Is Vista going to turn out to be the proverbial White Elephant?

[Guest]

Is the writing on the wall? Already?

“The Economistâ€, one of the most highly respected international economical
and news related weekly magazines has, amongst other things, this to say
regarding Vista:

Quote: “On January 30th Microsoft releases to consumers the newest version
of its operating system, called Windows Vista. Although the company said on
January 17th that it would make Vista available for sale and download online,
most people will buy the upgrade in old-fashioned boxes, just as they did
back in 1995. But this time, despite plenty of razzmatazz, few customers will
be queuing up to buy a copy.†End Quote

And:

Quote: “Its code was written from scratch—a large part of the reason for its
delay. Yet plans for ambitious new features, such as a powerful way of
searching the computer and a new method of storing and retrieving files,
called WinFS, were cancelled in 2004 when it became apparent the technology
was too difficult. Already behind schedule, Microsoft decided to rush out a
release. In December, within days of Vista's being made available to
businesses, researchers identified security lapses—even though America's
National Security Agency helped to harden it. Are there other
vulnerabilities? Nobody will know until Vista is more widely used.†End Quote

Read the full unabridged article here:
http://www.economist.com/business/displaystory.cfm?story_id=8550569

And yes, there are a lot of positive quotes in that article as well, to be
fair!

But no matter what the pro-Vista contributors in this, and other MS
sponsored forums want us to believe, like a lot of others, this chappie ain’t
queuing up, either!

 

[Steve Cochran]

It wasn't "written from scratch". They reset the code to what they had in
Windows Server 2003 and XP and then started over again.

It probably would have been much better if they had started from scratch.

steve

 

[Mike]

Is the writing on the wall? Already?

“The Economistâ€, one of the most highly respected international economical
and news related weekly magazines has, amongst other things, this to say
regarding Vista:

Yeah, The Economist is known for their computer and technology coverage!

It doesn't matter what the Ivory Tower publications say, Vista will be a
huge success. In 3 years we will look back at articles like this and
wonder what all the fuss was about, kinda like looking back at all the Y2K
"end of the world" nonsense.

Mike

 

[Dennis Pack]

Steve:
Windows Server 2003 and XP are not on the same code base. Windows
Server 2003 and XP x64 use the same code base. Have a great day.

 

[William]

Did you know the terms 'White Elephants' is directly related to the old Philadelphia Athletics American League baseball team. Before the World Series in 1905, John McGraw was asked what he thought of Connie Mack and the Philadelphia Athletics team and he told the reporter that he thought they we a bunch of White Elephants. Since then, except for a few years in Kansas City and then Oakland, the Elephant has been the team mascot.


Is the writing on the wall? Already?

“The Economistâ€, one of the most highly respected international economical
and news related weekly magazines has, amongst other things, this to say
regarding Vista:

Quote: “On January 30th Microsoft releases to consumers the newest version
of its operating system, called Windows Vista. Although the company said on
January 17th that it would make Vista available for sale and download online,
most people will buy the upgrade in old-fashioned boxes, just as they did
back in 1995. But this time, despite plenty of razzmatazz, few customers will
be queuing up to buy a copy.†End Quote

And:

Quote: “Its code was written from scratch—a large part of the reason for its
delay. Yet plans for ambitious new features, such as a powerful way of
searching the computer and a new method of storing and retrieving files,
called WinFS, were cancelled in 2004 when it became apparent the technology
was too difficult. Already behind schedule, Microsoft decided to rush out a
release. In December, within days of Vista's being made available to
businesses, researchers identified security lapses—even though America's
National Security Agency helped to harden it. Are there other
vulnerabilities? Nobody will know until Vista is more widely used.†End Quote

Read the full unabridged article here:
http://www.economist.com/business/displaystory.cfm?story_id=8550569

And yes, there are a lot of positive quotes in that article as well, to be
fair!

But no matter what the pro-Vista contributors in this, and other MS
sponsored forums want us to believe, like a lot of others, this chappie ain’t
queuing up, either!

 

[MICHAEL]

Windows Server 2003 is to XP what Windows Longhorn Server
is to Windows Vista.

Server 2003 is a direct branch of the same code used for XP.

At some point, probably Vista's first SP- Vista and Longhorn Server
will be on the same "page", aside from different features and functions,
their code bases will the same. That was also the original intention
with Server 2003 and XP, I don't think it quite worked out that way.


-Michael

 

[Stuart]

What rubbish! Honestly the white-out isn't even dry on the Constitution and you think you started that!

Origin: 1850–55; from the perh. apocryphal tale that the King of Siam would award a disagreeable courtier a white elephant, the upkeep of which would ruin the courtier
Did you know the terms 'White Elephants' is directly related to the old Philadelphia Athletics American League baseball team. Before the World Series in 1905, John McGraw was asked what he thought of Connie Mack and the Philadelphia Athletics team and he told the reporter that he thought they we a bunch of White Elephants. Since then, except for a few years in Kansas City and then Oakland, the Elephant has been the team mascot.


Is the writing on the wall? Already?

“The Economistâ€, one of the most highly respected international economical
and news related weekly magazines has, amongst other things, this to say
regarding Vista:

Quote: “On January 30th Microsoft releases to consumers the newest version
of its operating system, called Windows Vista. Although the company said on
January 17th that it would make Vista available for sale and download online,
most people will buy the upgrade in old-fashioned boxes, just as they did
back in 1995. But this time, despite plenty of razzmatazz, few customers will
be queuing up to buy a copy.†End Quote

And:

Quote: “Its code was written from scratch—a large part of the reason for its
delay. Yet plans for ambitious new features, such as a powerful way of
searching the computer and a new method of storing and retrieving files,
called WinFS, were cancelled in 2004 when it became apparent the technology
was too difficult. Already behind schedule, Microsoft decided to rush out a
release. In December, within days of Vista's being made available to
businesses, researchers identified security lapses—even though America's
National Security Agency helped to harden it. Are there other
vulnerabilities? Nobody will know until Vista is more widely used.†End Quote

Read the full unabridged article here:
http://www.economist.com/business/displaystory.cfm?story_id=8550569

And yes, there are a lot of positive quotes in that article as well, to be
fair!

But no matter what the pro-Vista contributors in this, and other MS
sponsored forums want us to believe, like a lot of others, this chappie ain’t
queuing up, either!

 

[Henry Jones]

Either stay with your current OS or upgrade. Who cares what some Economist
says? It either works for you or it doesn't. Very simple.

 

[Guest]

Either stay with your current OS or upgrade. Who cares what some Economist
says? It either works for you or it doesn't. Very simple.

Vista: Yeah, looks kinda cute and feels kinda cute; but then who needs
“cute�!

It stops my workflow and holds me back more often than not! And that sucks
big time!

So yeah, it doesn’t work for me and hence I’m going to stick with XP-SP2 Pro
for some years to come, or at least until Vista (read: Microsoft) becomes a
lot more user-friendly and fully compatible with third party software
vendors, whether these may by driver, security or otherwise related.

As to the claimed enhanced security features of Vista, if even NSA’s help
couldn’t make it secure (see the article in The Economist), what chance does
it stand once it’s in more circulation??

Hell, I rather stick with my hardware and software firewall setups, XP-SP2
Pro and know I’m safe. I haven’t had a virus, Trojan or other
kinder-surprises in years (and yes, as in plural: 7 to be exact).

So why bother didging my legit XP and shell out a rather hefty amount for a
completely unproven OS, that’s cute but very much away from being proven, at
least at this stage?! No matter what the various pro-Vista contributors here
in this, and other forums have to say, Vista at this point in time remains
unproven and rather unpopular.

I just bought a top of the range Dell Precision M90 three months ago, so
it’ll be something like 2 or 3 years before I even look at another upgrade.
By then it is to be hoped that Vista will have come to its senses, so to
speak. If not, well, there are always alternatives – see the article in The
Economist!

Meanwhile: Live without Vista is just swell! ) ) )

 

[Rock]

Vista: Yeah, looks kinda cute and feels kinda cute; but then who needs
“cute�!

It stops my workflow and holds me back more often than not! And that sucks
big time!

So yeah, it doesn’t work for me and hence I’m going to stick with XP-SP2
Pro
for some years to come, or at least until Vista (read: Microsoft) becomes
a
lot more user-friendly and fully compatible with third party software
vendors, whether these may by driver, security or otherwise related.

As to the claimed enhanced security features of Vista, if even NSA’s help
couldn’t make it secure (see the article in The Economist), what chance
does
it stand once it’s in more circulation??

Hell, I rather stick with my hardware and software firewall setups, XP-SP2
Pro and know I’m safe. I haven’t had a virus, Trojan or other

XP-SP2 hasn't been out for 7 years.

So why bother didging my legit XP and shell out a rather hefty amount for
a
completely unproven OS, that’s cute but very much away from being proven,
at
least at this stage?! No matter what the various pro-Vista contributors
here
in this, and other forums have to say, Vista at this point in time remains
unproven and rather unpopular.

"Rather unpopular"? Since it hasn't been released to the general public how
have you mangaged to determine that?

I just bought a top of the range Dell Precision M90 three months ago, so
it’ll be something like 2 or 3 years before I even look at another
upgrade.
By then it is to be hoped that Vista will have come to its senses, so to
speak. If not, well, there are always alternatives – see the article in
The
Economist!

Meanwhile: Live without Vista is just swell! ) ) )

I think you mean "Life without Vista", not "Live without Vista". No one
cares what you do.

 

[Jan Hyde]

akita <[email protected]>'s wild thoughts were
released on Tue, 23 Jan 2007 03:52:01 -0800 bearing the
following fruit:

Is the writing on the wall? Already?

Well, I can only speak from personal experience, and so far
my experience with Vista has been a positive one.

I been using it every day for the last few weeks at work and
I wouldn't choose to go back to XP.

J

“The Economist”, one of the most highly respected international economical
and news related weekly magazines has, amongst other things, this to say
regarding Vista:

Quote: “On January 30th Microsoft releases to consumers the newest version
of its operating system, called Windows Vista. Although the company said on
January 17th that it would make Vista available for sale and download online,
most people will buy the upgrade in old-fashioned boxes, just as they did
back in 1995. But this time, despite plenty of razzmatazz, few customers will
be queuing up to buy a copy.” End Quote

And:

Quote: “Its code was written from scratch—a large part of the reason for its
delay. Yet plans for ambitious new features, such as a powerful way of
searching the computer and a new method of storing and retrieving files,
called WinFS, were cancelled in 2004 when it became apparent the technology
was too difficult. Already behind schedule, Microsoft decided to rush out a
release. In December, within days of Vista's being made available to
businesses, researchers identified security lapses—even though America's
National Security Agency helped to harden it. Are there other
vulnerabilities? Nobody will know until Vista is more widely used.” End Quote

Read the full unabridged article here:
http://www.economist.com/business/displaystory.cfm?story_id=8550569

And yes, there are a lot of positive quotes in that article as well, to be
fair!

But no matter what the pro-Vista contributors in this, and other MS
sponsored forums want us to believe, like a lot of others, this chappie ain’t
queuing up, either!

Jan Hyde (VB MVP)

 

[William]

Then why are you here? You are free to stay using XP, which is a fine decision for you and others will respect, but you do not need to come here bashing Vista.


"a whole lot of junk...