Businesses Consider Skipping Vista

[CadCrazy]

The bad news just keeps on coming for Windows Vista . First there was the "Vista-Capable" class action lawsuit. Then IT advisory firm Gartner claimed Windows may be collapsing under its own weight.

Now Business Week is reporting that a number of large businesses are considering closing the door to Vista, opting instead to stick with XP until the release of Windows 7, due sometime before 2012.

General Motors is the latest large company to publicly consider skipping Vista, citing hardware demands and software vendors who still haven't guaranteed complete compatibility with the OS. Alaska Airlines and Transco Railway Products are two other companies likely to bypass Vista, according to Business Week.

Vista is doing better in the consumer market, of course, but that's largely because the OS is bundled with the vast majority of computers sold in retail outlets.

According to Business Week, 65% of Windows copies sold in the third quarter of last year were Vista, 35% were XP. Microsoft wanted the Vista number to be closer to 80%, but it doesn't look like that will be happening anytime soon.

The success of ASUS's EEE PC has kick-started a whole new market for ultra-portable laptops which don't have the hardware muscle to run Vista. That's forced Microsoft to begrudgingly extend the life of Windows XP.

They will continue to sell OEM XP licenses to low-powered laptop manufacturers through 2010, though Redmond is being very specific about limiting the hardware they'll allow XP to be installed on.

Clearly, if a machine will run Vista, Microsoft wants that machine to be sold with Vista. The strange thing is, the company already has a version of Vista designed to run on stripped down PCs. It's called Vista Starter Edition, and it's sold in developing countries at a reduced price to combat piracy.

It's high time Microsoft unleashed the cheaper version of Vista here at home to combat its lackluster numbers. With a few modifications, Vista Starter Edition would run well on older business machines, and play nice with under-powered ultra-portable laptops.

Who knows, if people get used to Vista on their laptop and business PC's, they might even be more likely to fork over the cash for a beefier version of Vista on their home machines.



Source

[dheeraj_kumar]

I dont like vista and its incompatibility with various software I use... forget business firms, most people I know swear on XP any day. I might consider vista after a sp2, and maybe even feb 09 when xp support officially ends, but if possible, I might just extend my days with XP till windows 7 pops out.

[gxsaurav]

^^^ Which application of yours is not working as of May 19 2008?

[MetalheadGautham]

Originally Posted by gx_saurav

^^^ Which application of yours is not working as of May 19 2008?

Microsoft's own Motocross Madness

[ax3]

@dheeraj_kumar ..... +1 ......

[x3060]

even iam sticking with xp till windows 7,...active sync don't work,yes you got windows media device ....but active sync is the best..and still there is some quicktime issues going on ...xp for me now..

[gxsaurav]

Microsoft's own Motocross Madness

You mean that 10 years old Game???

Hey, does Pidgin 2.24 Works in Readhat Linux 1998????

active sync don't work

It is now called Windows Mobile Device Center, did u tried using it?

and still there is some quicktime issues going on

such as??? Plz state your issue before bashing vista, also is it MS' fault that a 3rd party application isn't working?

[dheeraj_kumar]

Oh, sorry for not responding to this thread.

First, I'm a windows user. Windows Vista has "improved" its security to an extent that it performs like the spiritual successor of ZoneAlarm (too many alerts for anything) and overly-high memory consumption. Perhaps it has been taking notes from Norton?

Second, I'm a programmer. Vista has 7125 modified and new API functions, and over 90% of them are not useful to me. Maybe to someone else, but not me. I dont want to deal with stuff I dont require.

Third, I'm a gamer. Several games are buggy in Vista, and motocross madness, yes the 10 year old game, hasnt had a better successor.

Fourth, I'm not bashing vista and saying that vista is not ready for me. I'm saying that I'm not ready for vista(yet?)

Fifth, It is not microsoft's fault that a 3rd party application isnt working, but you have to accept that windows is a PLATFORM for running 3rd party applications. I'm again not bashing vista, but I just say that Vista seems to have a very low backward compatibility with older software made for windows xp and below.

Sixth, Vista is great for software and games written to be run on vista, so I would go for vista if I want to play Halo 3 or whatever, But considering the low level of backward compatibility, I wouldnt if I want to play motocross madness.

And seventh and final, please dont point me to a vista myths site, like
http://articles.techrepublic.com.com...g=feed&subj=tr
because I've already read it, and this is my personal opinion about vista after using it.

[Zeeshan Quireshi]

@dheeraj

From a programmer's point of View , Vista is actually almost heaven . The new API makes doing things soo much easier .

Have a look at the latest Speech Synthesis API , you just gotta call the speak function to synthesize voice , nothing more .

Plus it supports doing Low-Level tasks easily via high-level languages such as C# and all other .NET 3.0 compatible languages .

[MetalheadGautham]

Originally Posted by gx_saurav

You mean that 10 years old Game???

Hey, does Pidgin 2.24 Works in Readhat Linux 1998????

redhat linux gives free update
and hence it runs
M$ does not
now what the fu*k should I do with this damn game I bought ?
will M$ buy it back ?

[iMav]

Originally Posted by MetalheadGautham

now what the fu*k should I do with this damn game I bought ?

do the same what you did with the clothes you bought when you were 10

[gxsaurav]

Originally Posted by MetalheadGautham

redhat linux gives free update

Really??? Let me know if U can run Pidgin "indeed" on red hat 1998.

M$ does not
now what the fu*k should I do with this damn game I bought ?
will M$ buy it back ?

MS gave u free updates for the lifetime of the OS & game. They are not developing the OS & software in there free time like students & other part time programmer do for 80% of Linux. They deserve to be paid......

Do tell me, if u r able to run amarok, vlc etc on Red hat 1998....

do the same what you did with the clothes you bought when you were 10

U explained it better then I could

Dude, learn to pay for developers for they deserve. Linux people want everything for free, forever....Go make your own hardware then

[techtronic]

Well IMHO, Microsoft itself has brought Vista down by announcing 5 different editions at the time of release.The reason Windows XP became a hit is primarily when it got released only Home and Pro Editions were available.Gradually when requirement Media Center and PE Editions were introduced.

Also Vista Capable and Vista Premium hurt Microsoft's Advertising Strategy too which in turn reduced sales.

[sourav123]

Originally Posted by gx_saurav

Really??? Let me know if U can run Pidgin "indeed" on red hat 1998.



MS gave u free updates for the lifetime of the OS & game. They are not developing the OS & software in there free time like students & other part time programmer do for 80% of Linux. They deserve to be paid......

Do tell me, if u r able to run amarok, vlc etc on Red hat 1998....



U explained it better then I could

Dude, learn to pay for developers for they deserve. Linux people want everything for free, forever....Go make your own hardware then

No offense meant, but you know nothing about Linux/Unix culture. Linux is supposed to be free but not in terms of price, but it is supposed to be modifiable as and when needed. And RedHat has built a successful business model around this for a long time.

Now, why are you repeating RedHat 1998 for the nth time? What we (and perhaps you also) know is that nobody is using that old OS. People have migrated to Fedora and Ubuntu and now they are running VLC/Pidgin or whatever. But your example was not about backward compatibility, it was like forward compatibility. Now I will ask one question: Will aero run on Windows 98?

Whether you agree or not, one thing you have to realize for your own good. Consumer is the king and consumer has their choices now. They will not tolerate something which costs a lot and still does not satisfy their use. Most of the people who use Linux use it willingly and even if you say 'Vista is Great' 100 times, that does not change the reality. When there was no choices, people had to use Windows, now they have choices, so its a free market now. And I guess, 'free market' is a term Steve Balmer fears like hell.

[Voldy]

another pain in the neck for MS

[gary4gar]

The only reason of growing sales is it comes bundled with most Machine and Nearly ALL Notebooks.
If users like Vista or not, they are FORCED to use with Vista. but Vista is not that bad, just needs to be faster. Maybe that happens with Sp2, initially Xp was also rejected by people due to High ram requirement, that time 128mb was lot but look now. people swear for XP.
no strange it took 3 service packs for MS to fix Xp

History repeats itself, now a Service pack 2 is need for vista. then vista would be little faster.

I am being optimistic

[praka123]

no service pack can fix Vi$ta's huge resource requirements and the vulnerabilities it have(pss.. DRM?)

[Sukhdeep Singh]

In my opinion Resources is not headache for most Genuine Vista Users. See the RAM, HDD Prices..........What people want is easy to use, and not something for which they have to use terminal and google for commands. I am not trying to bash Linux here but thats just my opinion for Desktop Level OS

[praka123]

^well,you can live without terminal you need to see latest distros like opensuse.
and using terminal isnt a geeky thing imo.it is not like a M$-DOS CLI which is very confusing .In a bash shell,everything auto-completes!remember bashcompletion is available.
Linux Rocks man!

Well,Vista is supposed to be a past now.media are waiting for windows 7?

[gxsaurav]

Originally Posted by techtronic

Well IMHO, Microsoft itself has brought Vista down by announcing 5 different editions at the time of release.The reason Windows XP became a hit is primarily when it got released only Home and Pro Editions were available.Gradually when requirement Media Center and PE Editions were introduced.

Wasn't it E.C. which said to MS to release different low cost versions for different markets. A version without WMP, A version without security, & it is still the fault of MS?

Now, why are you repeating RedHat 1998 for the nth time? What we (and perhaps you also) know is that nobody is using that old OS. People have migrated to Fedora and Ubuntu and now they are running VLC/Pidgin or whatever. But your example was not about backward compatibility, it was like forward compatibility. Now I will ask one question: Will aero run on Windows 98?

Now, why is he repeating Motocross Madness for the nth time? What we (and perhaps you also) know is that nobody is using that old game. People have migrated to MotoGP etc & now they are running crysis or whatever.

Just read what manan wrote, he explained it better then I could.

Consumer is the king and consumer has their choices now. They will not tolerate something which costs a lot and still does not satisfy their use.

Where is Microsoft restricting any of my choice? Windows is a platform, for which developers make application with the UI/Functionality they want. I use it. simple.

Most of the people who use Linux use it willingly and even if you say 'Vista is Great' 100 times, that does not change the reality.

Most of the people who use Windows cos they are comfortable & they know it will work the best with there hardware & work. Even if you say 'Linux is Great' 100 times, that does not change the reality.

Seriously, geeks use Linux, but how many geeks in overall geek percentage Use Linux????

nitially Xp was also rejected by people due to High ram requirement, that time 128mb was lot but look now. people swear for XP.
no strange it took 3 service packs for MS to fix Xp

I agree, When there is a flaw or drawback in Linux people patiently wait for an update or fix, but why not in case of MS?

no service pack can fix Vi$ta's huge resource requirements and the vulnerabilities it have

I hope u remember I was running Vista on a 4 years old computer till March 1

[gary4gar]

Why this is Discussion is going towards LInux Vs Windows?

i never named Linux in any of my post.

Originally Posted by gx_saurav

I agree, When there is a flaw or drawback in Linux people patiently wait for an update or fix, but why not in case of MS?

Now this is Like "For covering own sins, you Highlight others sins" instead of Try to fix it up. this is certainly not the Gentleman way.

~PEACE~

Ps: Please don't turn this thread in a Flame war & before it gets locked
so continue discussion, but please don't drag Linux Here unnecessarily


Sorry for a off-topic post

[infra_red_dude]

Originally Posted by gx_saurav

Wasn't it E.C. which said to MS to release different low cost versions for different markets. A version without WMP, A version without security, & it is still the fault of MS?

The issue is not about versions indicated by E.U. Its about Home, Business, HP etc. etc.

Originally Posted by gx_saurav

Now, why is he repeating Motocross Madness for the nth time? What we (and perhaps you also) know is that nobody is using that old game. People have migrated to MotoGP etc & now they are running crysis or whatever.

Agree. Can't expect a 10 year old game to run on the latest OS.

BTW motocross madness and motogp are completely two different genres!

Originally Posted by gx_saurav

Just read what manan wrote, he explained it better then I could.

Classic example by iMav!

Originally Posted by gx_saurav

Most of the people who use Windows cos they are comfortable & they know it will work the best with there hardware & work.

Agree again. People haf become too dependent on Windows.

Originally Posted by gx_saurav

Even if you say 'Linux is Great' 100 times, that does not change the reality.

Everyone has a different perspective

Originally Posted by gx_saurav

Seriously, geeks use Linux,

Err.. plz do not generalize things. I use Linux, so am I a geek? Hey but I use windows too... so now.. what am I? An idiot geek?!

Originally Posted by gx_saurav

...but how many geeks in overall geek percentage Use Linux????

Made no sense to me. Care to explain what you've written.

Originally Posted by gx_saurav

When there is a flaw or drawback in Linux people patiently wait for an update or fix, but why not in case of MS?

Updates are almost instant in case of OSS.

Originally Posted by gx_saurav

I hope u remember I was running Vista on a 4 years old computer till March 1

Frankly, I find Vista to be the most resource hungry OS ever. It crawls on an AMD Turion 64x2 1.8G, 2GB RAM, nVidia 7050 UMA. It also crawls on Pentium Dual Core 2160, 2GB DDR2 667, nVidia 7600GS (this is SP1).

Vista needs more time to mature...

But I do not know what is OSS/Linux/Pidgin/Red Hat doing in this thread!!!!

[sourav123]

Originally Posted by gx_saurav

Seriously, geeks use Linux, but how many geeks in overall geek percentage Use Linux????

^^GX, you are a genuine MS MVP man, you copied my lines and just inserted one or two words. Salutes!!!

Now, if you can show some data...

[MetalheadGautham]

Originally Posted by iMav

do the same what you did with the clothes you bought when you were 10

Originally Posted by gx_saurav

Really??? Let me know if U can run Pidgin "indeed" on red hat 1998.



MS gave u free updates for the lifetime of the OS & game. They are not developing the OS & software in there free time like students & other part time programmer do for 80% of Linux. They deserve to be paid......

Do tell me, if u r able to run amarok, vlc etc on Red hat 1998....



U explained it better then I could

Dude, learn to pay for developers for they deserve. Linux people want everything for free, forever....Go make your own hardware then

ReHat 1998 is old...
but Ubuntu Hardy is NOT.

and I can run OpenOffice 0.1 beta on ubuntu hardy, and THATS old.
I run wget designed in 1994 in ubuntu hardy
etc etc

I am talking about a program that Windows Vista can't run, and you are talking about an old OS.

Did I ever complain that Visual Studio 2008 does not run on Windows 98 ?

I was ripped off by those b@stards from redmond when they promised in their advertisements that this game will run in all versions of windows from Windows 95. MS promised that any version of windows can do everything a previous version could. But now that promise is not kept.

[legolas]

^ can you sue M$ for this???

[sourav123]

Originally Posted by legolas

^ can you sue M$ for this???

We don't have to sue them. They will soon see their own grave.

[MetalheadGautham]

Originally Posted by legolas

^ can you sue M$ for this???

unfortunately, no.
I was a n00b at the time of procuring motocross madness.

but the point is this: MS does not maintain 100% compatibility for products designed for previous versions of their OS, which is not a hard thing to do concidering all good operating systems have this feature.

who cares if its 10 years old ? It was a software made by them, and its their responsibility to maintain compatibility for previous products. And then take a look at MS Office. Its slowly breaking away compatibility for older formats of their office suite generated files. Nothing here is justified.

[gxsaurav]

Hmm... You are right. To hell with Microsoft supporting new technology, we should still stick to Windows 98.

Gautam, I have tried running Open Office betas in Latest Linux OS. Please go ahead & try it. If it runs without installing 100 of old version of runtimes, then let me know & post a screen shot here.

[MetalheadGautham]

Originally Posted by gx_saurav

Hmm... You are right. To hell with Microsoft supporting new technology, we should still stick to Windows 98.

Gautam, I have tried running Open Office betas in Latest Linux OS. Please go ahead & try it. If it runs without installing 100 of old version of runtimes, then let me know & post a screen shot here.

There is nothing wrong with allowing users to atleast download a windows 98 compatibility layer. You can do it in linux, and there is no reason why it can't be facilitated by microsoft. Just a bunch of dlls and libraries ripped off and packaged together and hacked up from the Windows 98 CD. Thats all MS needs to do to enable running older software.

Hell, they could have made a patch for the game and offered it in their website and instructed users to download it and install it to enable running Motocross Madness in Windows XP/Vista.

Getting something new does not mean ditching the old.

[iMav]

Originally Posted by MetalheadGautham

but the point is this: MS does not maintain 100% compatibility for products designed for previous versions of their OS, which is not a hard thing to do concidering all good operating systems have this feature.

No.

Originally Posted by MetalheadGautham

who cares if its 10 years old ? It was a software made by them, and its their responsibility to maintain compatibility for previous products. And then take a look at MS Office. Its slowly breaking away compatibility for older formats of their office suite generated files. Nothing here is justified.

No. It is not their responsibility. Attempting to make sure backward compatibility is highly risky, doing so is highly detrimental to new developments, because you are restricting yourself to limitations posed by the previous editions of softwares.

VS 2008 not working in 98, dude if you wanna make sh!t comments, trust me I can go lower than you. Keep the discussion rational