged about this before - but how come each and every time that the IT rags write about UAC they don’t just come out and say that Microsoft was blatantly copying Linux (Ubuntu) when they created UAC? I mean, come on - in Ubuntu Linux even if you were the one that setup the PC you have your own account separate from root. If you try to do something on Ubuntu that your privelege does not allow, it prompts you for the “root” password So many things in Vista are blatant rip-offs of both Mac OS X (based on UNIX anyway) and Linux it’s not funny - from UAC, to the sidebar, Aero, screen and window effects, and more…the “new” versions of Windows are oh so….COPIED!

I came across another feature I didn’t know about in Vista this week, it’s the hidden checkboxes feature. Wish I’d known about this one awhile back.

You might also like to know about the new “Pre-Boot shells” that are coming available with some newer laptops. You can surf the web without ever entering windows and save up to 25% of your battery life at the same time. Pretty cool. My laptop has a Linux/Vista dual boot - and 95% of my time is spent in Linux anyway.

I’ve read quite a few Windows articles this week, and there is definitely a buzz about Windows 7 in the air. It just seems like nobody knows what is going on. This post Windows 7: A New Vista or a New Operating System lists some features of Windows 7 that sound pretty cool. The new taskbar and jump list features sound great, but why in the hell MS still insists on making Calendar, windows mail, movie maker, contacts, and photo gallery downloadable is beyond me. They also seem to have taken the stance that they need to remove things that Vista had that pissed people off. Like incessant UAC notifications and alerts, hardware requirements, and connection speeds.

In the meantime we are all reminded what a turd Vista is by having to remember the whole “Vista capable” debaucle in posts like there’s a class action lawsuit saying Microsoft misled consumers - where HP is highly pissed at Microsoft because the chipset they were using for “Vista capable” machines couldn’t run Vista at all. In otherwords, HP was practically forced into selling Junk PC’s! Yet another post reveals how Intel Benefited from Vista capable.

A lot of people are talking about Windows 7, and really do wonder if the release date will actually be June 2009 or not. There seem to be many people testing it, and in fact this post says that it boots faster than both XP and Vista. It looks like at first glance too, that Windows 7 is only having one “ready” sticker. Does that mean it will only have one version? With Windows 7 coming out, it makes you think about all the versions of Windows that came before it…did you know that Microsoft just stopped selling Windows 3.1 licenses? That really shocked me…

Vista is a piece of crap, really makes me laugh. It’s sooooo like the problems people have with vista everyday.

Something I had forgotten since my Windows Vista journey started (and this blog started) 2 years ago was the fact that “Windows Vista Ultimate” was supposed to contain “elite cutting edge extras” that you couldn’t get in the lesser versions. According to this post on Tom’s Hardware one was released a year ago, and this week one game and some sound schemes were released. Wow. That was really worth paying $400 for wasn’t it? According to that post, people who bought Vista Ultimate are getting pretty pissed off. This post reiterates more of the same.

Maybe Microsoft should stick to operating system development and leave cutting edge software to third parties. Tivo has partered with Nero and released a PC version of the Tivo that ships with a TV tuner card and remove for $199. This includes the Tivo montly service and guide for one year. You can also buy just the software if you already have a TV tuner card for only $99.

I have to say after 2 years of using Vista home on my laptop it’s becoming pretty damned bogged down. I came across this Vista Optimization Guide today which I will be using to see if I can get it to be responsive once again.

In Windows 7 - will Microsoft pry open your wallet and start taking out cash on a regular basis?? I’m not so sure….

In my last post I talked about the fact that Microsoft is going to try and release the next version of Windows (Windows 7) as early as June 2009. Then today I read that Windows 7 will replace some Native Windows app with “Live.com” services.

Whaa?? I mean, WTF??

For YEARS Microsoft has been jamming every known feature they could think of into Windows. A CD burning app, a calendar, an e-Mail client, a web browser, a media player, a video editor, an instant messaging app, and more. They have labored long and hard wtih millions of dollars and lots of lawyers to get courts worldwide to believe all these functions were “meant to be native in Windows” and it was OK to CRUSH or put out of business companies like Netscape, Eudora, ICQ, Ulead, Nero, and more.

They are going to tell you that by putting these apps on live.com customers will benefit by getting the latest version sooner (without bugs) - but they forget to tell you their entire decisive evil plan. Microsoft search is DEAD LAST in the search engine wars, and MSN has failed for years, MSN Spaces is NOTHING like Wordpress.com, LiveJournal, MySpace, or Facebook, and even Hotmail has fallen to the mighty gmail.

By forcing you to go to Live.com - Microsoft can shove whatever advertisements they want down your throat will you use their “FREE” apps. They can’t shove an ad on your desktop just yet for the latest NBC sit-coms when you open Outlook Express - so in Windows 7 you’ll just get no email program and when you click the icon go to “live.com” where you will be FORCEFED ADS until you puke whether you like it or not!

Do you think it will stop there? Oh hell no!! With Outlook Express you can store UNLIMITED amounts of email on your local hard drive. You can keep the last 5 years of messages of you want. Get a new PC next summer and all your email will be stored in Live.com’s servers, and when you use up too much space you will be forced to either delete old emails OR pay them a MONTHLY FEE for what was previously FREE as part of Windows on your local computer.

Now - they will also say that your email is “safer” (against hard drives crashes and being lost forever) on Live.com’s servers - but it’s also now not in your hands and “could” be hacked from the public Internet by someone anywhere in the world (as Sarah Palin just found out!).

Guess what - in Windows 7 you also won’t have a Photo Gallery or Movie maker either! Oh - and you won’t have Windows Writer (Wordpad) either! This all (in my opinion) works into Microsoft’s evil plan to force you to store ALL YOUR MEDIA, documents, digital pictures, and movies ON THEIR SERVERS. This way when you have too much you WILL HAVE TO PAY THEM A MONTHLY FEE TO STORE IT!

They may boast security, backup, ability to access your files from any PC and Internet connection, but in MY HONEST OPINION it’s a blatant attempt to get Microsoft into your wallet EACH AND EVERY MONTH!! If you thought that Windows Vista was expensive - do the math if you’re paying Microsoft $29.95 per month for functionality that was previously PART of WINDOWS!! You might as well buy a screen, keyboard, and mouse and say you’re going to lease Windows by the month!

F-U Windows, I am so ready to go Ubuntu from here on out it’s not even funny! If you’re going to do what I think you are - the next version of Windows might even be a BIGGER FLOP than Vista!

So it looks as if Microsoft it battling bad Vista PR with the same resource it usually does in bad times - MONEY! They are throwing lots of money at the problem in hopes that they can fix the “Vista perception” in the public eye. Personally, I think that they should just spend that money to speed along the new version of Windows more quickly. Oh wait - it was reported this week that Microsoft is pulling Windows 7 ahead early - possibly up to June ‘09!

Even though big company CIO’s are planning on skipping Vista altogether, Microsoft is working hard to get consumers to not want to downgrade to XP! The recent ads of the “Mojave” expirement are a joke - where MS shows consumers “Vista” but tells them it’s the new version of Windows called “Mojave” and they “love” it until they are told it’s Vista. You read new articles all the time like “Will Vista be the death of Microsoft that question whether or not a new operating system could become popular or not, and (in that article) the rumour is HP is working on one.

You still occasionally find the odd-person-out that says Windows Vista is not so bad. And there are still tips here and there available, like how to unlock Vista’s hidden boot screen. The ability to customize and remove certain features in Vista must be lacking, or at best difficult, give many companies have enabled groups of experts to help customers remove them.

Until next time - that’s what’s new in Vista in the News!

After all complaining about Vista for months, it was kind of refreshing to read 40 Must have Windows programs for Vista over at TechRadar this morning.

Among the favorites listed are many programs you may not know about - like “Aerofoil” which turns off Vista graphics heavy “Aero” interface with just the click on one buttons. Also take a look at Windows Live Listas, CC Cleaner, and TweakVI. Everything else is great, but not really Vista specific. All in all though - there are some great pieces of software on this list, and many are free (and work on XP too)!

I’m wondering how many people out there (on average) have updated their Vista laptops and desktops to SP1 not that it’s been available quite awhile. I have to say - I haven’t updated my laptop yet at all, especially since I read that (despite the initial hype) machines aren’t running faster at all post-upgrade, they’re (mostly) in fact running slower!

This guy at TechIMO reports his system running squirrelly after the upgrade, so he backed it out with system restore.

Then again - it’s a double edged sword, since if I don’t upgrade in the near future my machine might be vulnerable to new exploits, the one recently announced that renders Windows Vista security useless.

It looks like I’m damned if I do and damned if I don’t, and I may have to make a choice this year. Have you upgraded your Vista yet? What have you experienced?

Microsoft is running an ad campaign called Mojave. They tell testers that they are testing the new version of Windows (after Vista) code named “Mojave”, and then they actually show them Vista instead. Then the users “all love it (yay!)” - and Microsoft is like “we pwned you - Vista rocks”!

Idiot Microsoft - Vista STILL SUCKS!

Everybody knows that Windows Vista is a dud and Windows XP is still viable. The hilarity of the “downgrade” option is absurd. How ironic is it then that Windows Vista good enough for new OEM PC’s to consumers, but it’s not good enough for Intel employees. Intel has more than 80,000 computers, but is only meagerly testing in a few departments Vista. The rest of the company is waiting until 2010 when Windows 7 comes out according to an anonymous source in The New York Times. If the failure of Windows Vista weren’t evident before, glaring examples come out more each day.

WTF is going on Microsoft? In my last post I talked about “Vista’s Second Life, and how the confirmed release date of Windows 7 is Jan 2010. OEM’s can sell XP Professional until Jan 2009, so that leaves people screwed for about a year if they buy a new PC - doesn’t it?

Well, just a couple days about Microsoft officially ended sales of Windows XP - you can’t just walk into Office Max and pickup a copy anymore. As previously mentioned, you can still get it from OEM computer builders until Jan 2009, but after that they can’t even get it from Microsoft.

So, the really screwy thing I just read about was that Dell was now offer it’s new Windows Vista Bonus Program for only $99. What’s the bonus?? You get a computer with Windows XP Professional installed on it, and a disc with Vista on it. WTF Microsoft - and WTF dell?!? Now we have to PAY AN EXTRA HUNDRED BUCKS to not get Vista? F*CK YOU!

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The register article Microsoft says ‘hasta la vista XP’ is so timely. It loos like Windows 7 (to be released in Jan 2010) is really gonna be Vista mock 2, and built on the same “core architecture”. Basically they’re saying - no surprised, we’re gonna fix it this time - really! In addition, OEM’s can still sell XP Professional until early 2009. So what happens between 2009 and 2010 is what I want to know! I guess, just don’t buy a PC or laptop that year at all.

I would hash out all the BS in Vista they should fix, but why when Let’s Not Repeat the Vista Mistakes in Windows 7 does it so well already!

It was important that Microsoft confirmed the Jan 2010 release date, but more importantly MS - can you clue us in along the way on what you’ll actually be doing with it? What’s included? Will you take ANY of our millions of suggestions into consideration? I doubt it.

It’s time to review what’s new with Windows Vista in the news! First up is the $1,632 copy of Windows Vista that’s just insane. Bill ordered Vista online and each time he tried to pay it gave him an error screen and he had to go back. Each time he went back and tried again it billed him $233. Months later he still doesn’t have all his money back - and the Vista Ultimate Upgrade license he was charged for wasn’t even the one he ordered! Oh - did I mention he was an IT manager at a large university? Unbelieveable.

This is horrible Vista Promo video is like something out of a bad Saturday Night Live sketch. It’s soooo bad you’ll be rolling on the floor howling in laughter! To make matters worse, they probably blew millions on this clip with really bad fake Bruce Springsteen. If they were going to drive a bad idea that far into the ground shouldn’t they at least have gotten a REAL celebrity?

Ask the Admin had the pic above, and you know come to think of it - I have seen this Vista error (”you do not have permission to view the current permission settings”). How redundant is this? It’s incredibly stupid, I mean this isn’t even “permissions” in the normal sense like read and write. It’s “you don’t have permission to view the freakin’ permissions!!!”. AND - to add insult to injury it gives you the ability to give yourself permission to change those permissions! I think that the layers of BS in Vista permissions are approaching the ways that government has so seamlessly impacted my life…

Well, to everyone that was waiting for SP1 to come out - guess what, the “official release” that was initially posted on the web was full of errors that made machines reboot and reboot and reboot and reboot! And now they’re saying that it’s 40% slower than XP!

In other Vista news this week, turns out that almost no one is buying Vista Ultimate and 75% of all Vista shipments are Vista Home Premium. Redmond is sniffing out pirates in SP1, but for some reason only seems to be nagging them to death.

There is hope as Geekywood shows you how to speed up your Vista, and if that weren’t enough - I’ll cap it off with “How to install Vista in 2 minutes” (which is hilarious - lol)!