British agency tells schools to avoid Vista

[michail iakovou yos]

I hear some strange squeaky noises from the hull of our ship titanic or is
it vistanic?

http://news.com.com/British+agency+...Vista/2100-1016_3-6149401.html?tag=html.alert

The British government's schools computer agency has warned that deploying
Vista carries too much risk and that its benefits are unclear.

The British Educational Communications and Technology Agency said Wednesday
that it "strongly recommends" schools do not deploy Microsoft's latest
operating system within the next 12 months.

In a further dig at Microsoft, the agency asserts that there are no
"must-have" features in Vista and that "technical, financial and
organizational challenges associated with early deployment currently make
this (Vista) a high-risk strategy."

Tom McMullan, a technical consultant at the agency, told ZDNet UK: "There is
not a case for schools to deploy it unless it is mission-critical stable."
Speaking at this week's BETT education trade show in London, McMullan added:
"There are lots of incremental improvements, but there are no must-haves
that justify early deployment."

The agency was similarly dismissive of Office 2007, which is being launched
alongside Vista. Although it acknowledged that there are many new features
in Office 2007, the agency said most of these were only useful in the
private sector.

Microsoft waved aside such caution.

Steve Beswick, Microsoft's director of education for the U.K., told ZDNet
UK: "Customers should evaluate Vista and test it and decide 'Is this good
for learning?' Roll-out shouldn't be stopped if it aids learning."

Earlier this month, the government agency renewed its Memorandum of
Understanding with Microsoft for another year. It gives schools discounts of
20 percent to 37 percent on the company's software products.

Richard Thurston of ZDNet UK reported from London

 

[Roscoe]

You can do better than this. Who would listen to what a government agency
would recommend? This might be the best recommendation I've heard to switch
to Vista yet.

 

[michail iakovou yos]

you will see many similar reactions from all over the place in the following
weeks.

as I predicted months ago I might add! lol

 

[Bobby]

You know, I remember the same nonsense when Windows 95, 2000 and XP came
out.

"Don't buy it!". "There's no drivers!". "It's unstable!". "Your software
won't work!". All complete and utter nonsense of course. And, in time, the
new OS is accepted - then it's liked - then the same people who bad-mouthed
it deny they ever told people to avoid it.

I've been using Vista for a month and it's fine. In fact, it's great. And
anyone who uses knows it is.

Bobby

 

[Troy McClure]

unless youre a fake russian posting from greece... probably a turk in
hiding, thats what they usually do

LOL


loving vista so far.. NO driver problem and i benchmark faster than in XP

 

[Cymbal Man Freq.]

Maybe Congress will revise the wiretapping laws and Vista will have to be
scrapped suddenly!

Howz that AMD-ATI thing going with Intel anyway? All those hundreds of mobos
I've been waiting 6 months for were never made! Intel revoked the license of ATI
to use Intel chips!

 

[Alexander Suhovey]

unless youre a fake russian posting from greece...

What do you mean?

 

[michail iakovou yos]

Troy is making fun of everybody who is in other locations races or colors
from him.
Here is one his posts because one poster had a site from Easter island...
Troy McClure thinks he is some hotshot... he is truly pathetic :-( I can
only frown on people who think like this.
look at what he said because someone had a site with a .CX domain>>>>>

Troy McClure said:

where the hell is .CX anyway? do people that live here even have indoor
plumbing??

 

[Jeff Gaines]

You know, I remember the same nonsense when Windows 95, 2000 and XP came
out.

"Don't buy it!". "There's no drivers!". "It's unstable!". "Your software
won't work!". All complete and utter nonsense of course. And, in time, the
new OS is accepted - then it's liked - then the same people who
bad-mouthed it deny they ever told people to avoid it.

What he said was:

Certainly there are no drivers for some of my hardware and 80% of my apps
don't work, so the advice given seems very sensible. No commercial
organisation is going to rush into Vista until it's undergone its final
beta test with the public.

 

[Drade]

You know, I remember the same nonsense when Windows 95, 2000 and XP came
out.

"Don't buy it!". "There's no drivers!". "It's unstable!". "Your software
won't work!". All complete and utter nonsense of course. And, in time, the
new OS is accepted - then it's liked - then the same people who
bad-mouthed it deny they ever told people to avoid it.

I've been using Vista for a month and it's fine. In fact, it's great. And
anyone who uses knows it is.

Agreed. I know some may have problems, but I'd rather use my Vista machine
than any other.

 

[Jupiter Jones [MVP]]

"80% of my apps don't work"
Interesting, you are the only one I have heard with such dismal
compatibility.

You should either:
Wait for your slow manufacturers to fix their products or stay with your
current OS.
Update to more recent versions of the programs
Or better yet contact the manufacturers of your programs and ask why they
have not been doing their job to allow their customers the choice they need.

Better yet, I would suggest migrating from such products if they have no
intention of meeting compatibility.

If I had such poor compatibility, I would look closely at what I use and why
the program manufacturers seem so slow for what I use.
I would definitely be moving to different more reliable programs.

 

[Synapse Syndrome]

Troy is making fun of everybody who is in other locations races or colors
from him.
Here is one his posts because one poster had a site from Easter island...
Troy McClure thinks he is some hotshot... he is truly pathetic :-( I can

I do imagine him as a redneck, sitting on the toilet with a laptop.

ss.

 

[Jeff Gaines]

"80% of my apps don't work"
Interesting, you are the only one I have heard with such dismal
compatibility.

There is a tendency in this group for people to only hear what they want
to hear. I use apps that I have tried and tested, most of which were
released before bloat became such an issue.

You should either:
Wait for your slow manufacturers to fix their products or stay with your
current OS.

MS Office 97 is an issue, you think MS will make it compatible, perhaps
we'll get another service release to replace SR2 which won't install.

Update to more recent versions of the programs

Why, they do what I want them to.

Or better yet contact the manufacturers of your programs and ask why they
have not been doing their job to allow their customers the choice they
need.

You think MS will tell me why the Office 97 SR2 won't install?

Better yet, I would suggest migrating from such products if they have no
intention of meeting compatibility.

I am trying Open Office 2, it's quite a good replacement for MS Office.

If I had such poor compatibility, I would look closely at what I use and
why the program manufacturers seem so slow for what I use.
I would definitely be moving to different more reliable programs.

Or possibly a more intelligent OS?

 

[Jupiter Jones [MVP]]

"There is a tendency in this group for people to only hear..."
Sometimes, and you demonstrate that very trait by ignoring the second
paragraph of my post.

You seem to want 100% backwards compatibility which is impossible if there
is to be any progress.
Interesting that you only list one program and it is 10 years old.
Are all the "80%" so old?
If so that is the answer.

Office has been fixed, there are newer versions for those that need
Microsoft Office with Vista.

 

[Charlie Wilkes]

unless youre a fake russian posting from greece... probably a turk in
hiding, thats what they usually do

LOL

Are you posting from Brookings, SD? I see your posts go through the
SDSU server.

Charlie

 

[John Barnes]

Unfortunately mine is between 50% and 66% :-((

There is a tendency in this group for people to only hear what they want
to hear. I use apps that I have tried and tested, most of which were
released before bloat became such an issue.

Would be nice if all manufacturers were waiting to make them Vista
compatible. Many small developers have stopped writing, sold the business
to a company that has unsatisfactory competing products so the new product
is abandoned, died :-( or any number of reasons that they won't be upgraded.
One also has to weigh the cost of replacing all the products that need to be
replaced. So far, exceeds the cost of Vista by about 7x.

MS Office 97 is an issue, you think MS will make it compatible, perhaps
we'll get another service release to replace SR2 which won't install.

Seriously doubt it. Better save up for new Office, at least you are
eligible for the upgrade version.

Why, they do what I want them to.

Many times much better. Lots of good small programs get bought up by a
large company and many times the features get included in an expensive
bloated product 90% of which you don't want or need.

I am trying Open Office 2, it's quite a good replacement for MS Office.

Or staying with an OS that runs the programs that provide the functions that
make life more productive or enjoyable. Since many businesses haven't even
upgraded to XP yet and won't be moving to Vista for years, why should the
average home user upgrade before buying the next computer, when they won't
have a choice.

 

[Compfix]

There is a tendency in this group for people to only hear what they want
to hear. I use apps that I have tried and tested, most of which were
released before bloat became such an issue.


MS Office 97 is an issue, you think MS will make it compatible, perhaps
we'll get another service release to replace SR2 which won't install.


Why, they do what I want them to.


You think MS will tell me why the Office 97 SR2 won't install?


I am trying Open Office 2, it's quite a good replacement for MS Office.


Or possibly a more intelligent OS?

I used Vista Beta RC1 for a while on a spare PC and was quite impressed. It
worked fine with 'major' programs like office 2003 and even Lotus
SmartSuite, but there were issues with soundcard drivers, printers and
scanners. I do have to agree though, there are no compelling reasons to
change from XP yet.
People threw their hands up in horror at all versions of windows from 3.1
onwards, and, personally I think XP has been the best OS and maybe should
have been improved to say version XP2. Vista will become the standard
eventually, as PC's get replaced but the only difference I can see is a
pretty interface. I will wait for SP1 or 2 to appear before I deploy here.

 

[Brian W]

Unfortunately mine is between 50% and 66% :-((

Every single program I have purchased in the past works on Vista, and nearly
all now have free updates/patches to make them compatible. Only one or two
need to be run in XP Compatibility Mode.