Slashdot Mirror
Windows Vista To Come In 7 Flavors
Dionne writes "Microsoft is really milking it with this one: According to an Ars Technica report, there will be 7 versions of Windows Vista: Starter Edition, Home Basic Edition, Home Premium Edition, Professional Edition, Small
Business Edition, Enterprise Edition, and Ultimate Edition." From the article: "Windows Vista Ultimate Edition is a superset of both Vista Home Premium and Vista Pro Edition, so it includes all of the features of both of those product versions, plus adds Game Performance Tweaker with integrated gaming experiences, a Podcast creation utility (under consideration, may be cut from product), and online "Club" services (exclusive access to music, movies, services and preferred customer care) and other offerings (also under consideration, may be cut from product)."
Chocolate, Vanilla, Pecan, Mint, Banana and BSOD?
For the love of God, please learn to spell "ridiculous"!!!
Sure ..it'll come in seven flavors, but they'll all taste like crap.
You know, so that they can remain compatible with "windows" ? or is the new product a complete, linux based rewrite with the old front end?
Honestly folks, how many times has microsoft and its partners delivered a secure, clean and workable product?
Two of these three is ALWAYS missing:
Secure
Clean
Workable
Good Pricing
Value for money
But usually more than 2 missing. After my last "hunt" for drivers in windows XP and 2000, I don't even find them "well supported" anymore. But then again, I have exotic hardware, not a 499 + 500 dollar rebate PC from walmart.
~D
" What luck for rulers that men do not think" - Adolf Hitler
So much for the anti-Linux crowd saying there's far too many distro's...
Anyone know what the major differences are between the versions then? Will schools (which is where I make a living as a sysadmin) and businesses require Enterprise edition for networks or what?
I should RTFA, eh?
What are the odds that you'll be able to 'upgrade' from one version to the other by changing one registry key?
Apparently Microsoft has merged with Baskin Robbins.
This is going to confuse the living daylights out of people, especially non-technical users.
Home users probably won't know what version they have, and that will complicate tech support calls of all types. It'll be difficult to help people calling for aide, regardless of whether they're calling Dell tech support or their nephew.
Developers will continually have to look up what features each system supports, and may very well just end up developing for the lowest common denominator in order to maximize support across all versions.
It was difficult enough trying to get average users to understand that Windows XP Home is different from Windows XP Professional. Hell, it's difficult enough to even remember all these names, let alone remember what features are different between each.
Cyric Zndovzny at your service.
"Windows Vista Ultimate Edition is a superset of both Vista Home Premium and Vista Pro Edition, so it includes all of the features of both of those product versions, plus adds Game Performance Tweaker with integrated gaming experiences, a Podcast creation utility.." And my guess a big ol' price of ~$700 to go with it!
So six of them have artificial limitations? That's gonna be hacked sometime just after the release day, methinks.
# cat
Damn, my RAM is full of llamas.
First Linux had one million versions, each one indesernable from the next to confuse and torment the user who can't tell the mouse buttons apart, so now Windows just has to have the feature in Vista.
It has yet to be proven that intelligence has any survival value. Arthur C. Clarke (1917 - )
...and trying to beat the number of linux distributions available. Nothing short of confusion shall reign.
El Tonerino
- Vista Secure Edition: completely redesigned kernel and win32 libraries make this edition secure against virus, worm, trojan, spyware, and phish attacks!
- Vista Compact Edition: with just the software you need, including the much appreciated MSOfficeCompact, this edition runs on your P100 with 128Mb.
- Vista Instant Edition: bootable in so many ways, this is all the software you need to boot that recaltricant box and get it working again. Comes complete with legacy support for every known device.
- Vista Grandmother Edition: simple, fast, and based on all the best of Windows Secure, this is the software you wished you'd had when your parents asked, "How do I get onto the Internet?"
- Vista Open Edition: free, and packed to the hilt with first-class open source, all verified and tuned by MicrosoftOpenLabs for that smooth experience. Comes with full source code.
My blog
Seven? Haven't we been complaining about the difference between Home and Pro in XP? Now they're going to divide it up even more? I thought this was a software company not a marketing enterprise. All this is, is an atempt to milk more money out of less work. I'm dualing Mandriva and XP (for the wife) and I think as Mandriva updates, Winders ain't going to. Sorry, Bill.
As long as the average home user can get a cheaper version of their OS without the complex functions they won't ever need/use. But then I seem to be in the minority anyway, I have a legal version of XP and think the OS is a piece of software well worth paying for. Nice to see from the article that many of the features us geeks buy Pro edition of XP for are going to be included in the Premium Home edition of Vista, and that the "Pro" version is actually going to be aimed at business.
I was always under the impression that it was a bad idea for a business to split their products like that....
xao
http://TheHillforum.hopto.org
... 7? Baskin Robbins has 31 flavors
They realised that by offering extra versions, they can sway the sales of units, by giving competitors the chance to sell 'ultimate edition' windows for cut prices etc. Seems that this version play will come back and bite some people in the ass.
Also, this is a bit of a 'hey EU, we are suing you but, look, you can't get us on not offering enough versions now, lol'.
BTW, I don't get it, Microsoft is suing the EU, that means they are reaching into the pockets of every tax paying EU citizen, and taking money, you know, EU lawyers and teams are not free to deal with this crap.
I say, you cannot have corporations bullying europe like this, no a flame, but honestly, US is PWNED by microsoft, things are going swimmingly for them, but with patents and their flagrant disregard for the laws and judgements of europe, I think people should wake up soon and jump ship.
Oh well, it wouldn't suprise me if Microsoft bashing has become a moderat..able offense, see you in -1 land, any second now.
#hostfile 0.0.0.0 primidi.com 0.0.0.0 www.primidi.com 0.0.0.0 radio.weblogs.com
This will surely annoy and confuse the ordinary consumer. As well as disgusting those more knowledgeable about computers who are just as happy to tweak things themselves.
Not dissimilar to the ton of reviews about how one linux distribution's default desktop looks cooler than the next -- but I suppose we don't want to go there. It does, however, give MS some parity with linux. Now reviewers will have seven versions of Windows to write boring comparisons about.
i'm guessing that "starter edition" really means "windows xp home edition SP3" and i'm guessing that the only ones worth purchasing would be professional and ultimate, which will probably cost $300 and $400, respectively.
for the market that microsoft is aiming for (idiots), don't you think that this is going to be just a little too confusing? there are 3 different home editions for God's sake!
Unstable & Stable.
Although Stable will probably be realised sometime after, around 2017.
Am I the only one to think that this will be a nightmare for people in the support industry.
I'm already having a headache with 7 different editions of Windows 2003 Server and what limitations each one has. Now 7 desktop editions. Obviously they like the number 7.
Can't they just do like Apple and have 1 Client and 1 Server edition of the OS. Even RedHat has only 3 server editions and 1 desktop edition.
Nooo, MSFT has decided to milk us all the way with a product segmentation strategy. Well, I guess that they need all the money they can get with their revenues being stagnant in the past several years.
A hungry bear does not dance!
I thought these guys just announced their recommitment to Windoze gaming...
Friends help you move... Real friends help you move bodies...
one flavor to rule them all?
Microsoft also announced they would be selling all of the available distro's in one lump bundle. The item will be called "Microsoft Windows Vista Neopolitan Edition" and will cost you one arm and one leg, of your choosing.
...and I bet none of them even run Linux
What the chances that WinXP will be rebranded as "Vista Classic" for all those people who can't afford the bank loans required for the hardware upgrade necessary to get Vista running at more than a glacial pace?
Been there, done that.
- "So do you have service pack 2 installed?"
- "Uhm, maybe you should speak to my son, I am not much into this..."
- "Hold the little flag button on the bottom left of your keyboard, then push the Pause/Break button faaar up on the right at the same time"
- "Oh, something happened."
- "Can you read what is says under System?"
- "Uh, yes, Windows... copyright, oh, Service pack 2"
Usually this does not take longer than 30 secs, and will most likely work on Vista too.
I shall go and tell the indestructible man that someone plans to murder him.
Hmm, All of these editions - won't this cause fragmentation of the userbase as consumers ponder which OS to choose. With seven editions of the CLIENT OS (how many ruddy server editions will there be!?) I'm starting to think this is going to be a mess...
... Add to this the whole HDTV and no LCDs in the market currently supporting the new DRM for HDTV playback from Blue-ray and HD-DVD and I think that 12-18 months from now things are going to be messy... ... Let's not even touch on support:
It's also going to be interesting when people "upgrade" from the home edition to say Vista "starter Edition" - Hmm, where did all my functionality go???
I say keep it simple. You don't see a Home/Pro editions of OSX - you have one for clients, and one for servers.
Tech: What edition are you running
Caller: Windows
Hmm, good times to be had...
-- Dan
Good lord. What a lot of nonsense that looks like. I wonder why they haven't taken it to extremes and have "Windows Webserver", "Windows Fileserver", "Windows Domain Controller", etc versions. Surely Workstation, Server, and maybe Advanced Server (for clustering, load-balancing, etc) are the only versions really needed. All the rest are so they can gouge a few more pounds/dollars/euros/yen out of the users.
Still - I'm not worried - it looks like England will win the Test, and I run Linux, so all is well.
Get your own free personal location tracker
This makes choosing the right Windows version to install almost as hard as choosing the right Linux distribution. Imagine the sales:
- 1 copy of Windows Vista, please.
- Will that be Starter Edition, Home Basic Edition, Home Premium Edition, Professional Edition, Small Business Edition, Enterprise Edition or Ultimate Edition?
- Uh... Never mind, just give me the latest openSUSE Linux.
One can only hope...
Alternative ending:
- Does the Enterprise Edition come with Kirk or Picard?
I'll just stick with my OSX "it just works" edition.
Yes, and the quiz is the new and improved MCSE. (well, they have to make it difficult somehow)
READY.
PRINT ""+-0
Seven? Like:
... "Overlording"?) Systems.
1. Pride
2. Avarice
3. Envy
4. Wrath
5. Lust
6. Gluttony
7. Sloth
?
I, for one, welcome our new Deadly Sin Operating (or wasn't that
:%s/Open Source/Free Software/g
YTARY!
Remember there was a company that had an ad complaining how Linux came in too many "mutations" (the basis of evolution BTW)?
does ANYONE think this is a good idea? i mean, some things that /. readers can't tolerate, the typical american consumer doesn't care about.
but seriously, is there a single person in the entire world who thinks this is a step forewards? is there going to be a single gamer, grandma, IT guy, programmer, homework-doer, or first-time computer buyer who actually thinks this is a good idea?
why wouldn't microsoft want to make things more simple for the consumer. the ipod + itunes combo is an outstanding example of how simplicity, reliability, and having a complete system can win over consumers even if the device is overpriced at times, and if other MP3 players have more features.
I believe I shall buy all of them together then!
Ok, we are going to bring out a new type of car. Afcource we make different versions so people pay even more for just slight variations. So, we give them a car, but we don't give them the stuff they need to use it in a good way, they need to pay extra for that. e.g. The only reason most people aware of Linux still use Windows is for gaming, and the only way to have optimum performance is to buy the most expensive version (Ultimate). It may be smart, but they are screwing 'us' again.
First, this will create tech support hell. A lot of users today don't even know if they're running Win2k or WinXP, and MS wants to spread that out to SEVEN versions?
Second, this is going to require a lot more global bandwidth as people download illegal copies of all those versions.
Win-Pause opens System Properties on Windows ME too, at least. Can someone check this on earlier Windowses?
Of course, the die-hards with 101/102 key keyboards or worse are going to have problems with that, but they can usually find their version info on their own.
You didn't "find" the website. You own the website. You've already said you own iconnectzone.com. A Whois on winvistasecrets.com and a whois on iconnectzone.com gives the same owner: Linlay Lee Kien On. Most of your comments spam these links. The Slashdot community doesn't give a shit about some Micro$oft-promoting website. So get lost.
The only version that will matter is the version that vendors like Dell, HP and IBM install. All the rest will be niche.
As a side note, I installed SuSe 10.0 RC1 yesterday on a brand new Dell Latitude D810 and had everything but the NVidia driver working in short order. Slight problem with the firmware binary package for the Centrino WLAN card not being installed, but other than that pretty smooth. I tried SUPER SuSe first and though it had the same WLAN problem it was faster than hell. Much more responsive. Would be nice to be able to search through packages available on the install CD, post install. Also, the wrong kernel-sources packages was included with the RC1 version. I posted the few bugs I noticed.
Look out Microsoft. New Linux distros are at about the Windows 2000 level of ease of use and catching up quickly.
"God fights on the side with the best artillery." - Napoleon, Marshal of France - speaking truth to power
But honestly, most users do not know what features they need. It is difficult for them to know what they need now, let alone what they'll need next week, next month, or on the next September 11th.
When people struggle setting up a system (you know, plugging the purple mouse USB connector into the purple USB slot, and the green keyboard USB connector into the green USB slot, and no problems being caused if they're switched), they aren't in a position to be trying to select one out of seven versions of an operating system based on features and future needs.
Cyric Zndovzny at your service.
New Microsoft motto: "Gotta Catch'Em All"
EvilCON - Made Famous by
What is this, a Baskin Robbins?
Ooo lets see... Educated Guess Time;
I predict that...
General people will buy the cheapest version that runs all applications. That version will be bundled with majority of the home computers. That will probably be the 'Basic' Home version. Don't expect it to be any cheaper than current Home Edition - MS has a monopoly, no reason to undercut in such situation. Premium crap will most likely be priced like today's Pro version, and will only sell to the crowd that today buys Media Center Edition.
If there are feature differences that matter to the applications (such as games or normal productivity apps) everyone will ignore crippled versions - bye bye starter ed. Dunno why MS can't figure this out.
Ultimate Edition will probably be sold to the Alienware/Dell XPS crowd that is too clueless. Rest will ignore the MS software clutter - especially since the ultimate edition has 'subscription' written all over it - the OS itself might work without one, but if it adds any downloadable extras, those will definitely want your personal information, and probably monthly fee sooner or later. I guess MS has gotten addicted to the mothly income it gathers from XBox Live subscribers. Someone has probably calculated how much they'd make if they could milk monthly fees from (some) Windows users as well.
As far as Warez goes - unless the 'Corporate Pro/Enterprise editions' are crippled in some way that matters to home user (lack of MCE features doesn't really qualify), that will be the version(s) that will make rounds - just like today. Additionally the 'Ultimate' version will be cracked to satisfy the 'Must have best version' crowd that previously cackled and downloaded warez versions of such gems as Win2003 Advanced Server for their home PCs so they could have the 'best' Windows. However, most won't want to bother with the extra bloat - or it will be ripped out of the Ultimate and plugged to a suitably modded Corporate version.
Just my 2 cents...
I hope one of them would come without the four horsemen, Outlook, Messenger, WMP, and IE, installed, but I'm probably dreaming (I'd even call that the Ultimate).
So, Small Business Edition is like Mac OS X, Enterprise Edition is like OS X Server, Ultimate Edition is like OS X with a free subscription to iTunes and a few other things, and Starter Edition is like going back to Mac OS 9.
That leaves the Home Editions. Hmmm... OS X before you install the developers tools?
I've been sitting here this evening getting some scripts setup to auto-export IIS website configurations (which I then export out to a Linux box with some PHP and MySql goodness makes a searchable database for all the websites we do shared hosting with).
There's eight different servers (a test bed), just about all of them have to be treated in some special way (iis5 exports stuff differently than iis6, forcing me to write my parser *twice* to make things work right.
Even better, sometimes different service packs change things around in undocumented ways, forcing me to once again re-write individual scripts to take that into account.
Eight boxes, two versions of Microsoft operating systems, two service packs and I have five(!) different scripts to handle it all and make it work.
Where Do You Want To Go Today, indeed.
It looks like your pro-Windows site runs on Linux.
i stasecrets.com&probe=1
http://uptime.netcraft.net/up/graph?site=www.winv
Is Windows, be it Windows 2000 Server or Windows 2003 Server, unable to cope with the minor loads your site receives?
Cyric Zndovzny at your service.
Sorry, but my tinfoil hat is itching me...
Does anyone else think that the Performance Tweaking code is simply
if (g_iPerformanceTweakingRequested == 0)sleep 1;
I should do this in my code... every 6 months I can put out a perfomrance "tweak".
This sig used to be really funny...
back in the day, Dell et al. didn't want to put Linux on a system because they only wanted to have to install 1 image, and support 1 OS.
Now, just to put windows on, they'll have to support seven ? Did MS ok this with their vendors first? If they're going to be installing 7 images on those assembly lines, might as well install 8 or 9...
I didn't know the WinKey-Pause thing before. As a geek, I should know things like that. But I usually know how to get to that information on my own. Still, that's handy.
It works on 98SE.
What like with Windows XP? XP has six flavors:
Windows XP Personal Edition
Windows XP Professional Edition
Windows XP Personal Edition N
Windows XP Professional Edition N
Windows XP...
Windows XP...
I don't remember the other two off the top of my head, but I know they're there.
Or, maybe it's like Server 2003
Which comes in 5 flavors:
Windows Server 2003 Standard Edition
Windows Server 2003 Enterprise Edition
Windows Server 2003 Datacenter Edition
Windows Server 2003 High-Performance Computing
Windows Small Business Server 2003
(I left out the x64, and ia64 flavors, as I don't believe those are actually really all that much of "flavors" but they are sold seperately, so I guess you could make it 7.)
So, wow. Despite actually having the names for the flavors of Windows Vista. What's the news here? That Microsoft has targetted its products since XP? That's is old news.
I am unamerican, and proud of it!
Jeebus, I know Microsoft likes to milk their products for all it's worth but this is ridiculous. If the ultimate edition and the no less than two home editions isn't milking consumers for all they're worth then I don't know what is.
Well, after recruiting Linus (at least in the alternate reality of WIRED) and trying to get ESR as well, maybe that simply had to happen...
At first, I thought having this many versions of the same product would be confusing to customers, but then I realised that M$ has an easy way to determine needs:
Customer: I want to upgrade my Windows 2000 machine to Vista. Which version do I need?
M$: Oh that's easy. How much money do you have?
Me thinks Slashdot advertises for Microsoft.
I usually could run the board on that one.
"Win treats sysadmins better than users. Mac treats users better than sysadmins. Linux treats everyone like sysadmins."
Somebody in Microsoft just wants to have more pictures of OS girls in cute outfits.
So besides buying an antivirus subscription and antispyware now the user will have to buy an OS upgrade to do much of anything.
Fork Vista. I'm SO glad to have started moving away from Windoze long ago.
That's our life, the big wheel of shit. - The Fat Man, Blue Tango Salvage
that Microsoft are releasing 7 editions of Vista to disguise the fact that they're not making something anyone actually wants or needs?
Overcompensation?
Linux only comes in one simple flavor. Ow, hang on...
Never underestimate the bandwidth of a station wagon full of tapes hurtling down the highway. -- Andrew S. Tanenbaum
is going to be the *new* Baskin Robins.
Start > Run > winver
Several of the new versions of XP are just that: they're new. So within the consumer branch, there was initially only Windows XP Home and Windows XP Professional. It is only recently that we've gotten Windows XP Home Edition N, and so forth.
It's somewhat more reasonable for the server line to have numerous different versions. The Windows Server 200x releases are not meant for home users, but rather those who are somewhat technically inclined.
SCO has six editions of their UnixWare operating system, for instance. They each have very clearly supported amount of of users, CPU and RAM.
http://www.sco.com/products/unixware714/
Now, the problem with the consumer releases of Windows is that the differences are not as clear-cut, but rather based on far more general and random features.
Cyric Zndovzny at your service.
I'm sure slashdot can spare a few trolls.
Evil grin.
It takes a man to suffer ignorance and smile
Be yourself no matter what they say
I can already see how it will look like:
"Do you really want to shutdown Windows and boot Linux?"
As a business how the hell are you expected to recommend a version of Vista to your users? If they're unable to do a certain task there will be confusion and anger. I dont see this much variety being a good thing.
There is a standard way to name software: Versions.
... They produce software for the iliterate masses, shouldn't they try to simplify it's product?
I Don't work with windows, but if i did, i would like to just know what version i have, and what version i an upgrade to. In any OS on earth, besides windorze, you can just look up your version, and check on the web if there is a newer version, if $web_version > $machine_version, you can just upgrade. 99.99% of software uses this standard, but m$ (the remaining 0.01%) decide to call their systems with stupid, meaningless names
WTF am I doing replying to an AC at 5 A.M on a Friday night?
If manufacturers ship OEM version of the basic edition AND that one's cheaper than todays Home edition (wishfull thinking, I presume), perhaps we'll pay less for software we don't want anyway.
Dell and all have contracts with M$ to ship Win with every PC, so we can't avoid that.
Perhaps we'll be able to at least select a cheaper version?
He did the research, and didnt even karma whore! He deserves it!
Well considering his broken english it wouldn't surprise me if what he meant when he wrote that he "found" the forum was that he "founded" the forum.
Given his posting history your interpretation is certainly the most likely, but there's at least a little wiggle room for a benign interpretation.
Yes kiddies... there wll be API restrictions, not necessarily to prevent users from installing missing capabilities, but rather to restrict the installation of non-Microsoft alternatives, especially Open Source alternatives for Windows.
In other words, this is a "turn play" to divert attention from the total locking out of anything that isn't Microsoft.
Burger King also has over 40,000 ways to serve an original Whopper (if you also count asking for either no bun or no burger options [veg]). But, they all come from the same 8 ingrediants: Sesame Seed Bun, Beef Patty, Dill Pickles, Ketchup, Onions, Tomatoes, Lettuce, Mayonnaise.
Unlike Burger King, there is little consumer confusion over what a Whopper is. Just because you don't want pickle doesn't mean it's not a Whopper.
Microsoft is going to learn a tough lesson, but it will be 10 years from now. Software already has long compatability lists: 95, 98, ME, 2000, 2000 pro, XP, XP Pro. Now they want to effectively come out with a single OS with as many varieties as all those since 95 (though I left out a few).
Here's how it will break down. Companies like Dell will start offering different versions depending on how "upscale" the computer is. But, very quickly, people will gravitate towards the beefiest (no pun intended) versions for their use, but it home or office. The corporate environment might go with differing versions just to shave off costs for the lower wage employees' systems.
But, in the end, there will be Home and Business/Full. Gamers will gravitate towards the Full end of the spectrum, and wittle the unnecessary out of their systems. The hard core gamers will not even use the built in game performance optimization. Serious gamers, imho, go through every setting on their system, in the game, on their video card, on their sound card, and on their drivers by hand at least once.
The only thing MS is missing in their selection is MS Zero. MS Zero is not like the "zero" cola out there. It will be a non-OS. Computer companies will continue to pay their mandatory per-CPU license fees, and ship without a real OS. Technically, it will ship with the equivilant of a floppy boot disk OS. It will be capable of formatting hard drives, and nothing else.
Give it a while. MS will dance around any anti-trust aligations about MS even trying to charge for computers without Vista by simply offering Vista selections that take away more and more and more, until you're left with an MS Zero.
IMHO, if this is supposed to be MS's answer to consumer choice, I can already guess the next version of Office. Office Starter with Hotmail-only support, Office Home Beginner with POP3 support, Office Home Advanced with IMAP support, etc. Prices increase by $500 per copy at each step up.
Yeah, I bashed a bit. Then again, compare this to recent announcements by Google and Apple, and MS just looks dumb in this story.
I8-D
Repeating the joke of the dept.-line is not funny.
Just so that less people are confused, can we please make sure that only the Ultimate edition gets leaked onto BitTorrent? That will avoid most of the confusion. :-)
Karma: It's all a bunch of tree-huggin' hippy crap!
Wasn't there supposed to be a Windows 2000 Home Edition at some point but they scrapped it and did ME? If I recall I think there was going to be two levels of 2000 pro that never happened. They unleashed the plague of ME upon us instead.
Also, wasn't there supposed to be a few more versions of XP that never happened?
Lets see what actually happens in the end.
The preceding post was not a Slashvertisement.
It would appear MS has again fouled up a simple concept - "Applications". Other OSes have had this concept for a while. Instead of building functionality, like a web browser, into the OS and selling it as different versions, how about making a single version and then selling "applications" that add functionality to the OS.
The article sums things up nicely: My initial reactions are reserved, because there's just not that much detail available. Pricing, for instance, would be really nice to know. Will Home Basic Edition debut below the price point of XP Home today? Place your bets. The one thing I will say is that I fear that this may cause a great deal of confusion on behalf of your average consumer. Two versions of XP were enough to cause confusion, and now Joe Blow has four choices that may fit the bill.
I only came here to do two things; kick some ass, and drink some beer...looks like we're almost out of beer.
You realize this is caused by them getting sued over so many frivolous reasons right? This is them trying to make, out of the gate, a version that is suitable to every person/organization out there so they don't have companies/the EU/tinfoil space aliens trying to sue them for bundling software.
Vista DRM Edition
"Vista Basic" looks a lot like "Visual Basic" at a quick glance. That is surely going to cause problems with people who scan quickly while reading. They'll take your post to mean that OEMs will begin bundling Visual Basic in order to reduce costs, which of course isn't what was meant.
Cyric Zndovzny at your service.
Right, seven versions.
Which one will be the working one (admitted there'll be one...)?
This works as far back as Win95 and nt4.
Just to be on the safe side, everybody will buy the most expensive version they can afford. It's called "differential pricing".
I hate artificial limitations like this. All this does is add unnecessary complexity to Microsoft's dev/test cycle and everyone's (MS, third-party ISVs, corporate customers, etc) testing matrices. This will mean more work for everyone when MS releases the inevitible security patches and service packs.
It's not like they develop the "low-end" product first, ship it, then start working on additional features. Of course not -- they develop the feature-complete version, then artificially limit the features installed/activated on the lower-end versions.
It's obvious why they've done it. Now whenever someone complains that windows in too expensive they can say "But we've got cheap version if you want them", so they can charge much more for the better version, knowing perfectly well that nobody will ever actually use Starter Edition, even if it is half the price.
/., yes?), so i can't run anything else, not even a browser.
3 applications? That that include background utilities like virus scanner and firewall? What about IM? So I have AVG, Zonealarm and Trillian running (did I pick the right ones? those are the current choices on
Below is my interpretation of what each version might contain.
STARTER EDITION:
Crippled version. Includes Windows Media Player, but no DirectX and no Network capabilites (i.e. missing the icon). No Internet connectivity either (i.e. missing IE icon from the Desktop). No control panel folder. Possibly, the Program Files directory is set as Read-Only to prevent the user to install software. This is the version sold for small appliances and cheap e-machines.
HOME BASIC EDITION:
Network control panel icon enabled, but artificially limited to allow only 4 users accounts. Has file but not printer sharing. IE7.0 icon included on the Desktop. Includes a FireWall, but it is set as default to block all outside traffic except ports 80 and 110/25 -- with no FireWall interface to change this. Program Files folder is now read-write-able.
HOME PREMIUM EDITION:
Same as Home Base Edition, but with Themes and DirectX (this is the "gamers" edition!). Also printer sharing is available. Full Internet Access! (i.e. most ports are opened by default and includes the FireWall configuration icon).
PROFESSIONAL EDITION:
Same as Home Premium Edition, Allows more than 4 user accounts (but less than 10), includes ScanDisk and Defrag, Device Manager, User Accounts Management, and Services icons.
SMALL BUSINESS EDITION:
Same as Home Premium Edition, but without DirectX or Windows Media. Also, includes IIS and Exchange, and allows up to 10 user accounts to connect at a time.
ENTERPRISE EDITION:
Same as Small Business Edition, but includes MS SQL server, and a few other services; and allows up to 20 accounts to connect at a time.
ULTIMATE EDITION:
Same as Enterprise Edition, but with Windows Media and DirectX!
-dZ.
Carol vs. Ghost
This is the most ridiculous thing I've ever seen.
This "bundling" thing-- isn't it just more anti-competitive behavior? Think about it. The core OS is just an OS. Each version is just bundling in other software, software that competitors could and do write. Thus, by providing it with the OS, they get an automatic "edge" on the market for those products. Isn't the whole trick to find the right "bundle", so that no other software purchases are necc. for the customer?
I've seen this before-- a bigger company offers "third party" software programs, which in the end, serves as a breeder for possible new software products which they could write themselves and "take over", if they do well enough.
Dogs look up to men; cats look down on men; But Pigs! Pigs can look men square in the eye. -Churchill
how exactly is this gonna make the choice between Leopard or Vista (oh wait... one of the 7 different versions of it) any easier?
i'm sure MS has some brilliant people working there... unfortunately none of them are actually running the business or taking care of the marketing of it.
And now he has you to thank for getting his websites mentioned in a +5 comment.
... that they would do something like this to their customers. Then I remembered that this is Microsoft, and that I'm not going to buy (or pirate) a copy of Windows Vista in any flavor anyway.
And I'll pay not a penny for them.
So, the right version to download is the ultimate, right? Glad we solved that one
If you can't get 'em with quality, hit 'em with quantity!
That's the last straw. I'm moving to linux, where the choices are much simpler.
It sure looks like whatever court case outcome they had in Europe is to take a beating. Maybe an European edition called 'Not all there', with less bundling. Either way SUSE and linux will look more attractive. The notion of high definition TV in the office for 'productivity' is a joke.
What a Vista : The Seven GATES of Hell !
Pirated Edition.
These are 7 distinct versions of desktop systems. I think you're stretching the line there with Personal and Professional N there. The main problem here is tech service and compatibility problems, so the Ns are pretty well functionally equivalent to their counterparts. The only other version of Windows XP desktop is the Starter Edition. (source at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Windows_xp)
The point is there will be more than double the number of distinct editions in market (serious ones, taking out the N editions). This will be a nightmare for tech support and customer confusion.
Because there certainly aren't more than 7 versions of Linux that could create confusion and a support nightmare thats for sure.
useless, Home crippled, Home bloated, Professional Bloated, Small Busness crippled, Enterprise bloated, and ultimate useless bloated buggy edition.
You missed the Tablet edition and Media Center edition. And honestly, supporting SP(0|1) and SP2 are two completely different worlds, too. That makes it just as difficult for tech support as the multiple versions.
Same old slashdot.
""Microsoft is really milking it with this one: According to an Ars Technica report, there will be 7 versions of Windows Vista: Starter Edition, Home Basic Edition, Home Premium Edition, Professional Edition, Small Business Edition, Enterprise Edition, and Ultimate Edition.""
Whem Linux does it. It's "one size doesn't fit all". When Microsoft does it. It's "milking it".
Support issues? Does the Linux group really have any room to be critisizing on that point?
I'm still waiting for DirectX 5 support in NT 4! They couldn't get it right then, and won't get it right now.
Personally I'm a big fan of telling tech support I have Windows 97.
qntm.org
Does this mean I have to write seven worms instead of just one? Or will all seven versions be exploit-compatible?
Now if they made a sort of gaming edition, where I didn't have to deal with the rest of the OS. That's obviously for many people one of the few reasons why they have to use Windows rather than Linux, gaming.
So if they made a simple interface for gaming only, with a barebone Windows OS, I think dual booting would be more recommended. No?
Isn't that the situation with Linux distributions right now?
The Monkey Edition is what I really miss!
I just *have* to hear the "developers" song at boot time and see a little Steve Ballmer running around on my desktop and sending me annoying^Wwork-enhancing message popups every couple minutes.
Oh, and I can't wait so experience the BSOD - the Ballmer Scream of Death....
It really isn't. You don't have Slackware Linux 10.0 Ultimate, Slackware Linux 10.0 Supreme, Slackware Linux 10.0 Super Duper, Slackware Linux 10.0 Maximus, Slackware Linux 10.0 Christian Edition, Slackware Linux 10.0 Bonus, and so on. Most Linux distros are very specific, and thus do not need to have numerous different version of each release.
Cyric Zndovzny at your service.
I still get frustrated regularly because they moved the "Device Manager" section up to the top of the SP2 System Control Panel dialog for no obvious reason, when it was in the second section in SP1 and prior.
I don't care, but don't let that stop you from trying to tell me anyway.
The Lawyer version... Welcome to the brave new world of pre-emptive marketing.
I think they'll come to regret this, but this does seem to be some sort of response to the variety of open source software. They're going about it in the wrong way in order to make more money though.
...the Vista pr0n edition. Many nice backgrounds and themes to choose from. Don't forget that the homepage for IE is NOT something you'd let your mom know about.
Starter Edition, Home Basic Edition, Home Premium Edition, Professional Edition, Small Business Edition, Enterprise Edition, and Ultimate Edition
I don't care how many flavors they have. Just give me a Working Edition
God is REAL! Unless explicitly declared INTEGER
When was the last time you used MS Windows?
Bill G. was seen hanging out with George Lucas.
Here's a link to another article that gives some more specific info (and a whole lot of fanboi gushing from Paul Thurrott).
I quote: Starter Edition will allow only three applications (and/or three windows) to run simultaneously, will provide Internet connectivity but not incoming network communications
No incoming network communications? Three thoughts spring to mind:
1)MS has a hard time enough time trying to stop unwanted incoming network communications as it is. I bet it's cracked in a fortnight.
2) Won't this comms cutoff limit a fair bit of net functionality? Obviously incoming comms for established connections would be OK, but still.
3) Some enterprising cracker will almost certainly get around this. Once they do, those Starter Edition boxes almost certainly won't be running a firewall. Windows Firewall is mentioned as being included in Home Basic, but not Starter, and running a 3rd party firewall would occupy one of the three application spaces available (not desirable). Not to mention that anyone clueless enough to buy Starter wouldn't know what a firewall is anyway. If these Starter boxes are successfully cracked, and if Starter sells well in developing nations (could happen), a whole new wave of zombie boxens could arise.
Thanks for nothing MS.
Yup. Like I said, for support purposes, it's like a completely new Windows OS. Sure, it shares a lot of similarities with pre-SP2, but so did SP share similarities with 2000/Me, and 2000/Me with 98. But there are always enough subtle differences that it extends helpdesk calls.
Don't blame him.He is using a pentium processor
I want the frog-moose version!
One of the things that makes Linux so mind-bogglingly great as a desktop OS is that there's not just one "Linux" - I can install the distro that meets my needs more or less exactly. Might Microsoft be trying to match that experience?
I'm the stranger...posting to
This is the same game. To compete with Linux, they need an even cheaper version to run on the even cheaper machines. So they create a version that they can give away so the vendors can sell the kit for $399. The number of versions on shelves will likely only be three, the rest probably sold by site license. I admit to being confused by three home editions, but I suspect that is meant more as an upgrade path, to insure continuing revenue from the home user, rather than products offered for regular ales.
In the end notice they left pro as pro so those who need the lesser-toy version of windows knows what to buy. Everyhting else is there to allow kit vendors to increase profit and thereby remain loyal to MS.
"She's a scientist and a lesbian. She's not going to let it slide." Orphan Black
You only need 1 version of a desktop OS. Sure you may have *options* on top of that, but this is just marketing to make it sound more important and to suck even more money out of the consumer.
7? Sheesh.
---- Booth was a patriot ----
In the past I had to pay shitloads of money for a truck full of crap, but now I only get half a truck full of crap for the same money and I have to pay more to get the other half? Nice money making ploy. I know the argument about companies meant to make money, but this is just pathological greed.
now, 90% of the users will have the ability to create podcasts in windows with a default instaled apple. An app that probably will only work with windows media player content control enabled systems.
I think that will take apple back to a cult thingy. Of course, only after some appeal on court that will only get effective by the time apple is already dead and M$ can remove the app exactly when it would be expensive to suport.
Built a computer lately? I know I'm part of a relatively small niche, but as a guy who builds his own computer, I've noticed a trend toward the obfuscation of specs and options in tech products over the last couple of years.
The choices for consumers used to be
Mac v Windows, (mac users step out at this point), Intel v AMD,
ATI v NVidia,
Windows v Linux (linux users step out at this point)
XP Home v XP Pro
Within those choices, you had:
Intel: Fast (Pentium), Budget (Celeron)
AMD: Fast (Athlon) Budget (Duron)
Generally, clock speed was an excellent guide for understanding speeds (and was indeed the model number)
Nvidia: High End, Mid Range
ATI: High End, Mid Range
Again, model numbers were very telling.
XP Pro v XP Home was a straightforward choice.
Have you seen the products that are being released by all of these big boys lately? Model numbers are now nearly completely useless as guides, and each subset of products has multiple options with model names being used multiple across the full range of all of the options.
Et tu Apple? How many versions of the IPod are there now?
Now this Windows crap.
It's the business model du jour. I fail to see the benefit for any consumer, so I'm guessing that some MBA types have determined that it enhances revenue.
Here's the thing...I've never met a casual computer user who wants to spend hours on the phone working through specs. It's inconvenient, and often makes them feel stupid.
The backlash will come, and some smart businesspeople are most assuredly preparing the new simpler model as we speak. I just wonder how pissed consumers are going to get in the meantime.
I'm just not buying these days, and Vista will be no exception (for this and many other reasons). Call me when Intel, AMD, ATI, and NVidia each have two choices, fast and budget.
In the meantime, I'll let you in on Tech's dirty little secret...new versions no longer represent upgrades in either performance or features. Think about the last version change that actually did something for you. Apple users don't get to count dashboard, and nobody gets to count desktop search tools.
Was this done to compete with the numerous Linux distros and their versions? (Get the facts, ok? Windows has more versions than that of say, SusE, Redhat and Mandriva all put together.
In that case they sure didn't get the distro, err version names right though. Too simple for Linux users' taste..
This already confuses people.
Until you sit down and read the mountains of license restrictions, even server 2003 isn't 'obvious'.
One version, one price.
---- Booth was a patriot ----
Read: Gouge the Darkies Edition, Sell to OEMs and then Something Better to the Poor Bastards who Bought It Edition, Sell to OEMs and then Something Better to the Poor Bastards who Bought It (With Added Reacharound) Edition, Actually Useful Edition, Actually Useful Before We Integrated Outlook Edition, Junket Edition, and Redhat Aren't The Only Ones Who Can Ship 9 CDs Of Redundant Trash Edition.
Or possibly seven factorial times as many problems. It goes without saying that this will confuse the end user and sysadmins. But I think this is going to confuse even the developers at Microsoft. There will be all sorts of problems just because seven releases is just to much to keep track of. Now instead of keeping track of security flaws and bugs on generally two products, they'll have seven. This is just going to confuse the hell out of everyone and cause serious compatibility problems. And is Microsoft going to have seven security patches a month.
Democracy Now! - your daily, uncensored, corporate-free
So, according to this, if you want to get the full benefit of all those overpriced games and get "custom themes" you will have to shell out major bucks for the Vista Ultimate Edition which will also come with loads of business-oriented tweaks the average gamer has no use for?
MS1: How can we screw gamers? They haven't suffered nearly enough. Besides, Bill's having trouble putting bread on the table.
MS2: Break open their piggy bank, take their candy allowance, then check under the mattress. Bound to be a buck or two from the paper round there.
MS3: Hey, I have a great idea. Let's force them to pay for hundreds of megs of business software they'll never need 'cos, you know, we always offer real value for money!
MS1: Even better, we can thrown in say four custom themes! A bargain when the Ultimate Edition will be only a coupla hundred bucks over base
Las qué passoun
tournoun pas maï
And that's what he was asking about: Linux Distributions. Not Slackware. Nice dodge asshole.
Now If I actually want a legit version of a halfway decent version of Windows (like XP Pro compared to XP Home), I'll probably have to pay a rediculiously high price like $500 ala MS Office Pricing for the "Ultimate" edition.
In undeveloped countries, the consumer controls the market. In capitalist America, the market controls you.
>>one registry key >And rebooting. Don't forget the rebooting. why? changing registry keys already presume you're going to reboot.
Backstory
I make my living as a software architect for a large national corporation using the Win32 platform. I've got over 15 years coding & design experience.
I started out with Borland products, but slowly migrated to MS products due to the following factors:
1) Tools were built by the makers of the OS
2) API Documentation
3) Microsoft's desire to support the development community
4) OS stability - Laugh if you like, but at the time there wasn't much else to run on an 8088.
Screw The Developers
Recently, Microsoft has decided that the development community needed more "options" - In other words, let's screw all of the MSDN Universal holders into "Upgrading" to a new type of subscription - Therefore changing the concept of "Universal" to mean "Kinda sorta, but not really". You no longer can get "EVERYTHING" any more.
Screw The Consumer
Next - They're moving on to Vista (what a STUPID name) with 7 different flavors. They are "creating" a compositing desktop using the graphics hardware and touting it as the next "New Thing(tm)". Instead of using a bitmapped desktop, they've gone to this "new innovation". Uh - Mac OSX has done this since day 1. Nothing new here.
Along with "Vista", they are incorporating many "new" things - Security concepts that are really just hacks on top of a horrible idea.
Fundamentally, Microsoft has refused to accept that they themselves perpetuate the security problems they currently have. Most Win32 developers have been bottle fed to accept that the local user has admin rights. They code everything with this assumption. Because of this, Microsoft has had a VERY difficult time securing the desktop. Microsoft has no choice but to try and design around a problem of their own creation.
Fact is you cannot secure a machine where there is, effectively, no security. I say "effectively" because if all users have all rights, then where is the security?
Combine the Two Above - Rinse/Wash/Repeat
This long diatribe is really to sum up that Microsoft has ignored the problems for so long, and is not even prepared to address them with the development community. Even their latest development "security" attempts are too little too late for such an egregious flaw.
And now, to top it off, they're going to attempt to baffle the world with bullshit by releasing 7 versions of an OS - What a fantastically stupid idea.
The downward spiral started many years ago, and will end with people like me leaving the platform for something that truly performs - For something not built on technical quicksand.
(BTW - I type this from my G5 Mac in my home where the last remaining PC is serving as print server and remote desktop to host VS.NET so that I can work at home - They're are now 4 other Macs in the house)
why? everyone will have the ULTIMATE from winbeta with a hack. after all, it will be the only one that will be able to play non-DRMed media files.
My cupholder just popped out, you insensitive clod!
I think grad school classmate of mine, Jesse Reichler, said it very well when Windows XP came out: marketing and flexibility are all well and good, but stability should be job one, by definition.
;-)
In the intervening four years, we've seen Job One go from security, to spam, and now back towards stability. Having a working, rock-solid kernel should be job one: if you can't make it stable, how can you make it secure?
Microsoft's stated priorities are interrelated (at least security and spam, and to an extent, security and stability). Its market share has always been built on the availability of many more applications than for other operating systems, and to a lesser degree on transparency, developer tools, and a pretty-looking interface (the "butterfly"). So, having one kernel with seven distributions is fine. Just think of it as SCO swallowing up Ubuntu, Red Hat, Slackware, Debian, etc. or OpenBSD, NetBSD, and FreeBSD.
It doesn't necessarily bode well, though, given Microsoft's penchant for factoring a lot of nonessential features into the kernel. When a service pack (such as Win2K SP1) is 100+Mb, your customers are conditioned to expect bloatware. Everything I've read about Longhorn tells me there are slick features, but nothing I've read indicates that this trend shows any sign of abating.
ICQ: 28651394 = AIM/MSN/YIM: hsuwh = www.livejournal.com/~banazir
If you have questions please call:
This is what Wikipedia has to say on price discrimination:
Sounds familiar?
Where are the followings versions:
- Secure Version
- Stable Version
- "Plain Vanilla OS without all the bloatware and other M$ BS" version.
As soon as we get the version that was as simple Windows 3.11, I'll consider going back to Windows as my primary OS and not before.
Please people restrain from making a news item from everything microsoft related, ok ?
Who cares about this news ? We have time to hear about that specifics, don't do microsoft useless publicity and stop annoying my rss with thoses uninteresting "news".
Cheers,
This is nothing but price segmentation. The goal is to extract the highest price a customer is willing to pay for a given product. Tiered pricing lets you charge $99 to the people unwilling to pay more than $100 for your product and $149 for those unwilling to pay more than $150. If you didn't segment, you would get $100 from both the cheapskates and spendthrifts.
We now return you to your regularly scheduled BSOD jokes.
Oh the joy, Microsoft mutilating themselves. Maybe they've not renewed their Harvard Business School Magazine subscriptions - they should read http://hbswk.hbs.edu/item.jhtml?id=4980&t=marketin g
Slackware is obviously a Linux distro, you cockmunching cousin-fucking sheep-humping anal-pounding sumbitch-licking scrotum-tweaking rectum-diddling piss ninny!
Cyric Zndovzny at your service.
Here are the proposed Server edtions
Extreme Radical Enterprise Server Edition Platinum
1337 Gam3rz edtion X-Plutonium
Microsoft Windows Family Friendly networking
Vista high security edtion
...because you can turn one into the other and vice-versa if you know the right registry codes.
Once again, the registry proves itself as the biggest Shot In The Foot ever.
>Isn't that the situation with Linux distributions right now?
Sure there's lots of linux distros out there, and they seem to sometimes mix in and out of other, maybe more "true unix-y" flavors (freebsd, solaris, et al). But *nix is barely making its footprint in a commercial home market, whereas Windows is just making a very general, wide stretch of its "new" operating environment, when it's not really all that necessary. *nix users can always compile something from source if really necessary -for now-, be it a bitch, or use some form of a dedicated package manager. Sure, marketing and placement plays a role in this Vista forking, and we'll all eventually adapt and get over it, but it's not really needed to have this many versions. There's already not that much disctinction between Vista and XP, there -can't- be much telling the Vistas apart from the Longhorns.
space is pretty cool.
Each of those 7 Windows edition should have also an "N" version (without the Media Player):
That's of course 14 editions of Windoze. So, a windows.distrowatch.com is really needed ;)
Right Click My Computer, then click Manage?
Deja Vu
n. 1. The sensation that you've read this very article before.
At least with any Linux distro you can have a webserver, print server, samba server, desktop of your choice, blah, blah. All without needing an upgrade license, phoning home to Bill, blah blah. In fact the only choice you need make for Linux is a distro and your fav desktop environment.
My karma is not a Chameleon.
You, sir, will surely mean blogcast.
Wabbit Edition! Duck Edition! Wabbit Edition! Duck Edition!
Your "great Windows Vista Community" scares the ever living crap out of me.
Example: Help me crack it...
Is that......english?
The least you could do is spam quality. I'd guess that there's a reason you're here spamming it, and that is because it's just a bunch of clueless noobs saying "omg plz hlp me crack wpa"...
All I want is the "bug free edition". Maybe the edition that is also "popup free" "virus free" and "adware free"
I am Windows Ultimate.
Drop the five flavors of Windows Vista Useless Edition and just give us:
MS Windows Vista for Home
MS Windows Vista for Work
Or better yet:
MS Windows Vista with an installer that installs what you need based on how you are using the computer. If you have super-ultra-value features worth paying for, just sell those add ons seperately.
-- $G
i am waiting for Google OS.
Hmmmm, what level of computing are the four then?
I smell a Slashdottin'. That sounds like a nice way to get back the 38.225 seconds of my wasted life on that site...the smell of burning webserver. Zonk, can you help us out with this one?
And people are already getting XP Pro when they don't need it in the first place, paying $100 extra without any idea of the benefits.
xkcd.com - a webcomic of mathematics, love, and language.
Windows Starter Edition will probably be the default to come with new PC's, especially the sub $400 PC's. Then you'll have to upgrade to do the things you want to do.
I think this will make Windows Millenium Edition look good in comparision.
Buggy, Insecure, Inoperable, Incompatible, Vulnerable, Patented Vulnerable, Resource Hog
One for each day of the week
If Apple comes out with 10 fruity colors of the iPod nano, it's a Good Thing, but with Microsoft comes out with a half-dozen flavors of an OS it's bad!? At least be consistent! Conumser choice is good! Now look at all the choices you'll have!
Best Buy can have you arrested
Microsoft can officially kiss my @ss. I will not pay a cent for any version of Vista.
can you imagine what sort of nightmare this will create for QA centers. It was not enough already to test your application against combinations of :
1) w95,(multiple releases)
2) w98,(multiple releases)
3) wNT (multiple service packs)
4) WXp (multiple service packs)
5) internet explorer (multiple service pack)
now i can how this will definitely make these centers to chose only certain combinations. And dont even talk about linux !
...has been taking lessons from someone else who produces badly-conceived products.
Lest you think I'm trolling, I have a legitimate question: Why must there be so much stratification?
Guy Kawasaki was fond of using the analogy of sailors and passengers aboard a ship: "A passenger gets on a ship, plays shuffleboard, and eats at the captain's table. A sailor weighs the anchor, goes into the engine room, and gets grease under his fingernails." He said that a product that was deep, indulgent, complete, and elegant could appeal to both kinds of users.
What we have here isn't any of these things. Instead, it's what a marketer sees as a way to "add value" and provide "choice" and ultimately increase revenues, but what it will really produce is confusion, because no one is going to be really sure which of Microsoft's offerings will suit them best.
Those who can, do. Those who can't, write technology blogs.
A month or so ago, my ancient Windows 2000 Server partition stopped working. No regrets, just put UBUNTU into my old Linux partition (was RH 7) and happiness is mine. This is one of those grandmother distros for workstations. Quite nice! Friends don't let friends buy MS. I have been recommending MACs for years.
> I don't exactly know what people's problem with multiple distros is.
The lack of a usable standard to develop toward. When distributing a program, you have to support many distributions. That means multiple package formats, different file paths, different configuration file formats (init scripts being the worst, if your program is a daemon), different libraries bundled, different desktop types and ways to make your program visible, etc.
Starter Plus Registry Hack Edition.
Turds come in 7 different flavors! Nasty, smelly, sloppy, fibrous, shiny, and "Just freaking huge"
As they say,
"You can polish a turd but all you get is a shiny turd."
...they also forget to mention
...can I have mine in apple? ;)
You can also do the following to get the Windows version:
1. Windows Key + R (Run Dialog)
2. Type 'winver' and press enter.
Nothing disturbs me more than blind loyalism towards some unrealistic and over-idealistic notion of one's nationality.
This will drive lots of people to a Mac. Can't wait.
Good job Ballmer!
Bashful, Doc, Dopey, Grumpy, Happy, Sleepy, and Sneezy
- Does the Enterprise Edition come with Kirk or Picard?
As I doubt our computers will start speaking and listening to us, I'm gessing it'll be the "Archer Edition", with "Trip Center" replacing the Control Panel, "Hail then, Hoshi" as a WinPopup replacement, and "Reed Alert" as the new firewall. (T'Pol will probably be lurking as a wallpaper or something)
Based on the specs you supposedly need to run Vista does the game performance tweaker just install Windows XP for you when you select the games profile? Or does it just open up a browser page for Xbox 360?
Seriously though, if the performance tweaker does provide tangible gaming performance improvements over XP I would very seriously consider the upgrade as games performance is something I consider vital to any OS I use. That said, OpenGL is supposedly just a wrapper to DirectX in Vista so I can't see myself wanting to take that performance killer on.
It's the same WinME/Win2k PRO split disaster all over again.
SYS 64738 NO CARRIER
In Argentina, most PCs come with one flavor of Linux installed with an XP theme by default.
Most of users who don't know nothing of OSes, buy it thinking it is XP and they realize that once they already bought them.
I'm not sure if this is good or bad, more like a Shing Yang.
PC vendors lower their costs that way, but they don't inform the user about the OS installed.
Users realize they don't have XP when they try to do something that they used to, or when they try to download MSN. Then, the general line of thinking is "I can't get anything done with Linux, Linux suck" and they get a pirated copy of XP.
Back to the topic, it's clear that MS don't want to let Linux reach the user. They will encourage PC vendors to sell the Vista version that only boots on odd days and let's you hit the start button once per session. That way they get ahead with this problem.
Linux has a chance NOW. Linux is actually reaching the user NOW, but fails to demonstrate that it is actually good for the common tasks that the user does.
I'm not saying that something can't be done with Linux. The problem is that the user simply doesn't realize that yet and they get rid of Linux before they have a chance to do so.
Real Microsoft Ultimate Power
drat! i read it like "Windows Vista To Come In 7 Years"... :\
Game Performance Tweaker => nice
Podcast creation utility => itunes
online "Club" services => you can get music and videos from ITMS
It also came with a video editing suite, a DVD authoring utility, a photo management and touch-up app, a music composition tool, an IDE based on GCC and a nifty app that brings up a texas hold'em game when I press f-12.
Plus my shared libraries aren't a genetic mess like an appalacian family reunion. And my machine doesn't have more virii than the village whore.
"Let him go, Ralph. He knows what he's doing." --Otto Mann (simpsons)
When XP Pro loads, the progress bar is blue instead of green. I don't know about you, but I'd pay $100 for that.
Yes, and it would be even more like it if all 7 the editions of Slackware Linux 10 were named:
1. Slackware Spam
2. Slackware Eggs Ham Spam
3. Slackware Spam Eggs Spam and Eggs Ham Spam
4. Slackware Spam Spam Spam Eggs Spam Ham Spam
5. Slackware Eggs Spam Spam Spam Ham Spam Spam.
6. Slackware Spam Spam Spam Spam Ham Spam Ham.
and
7. Slackware Eggs Spam and Spam Ham Spam with Eggs Ham Spam.
I'm waiting for release 2. Then I'll upgrade to Vista. Just like all other windows editions, I'm sure it will be pretty well useless until then. Think about it: 95-R2, 98-SE, 2k-SP2, Millenium... nevermind. Plus, I've got to give MS credit for the Acronym stuff here. When the do release the second ed of Vista professional, you can upgrade to Vista Pro Ed R2 (ViPER2). But until then, whe have ViBE and VUE. But they still have room to learn. I am working as a defense contractor. The military KNOWS acronyms. The typical military man can't speak two consecutive sentences withuout any acronyms. I've been in conversations where there were no nouns ever used.
"First up, there's Starter Edition, which like XP Starter Edition, is a crippled (and lame) product aimed at the two-thirds world. It will limit users to three concurrent applications, and provide only basic TCP/IP networking, and won't be suitable for most games."
This seems more like an inoperating system.Bear with me on this one before you flame me. Although one might argue that I'm comparing Apples and Oranges (no pun intended), I don't see a big difference between MSFT offerings multiple flavors of Windows Vista and Apple offering multiple flavors of Mac. If you look at Apple's Web site (http://www.apple.com/hardware/), you see that they're currently offering four major "flavors" of Macs: iMac G5, Mac mini, Power Mac G5 and the eMac. One can, of course, purchase many flavors of each of these Mac families. Although the OS remains the same across the families, Apple is doing classic market segmentation. They're offering products at various price points with various features to try to reach the broadest range of customers and (not coincidentally) get the most money out of their customers. This isn't business rocket-science. You can see the same principles being applied in any business. Take "Swiffer," that annoyingly named product from Proctor and Gamble. Go to the Swiffer home page and you'll see seven different flavors of Swiffer including the NEW! Swiffer Carpetflick. Swiffer is undoubtedly doing this to make as much money as possible by segmenting the market. One more example closer to home. Redhat is currently offering four versions of their Linux distro: Redhat Enterprise Linux AS, Redhat Enterprise Linux ES, Redhat Enterprise Linux WS, and Redhat Desktop. My point is that Microsoft's decision (which I haven't seen confirmed by them...) to offer multiple flavors of Vista is probably just good business and, hopefully, giving their customers products that are best suited for them.
Seven levels of the same product... wont that immediatly confuse consumers? What real need is there for five different mid-level products? Why not just sell ONE version of the product? You could offer up seven or more preset configurations at install time, and make everything customizable. I guess I've lost respect for Vista already.
This is just the MS's attempt to catch up with Mandriva, Red Hat, Novel, Debian and Slackware...
Oh well, what the hell...
Ughhhh - You are an Eeeeeeevullll naughty person and desrve to die in BSOD hell...
Oh well, what the hell...
Maybe this makes sense since so many promised features for Vista have pre-emptively (the only pre-emption MS does well, btw) deleted or scaled back leaving the anticipated new OS not very new at all. However, stratifying the offering (I've always HATED the Home vs Pro distinction, mainly you can use IIS -- yeah, THAT's worth $100) makes Vista seem different than XP. Good move on MS' part.
New PCs come with Starter Edition or Home Edition. Then you have to buy Home Edition or Home Premium Edition after the fact. Just another way of getting people to pay for copies of Windows they will never use. There should be a site where people can "give away" their extra windows licenses to charitable organizations.
----
All of whose base are belong to the what-now?
Bit of a mixed blessing, though, seeing as they're mentioned in the context of "this is a steaming pile of crap".
Moderation +2
... but giving it the other mod's just doesn't make sense from a technical viewpoint.
50% Insightful
20% Interesting
20% Overrated
Okay, I can see the "Overrated" mod
Windows boxes STILL have BSOD's. So why would an anonymous post questioning someone who made a joke about such BSOD's be mod'ed "Insightful"?
Please, stop all the speculating on what features will and won't be in Vista, how many different versions there will be, whether or not OpenGL games will work, what the hardware requirements will be, etc. All these things have changed in the past, and they will all change again before a real finished release oozes out of Redmond in a year or two. All our speculating accomplishes is giving MS free advertising by keeping the idea of Vista in the IT world's mind.
When there's a real "box with CDs in it sitting on the shelf at Best Buy" release, then it will be appropriate to comment. Until then, we're just feeding the hype monster.
0 1 - just my two bits
Sounds like a cool trick, IBM Powerbooks don't have that Windows key, so I can't test it out right now....
Would it have killed IBM to use a standard keyboard?
SpyDock: Scientific Python in a Docker container
Linux came in too many "mutations" (the basis of evolution BTW)
Didn't you know? Evolution is too controversial, so Windows Vista only supports teaching intelligent design. On the plus side it let them make a sweet deal with the Kansas school board. It especially bad when Clippy talks about how the Earth is 10,000 years old and then deletes Encarta.
Stop intellectual property from infringing on me
OMG!OGM!OMGOGM!!!111 My mom bought me Teh Windows Ultimate Ultra Edition!!!!11 My gamez R gonna B 10x c00ler than yors ROTLFOLOLOL!!!1111111
Of course, Microsoft could circumvent this by telling everyone they have to upgrade for security reasons, and start a little scare with their lack of security. But in that case, they should just fix the problems with XP, instead of making us all send them more money to upgrade to a newer version.
Your grammar makes the baby Jesus cry...
This is heelarious. I suppose they're splintering into so many distros to compete with Linux?
MS is flailing. And it's almost as sad as it is entertaining to watch.
I work for AOL and that reminds me of a call I monitored.
:-)
The user claimed he was running Windows56. Nothing right? Well the tech listened more to the users problem and then he claimed everything was upside down.
Turns out he had his monitor upside down and "95" turned into "56"/
God AOL users are the best.
http://saveie6.com/
Media Center and Tablet Edition
I mean, damn. It used to be you would just purchase Windows 95. Then they had the whole XP home and XP Pro thing (with anyone with more sophisticated computer needs than my Grandmother needing XP Pro). Now there are going to be seven versions (and anyone but the most casual user is going to have to spend a grand on the highest end version?).
Never mind that this goes totally against the principles of normal economics (i.e. the more people who buy something, the less the development cost per unit... and since development cost is the only real cost for software, making less-powerful versions of the software should actually be MORE EXPENSIVE since it requires more work/testing/etc.) But I guess normal economics do not apply when you are a monopoly.
And never mind that the new OS won't run on anything but high-end machines. And will be utterly crippled with DRM and bloated with a damn 3D vector interface.
Sorry Microsoft, if I am going to buy a high-end workstation, it is going to be a mac, and everything else is going to be running Linux or FreeBSD. I probably would have continued using Windows just out of habit and so I could run my old software, but for the money I save from buying the highest end Windows OS I should be able to save more money than I would using my old software.
I mean, is Microsoft activly trying to piss as many people off as possible? I realize that they are just trying to make money, and everyone is basicly selfish... but are they actually under the delusion that consumers are going to go along with this? Is the market for the computer illiterate novice really that big that they can alienate higher end users?
Microsoft in the past has been known to cripple its own VC++ compiler so that the best executables created will only work the the professional and enterprise editions.
My guess is the frame rates for games will be slowed down in all but the ultimate edition. It will be a classic MS strategy but I will try to be optimistic.
I dont like the fact that vista already criples video output on purpose to force you to be a drm enabled monitor.
I think I will stick with Windows2k which I use now. I do like the new avolon api and docking features. It looks alot like object desktop and the customization looks sweet but this other garbage is a big turn off.
http://saveie6.com/
What a moron. Modded down so often that he has a default score of -1, and still doesn't get the hint!
Starter Edition: Dopey
Home Basic Edition: Sleepy
Home Premium Edition: Sneezy
Professional Edition: Grumpy
Small Business Edition: Bashful
Enterprise Edition: Happy
Ultimate Edition: Doc
In comparison we have about 9999 GNU/Linux distributions all offering just about the same packages, with the same Xorg version, with almost the same init scripts, with the same kernel. The only difference seems to be in installing the system. Oh yeah, please some one cry out about the ability to choose your distribution because they are all free. But really, what's the real difference between them?
GNU/Linux is not about choice, it's about making the obvious choices and those choices are about the same with every installed GNU/Linux.
If ever there was any doubt about whether the engineeing department or the marketing department were in charge, it is now officially resolved.
The iMac had flavors. Didn't Apple get a patent on "flavored" personal computing technology?
For all intensive purposes, "whom" is no longer a word. That begs the question, "who cares"?
87.333% (repeating of coarse) of the statistics you read on /. are yanked straight from the poster's ass.
So, is Slackware Linux 10.0 Christian Edition daemon-free?
sig?
Hello and Welcome to the Microsoft Support Line!
If you have Windows Vista Starter Edition - Press 1
If you have Windows Vista Home Basic Edition - Press 2
If you have Windows Vista Home Premium Edition - Press 3
If you have Windows Vista Professional Edition - Press 4
If you have Windows Vista Small Business Edition - Press 5
If you have Windows Vista Enterprise Edition - Press 6
If you have Windows Vista Ultimate Edition - Press 7
If you wish to upgrade from your old and busted prior version
of Windows, please have your credit card ready and Press 8
For all other support requests, please hang up now.
You pressed 2, if you wish to upgrade to the Ultimate Edition
please have your credit card ready and Press 1, otherwise Press 2
You pressed 2, are you SURE that you don't want to upgrade to
the Ultimate Edition? If so, please have your credit card ready
and Press 1, otherwise Press 2
Sigh! You pressed 2 again, please contact your vendor and purchase
another PC with Windows Vista pre-installed. Thank you for calling
Microsoft Support Line. ** CLICK **
[Insert pithy quote here]
If Vista has seven flavors, that means seven times more complexity in troubleshooting. I don't just mean for Microsoft's updates, I mean me, as a developer. I don't want to have to test my app in seven VM's to be sure Ultimate edition doesn't have funky conflicts, or the stripped-down basic edition is lacking certain dependencies.
:P
I think they should produce one consumer product that works well, and then one enterprise product. None of this market segmentation bullcrap.
We're all going to crack the Ultimate edition anyways
-Billco, Fnarg.com
Each time M$ announce their intentions for Vista/Longhorn I rejoice. Their ideas are getting so crazy that I sometimes wonder if they're trying to self-destruct. This one has to be the craziest so far (checks date to make sure it's not 1st April). Vista, in its present state, will be the death of M$.
I thought "the inmdustry" had basicly stopped making new PC based games. Sure looks that way at my local retailer.
So many cheering, awaiting and blessing posts ? I would expect ignorance and trashing. What a sudden Linux betrayal from a "core" crowd. ROFL
From reading the descriptions of the different versions of Vista, Microsoft is doing away with the whole Windows Server bit and merging its capabilities with the other editions. For example, "Windows Vista Pro Edition will include domain join and management functionality, compatibility with non-Microsoft networking protocols (Netware, SNMP, etc.), Remote Desktop, IIS Web server, and Encrypted File System (EFS)." Sounds an awful lot like Windows Server 2003 to me. Really, more like a step between the current xp Pro and Server 2003.
Then, we get to Windows Vista Small Business Edition. It's got all kinds of features from shadow copy support to "castle networking", which seems to be a lot like an ad-hoc Active Directory system.
Windows Vista Enterprise Edition seems to have Virtual PC integration, which in the case of Server 2003, would be Virtual Server.
So anyway, I suppose that my point is that 7 9. If Microsoft announce a Windows Vista Server line, then I take all of this back and admit that it'll probably be a bad idea to have this many versions.
Friday. It crashed. Twice.
That's on my company's Windows 2000 desktops, so that doesn't give me grounds to complain about XP. And I haven't used XP for about two years, since it started crashing on me. So my information may be out of date.
For the love of God, please learn to spell "ridiculous"!!!
Doesn't one of Microsoft's main anti-Linux arguments involve Linux fragmenting into many different versions? Or is this just a "better" fragmenting because it's all under one roof? The only way I see this making any sense to the majority of users is if they give them significantly different product names.
Great. Now we're turning into the auto industry. Come get your new 2008 Windows Vista today, for the all-time low bargain employee price of $1,595*!
*MSAC financing required. All sales are final. Activation not included.
Wouldn't that be more like '56 SMODNIM' or something?
Ok, a couple things. Have any of you tried to set up a home/small network with different versions of XP (home/pro) running different service packs? For some reason there tends to be a high number or strange bugs and weirdness that happens when you do this. With seven different versions of WinV do you think this problem will go away? Doubtful. Also, correct me if I'm wrong, but the home pro and Ultimate ed are the only ones with support for some of the really cool new techs like HDDVD, HDTV etc. Now, although these techs are not availible yet in most parts of the world, in a year or two they'll be standard, which means that there'll be a whole load of people buying an OS they can afford now, seeing these extra features as useless because no one uses them, and then having to upgrade when they realise the mistake they've made. Your average Joe won't know what the difference is between DVD and HDDVD, most have not even heard of HDDVD, and some wont even see the relationship between DVD and HDDVD. So you're new version of windows may be able to support all the things you want it to now, but unless you bought ultimate ed or home pro, it won't be able to support all the things you want it to two years down the line, and so it's upgrade time. Cheaper products are usually more expensive in the end. And what really is the difference between them? As we've seen before with windows, crappier versions of the same OS usually just have the features turned off, but they're still there, taking up HD space. So let me get this straight, you're giving me a discount on my OS because it's crippled? I think I'll leave it at that -Phill
Yay. I can't wait for those things to arrive at CompUSA. Now, in addition to keeping track of and stocking the many renditions of Microsoft Office, I'm now forced to keep track of seven different versions of Windows Vista? You know, I'm tempted to believe that it's impossible for Microsoft to release anything that's actually a legitimately complete product. Say what you will, but I guarantee you that Ultimate Edition will even require additional purchases for certain functionality.
You know, as much as it pains me to do so, I'm just gonna start carrying burnt Linux distros with me at work, handing them to any customer who asks about purchasing Windows.
An excerpt from the article:
One final note worth mentioning is that this strategy does remove the "corporate Windows XP" option from the hands of pirates. Volume licensing for Pro, SBE, and EE may still mean that there will be copies of Windows Vista out there that don't "call home" for Windows Product Activation, but as you can see, Microsoft has removed most of the features that most pirates would want from those OSes. You won't see corporate licensing versions of Ultimate Edition.
While I definitely agree that this is a smart idea on Microsoft's part, why even bother creating so many different versions? It's getting a little ridiculous.
There is a OS X/Darwin port of wine called Darwine. For PPC it's using QEMU to do the x86 emulation. It's not usuable yet, and since it's based on Wine I doubt it will ever be useable.
Except different models of iPods are DIFFERENT. They aren't just the same model with different parts of it disabled in software.
I just bought my first laptop in Taiwan. It's an Acer Aspire 5502WXCi. It came with Windows Home Edition in Chinese, so I popped in my Windows XP Pro in English that I use for my desktop and installed it. Everything detected. Up and running as usual. But I left an extra 20 Gb to try out linux. This is my experience so far:
Suse: The default installation hanged (sorry, don't remember what point). But I remember you could hit a button (I think F2) for an options menu. I remember the choices there were highly technical, which is to be expected of course since I'm starting to dink around. But I randomly guessed fer-the-helluvit and because I had no idea what I was doing (and I already consider myself slightly more knowledgeable than most computer users--at least I have a certificate in Comp Sci from SFU!) Anyway, I chose Custom (I think it was), and that's when excitement finally happened: it started blitzing through hardware detection, and my joy was great indeed. Then, it gave an error message, and I was booted to a linux prompt (bash I think it's called?). All I knew what to do was type -ls (yes, laugh, I'm a total linux noob). So I did. After doing that four or five times more, the novelty was gone and I tried to go online and find out what to do (there's got to be something wrong). I found out I'm supposed to type 'StartX' or something like that. I tried it, but it said there was something wrong with my video mode (wasn't supported, it explicitly said). So I
quit and tried the recently discussed Freespire edition of Linspire.
My Freespire installation seemed to go smoothly until I was presented with a login and password scenario. I thought maybe I had downloaded the wrong thing. As determined as I was, I went online to checkout what to do, and was taught I was supposed to enter "root" and login and something else as password (don't remember anymore). To be honest, I don't remember what happened after that, but it was enough to make me give up.
To be honest, I may have mixed the 2 problems up above because I don't remember exactly which errors happened to which (I know, just a week ago). The entire testing period was just a time of frustration for me. I even tried to get some of the basics online, and was baffled to be told that, while windows letters the drives, linux makes primary, secondary, etc. drives with names like '/hdav1" and "/ndev4" or some gibberish (to me) like that. And the counting would skip numbers sometimes, I believe?
The problem with your assertion is that linux is only easy to install if you're already familiar with it. But perhaps EASY TO USE should be defined to mean EASY TO LEARN HOW TO USE. Under this definition, I'm sorry my friend, but linux is therefore not easy to use.
Oh yeah, I forgot to mention that I had to do basic research about which distros to use ("DON'T use Debian, it's not for noobs like you!", "omg installations a breeze: just make and mount drives, or make and compile, etc." -- um.. what is this "mount" thing you speak of? "how the hell do I compile an operating system itself?" etc.)
Oh yeah. For those who still give a shit, I also tried Debian, just becuase I remember reading that notebooks are not supported very well, and since Debian is supposed to be the pro's choice and the most tweakable, I figured it might have the mighty powers to save me. It might, but I'll maybe never be able to find out. It'd take me weeks just to learn everything in the introductory pages. Mother of god, like I don't already have enough stuff to read (MA in English). I guess it'd be ok if that was your passion and hobby (playing with computers is a minor passion and hobby for me), but for most people, I doubt they'd even bother googling for basic help the moment something went wrong.
To upgrade my Window's Vista laptop to run Windows 2000?
well at least the guy that does OS-tan has his work cut out for him.
Soon humans will be chosen and bought like that. Businesses will soon choose between one that can do advanced computer tasks for only $5000 a month*, or one with only a few office skills for only $1000 or less.
...oh, wait...
You can hold down the "B" button for continuous firing.
To be blunt, people evangelizing about the issue suck the most because they have this delusional fantasy that they're going to change the world with their mindless FUD and rhettoric. They then get pissed off on the inside because their efforts to convert the masses are for naught. (like always) Then they get pissy and belligerent at all those that don't use the OS 'ordained by God Almighty' and further damage and discredit their crusade. You'd think people would've learned this a long, long time ago, but those people are closed minded and incapable of seperating the truth from their own fanaticism. Therefore, I don't think you really have to worry about their opinions. ;-)
Forget divide and conquer...divide and confuse...my god 90% of consumers will not have a clue what the heck to buy. Especially many geeks have been telling people to use XP Pro instead of XP Home. And if Ultimate is Home and Pro combined, do I get doubly screwed on pricing? All I can say is this sounds like a very BAD idea, but I guess they are taking a linux view, the more versions the better...
"Some days you just can't get rid of a bomb."
Now they can (um) persuade the major computer vendors to offer the "Vista Basic" as their standard - make it $5 or so to the vendor and $50 on the open market and vendors will be able to cut the prices of computer systems (with windows pre-installed) quite a bit. In all likelihood this would increase the number of systems sold.
But of course the "Basic" version should do nothing but IE and email. Minimal (if any) media support. Minimal (if any) security support. For some people (who mostly use a computer to browse the web and get email) this might even be a very good deal.
Then anyone who wants to do anything will have to upgrade to a better version - and that upgrade can be made nicely expensive. Upgrades from that to anything higher would also be expensive. Computer vendors could offer the upgraded version at even higher profit margins.
So every computer sold will result in the sale of at least two versions of the OS - Basic and one of the more powerful systems.
And if they really wanted to put the screws to you, they could ensure that Office (and the like) would only run on one of the more expensive versions.
Uhhh... hello, Microsoft Tech Support? I got the Start Edition and it don't play my sister's video from our wedding. I need to upgrade, I think.
"Well, sir, would you like to upgrade to the Home Basic Edition, Home Premium Edition, Professional Edition, Small Business Edition, Enterprise Edition, or Ultimate Edition?"
Uhh.....
"If you purchase the Home Premium edition we're offering a special one-time upgrade reduction of $20 to the Small Business Edition and we'll include a demo copy of Intuit's Business Tax Pro Plus!"
Uhhh....
Plus, if you decide to upgrade to the Ultimate Edition today, we'll include a free upgrade for any of your family members to the Professional Edition from the Home Premium Edition (assuming they have already registered and that they have not yet attempted to execute a windows media file)"
Uhhh... I just wanna see the video.
"Greeeaaaat! I'll take your credit card number now to register your new copy of the Ultimate Edition with the new Windows Media Player 14.23.1 that can play all manner of blue-tooth-enabled blue laser hdvds! Isn't that great?!?"
"Sir?"
Uhh.....
Malibu Stacey: Now with new Hat!
-M
when you see the word 'Linux', drink!
Coffee all over my monitor, keyboard, speakers, microphone. The router's on a shelf and was spared.
I used to work in a major retailer in the UK. They could never get it 100%- we sometimes had loads of home versions and no professional and vice versa. Joe Public is going have a heart attack with all the complications. "I just want something that I can browse the internet and write word documents" Thank the almighty I am out of that game now!
This is a symptom of a bloated marketing department with incompetent leadership.
-jcr
The only title of honor that a tyrant can grant is "Enemy of the State."
No, all of them do, just like in the current line. (If you don't believe me, try logging into your XP pro box more than once simultaneously; once locally, and once via remote desktop. Then try to install the microsoft blue tooth stack under server 2003. Or, consider Media Center Editon which is the only one to contain tivo functionality, but is missing server features.)
The real problem that I see with this scheme is that paying more doesn't get you a superset of the features you'd get for the cheaper version. From TFA, if I want to watch HD-DVD's and print to a UNIX system, I'll need *two* physical computers to do it. WTF?
I guess I could buy a copy of VMWare to run the corporate edition under home edition. Note that I couldn't use Virtual PC, since Virtual PC probably won't support enough hardware acceleration to play HD-DVD under emulation, TFA says Virtual PC won't run under home editions(?!?), and corporate editions can't play HD video... How is this better than the current situation, where server/pro can do most of what XP Home can do?
If the article is correct, the high end version is missing too many features to be useful to pirates/home users. That can't be a good sign for Microsoft, especially given the number of companies that are still running 2000...
there is nothing intelligent about the design of windows
Snowden and Manning are heroes.
Hell, I'm already confused. SEVEN VERSIONS???
It doesn't make any sense. It sounds like their developers were all arguing back and forth and the lead developer got fed up:
LD: "OK, nobody wants to get along, all you creeps want to do is bicker back and forth, 'I want fancy UI', 'I want games', 'I want this', 'I want that'!"
Developers: "MINE MINE MINE!"
LD: "Fine! Fine! Since you don't want to get along, you're just going to have to do it the hard way. I want a makefile with a flag, and we'll make one version for each of you. NOBODY wins."
Developers: "WAAAAAAHHHH!"
LD: "Don't make me come over there!"
Yeah... Gotta love Microsoft...
Farewell! It's been a fine buncha years!
When Bill Gates swore under oath that making multiple editions of Windows would confuse the industry and cause damage?
When I installed both Windows and Ubuntu onto my new AMD64 3500 the installs went like:
Ubunutu: put in the 64bit Ubuntu CD, answer some questions about my time zone, etc and everything worked on the first boot.
Windows: Install from the CD, watch it hang once doing that, try again(worked that time). Install drivers for my sound, video card, PCI bridges, etc. Have zero clue why my games were running extremely slow, then figured out(poking around at stuff) that I needed to install AGP drivers too....
The last PC upgrade I did was also much easier under Linux. I went from a AMD 1.4 T-Bird to a Athlon XP 2200. Swaped out the hardware, put in my drive and rebooted. Windows died, horribly, because the hardware was different(had to reinstall the OS). Linux just booted up and ran fine.
Linux is MUCH easier to install if it properly supports your hardware, but Windows supports more hardware because the vendors write drivers for it.
The big problem I have with this model is that if I want to add functionality that my Windows distribution doens't offer, I need to pay more. And then I risk buying a version that doesn't offer something that the distribution I just switched from did have. I can't wait to tell my parents they bought the wrong version and have to buy Windows all over again or pay some $50 fee to add the ability to watch a couple of movie files.
With Linux, I simply need to download and install whatever my distribution was lacking.
I'm extremely skeptical of this. I had a hard enough time with Home vs Pro editions.
"... a Podcast creation utility (under consideration, may be cut from product), ... and other offerings (also under consideration, may be cut from product)."
So basically, the Ultimate will be stripped down to a starter, except for the price tag & box?
Well, screw the OS, I'm gonna buy it for the box.. looks like it's made of gold.Mod points are a dangerous tool. Abuse them wisely.
Currently we have these versions of Windows available if you purchase from an OEM: 2003 Web Edition aka "Windows Webserver" (Can't be a DC or run SQL)
What restrictions are on the machine that prevent MySQL from installing and running? Or by "SQL" did you mean "MSSQL"?
tablet edition and compact edition. Possibly even cell phone edition (stinger vista?).
Oh and what ever happed to data center edition? Will it no longer be supported? This would seriously PO their high end clients.
Seriously, by forking it this much they may be creating a SCM problem for themselves.
Linux distros are simple compared to thid
putting the 'B' in LGBTQ+
I thought MS said they had all been put to the sword with XPSP2 and security was now the priority.
Uh-huh. Nice try MS.
It just isn't a good idea to have 7 Versions, just because you don't need something now doesn't mean you won't down the road, though I suspect there will be 3rd party and open source software to fill the void left by the "extra" features MS has left out of the "lesser" versions. If it wasn't for PC gaming I'd switch to Linux, if apple came down in price I'd consider switching to Apple instead. No one wants to pay any more then they have to either way, buying hardware(Apple) or software(software.)
fucking retarded (microsoft not me)
Lately Microsoft seems determined to offer multiple versions of their products which on the surface could lead to some market confusion. But in the end, no matter what MS does, they cannot really change how Windows is usually being bought and installed. Windows is not ice cream! Most people are going to get Vista preinstalled on new PCs which means that whatever Dell or HP decides to bundle with their main packages is going to be what people get. Corporations are probably not going to bite on Vista at all. Heck, many corps are still running Windows 2000 because it meets their needs. Vista isn't going to change that.
For all of its warts, once Windows 2000 came out, MS had released an OS that for the most part has proven itself to be good enough. So it's really hard to see how they're going to move Vista copies at all beyond the preload channel, especially if they get crazy with the pricing.
I for one have no plans to upgrade to Vista. I'd love to move away from Windows altogether, but gaming and certain development projects require that I keep it. And I don't really see anything being offered in Vista that would be worth the time and expense to upgrade. Now if upgrades to the Ultimate Edition were $19.95, I might consider it, but that just isn't going to happen now is it?
To the making of books there is no end, so let's get started
Wholy crap! I'm glad there's only one version of Linux to choose from. Whew...
Love many, trust a few, do harm to none.
I've not had major stability issues with Windows since 2k. XP is very stable, and most programs which run under it are quite stable as well. That's not to say that *nix isn't just as good, for a helluva lot less money of course, but I find that Linux advocates trott that old saw about Windows lack of stability and repeat it like a mantra as if they were programmed to say it. Hmmm...
Who is this delectable creature with an insatiable love of the dead?
Still I haven't found a reason to buy vista... or any of the vista's. I mean I am using windows XP, for laptop reasons, tried to install ubuntu but ditto, and if a vista cd magically spawned before me I won't touch it or install it for that matter. Why should I? For seeing more cpu and ram fscking eyecandy? Useless filesystem which is brand new and wasn't industrially tested and found "secure"? Or for games which are going lamer with each published title, except Dawn of war though.
If a representative from MS can answer to that question, which is "Why should I upgrade to vista from XP. Convince me!", with realistic, non hype, answers I will buy a new computer and a brand new ultimate or whatever its name, though I really hooked on to "vista gluttony edition", vista. 'nuff said.
I've used Linux off and on over the years, and frankly it's *not* any better that Windows. Most people simply evangelise for Linux blindly simply because it *isn't* the product of Bill Gates' monopoly. Trust me, every time I've installed Linux to try out I've come up against "the wall": that being a point at which the operating system starts fighting you every step of the way whilst trying to accomplish or configure something that on Windows one would not have to deal with at all, or even think about. This time SUSE 9.3 decided that it wouldn't boot into the non-root account I had created at install time; no explanation, error message or log entries appeared - it just stopped working. Bloody hell. That said, I'm not a Windows apologist and I think their flavours concept is a heaving dud; as others have pointed out, it will lead to mass confusion in short order. Cheers
Who is this delectable creature with an insatiable love of the dead?
or you can assign any other key to do it - I use my right Alt key as a windows key. Without hacking. It's in the properties somewhere.
Windows Server 2003 Enterprise Edition
Windows Server 2003 Datacenter Edition
Windows Server 2003 High-Performance Computing
Windows Small Business Server 2003
Windows Server 2003 Web Edition
Hollow words will burn and hollow men will burn.
Let's see how long it takes for this hair-brained, multi-flavour concept to lead to mass market confusion and pare the whole thing back to just two releases: 1) Before launch 2) 6-12 Months after launch 3) After launch, but the unsuccessful flavours will simply fade away from the radar as other failed MS product concepts have (MS Bob, anyone?)
Who is this delectable creature with an insatiable love of the dead?
Will they release Vista on September 19 (any year) ?
http://www.talklikeapirate.com/piratehome.html
Patent litigation: A doctrine of Mutually Assured Destruction... in which everyone seems willing to push the button
My hope is that they continue support on Win2k, drop in the new graphics dll's and rebrand it as Vista Useable Edition because I know the XP Mongoloids can't make a stable system.
Sometimes at night I imagine the darkness is filled with horrible things with too many teeth, like Julia Roberts.
These flavors will probably be not so different, you should be able to add the Multimedia programs to the corporate versions or add the volume licensing program to the ultimate edition.
I haven't seen that sort of granularity of products since Scully "led" Apple.
Is there some boom in Pepsi consumption in Redmond?
MS's response to the EU mandates? Versions of windows without certain multimedia apps?
But they all give you the same value. Actually you can break it down into three groups:
Server concentrated: eg RedHat Enterprise
both sides: eg Debian, Susi^e
desktop: linspire, ubuntu
But you can always use a ubuntu as a server and an RHE as a desktop os.
So there are no connections at all.
Nice backdoge Anonymous Seppnschaedl!
"Freiheit ist immer auch die Freiheit des Andersdenkenden" - Rosa Luxemburg, 1871 - 1919
Do I really need all of these useless services? Stop bulking up your operating systems with shit and let me customize it as I wish. Thank god for Linux and BSD.
"Without curiosity and knowledge, the mind is a vast void. Without the mind, curiosity and knowledge are nonexistent."
It was enough of an issue being familiar with XP Pro and trying to advise people on their use of XP Home...and I can't WAIT to see what A+/MSCE are going to turn into *shudder*
Going back to school for entry-level jobs?
These releases are coming from a company which can't even hack together a decent text editor or terminal program, two of the most basic programs that are included in *any* operating system. Sheesh. As for M$ customising everything for us, that's not true: you can have your system *any* way you want. As long as it's Microsoft's way. ;-)
Who is this delectable creature with an insatiable love of the dead?
...the one that Microsoft keeps as a surprise! But it's no surprise for me: I have insider information that the 8th Windows Vista Flavor would be...
The Windows Duke Nukem Forever Edition!(yeap, DNF will be bundled with Windows Vista!)
Too many versions is a MS-patented FUD-method reserved for attacks on Linux and other unix variants by MS itself, its shills, and sock-puppets. Expect to be served with a patent-infringement suit, soon.
If you want your life to be different, live it differently.
So we've got a choice twixt: Redhat Enterprise Debian SUSE linspire ubuntu ...
All with two (or three in the case of SUSE) differing areas of specialty (server, desktop, etc.)
The point is that there are so many differing distros, each with their claimed strenghs and feature sets (hardened, server, minimal (Beehive), Power user (Rock), and gawd knows what else), which is exactly what MS is doing with this 7-tiered release.
Cheers
Who is this delectable creature with an insatiable love of the dead?
Eg. "You are absolutely and totally free to choose between any of one of these 7 options."
Reminiscent of the current American democratic system - provide the user with options at all and regardless of whether either/any are actually valuable to them, they will endeavour to make a choice, arguing vehemently amongst themselves as to which is better and why. Moreso, while they are making up their mind they aren't looking at real, vaulable options.
Of course there'll be alot of material to get through before you really can decide "Which Windows is best for your Family?". We'll see a plethora of vacuous price-point-performance comparison guides in Toms Hardware and technology journals, six more Windows magazines with baby-lego-block-bar-graphs and serious looking well fed men in mug shots standing beside them.
An extra wall in the maze, another flavour of cheese.
See also here or at Debian or FreeBSD homepages as well for pre-built Linux or BSD systems.
If you want your life to be different, live it differently.
So Microsoft will fire back at its critics that, even as a convicted monopolist, we should cut them some slack because, after all, they're giving the customer choices. Sure, it will be a choice of seven different ways to get screwed by Microsoft but choices nonetheless. The managers in Redmond think their doing something good here but that's because so few of them have been around long enough to remember when there was real competition and choice in the computer industry. Time will tell whether as many customers will listen the next time the MS PR siren sounds. Certainly, there are Eloi who will blindly march to Micorosft's tune but word's getting around about other real choices available to customers. I'm actually strangely optimistic about the whole thing.
CUR ALLOC 20195.....5804M
No I didn't, they're not desktop systems. I presume that there will be seperate Windows Vista Tablet edition and Windows Vista Media Centre edition that aren't in the list given in TFA.
And the Service Packs are upgrades as opposed to distinct versions. You can guarantee that Vista will have them as well.
Yes, service packs are upgrades, but supporting SP2 is like supporting a new major Windows release. So many things were changed around, and many of them were defaults that users weren't changing themselves.
Supporting WinXP Service pack 0 or 1 were virtually identical to each other. Same for Windows 2000 Service packs 1-4. But SP2 was a completely different ballgame.
Who says that because I use Windows I HAVE to use Office and Photoshop et al? I'm doing just fine with 99% OSS on Windows, thank you.
Send email from the afterlife! Write your e-will at Dead Man's Switch.
Starter Edition: AKA Checkbox Edition 1. Indeed aimed at the "two-thirds world", but not as a product. Its purpose is to have an argument against the governments of nations with mostly poor citizens who look the other way with piracy. With this, MS can say "but there is an affordable alternative."
Home Basic Edition: AKA Checkbox Edition 2. Aimed at Europe, with no bundled media apps. Purpose is to fight sanctions.
Home Premium Edition: This is the version most home users will buy, but now MS gets to charge even more because it is demonstrably more capable (media) than HBE.
Professional Edition: Perhaps the most aptly named. Aimed at the professional who buys his own laptop. Many are predicting that companies will stop issuing laptops to employees in the future, who will be expected to just have their own. Much as has happened with cell phones. But lacks the fancy multi-media apps to force more customers up to Ultimate.
Small Business Edition: Pro with some added business features, see article.
Enterprise Edition: Pro with all business features, see article. Virtualization will allow employees to run their personal stuff on a different virtual machine, protecting the corporate network.
Ultimate Edition: Pro with media, and as many bells and whistles as possible so that the price can be jacked as high as possible. Professionals who want the media features will have to pay through the nose to get them, for Windows Pro lacks them and HPE won't connect to the corporate network. Students are caught, too, for HPE won't connect to the campus network (same with XP Home today).
Plus, with 101! keystroke combinations there's always room for a communications breakdown.
Say hello to my little sig.
I think what you saw there is not entirely the user being an idiot. Rather, the user was trained by his computer.
It may be hard to believe, but I have observed it and maybe other people have too: users are conditioned by their computers, in a very pavlovian way.
Consider this. Very often when I get on a friend's computer (these are usually windows), I make the computer crash in short order. Same thing with a Powerbook laptop recently. Why is that? Because I'm not trained yet.
User does X (for example, click on the "run" option) and then something bad happens (computer crashes, or things happen that user does not understand). User learns not to do X anymore.
If I ask my friend if there's anything special about the "font size" dialog on PowerPoint for MacOS, he'd say there's nothing wrong. But if you observe him, you see that he always uses it exactly the same way. Because he's an idiot? No. Because he's been conditioned. You see, then I come along, delete the current value "18 points" and start typing a new value. Computer freezes.
Turns out, this happens every time you delete the value in there. There's a bug in PowerPoint, if you delete the font size it'll try to generate a preview of 0-point text and die.
There are tons of other examples like this. Wonder why so many people never use more than one application at a time? It's a sure bet that they have two applications installed that tend to crash each other, and they've learned a way to work around it.
The computer is Pavlov. We're the dogs. I find this mildly disturbing.
It's like an ignorance bubble.
Meanwhile the clients I do manage to switch to Apple -- they become mac zealots pretty quickly.
Say hello to my little sig.
Horcruci? ;)
Ignore this signature. By order.
No, that would be Jesux.
Touch everywhere, even when inappropriate.
my gf recently bought a teaching method, basically a book with a CD, she have a old laptop that only runs Windows Me, I have a recent desktop and use Windows 2000, the program on the CD require Windows XP ...
I can only imagine the troubles 7 different version will bring.
Slackware Linux 10.0 Christian Edition
I particularly enjoy Slackware Catholic Edition. If you try to configure a firewall, it guilts you about interfering with God's plan for propogating viruses and worms. And don't get me started on what happens if you want to switch web browsers and are unfaithful to your first browser...
"Wow, you're like some kind of superhero able to ward off happiness and success at every turn."
-- Ryan Stiles
My guess is that the parent meant the basics: kernel, apps, X.
Does any fresh Windows install automagically do all of the things you've mentioned?
(I honestly don't know that answer. I'm still running Win2kPro, and I know that it doesn't.)
The small business edition is more interesting. Shadown copy might prove useful, and anything that replaces the god-awful workgroup-style networking and resource sharing has to be a god-send.
Windows Tweaks
actually, there are a slew of different "flavors" of vector linux.
I'm waiting for the Director's cut DVD...
Does Windows '56 come with tail-fins and a bench seat? Are all the controls analog dials?
... and then they built the supercollider.
... believing you can so easily get people to hit a key that has the word "break" on it. Seems like it would take at least a little more explaining to let them know nothing was going to actually "break".
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
Perhaps you should go back to the drawing board and think through the problem some more before you go off the handle and criticize people here. Then, after you realize that it really is a hardware problem and not an OS problem, maybe then you'll get your head out of you butt and demand your money back. C'mon now. If I'm going to spend around $1500 on a laptop, I'll be goddamned if I'm going to have a problem with it as soon as I brought it home and then eat the $1500 with dissatisfaction. Then again, it's your problem that you have unstable hardware, not mine, so why should I even care? By the way, hardware problems are either caused by drivers or defective hardware, and since you've said you managed to corrupt your filesystem, I think we can rule out a corrupt driver. Just take your laptop back and quit your fucking bitching instead of whining about how you think you know everything and calling me a bullshitter. Clearly it is you that doesn't know what the hell you're talking about, and apparently you're not even capable of diagnosing a broken toaster without help. I guess it's no wonder why I get paid well for my work. ;-)
Meanwhile, let's dismantle your commentary, one by one...
Yes, overheating WILL cause you computer to malfunction. That's a fact. Not bullshit. Laptops are not immune to overheating. CPU fans fail and so will the CPU. Your PSU can run too hot and fail as well. Maybe you'll be lucky and not have the resulting power spike travel down your ATX rail and let the magic smoke out of everything in your system.
Faulty memory IS one of a handful of main causes. That's a fact. You're only kidding yourself if you think it's a symptom of another problem when in fact it IS the problem. That is, unless they're running too hot, OC'd, improper timings, or other such incompetent administration.
Another cause, a buggy BIOS. It happens, especially when you're on the cutting edge. It can also cause an operating system to fuck up. Just get an update and flash it. (and yes, your BIOS is part of your hardware as it's on a chip. not a disk)
Ricer systems? HAHA! They're ALL ricer systems, man. Take any computer apart and I'll guarantee you that on the inside, you'll see either Made in China, Taiwan, or Japan somewhere inside. Look on all the IC's man, they're everywhere. Fact!
Show me any OS setup CD that can support EVERY piece of hardware under the sun from an archaic ST-506 hard disk and AST RAMPage card, to my photo inkjet printer, scanner, BT878 TV tuner, DL DVD burner, SATA RAID, etc, all running 'out of the box', everything working 100% without having to install any seperate third party dri
You're and idiot. Yes, because you hate MS, you probably hate anything that is dominate. I understand this, but you're still and idiot.
Here is an objective retelling of my millage.
I was given an old computer, a virus driven Win98 box, an OS reinstal was due.
Windows Installation:
Insert Windows XP installation Disk
Some questions about partitions , takes some loads of time. Makes more questions about locale, keyboard layout, and local time.
Installation is ready but XP didn't detect my sound device, doesn't come preloaded with video codecs or decent movie and music players for that matter. Nor an office suit, not even a decent image viewer, or chat clients for something other than MSN.
Worst thing, it did not recognoize the internal winmodem.
Most of this was solved by a couple of CDs full of essetial windows software that I have collected over the years. Twenty-something installers later XP was ready except for sound and modem support.
This was easy but is cheating when you realize I have over 10 years of windows experience. This isn't something a noob could do.
Sound was a lucky shot. I was completelly in the dark, but i had a realtek driver installer around and decided to give it a shot. Lucky me. Modem was another issue, i had to open the box and scratch a label to see I was dealing with an Intel winmodem. It seems Intel only makes 2 winmodems 536ep and 537ep, i went to the intel site and downloaded both of them, tried and some how managed to install them, expect they still don't work. I googled for hours, XP still doesn't connect to Internet.
Ubuntu Installation:
Ubuntu gives you normal and expert options for installation. Since I couldn't just delete the fresh windows install I had to go for the 'expert' making this a -harder-than-averange- Ubuntu intallation.
'expert' installation was self documenting, everything went fine except that I forgot my root password. I wish i could just run a partial installation like with Slackware, instead I had to reinstall everything again.
It definitively made some questions that could be better asked later (network configuration, screen resolution, local time, keyboard layout) but it was smooth, it took a lot more time than XP but I just went for a pizza.
Hours later I had a complete desktop with every thing I could ask except modem support, java, mp3 or DVD, quick time, mpg or any other video for that matter. I think it also lacked flash but i haven't tried. It did had a PDF reader and sound WAS THERE!
The first thing i did was to google for mp3 support. Immediatly I found "sudo apt-get gstreamer-mad0.8" but I knew Modem had to be fixed first. Googling for "winmodems for linux" took me to linmodems, there to scanmodem. Usage of scanmodem was rather technical but strictly following the -very-visible-but-ofuscated- manual that took me to IntelFiveThirtySixEP in the Ubuntu wiki. Following the instruction there was easy but I must confess scary if not because I had compiled *a couple* (that means 2) apps before.
Voila! Internet is ready but I sadly found out that the repos for the most controversial packages are not included by default. So i have been repo-hunting for the last week. I got mp3 support fairly easy but I haven't got video support yet.
I'd said Linux and Windows are equally hard to install.
Linux requires you to know what packages you need to install and what repostories you need to setup, you also need know how to set up repostories in the first place. Modem support is incomplete although you can't really expect the OS to autodetect obscure hardware. But i think this is a issue of not distributing propietary drivers with the installer disk.
Windows requires you to know what apps you are going to use and while installing a single app is easier in windows installing a lot of them is easier in Synaptic. And I had to rely in a collection of software that took me years to collect. Without this CDs it would be much more painfull.
Both installations are incomplete. In Ubuntu i need to find better repos and download some more. In XP i have ran out of ideas to enable the modem.
But Ubuntu is free as in "free of iTunes upgrades that intentionally brake my extensions". That by the way is for the "You should have got a Mac!" guys.
But... the future refused to change.
I think there is only one motivation behind this, and it has NOTHING to do with meeting customer needs. More likely, it's a strategy to maximize revenue by stripping down the OS to its bare minimum so that even seemingly minor additional functionality will require an upgrade - kind of like that trick Microsoft pulled with domain logons. An "upgrade" to XP Home was actually "downgrade" in terms of networking options. In order to regain the ability to log on to a domain, you had to shell out some serious cash for an upgrade to XP Pro. LAME.
"On the other hand, if you find yourself baffled by a login prompt then perhaps OS installation is not your bag."
That's my point right there. How many people in this world would be baffled by an unexpected and unmentioned login prompt when assured the installation process was a breeze? Your attitude is exactly what keeps people from adopting linux. "Linux installation is ez! Just pop in the Cd and go! What? Puzzled by the surprise login prompt? Well, maybe OS installation isn't for you!" Why don't you and everyone else who just made a dig about my linux-noobness just go right out and yell "Noob!"? Cuz that's what you're actually doing to beginners, even self-proclaimed ones such as I who don't mind doing a little bit of research in the name of tinkering around, which is far less than most typical computer users would do.
Go ahead, keep convincing yourself that linux will be a major widespread desktop os alternative (ignorant noobs aside, but they don't 'matter). If you were to take a different attitude, linux would take off much much sooner.
btw I'm not baffled by a login prompt or command prompt. At the very least, I used DOS before windows. However, I have no experience with linux, and I was not told about it. Is it unreasonable for me to be unpleasantly surprised both times by login prompt and command prompt? I was basically sitting there thinking "uhh... what next"? And c'mon, at least I know how to repartitioin my drives into 3 20gb partitions, so it's not like I'm so dumb I put my laptop into the dishwasher...
Anyway, this typical computer user and potential convert has just had his explorative hopes dashed.
All in all it's the magical number for power. On the other hand 6 is the evil number.
We've seen Snow White and the Seven dwarfs, Dance of the Seven veils, The Seven Samurai, Seven of Nine, James Bond 007
7 is also the smallest mersenne prime to boot. This has been a useless post - on the other hand, all the research hasn't been to waste.
Quidquid latine dictum sit, altum videtur
It's got to be a world of suck for the QA folks. How long did it take to test XP once coding was done - now there's effectively seven different OS's to test?
No wonder it's taking so long to get out
Tiger
Free my ass. I still have to waste time to compile specific kernel features like ntfs write support, ACPI doesn't work, multimedia keyboards don't work, no ATI or Nvidia drivers unless you pay for the distro (how is that free?). Oh, yeah, it's free as in free speech. So what? If I want any feature beyond the less than bare minimum I'm getting for free, I have to pay for the distro.
Sounds like several more years of guaranteed employment for Microsoft's Consulting practice.
With Microsoft tossing together different boxes(in this case Discs) containing each engineers' current favourite useless applications doesn't whole-heartedly qualify as a FLAVOUR. Doing things like yanking out network utilities or limiting the number of CPU's and breaking other apps ability to install would be more of the list of features known to arise from Redmond.
;-)
They(MS) better have a printed section on the retail box for "WHAT IS CONTAINED IN THIS VERSION" . Or at least include a text file contents list for those who do manage to break the copy protection.
My next thought is.. How the hell do I get out of the flurry of Winblows Vista questions from the 400+ users in my organization who are going to (call/email/ & corner me) to ask me which version of VISTA they should buy.??
I know, I'll hand them a free CD containing my favourite linux distro!
Microsoft is going to frustrate their KEY audience and make it easier for the MAC and Linux camps to pitch their tents.
Yet again Microsoft continues to make computing more difficult for the users. Isn't that backwards? Computers were originally designed to help make tasks easier weren't they?
as Steve Ballmer hurls another office chair across the room...
Uhhhhg.
Hold the little flag button on the bottom left of your keyboard, then push the Pause/Break button faaar up on the right at the same time
Wow, I use Windows all the time and I did not know about that shortcut. You must admit, however, that it is pretty difficult and unintuitive for the average user to figure out. A lot of users have real problems with any key combinations. Compare this to how it is done on OS X. "Click the Apple menu in the far upper-left (or just move you mouse all the way up and left and click. Select the first menu option 'About This Mac'." The average user who starts clicking on menus will find it almost immediately and since it is labeled in normal English (Not right click on my computer and select properties or any of that nonsense) most novice users either know or can easily determine what version of the OS they are running without help. Windows has a long way to go before it is easy to use.
Sorry to nitpick, I just thought it was funny that you spelled "boldface lie" as "bald faced lie", using boldface. :)
:)
The phrase "Bald faced lie" was first used by Albert Alligator in the late Walt Kelley's sadly missed comic strip "Pogo". It subsequently found its way into US written English, and has remained there ever since.
It still doesn't make any sense though.
Can I have option 1. Slackware Spam without the Spam?
Dream as if you'll live forever.
Live as if you'll die tomorrow.
~Anonymous~
There will always be edge cases that one OS or another doesn't handle well, but those outliers don't have much in common with the typical situation.
Dewey, what part of this looks like authorities should be involved?
Yes, but once you get into it, gnome generally looks pretty much the same between distros, as does KDE, etc. The apps are also the same, and so long as your libraries are up-to-date in any distribution, they all should run the same.
Windows apps do not run in OSX/Linux (without emulation), not do linux apps run in windows, nor OSX apps run in linux... with some leeway given to running BSD-compatible applications in OSX.
These are different distributions, and hence the reason why we call them distros and not operating systems. Ice-cream is still ice-cream, whether it's chocolate, strawberry, or chocolate-chip-mint. Sure it tastes different, but there are some important simularities in the base.
I actually got this a fair bit. Often users claim their Office version as their windows version, as it is all they run. Therefore I would be told "I'm running windows 97" for users running office 97 on win98.
Screw themselves
Because if Vista really comes out like the massively confusing, steaming POS it seems it will be... that will be the end result.
Popping out the cup holding is a 'A Good Thing' (TM), cause this way I can use it. However, should the cup holder somehow attempt to 'pop in', because not only could the cup get damaged, but the holder as well. Of course, if the cup is still full ...
"BSD is about people pissing each other.." (Moid Vallat)
I was very disappointed with the "choose something else and no you can't have a complete package" division of Universal. I use the universal subscription to prototype solutions so I can sell my custom programming and system configurations combined with their servers. Being able to set up Microsoft products onsite for test purposes has been a huge thing and helps me move forward with few skeptical customers. But more importantly, it has helped me move more of *their* product because my demonstrations show in a concrete way what benefits specific combinations of server products have.
So now I have to decide if an extra grand a year is worth a downgraded subscription or if I just work more on the open source side of the fence (as I provide both types of solutions, depending on need and capabilities: there is little need for Exchange in a five person company, for example... a bare bones LAMP box can host e-mail and web solutions quite fine).
I thought it was "developers, developers, developers" because they realized that the mistake that Apple made back in the day was a lack of inexpensive development tools which deterred developers, whereas during that era Microsoft made NT development tools quite accessible. As I matured as a developer, Universal because a great "expensive but reasonable for what I get" product. The new product mix makes it clear they are targeting "enterprise" developers and attempting to drive small time custom programmers off.
Sig under construction since 1998.
Vista would be "Bringing clarity to your world"...
FIXME: Add a sig here
Anyone know why MS isn't hearing of any copyright/trademark problems due to the WebCT (it creates school communities) application having a new version called Vista?
this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom. -- Lincoln, Gettysburg Address
I tried Suse 9.3 for a while... but quickly put that to rest after some major problems.
... hooray! I'm using mandrake again and that doesn't support SD cards automatically (although with some tweaking I can get it to see it)
First of all was the 3D features of my nvidia card. They said just go do a on-line update to add that. It seemed to work the first time, but then when applying other updates the 3D driver stopped working mysteriously. After 3 later installation attempts, I was completely unable to get 3D to work under Suse again.
Then I found multi-media to be seriously impaired. I couln't even play mp3's... that really bugged me. Of course, another update to take care of that (after I selected the proper non-US mirror).
One thing that Suse did get right was automounting my SD card
The real nail in Suse's coffin for me was that it was butt slow... I mean dreadfully awefully slow. It took literally twice as long as my Mandrake installation to boot even after shutting down what I consider unnecessary services. Even when running, everything just seemed to drag. I don't know why... maybe it's compiled to still be 386 compatible. In any case, that more than all else ended my relationship with Suse.
Blender And Linux Fan
speaking of windows, what is this i hear that one cannot reinstall it without it giving one headaches (only get to install it twice or some BS)? how it is possible that windows can detect a prior installion if one formats and fdisk/mbr the drive? Can't one just continuously manually type in the registration number?