Vista Review

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)!