It simply shows how Microsoft holds the customer in contempt. If there was something on television at the level of Entertainment Tonight, that concerned itself with computer technology, and could shed light on this, Microsoft’s stranglehold on the public’s dollars would be gone in 6 months.

I do not consider myself an expert on everything concerning Windows, so I am sure that someone can correct me on this (and please do), but this seems to bring up a point that sort of bugs me. Back when we were using DOS and Windows 3.1, not many people had computers. They were more of a geeky thing. Also, we didnt have a new operating system coming along every couple of years. Now, MS has even built obsolescence into their marketing of the Windows OS, saying almost at the outset of a new OS when the older OS will become obsolete. Why should we HAVE to upgrade to a new OS every couple of years? Why cant we get an OS that is stable and just stick with that? Of course, I answered my question at the beginning of this post. Now that everyone and their brother has a computer (or more than one), the OS has become a hot commodity, and thus a way to soak the users for more money every couple of years. Now, with Vista, not only did those users have to pony up a couple hundred bux for a new operating system, but many of them had to buy new hardware as well because their old hardware was not supported by Vista.

It is really sad that MS has to view their public in this manner….as a community of ever-open wallets that are going to be tapped, by design, every couple of years.

I have just cancelled my subscription to the IT newsletter. Mostly because your anti-Microsoft diatribes (see first 2 articles today for example) seem to dominate. The useful content seems to be sadly lacking. I am not a big Microsoft supporter myself but these are jsut wastes of time and it seems way too many of your articles are just that. I used to enjoy them.

Garth: Yes, it would be more beneficial to report the news as we “wish it was”. Now that is progress…

The first article is as it has been for years, an editorial. The second was in relation to yet another frustrated Windows user with a genuine question - I answered it - simple as that.

Microsoft has made their bed, now they will have to lay in it. I am sorry to hear that the latest news from within the IT world is not palatable.

I would point out to everyone that I am not anti-Microsoft, I am merely anti-poor products. Microsoft currently has some outstanding products on the market, Windows is simply not one of them.

To Jim McBride:

“Why should we HAVE to upgrade to a new OS every couple of years? Why cant we get an OS that is stable and just stick with that?”

Who says you HAVE to upgrade, ever? I still have a computer with Windows 95 running… and another with Windows 2000… and several with XP. Heck, I even still have my first computer ever, an Apple ][ from in 1979, and it still works. Microsoft hasn’t done anything to cause those older versions of Windows to stop working just because Vista is available. There is no reason at all why you HAVE to upgrade to Vista if you don’t want to.

Car makers come out with new car models every year. Does that mean you HAVE to buy a new car every year? Camera makers come out with new models of cameras all the time. Does that mean you HAVE to buy a new camera every time a new model is released?

Why do people have this absurd notion that they HAVE to upgrade Windows every time a new version is released? Maybe if more people had a shred of common sense when it comes to computers, they wouldn’t be so upset about Vista. The unfortunate reality of life is that having computers in the hands of people who don’t understand anything about them is a still a relatively novel idea. They make you take Driver’s Ed and a pass a written test as well as a driving test before you get a license to drive a car. But any idiot off the street can buy a computer without having any clue what he’s doing. That is the real problem here. Anyone who has a clue would know not to upgrade to a new OS without first checking to be sure the hardware and software they need to use is compatible with the new OS. Yet, we seem to have all kinds of idiots who went and upgraded and now they’re b*tching and moaning because their hardware and software is not compatible with Vista.

To Garth Johnson,

I can certainly relate to your position. I usually just skip over Matt’s articles and look for the articles by Dianna Huggins and others who have worthwhile information to provide.

Rick

…much as I generally skip over Rick’s comments after pushing them through our moderation queue, although this latest one was actually intriguing with regard to upgrading. ;)

Yes, generally most of the Windows help is coming from Dianna and Matt W.

Well, Matt, as I said in another one of these threads, you are on a very different boat from the rest of the world. Your ideas that Vista is such a huge failure and a huge disaster just don’t jive with what I see out in the “real world.”

More importantly, like many other readers, I started reading Lockergnome 10 years ago because, as a Windows user, I was interested in learning tips and information related to Windows. I was interested in finding useful software for use with Windows. The fact that you have decided you don’t like Windows and don’t want to provide information that is useful to Windows users is your problem, not mine. I don’t care what OS you use, but I am primarily interested in reading about the OS that I use. If there are problems related to the OS that I use, I want to hear about them. But if all you care to publish about the OS that I use is bellyaching and whining about how much you dislike my OS of choice, then you can’t very well expect me to waste a lot of my time reading what you have to say.

Rick

Rick: LOL, just type “Vista” into any news search engine, the results speak for themselves. ;)

I need not say anything more on the matter, the “world” has largely accomplished this for me. Microsoft continues to make some great products, but anyone paying attention to what is actually happening realizes that Vista is not one of them.

Remember, adoption based on marketing hype does not translate into satisfied users.

http://news.filefront.com/we-remove-vista-we-install-xp/

Well, you obviously know everything and I’m just a dimwit. A picture of sign saying “we remove Vista” sure proves it all. Doesn’t matter how many friends and clients I have using Vista who say they like it. Doesn’t matter that I’m using Vista as my primary OS and have no problems with it. Obviously I can’t really be using Vista without problems. It doesn’t matter what me and many other people liike me see with our own eyes. All that matters is what YOU want to believe.

Good luck to you.

Rick

Rick: I have said it once and I will say it again. The news is the news. And I happen to share an opinion with the popular thought in this circumstance.

Just fyi, that sign that is so meaningless happens to be one of dozens throughout my home state among other states as well. I can drive less than five miles and point out two just like it. That specific one was featured in the Seattle PI if memory serves, a few months back.

As for what “I” want to believe, you cannot argue with popular sentiment, you’ll lose every time. Again, for the third time - Google News the OS, this is hardly my sentiment alone. ;)

Thanks for the answer, Rick.

I do agree with you that we are not really forced to upgrade, but there comes a point when it is difficult if not impossible to get new software for the older operating systems because the people who make that software stop supporting the older OSs. Even now, you can find software for Win95/98/DOS, but it is very limited.

I dont change to a new OS until a majority of the new programs that I am looking at have completely abandoned the previous OS. Usually, that is a quite a while after MS has discontinued their support of the old OS, maybe even a couple of years or more.

Matt,

“Rick: I have said it once and I will say it again. The news is the news.”

So tell me, what’s in the “news” that shows that Vista is such a horrible failure as you claim? I just did a Google News search for Vista, and what do I find? Several pages of articles about the whole “Vista Capable” debate. OK, so a number of people rushed out and bought so called “Vista Capable” computers without doing their homework to find out what “Vista Capable” really meant. I can understand why these people may be upset, but personally, I have no sympathy for anyone who rushes into things without doing their homework first.

Next I see a couple of articles about Dell complaining that Microsoft changed things in Vista at the last minute and didn’t give Dell enough time to retool their hardware configurations. OK, I will agree that is a problem, although I would say it is more a problem of corporate politics and not so much an actual technical problem with Vista. In other words, you can go out and buy a computer with Vista on it today, and this problem won’t affect you now.

After that come a number of articles about various vendors announcing that their products are now officially compatible with Vista. Nothing wrong with that, is there?

Then I see some articles about MS “slashing” the price of Vista in Australia. Of course, one of the articles claims that this “proof” of how bad Vista is.

So now I’m on page 5 of the search results, and I’m starting to see a lot more aritcles about other things that have the word “Vista” in their names.

“And I happen to share an opinion with the popular thought in this circumstance.”

Good for you. I’m sure you also believed that Saddam Hussein was behind the 9/11 attacks when that was “the popular thought” in the news. You must be so proud.

“Just fyi, that sign that is so meaningless happens to be one of dozens throughout my home state among other states as well. I can drive less than five miles and point out two just like it. That specific one was featured in the Seattle PI if memory serves, a few months back.”

Well, there is no doubt in my mind that there are a lot of idiots in the world who rushed out and bought computers with Vista without doing their homework first to determine if the software and hardware they wanted to use would work with Vista. And again, I have no sympathy for idiots who won’t do their homework before they buy something.

I also know that the world is full of people who just barely know enough about using a computer that they become totally confused when something looks a little different, or a button gets moved to a different place, etc.

I’m also sure there are plenty of people who just automatically believe whatever they read, and I know there are a lot of tech writers, like yourself, who have been writing these exaggerated, distorted articles claiming that Vista is so horrible, etc. Just like people believed we needed to attack Iraq when the government and the news media wanted people to believe that, now people are believing all these horror stories about Vista.

“As for what “I” want to believe, you cannot argue with popular sentiment, you’ll lose every time. Again, for the third time - Google News the OS, this is hardly my sentiment alone. ;)”

Again… “popular” does not equal “true.” Just because some fools voted for George Bush doesn’t mean it was the right thing to do. Just because some fools believed it when Bush told them Saddam Hussein was behing the 9/11 attacks doesn’t mean it was true. Just because a lot of people buy Britney Spears CDs doesn’t mean her music is good.

Clearly, you made this big decision to switch to Linux, and now it is in your best interest to justify this decision by convincing yourself that Vista is somehow such a horrible OS. It does not matter to you that the problems Vista has had are no different from the problems people have had and will continue to have with every major new release of any OS, since the beginning of time. Of course, you may not be old enough to remember some of the growing pains from when Windows XP first came out, or when W2K first came out, or NT, or ME, or 98, or 95, or …

I guess the bottom line is that you will believe what you want to believe, and the rest of the world will move on. Eventually, Vista will become the standard for Windows users. Eventually, people will out grow their old hardware and old software that isn’t supported on Vista and they will buy new hardware and new software that is supported. And, eventually, the next new version of Windows will come along, and the cycle can start all over again.

Rick

Rick wrote: So tell me, what’s in the “news” that shows that Vista is such a horrible failure as you claim? I just did a Google News search for Vista, and what do I find? Several pages of articles about the whole “Vista Capable” debate. OK, so a number of people rushed out and bought so called “Vista Capable” computers without doing their homework to find out what “Vista Capable” really meant. I can understand why these people may be upset, but personally, I have no sympathy for anyone who rushes into things without doing their homework first.

Good for you. I’m sure you also believed that Saddam Hussein was behind the 9/11 attacks when that was “the popular thought” in the news. You must be so proud.

Yes, I know this may come as a shock, but the Vista news is rather fluid and changes hour per hour, day per day. Both topics come and go, but hey, whatever. This could be debated to no end all day and it serves no one. And why are you shifting to politics? Wrong channel - see http://www.lockergnome.com/political/

Rick wrote: Well, there is no doubt in my mind that there are a lot of idiots in the world who rushed out and bought computers with Vista without doing their homework first to determine if the software and hardware they wanted to use would work with Vista. And again, I have no sympathy for idiots who won’t do their homework before they buy something.

Yes, they are called casual Windows users looking for the next Windows release. I do not however, blame those who might have been lulled into a sense of comfort based on the poorly put together ad campaign and slippery marketing tactics. Again, and again, I blame the management of the company that pushed this out there in the first place.

Rick wrote: I also know that the world is full of people who just barely know enough about using a computer that they become totally confused when something looks a little different, or a button gets moved to a different place, etc.

Ouch, I sincerely hope you are a little more tactful with your own clients? That was a bit uncalled for I think.

Rick wrote: I’m also sure there are plenty of people who just automatically believe whatever they read, and I know there are a lot of tech writers, like yourself, who have been writing these exaggerated, distorted articles claiming that Vista is so horrible, etc. Just like people believed we needed to attack Iraq when the government and the news media wanted people to believe that, now people are believing all these horror stories about Vista.

First, do not make blind, uninformed assumptions knowing nothing of my relationship to the companies involved in my writing please. Secondly, inserting politics into this just takes the entire debate completely off-track.

FYI, I am using Vista on another machine and in a VM. On the stand alone PC, it is currently relying on a Win2k driver for Ethernet and to date the “provided” Vista driver for the bluetooth dongle is giving me the fast track to a total lock-up - this after three different driver revisions mind you.

Now in these instances, I choose to blame the drivers designed for the hardware - not Microsoft. Yes, Vista has issues and even as each of them is worked out, its core design remains bloated and poorly executed. Bundle this with the hardware vendors and poor drivers issued by them and you have a lot of frustrated users. I have access to Vista every day. So do not put yourself into the mindset that I am just making things up, friend.

Rick wrote: Again… “popular” does not equal “true.” Just because some fools voted for George Bush doesn’t mean it was the right thing to do. Just because some fools believed it when Bush told them Saddam Hussein was behing the 9/11 attacks doesn’t mean it was true. Just because a lot of people buy Britney Spears CDs doesn’t mean her music is good.

You lost me - politics? Let’s stay on topic please.

As for popular = truth or not, this is a commonly confused event. If enough people spill coffee on themselves and relate to the fast food chain where one writer has managed to help people “identify” with something that the readers already feel strongly about, the “truth” takes care of itself. Now if that same coffee issue was not already agreed upon by the masses, then the truth would be that it would not have been newsworthy enough to see continued articles appearing about the subject over and over.

Now just like the coffee incident, there is plenty of debate as to how much fault is to be passed around with Vista and who is ultimately responsible. Hardware vendors, writers such as myself or those people choosing to fight back by suing the company that allegedly lied to them in the fist place. Perhaps each of those users who had successfully used XP previously only to find new hassles with Vista suddenly de-evolved their ability to run a computer and were unable to do what they had successfully accomplished previously? This certainly sounds plausible.

Rick wrote: Clearly, you made this big decision to switch to Linux, and now it is in your best interest to justify this decision by convincing yourself that Vista is somehow such a horrible OS.

If you actually knew what you were talking about, sir, you would know that I am MUCH more critical of OS X and Linux than I am of Windows. But again, you assume. http://www.osweekly.com/index.php?option=com_content&Itemid=&task=view&id=2255

Rick wrote: It does not matter to you that the problems Vista has had are no different from the problems people have had and will continue to have with every major new release of any OS, since the beginning of time. Of course, you may not be old enough to remember some of the growing pains from when Windows XP first came out, or when W2K first came out, or NT, or ME, or 98, or 95, or …

I guess the bottom line is that you will believe what you want to believe, and the rest of the world will move on. Eventually, Vista will become the standard for Windows users. Eventually, people will out grow their old hardware and old software that isn’t supported on Vista and they will buy new hardware and new software that is supported. And, eventually, the next new version of Windows will come along, and the cycle can start all over again.

Actually, I run Vista for work because of the Microsoft shops I work with. Whether it be via a VM or native, I use the OS each day, despite other’s opting not to.
http://weblog.infoworld.com/save-xp/

Yes, Vista is quickly becoming the standard on the SoHo front and sluggishly, making its way onto the corporate front in bursts. There have been some tremendous successes there too. But some success does not mean that it is a great product. It means in that specific situation, success with that hardware configuration was had. For everyone of those, there are others that have not been successful.

As for being “old enough” to remember such innovations as Win 9X, etc, I would point out that I have been using computers longer than most geeks twice my age. That and I happen to be married and in my mid-thirties. I am not some 20-something kid spouting off whatever feels good that day.

My first computer was a TI99-4A (cassettes and all) and had a mean knack for creating some clever BASIC programs when I had access to it. This dated PC came into my possession from a friend’s basement during the early 80’s. The computer itself was dated roughly 77-79 I believe.

My decision to move to Linux “full time” was a process that took roughly three years. I dual booted during those three years as I began notice the “writing on the wall”. I kept seeing indicators that had me growing concerned about Microsoft’s company path with their Vista release and when the first examples began rolling out, I opted to move on for good. I was also becoming disenfranchised with how MS was treating their customers. Vista’s buggy release was the final straw for myself personally. Everyone has their thoughts on this of course, both in disagreement and agreement.

Rick, as tremendously interesting as all of this is, I have to bring this to a close. The comment thread is beginning to sway off topic and frankly, not the best use of time for either one of us. I encourage you to post a final response as I will not be replying so I can put an end to this debate in your favor. You’ll have the final word.

Please refrain from getting political as it serves no one. Anything relating to your thoughts on Windows or Microsoft however is encouraged and will be posted by myself or Bob when we see it.

Good day.

Matt,

I brought up politics to make a point, not to change the topic of the conversation. The point was that the news media publishes lots of misinformation all the time. Just because something is in the news does not mean it’s true. Just because large numbers of people believe something doesn’t make it true. That was the point I was trying to make. Sorry if that wasn’t clear.

Regarding the “Vista News,” it is interesting that you were previously so confident that a search for Vista would turn up all kinds of articles “proving” that Vista was the worst thing to ever happen, but now that this is not the case, you dismiss it by saying “oh, the news changes every hour…”

Your latest batch of responses finally bring some clarity to the issue. You feel there are some issues with the way “Vista Capable” computers were marketed. You feel some hardware vendors have failed to provide proper drivers for their hardware. You feel some “casual” computer users have a had a hard time getting up to speed with Vista. And in summation, you still feel it is appropriate to publish articles implying that the Vista OS itself is a “failure,” rather than clearly pointing out what the real issues are without making readers like myself drag the answers out of you.

That’s all just fine. I think all this started out from my comments that I ususally skip over your articles because your articles are usually either not relevant to me (i.e. not about anything that matters to me), or when they are relevant to me, they’re usually some absurd rant about how horrible Vista is. Based on this discussion, clearly it’s time for me to go back to skipping your articles and move on.

Rick