Rant on:
I usually don’t make too much out of comments that are made in articles, but this statement “Vista turned out to be a spectacular failure” caught my eye. Over at iTWire the article was about the OLPC and Microsoft and how the two have joined forces. But the article turned out to be a scathing, biased attack on the entire Windows operating system.
Check out this statement:
Add to that the deviation from running free software to becoming a repository for Windows XP (and all the scumware, spyware and malware that live on that venerable operating system) and Negroponte’s halo has all but gone.
Maybe I just woke up on the wrong side of the bed this AM, but I’m just sick and tired of hearing the same old crap about how bad Windows is. Though it may be fashionable to bad mouth Microsoft, there is one fact that no one can change. The WORLD uses Windows. You can run around jumping up and down about Linux, Apple, or whatever, but Windows rules!
Heh Windows people. Are you getting sick and tired of being told how stupid you are for using Windows?
Comments welcome.
Rant off.
Gee. I feel better. 
I may not be getting pissed off at “how stupid I am for using M$”. But I am getting pissed off at how often M$ continues to shoot itself in the foot. And me having to wait for them to sort it out before it is safe to use their goods.
Gollee Gee, Batman, you’re right again.
Apple can do all the cute commercials it wants to and Linux user can yak all they want, but we are a Windows company by choice because it supports more business applications without tweaking and we can easily do the things we want to, monitor the things we want to and not have to worry about whether the sotware that comes with the phone system will run on our machinery.
It is a Windows world and, despite its naysayers, it works pretty well for most people.
Eh, I think a more accurate statement is that desktop computing a huge failure with regard to balancing security and usability. But that is just me. It seems like you either end up with one or the other sometimes.
Speaking for myself, I run a cross platform office. My wife is a Mac girl, I prefer Ubuntu (despite it’s early release issues and sloppy beta testing), an XP box for my consulting duties needing Windows and have Vista running on VM.
I’d say that overall, Vista is as bad or good as any other OS. It depends on the error being had or the hardware it is being run with. I see it as more of a vanilla OS than a problem OS. I genuinely do not care if it rocks or sucks, to be brutally honest.
My reasoning for not preferring it differs from most people I suspect, as Windows bores me. It’s a fine OS for what it was designed to do, it does the job just fine. But the lack of control, discovery and included software out of the box has been part of my reasoning for deciding to move on.
Now keep in mind, my brother-in-law works for Microsoft Research – which makes for interesting family events.
We find our common ground on consumer technology and collectively believe that desktop computing still a long way to go overall.
Chris I think you’re overlooking the subcultures that come from hardcore Mac/Linux users. People don’t make fun of Windows because they truly really believe it’s a that bad of an operating system or that the people using Windows are incompetent. They just believe they’re better than everyone else because of their insignificant computer preferences.
It’s human nature to pick sides and express their beliefs strongly, picking on the other options is just a popular way of validating their choice especially when their choice is against the majority. This behavior is prevalent everywhere like with cars, cameras, politics anything really.
I was a Windows user for my whole life until I got a Mac, which I fell in love with, but then I realized my mac turned me into a technocentric ass who bagged on Windows in any way I possibly could. Now I’ve made the switch back to Windows as my primary operating system because of work but I still run Mac on the side, if Mac was my primary OS I’d get carried away and be an elitist ass.
Thanks to everyone for sharing your thoughts and experience with us. It is appreciated.
Mitchell – thanks for your candor and honesty as well.
Regards, Ron
Anyone who has anything to do with ‘other people’s computers’ knows that everyone customises their desktop a different way. Operational issues aside, the good thing about MacOS has been that the design is so clean and ‘right’ that Mac users feel less need to do this. XP is as customiseable as you like via dozens of free and paid-for apps. Vista runs WindowBlinds – which isn’t free and has a bizarre user interface to say the least – but whatever you do to Vista it still won’t give you that in-depth personalisation – it stays Vista, even arbitrarily switching off Aero on less than top-range systems, and still has the Windows habit of forgetting what you told it to do last time. With all the tweaks I’ve accumulated from sites like Lockergnome, I find XP gives me the perfect balance between the look I want and the deep functionality that MacOS tends to fall short of.
Hi Pam,
Thanks for sharing your experience with us.
Live by the sword, die by the sword.
The longer you remain complacent, the longer you’ll be held prisoner to mediocre software, being a beta tester who has to pay for the privilege, and software with more holes than swiss cheese.
Let me give you an example: Vista.
Rather than suck it up, businesses stayed away in droves. They chose not to purchase an OS because they were told they had to, then had to purchase new hardware because their new OS couldn’t run on existing boxes.
Because of this, Redmond was forced to make concessions. They also pushed up the release date of their NEW latest and greatest.
Consider this the next time you have the urge to feel smug. If you make noise, you’re likely to get results.
——-
Of course Windows is the dominant OS. But you have to start thinking differently to make a change.
My company is XP only, with a mixture of 2K and 2003 servers. We would not let Vista come near the network for hardware, compatibility, and training reasons. And on principle. I couldn’t believe I got CIO backing on it.
We’re changing minds. We use Office 2000 because we have it and it works. Unfortunately we’re going to have to change because it won’t open newer formats. With the choice between Office 2007′s bizarre redesign (requiring staff retraining) and Open Office’s just working, which do you think we’re more likely to migrate to? Not to mention price.
Half of MIS is fully or partially linux. I keep Win XP running safely in a VM – no more instability! We have been sending linux desktops out as loaners when XP breaks without issue. We’ll have a linux desktop pilot program within the next year (after virtualization).
As a non-profit, we need to watch expenses. The addition of free open-source software helps with expenses and, in certain cases, stability and security.
-lefty
ThermionicEmissions