[LINK] Even thieves don't want Vista

[Richard Chirgwin]

David Goldstein wrote:
> Ahh, the usual Microsoft bashing exercise on Link... 
>   
You know, I would have just let this pass except for the remark at the 
end of this post, which assigns all unfavourable opinions of MS to 
prejudice rather than experience.

All of my experiences of MS in 2008 have been atrocious; so much so that 
in April, I eradicated it from my laptop - and this is not a toy, but my 
primary work machine. What made me do so was not prejudice (I was, in 
fact, terrified of the move to Linux and had delayed it for years): it 
was, in order:
- the loss of menus in Office; and the forced obsolescence of all the 
macros I used to use. I don't feel like being sent on a wild goose chase 
to do things I used to do in seconds.
- the inability to run applications that worked in XP. I do mapping; I 
use Grass-GIS; Vista would not install any of the tools I needed.
- Microsoft nag screens, and partner nag screens, spamming me over the 
top of applications I'm actually using, to try and get me to buy stuff. 
This is an operating system, not an advertising platform.

I have no obligation not to "bash Microsoft". I don't see that any such 
obligation exists for anyone.

Richard C
> Vista may still have its day -- just like XP (eventually) did
> Twenty-one months after its initial release, what do we know about Windows Vista? That home users hate it, businesses are uninstalling it and -- according to Gartner -- it's proof that the 23-year-old Windows line is "collapsing" under its own weight. ... But all of the griping about Vista and instant nostalgia for XP covers up a dry, statistical reality: XP itself was slow to catch on with users -- maybe even slower than Vista has been thus far. For instance, in September 2003, 23 months after its release, XP was running on only 6.6 percent of corporate PCs in the US and Canada, according to data compiled by AssetMetrix, an asset-tracking vendor that was later bought by Microsoft.
> http://computerworld.com.au/index.php/id;1926251180
>
> Or you could check out one of Jack Schofield's latest columns at http://blogs.guardian.co.uk/technology/2008/08/26/the_truth_about_windows_vista_exposed_at_last.html which refers to another article at http://www.tweakguides.com/VA_1.html.
>
> But then, this would spoil everyone's prejudices here...
>
> DG
>
>
>
> ----- Original Message ----
> From: David Boxall <david.boxall at hunterlink.net.au>
> To: Link <link at anu.edu.au>
> Sent: Friday, 29 August, 2008 10:51:56 AM
> Subject: [LINK] Even thieves don't want Vista
>
> <http://www.theinquirer.net/gb/inquirer/news/2008/08/27/linux-netbook-thieves-ignore>
>   
>> *ELONEX WEBBOOKS* that are preloaded with Ubuntu Linux and currently 
>> featured at Carphone Warehouse in Bracknell, UK are apparently is such 
>> high demand that thieving opportunists stole a display model.
>>
>> The netbook display item was lifted from a shopping mall Carphone 
>> Warehouse store in broad daylight by using bolt cutters to sever the 
>> stranded wire tiedown.
>>
>> Several larger laptop PCs preloaded with Microsoft Vista sitting in 
>> the same shop display area were reportedly left unmolested in the heist.
>>
>>     
>
> With a Blu-Ray drive and reasonable hardware spec's, I thought the 
> Medion 8828 at Aldi was a good buy at less than $900.  Unfortunately, it 
> runs Vista.  Microsoft survived Windows ME, so I guess Vista won't kill 
> it either.
>
>