Mr. Arnold said:
Gee, now someone thinks Tame is an MVP -- LOL. He is no more than a
double agent. He uses the product, but he wants to talk about the
product like a dog that he is about.
That's all it is an observation and an opinion, which are both a dime a
dozen and everyone has got them.
Business is business. If you think it hasn't gone that way over the
centuries and will not continue to be that way for centuries to come,
you're kidding yourself.
You slip up in your business affairs and see if you don't get ran over.
Apparently you haven't yet mastered the use of the killfile - oh well.
The whole point is that some experience problems and some do not, those
that do are not "Morons" and do not deserve to be regarded as such. This
does nothing to help anyone including Microsoft.
My last installs of Vista have gone flawlessly, except for the PITA
activation and WGA which I have already expressed contempt for and will
tell Steve Ballmer and Bill Gates and anyone else the same thing if they
care to ask. Previously I had quite a few bad experiences which I think
should have been avoidable and at least prospective purchasers made more
clearly aware of.
I've not had much time due to moving house, otherwise would have replied
sooner, but it is my opinion (and that is all it is) that Microsoft are
in error doing some of the things they have recently done. I see those
things as bad for business, but I'm not in charge so that's where it ends.
I do NOT support piracy, Microsoft have every right to take what action
they feel is correct, but I have a right to disagree - that does not
mean I see Microsoft as some evil empire or that I would wish to damage
their sales / reputation or anything else. What I feel DOES damage is
releasing an OS that is not as every user "Expects" and then attacking
such users for saying so. How are Microsoft expected to fix things if
nobody acknowledges problems and simply blames users / OEMs for everything?
I would tend to agree that business is sometimes competitive to the
point of being dirty, but balance that against the fact that without
Bill Gates the use of computers would not have been possible for
millions of people, at least not as soon as it became possible. That
does NOT mean I don't have problems with some business practices, but I
do try to be fair about it. I also feel that automatic negativity about
rival systems, such as that expressed here by a few will actually do
more harm than good. I support Microsoft but also support freedom of
choice - because that helps to keep the playing field level for all the
players.
The industry does not need to stagnate, it needs a "Microsoft" to lead
innovation just like we need NASA and the ESA to compete - so the last
thing I would wish to see is Microsoft go down the tubes, their huge
resources and financial "Clout" do need to be directed properly though.
In the same way the success of rival systems like Apple and Linux is
essential.
From my own experience it seems that Vista is definitely "Improving" -
but it still remains a relatively expensive venture for a lot of people
who already have hardware and choose to upgrade. Most will need to buy
more RAM and many probably Video cards - these factors inevitably will
lead to disappointment which as we sometimes see here causes folks to
get annoyed with Microsoft, sometimes that annoyance is justified, why
would you or anyone else expect insulting the user to help in that
situation? A lot of problems seem to be a result of "Expectations", ie
that older games will work, hardware will all plug and play etc etc.
Now, maybe Microsoft DID NOT claim that everything would work, but there
was nothing at all to indicate the severity of this either. The advisor
was plain wrong in my case, saying that some stuff would work that
actually wouldn't - again this results in annoyed customers, and sure it
"May" be their own fault but also the result of the erroneous "Advice"
I don't use absolutely every feature of every OS I install, so the best
I can say is "Works for me". There may be features that don't work for
others that I don't know about because I rarely or never use them. Where
there are fault in features like explorer that just about everyone will
use, and which are expected in the core of every OS and they don't work
and worse still behave in the same flakey way they have in previous
versions yes, Microsoft MUST address them quickly - and deserve to get
criticized. Sorry but hard business practices work both ways ...
