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$100 Million Marketing Push For Vista
GecKo213 writes "Microsoft is touting a $100 million marketing campaign promoting Windows Vista and encouraging software developers to build new programs. With the longest gap ever between major releases of Windows operating systems -- the current version, Windows XP, was launched in late 2001 -- Microsoft is facing pressure from its partners and developers to deliver technology that will convince users to upgrade. If $100 Million dollars won't make you want to switch to Vista, what will?"
If MS will buy me 2gb of RAM and a 256mb video card I might consider.
"If $100 Million dollars won't make you want to switch to Vista, what will?"
give me hookers and beer for 200$, alex
It's gonna take a lot more than $100m to make me switch back from Mac OS X to Windows Vista. I switched after a couple years of XP, since then there's been two or three OSX releases making it better everytime.
I'm still running win2k as my prefered OS. I'll switch to linux rather then buying a new windows, why get stuck in M$s' upgrade cycle? If I ever get a new computer, it'll probably come with vista, so if I ever get it, it'll be that way.
autopr0n is like, down and stuff.
Last I checked they had $40 billion in cash sitting around and are minting a billion in profit free and clear every month. That's just an insane amount of money.
Lower the price.
That about, 1 maybe 2 laser satellites to take the world hostage
If MS gave me the $100m directly instead of wasting it on advertising...
If $100 Million dollars won't make you want to switch to Vista, what will?
Actually, $100 Million would be enough to convince me to switch to Vista.
Unfortunately, I presume that the whole $100 Million won't be available to just me.
myke
Mimetics Inc. Twitter
Nothing?
I won't buy another pair of shoes untill they get a hole or don't fit any more.
My OS is just fine and still does it's job. Why would I buy another no matter how much marketing they throw at me?
Plus this is MS marketing. Every geek who ever saw a TV advert from MS thought "LIES!" within seconds of a word being spoken.
I like muppets.
You'd think that with $100 Million they could have come up with a better code name!
for one million dollars (placing pinky on lower lip)
"Is this just useless, or is it expensive as well?"
If he went on the road for the six months leading up to the launch doing his showpiece "monkey dance" at each event, followed by the "developers developers developers" song as the encore, and maybe a demonstration of his chair hurling technique, I might throw him a few bucks few bucks... Along with rotten tomatos, cabbages and anything else I could lay my hands on...
Code, Hardware, stuff like that.
Actually, the $100 Million should do just fine. You want my address to mail a check to or do you want to wire it to my account?
I've looked at beta1, and there's really nothing new here at all.
A new theme.
Windows explorer has been tweaked - say goodbye to the list view.
IE7, tabbed browsing, ineffective popup blocking - and you can get it for XP anyway.
The search feature is more integrated with the desktop. oooh. No why? cos they made everything harder to find!
Recommended systems specs: 1.5GHz, 512MB ram. default install takes up 4.6GB. hmmmm OEMs are gunna love it
They should do an Alternate Reality Game. It worked great when they spent a few Mil on Halo2's "ILoveBees" experience. ;)
http://www.UnFiction.com http://www.ARGN.com http://www.ImmersionUnlimited.com http://www.Linux-SP.com
for $100 million I'd even use IE!
Heck, if I had $100 million, I wouldn't even have to worry about spyware, I'd just get a new computer every single day! I guess that's how billg uses Windows, eh?
"BOY! The computer has been infected with something again. Why do those evil hackers hate me! Bring me tomorrow's computer, POST-HASTE!"
And then he lights a cigar with a $100 bill.
Well I guess he's more of a nerd than that, but you get the drift.
In Soviet Redmond, company pay you to upgrade..:-)
actually...$100M would buy a lot of extra memory and better video cards...surely a better marketting investment that some new/old Rolling Stones launch track..
Get Linux (or OpenSolaris)...
They don't to spend $100,000,000 to get me on board.... I've already disabled all my antivirus and antispyware, and my computer is still too fast for my software.
Leave it to MS to give me an excuse to upgrade... they've succeeded where countless other viruses and worms have not!
/dev/random
As soon as games require it I'll be switching, I held off on Windows 95 until I got Diablo. I'm personally quite happy with XP and until I'm required to change so I can play my games I'll be sticking with it.
The Sad Part is how much of that 100 million they'll spend on licensing some lame ass theme song from somebody Bill and/or Steve thinks are still "cool" (I predict something c'mon c'mon-ish).
If $100 Million dollars won't make you want to switch to Vista, what will?"
No DRM, no trying to control my computer, faster reboots and fewer reasons to need to. More control with less complications. Interoperability. Open standards. The ability to use software my way.
Shit, I just described Linux. Never mind.
Tequila: It's not just for breakfast anymore!
How about it working without having to update every other day and me being able to trust it to do what I need done!
"Don't meddle in the affairs of a patent dragon, for thou art tasty and good with ketchup." ~ohcrapitssteve
Did you see the specs? Most people won't be "upgrading"... they will be buying new computers with it preloaded.
IMHO it would do more for them to "donate" $100Mil to Dell, IBM, and HP.
Not to many people meet the specs for that bloated piece of junk.
i'll switch to vista for $100 million dollars!
send it to p.o. box.....
How long do you normally keep a computer before you get a new one?
What OS do you think will be on a computer that you buy two years from now?
The Internet is full. Go Away!!!
It's question of principles. People should not accept those DRMs which come with Windows Vista. One's freedom should not have any price and no advertising campaign should change that. They have more money so, if we refuse our principles for money, they will surely do what they want with us. And of course, it will be always in their benefit, not in ours.
And ohh the KDE guys have done it again. We now have "klik" http://dot.kde.org/1126867980/ that promises to simplify package installation on Linux systems. I have my dissatisfactions though. The biggest are:
the ugly default Linux desktop in most distros,
the ugly fonts (emphasizing the above), and
the seemingly slow response times for Linux apps.
OpenOffice.org Linux's flagship application, encompasses all the above - sadly!
If $100 Million dollars won't make you want to switch to Vista, what will?"
:-)
How about:
*New Communications services
*Better File Search Abilities
*A Better Disk File System
*No New DRM
*Improved security for the system and internet applications, to protect me from Spyware and Virues.
*and System Requirements that don't require me to buy a new PC.
That's not asking for much is it?
100m? I think I will switch for FREE (as will most while the internet exists)
SS
Next computer I buy is going to be from Apple.
Let's see:
And that's just off the top of my head.
Schwab
Editor, A1-AAA AmeriCaptions
~Yawn~ Oh, I'm sorry, I wasn't listening.
If you die horribly on television, you will not have died in vain. You will have entertained us.
--Kurt Vonnegut
A large man wielding a halbard?
--Storm
hey they could use the $100million to make the operating system good instead of wasting it and forcing people to upgrade to crappier code with the same feature set as windows xp.
Personally, I'm not very likely to *switch* operating systems, period. As long as my computer will do normal stuff for me, I'm fine.
What is frustrating is that a machine that is perfectly capable of letting me create and print documents, record music, burn CDs, surf the web, etc etc is slowly becoming outdated because of software. Lots of stuff is available only for XP and up now.
Basically whatever is easiest is what I'll do. If the annoyance of not being able to find compatible software ever becomes more than the hassle of upgrading, I'll get a new machine and use what it has. But actively seeking out a new operating system - Vista, Linux, or whatever - just means hours of relearning how to use my computer, in my mind.
You'de be surprised at what marketing will get you. A few people above responded with any geek who has seen an ms commercial will yell "Lies." Well my dad won't jump from his chair presumably as every geek will to lunge at his television and then petition the tv stations to get the commercials removed from the line up. Marketing will win the masses. It always does. Heck G-Dub got elected TWICE. You can't tell me that 100 million in marketing good or bad won't make Microsuck, Dell, Gateway, HP, Compaq, and every other multi billion dollor multi nation conglomoco a few more billion dollars. 3 media
ReachInternet.com Wireless, Campus Area Networks, Office Networking.
Since MSFT will sell LOTS of Vista, what does this mean?
Maybe Slashdot posters are NOT the target audience?
This issue is a bit more complicated than you think.
Strangely, I think Microsoft is being stingy by only spending $100 million in co-operative advertising. Many companies invests 2-5% of its revenues in co-operative advertising. Granted, this isn't a typical co-op situation but investing more than $100 million seems to be appropriate for such a critical product.
I'm not a Troll, it's reverse psychology.
I agree, spending hundreds of millions of dollars on advertising when you are cutting salaries is stupid. They have their reasons, however and you will get your wish. Vista will be promoted as much or more than XP, which was hyped bigger than 98, which was hyped bigger ... you get the picture.
Microsoft traditionally spends as much money as needed to keep the Wintel rags running and good press in general. The Wintel rags are where the clueless decide what crappy form or M$ junk to buy next. Occasionally, they branch out into stuff like National Geographic, PBS etc. It keeps them from noticing how crappy a product Microsoft actually has. They spent more than a billion promoting XP. XP is five years old, so you can see that more than 200,000,000 was spent each year floating that crappy software. Oh, did I mention the purchase of NBC?
Microsoft will spend what they think it will take but it's not going to work. People notice and you always have other options.
Friends don't help friends install M$ junk.
How much did the OSX releases cost? (Genuine question) At a guess you've spent $800 on your operating system.
While that isn't the end of the world, it ain't peanuts either.
On top of that, they keep removing new features and re-scheduling them for later! Whilst new stable versions of linux (the kernel that is) are coming out at a rate of 1 every 1 to 2 months! Smaller incremental steps pay off for things like kernels.
If only X windows could evolve as quickly... Thins is windows is not just a kernel, it is a gui, a browser (let's not go there), a kitchecn sink^W^W, etc...
TODO: 753) write sig.
Mmmmm, there are still heaps of people who have Win95. I don't think people don't really care about new OS's these days - if Microsoft had any brains, they would expand elsewhere like training their staff NOT to make their software so damn buggy, and aim for a better quality product vs. fast deadlines and rushing stuff out. Also, go here http://www.againsttcpa.com/ to whinge about the Fritz chip. I certainly wouldn't use an OS that uses the Fritz chip compulsory so it can track every damn thing you can do. I'd rather buy old spare computer parts than have the Fritz chip on my computer.
Mr. Ballmer, is that you?
Made you look. I doubt Microsoft would suffer very much if Vista didn't do to well. Even if they lost ground, they could easily regain it later in another version of Windows that addresses most of the flaws/blahs in Vista. The fact is that Microsoft's market is locked in and will be for a long time to come. As long as they don't develop even worse spending habits than a typical extinct .com, they will continue to grow and maintain their influence anywhere and everywhere there is a computer. Sooner or later, they may find a way to break out of being just a software company, too. It's great that Apple is out there and open source software is still an alternative, although Windows has improved a great deal over the crap that was Windows 98 and its predecessors. The group that poses the greatest potential threat to Microsoft is the people who run Microsoft, but they have a really good track record so far.
What will make my organization switch? Forceful licensing practices after I renew another 3 years worth of MS Enterprise Agreement.
If not that, they will drop support for MS XP and the MCSE certification tracks. So in order for my employees to stay competitive they will have to learn this new stuff.
Not to mention the ensuing hardware upgrades and MS 200x server side apps that will only work w/ Vista.
In other words, business as usual for MS.
>> If $100 Million dollars won't make you want to switch to Vista, what will?
How about an OS that isn't bloated, doesn't have a minimum requirement of 1GB or RAM, is fast, separates user-space from system space, has better security than XP, and is free? then I'd switch...
oh wait...
That's Linux, and I already have.
How about some useful new features, and my definition of useful doesn't include the features Microsoft included as part of it's Hollywood ass kissing campagin. They could also try laying off on the eye candy for the GUI. Do we really need a desktop rendered in vectors?
Hopefully every intelligent windows xp user that actually paid for their copy of xp when it came out learned their lesson.. Pirate it, let genuine advantage catch you, and then get the OS 1/2 price! Reward the pirates, punish paying customers. That's what i'll do for Vista, and can afford more software.. So code away and i'll buy..
Well, Balmer is the last man standing - all his chairs are broken...
good thing you posted this as AC, otherwise everyone would know that you are either:
a) a liar, and a bad one at that
b) woefully ignorant in the area of Linux administration
Microsoft is a major player in software technology. While they're a debate amongst people as to what good they've done to the software world, or what they've done wrong to the world is to up for debate. $100 million in advertising isn't worth the cause, other than awareness. Windows Vista is a big step forward for Microsoft. They're finally saying "lets forget about the small people" and push something "revolutionary". Look at Apple, do you know many people still using Mac OS 7.5.1? sure, there's a handful, but I can name you more than 100 users that I still know using Window 98. Microsoft has to stop saying that they need to continue support for those users. Irregardless of that, if you're buying a new PC once Vista is on the shelf, you're guaranteed a copy, but will it convince people to stop and buy a new copy? No. People are content with what they have. Irregardless of what you have to say about Win9X/ME/200x/XP, they're decent operating systems. But having to upgrade my whole system isn't worth it. Whether people choose to embrace Vista like they did 95 is to remaian to be seen. Will you upgrade to Vista because you're forced to, or because you want to?
What need is there to upgrade to a new Windows? Sure it may have whistle this and bell that, and use pretty colors, but what need is there? Windows 2000 is still all you "need" and this only because a lot of newer games won't run on 98 (don't get me started on ME). It's not that 98 is lacking, there is still plenty of updated drivers, etc, for it, but newer game developers state you need 2000 or XP. Microsoft should take a note from Apple, every version of os 10, from the original 10.0 has been more functional than the last, and giving USEFUL features, and for the most part runs faster on the SAME hardware then previous releases. You get Vista to run faster then Windows 2000 on my early P4, then I might consider upgrading!
If $100 Million dollars won't make you want to switch to Vista, what will?
How about a OS that isn't a big steaming pile of dog crap packaged in an optical disc format?
I'll switch when the IT department at work plunks a new PC on my desk with vista pre-installed.
Actually, I'm getting excited about it even though it's 2 years out at this point.
I use Mac OS X most of the time, but when I do use Windows I would much rather have Vista than XP. XP isn't 'fun' anymore. Vista will add some needed energy into the OS wars.
Performance on systems that do have hardware with no linux drivers, I can see that. (Did you just install a straight *nix install without recompiling for your hardware platform?)
Security? Not likely. Until I can rip the guts out of MS OS without tripping the OS itself up and thus eliminate potential security threats, *nix will be a tough one to beat.
*nix can be insecure, but not near as easily a MS OSs can be insecure.
MS OS is a great game platform, so my son likes it for that, and it allows me to see what my clients that have windows see, so I use it for that.
I switch MS OS and *nix all the time on people that use *my* computers and most of them are starting to switch to linux. Many of my clients already have switched to linux (or Mac OSX).
The only reason MS is more successful IMO is that they were able to do things in the market that are illegal, but not punishable unless caught, prosecuted and held to that punishment. Like Robber Barons of old, they have learned how to not pay for their trangressions.
I would go with MS if they came out with a realiable, secure, easy to use system that did not bundle a bunch of extra crud in the OS (or at least gives me the no extra cost ability to recompile without stuff I do not need). And the price would have to be right.
InnerWeb
Freud might say that Intelligent Design is religion's ID.
I wonder if RMS would switch over for $100,000,000, I doubt it...
That's nothing for Microsoft - recall a little more than ten years ago they spent $300 million to trumpet the arrival of Windows 95 - creating a media blitz to make sure EVERYONE knew it was coming. And consider this: Microsoft XP cost more than twice what Windows 95 did, and it's likely more computers will be using Vista. The end result if this is ALL they are spending: more bang for their buck.
They are less relying on trying to make Microsoft a household name and more push the newer product in contrast to ten years ago when they were still trying to bring Microsoft mainstream.
I have to agree with you. I have a Linux box that I don't dare connect to the internet anymore. I'm not sure what parts need to be upgraded, how to find out, or how to easily upgrade them. It works okay as an oversized mp3 player though, while I use my Windows box for real work that pays the bills.
Why not let OSS developers pick up a free version? You'd get quite a bit more acceptance of MS products, as well as more OS lock-in. If costs are forcing software developers to use free solutions that give more options for OS portability you're going to see more people moving away from your products. If ASP, Visual Studio, MSSQL and IIS were free, I'd probably not have switched to linux, installed Apache, and learned PHP/mySQL and Python for my work. Now that I've done so, I can swear I'll never work with MS products ever again.
What the hell's a "gewie?"
I must agree with our anonymous friend in one respect; Windows with IE will most certainly outdo anything else in mangling the web pages I design, requiring me to have a Windows machine just to make sure my hacks and workarounds in CSS for IE/Windows work. And I suppose I'll have to upgrade my Windows to be able to make sure IE 7 also works, since it is also going to be lacking in standards compliance. Except the old P-166 box I've got running Win98 with IE 6 won't even install XP or Vista. So now I'll have to buy a whole new computer...just to check on workarounds for a badly designed web browser. Yep, Microsoft really outdoes everything else. We shall just not say exactly in what.
All the joking is nice, but _how_ will they be spending this money? Will it be all magazine/tv/whatever advertising? Sotfware donations to universities (doesn't really count, but whatever)? How does a regular programmer get some of it thrown his way? (not that I'm too interested.. I imagine the strings attached would be too much for the general open source crowd).
--
Stay tuned for some shock and awe coming right up after this messages!
Ease of use? Give me a break. If all you ever do is browse the web and type letters, then maybe. Otherwise, forget it. I work in a Windows house and can't get a Unix/Linux desktop so I bring a Linux laptop from HOME to do my work because even though I CAN cook up my own scripts and applications when absolutely necessary, it's absolutely NOT worth the time it takes when I can just plug my linux laptop into the network and do all of the same stuff using a single command and existing tools.
Need to generate and name twenty thousand files using record numbers from a database as the filename and inserting the content from each record into its respective file as plain text, with visually friendly formatting? In Windows, you get to go to the database team and ask them to write you a TOOL to do it, and they spend the next two days coding it up and adding it to a cluttered menu somewhere, or they get lazy and have the company BUY a tool to do it, and it takes 2 hours to run once you HAVE the tool, prone to crash out the entire time. In Linux, one command line, hit enter, never worry, and 45-50 seconds later, boom, 20,000 pristine files, just like that, correct names, correct content, no complaints, no crap.
Need to do a complex mail merge from said database that looks up the name and email address of each of six hundred people in said database based on a spreadsheet sent to you in email, and that then composes one of ten message bodies for each contact depending on the type of the contact, then queries the database for a collection of files related to that contact, goes out on the network and fetches and attaches each individual file to each email, then sends them all, building a log in the process that's then sent to the network printer? In Windows, guess what, once again you get to go to the development team and ask them to code you a tool, and after spending hours trying to detail exactly what you need it to do you get an estimate in WEEKS for when the tool will be written. Once again, in Unix/Linux... one command line, smash enter, wait ten minutes, done.
Or of course if you don't want to have someone code you up a tool or spend six or seven hours yourself using VBA and sixty kludges, you can do these by hand, one record at a time, one file at a time, one email at a time, and spend the next two months in man hours.
In the Unix world, just about any task is one command away. Yes, you have to master the system before you can compose such commands, but it's much easier than sitting around coding all week, then having to document the tool and how it works and what it does so that you can pass it through IT, or trying to get someone else to sit around and code for you all week, or searching around for the closest existing product (which you never quite find, but you shell out $$$ for the nearest thing and kludge it into working for you).
If you have to do REAL WORK, Unix/Linux is so many light years ahead of Windows, it's laughable, but the paradigm is so completely different that it's tough to explain to any Windows-only person how it's possible that I can make a claim like: "If you would just give me a Unix workstation, I could accomplish any task you lay in front of me, be it network, database, file management, text processing, email, whatever, in one command line, and I'd never need to have the company write, or buy, another piece of software ever again."
But it's the truth. Ask any Unix-head computing professional how many "aftermarket" software items post-OS-install he/she has on his/her desktop, apart from the GNU tools (if they're running an non-Open-Source Unix that comes without them). The answer will be: 1-2, maaaayyyyyyybe 3-4. And any other Unix-head can sit down and use their system like a pro, INSTANTLY. Then ask any Windows computing professional how many aftermarket tools they have on THEIR desktop, and the answer will be 10, 20, 30... the sky's the limit... and some of them costing $$$ (or else all of them unpaid shareware/crippleware), half of them only working h
STOP . AMERICA . NOW
How does Linux administration spare one from the woeful derth of high quality desktop and workstation software? Face it, Linux is for running apache, Vista will put the final nail in the coffin of Linux on the Desktop.
That's about enough to print up twenty million marketing CD's with a powerpoint presentation on it and send it to the millions of possible developers. They should save the money and just give us each 5 bucks. Of course that would only buy me a cup of coffee but in the countries where most software development is going on you might buy the coffee plus still have enough left over to buy a pirated copy of XP.
Liberals call everyone Nazis yet they are the closest thing to it.
First of all I am neither a Microsoft Troll or a Linux Zealot. I like both OS:es. That said, I am a windows developer, that is I create end user applications for Windows. I used to be very proud of this because lots of people enjoy my programs including non-technical users. Combined with windows being a pretty thoroughly documented OS (in the "how do I do"-sense, not in the "how does it work"-sense) and Visual Studio being a very good IDE and compiler, creating user mode apps for Windows was pretty fun and motivating.
That said, I have abandoned M$ forever and installed Ubuntu. I hate Vista as much as the other guy, but the DRM and all that was not the reason I changed platform (I used Windows 2000, and when Vista was released I would probably have changed to XP). The reason... is because Microsoft obviously don't care a thing about individual developers not working for huge corporations. This only becomes obvious when you have developed Windows applications for a while, unfortunately.
Windows is a very defined OS. Microsoft have thought about pretty much every possible way a developer can screw up the OS or use it in ways "not intended", and tucked away anything remotely advanced in kernel mode. This is partially good because all the sucky shareware you can download on FREE (as in punch-the-monkey) websites can not destroy your system completely. This is a typical large corporation, no hackers, everyone is equally bad-mentality (both Paul Graham and Joel on Software have essays about this).
A "safe" userland is a good idea you may think. The trick is... If you want to develop windows drivers / applications in kernel mode... You have to _pay_ Microsoft for the documentation. The Driver Development Kit costs about $100. It's true.
Microsoft want me to pay them to write applications to their OS.
Yet another unacceptable thing from M$. If anything, they should pay me (yeah, this is stupid, but not as stupid). I will now concentrate on userland applications for Linux instead. No one can screw me over now!
> If $100 Million dollars won't make you want to switch to Vista, what will?" F! YEAH with $100 million I'd do two girls at the same time!!
is: "Will any of these upgrades really make me (or any end users) any more productive?"
No? Ok thanks, but we'll probably be sticking with xp for now.
"If $100 Million dollars won't make you want to switch to Vista, what will?"
A job.
Democrats or Republicans. They are both taking us to the same place and they are not afraid of us anymore.
Guess this description of life at MS is true...
You sound like my sister-in-law who didn't know how to take care of her new car, and after more than a year of heavy driving bitched about what a piece of junk it was; she's never changed the oil or did a tune-up or anything at all except put cheap gas in it, and then she wondered why it broke down. Even a toaster needs to get the crumbs cleaned out of it occasionally. I suppose you would just complain about it and buy a new one instead. I've lost count of the number of friends whose sewing machines I've "fixed" by oiling and cleaning the lint out of the feed dogs!
Kind of dumb to blame a machine for your own ignorance.
If Vista can turn my PC into an appliance and get it to power-up and come to life as fast as the television then I might be tempted. If Vista could increase the speed of my Internet connection or possibly reduce the price of ink for my photoprinter. If Vista could help me communicate with the computer faster, possibly not require a keyboard or mouse. If Vista could keep my dad from getting every known virus and worm on his computer and reduce my tech support calls. If Vista could make my PC run quieter, use less electricity and produce less heat.
:)
Unfortunately, all Vista is going to do is slooooow everything down to a crawl (yet again) to try and push new HW sales. Once everything is slooowed down, I am sure Vista will then try to lock the PC down by secretly encrypting all MP3's and disabling iTunes. Right now, Win2K and Linux are fine with me. Both run great on old HW with lots of RAM. I wonder how many developers will flock to Vista? Maybe MS should just write checks payable directly to application developers instead of spending it on advertising.
I wonder if Vista will help with the dupe posts on Slashdot? That might be worth it!
I'll be waiting for my check in the mail. Thanks Bill, that will help alot. You Rock!
1.Netcraft confirms:In Soviet Russia all your base welcomes a beowolf cluster of CowboyNeal overlords. 2.? 3.Profit!!1!
If $100 Million dollars won't make you want to switch to Vista, what will?" Just go ahead and send that check to me registered mail. Right after it clears, I'll go get in line.
"You'll make a grown man cryyyyyy ..."
-- "It's not stalking if you're married!" My Wife.
Date: Fri, 19 Sep 2005 05:22:11 +0200
From: STEVEB [steveb@microsoft.com]
Subject: DEAR FREIND I NEED YOUR ASSISTANCE
Dear Freind,
I am a personal assitant to Bill Gates the Richest man in World and owner of the following companies: Chairman CEO:MICROSOFT (The Largest Software Company)
SOURCE OF FUNDS:
I have a profiling amount in an excess of US$100.5M, which I seek your Partnership in accommodating for me. You will be rewarded with 4% of The total sum for your partnership. Can you be my partner on this?
INTRODUCTION OF MY SELF As a personal consultant to him, authority Was handed over to me in transfer of money of an American politician For his last deal with my boss Bill Gates.
Already the funds have left the shore of Redmon to an European private Bank where the final crediting is expected to be carried out.While I was on the process, My Boss....
Just switch operating systems on computer and monies will be yours.
PLEASE REACH ME THROUGH MY ALTERNATIVE EMAIL BOX:(balmerbaby@gmail.com) Thank you very much Regards Steve B.
Developers! Developers! Developers....!
If you disagree with me on social issues, then it's pretty clear that you are a narrow-minded bigot.
I don't think that $100 million is quite enough to advertise a product that has almost no new features...
"Leave the strategizing to those of us with planet-sized brains." -Tycho
Really? hmmm...Eclipse. Gimp. OpenOffice, SQL Ledger... Actually, the only reason people NEED Windows apps is because of vendor lock-in, prorietary file types and such. Or games. And a dedicated game machine will do much better for that.
The only reason I don't put Linux on my single PC is because I have to have a Windows installation to check IE's mangling of my web designs.
This appears to be 1/10th the marketing budget on windows XP: http://amo.net/NT/06-27-01WinXP.html $1 Billion but actually it looks like Microsoft itself only put up $200 Million... so thats puts windows vista at half the marketing budget of XP...
-blar
1. make the ram industry start selling 64 Gb for running true 64bit environment of ram cheap to replace the 1gb 32bit. like how 32mb replaced 4mb ram moving from windows 3.11 to windows 95. and like 64mb to 256mb windows 2000. and 256 to 512 to windows xp. and 512 to 2048 to windows xp sp2. :*(
I gotten 6x 512 but it was unstable and too hot
2. make 60-100+ fps codec for playing ppl with directx 9+ cards.
3. less spyware, bloat, ms bloat, less
4. better front page with graphic like drop and edit on the fly something like paint shop layers with codes and flash intergrated.
5. solid state hard drives lots Tb spaces for cheap
6. better programming tools for students and professionals. database/3d too
7. no using vitural space for slow slow hard drive just use that 64Gb of ram instead.
8. Use the GPu/x-fi/chipset as a processing unit for other processesing crunching besides graphics/audio/io.
9. mutli processed the trends or less trends.
then they wouldn't need 100 M$ advertising.
The fact is, it offers very little in the way of improvements, so M$ hopes to make it up with marketing hype.
Even dumber to insult your potential user base.
With $100m, you'd think they could have a website that shows me why its different from windows XP in clear concise bullet/check list.
The current site says a lot without really saying anything... 'Its faster, better, more concise!', but how, why, what's -really- different? Optimized code? Complete rewrite?
The last beta of Windows Vista I peeked at (Still Longhorn then), it looked indistinguishable from Windows XP.
Is it worth my money? Why would I really want to upgrade?
100 million in advertising won't convince small business owners. What would convince them would be a scaled down version that would run on P11 and P111 workstations with 128 to 256 meg of ram. Sorry hardware vendors, most small business owners just will not spend the money to upgrade all their hardware again. Microsoft needs to understand this and find a good way to package a scaled down version of Vista. Otherwise the big sales seen for earlier versions of Windows will just not happen this time.
You seem to be confused. You are relating time with ease, yet claim you need to master unix/linux in order to do what you are talking about... as if that happens overnight? Normally i wouldnt point out such an exagerration but... not everybody can take a "big book o' technical nonsense" read it, understand and comprehend it. Anyways, you've basically described a fool-proof method for avoiding work called "delegation" in which you turn your work into work for other people. Do it enough and you wont ever be asked to do anything again because you make a whole lot of other people do your work for you... hmmm... sounds like Windows :)
Live according to the Categorical Imperative. If the Categorical Imperative tells you not to live by it... ignore it
$100 mil in my pocket will make me do most anything.
But you're talking about $100M diluted to nearly nothing when it approaches the consumer - Well, For that I'll join the "Funny Walking Department of the Department of the Redundency Department of the Natural Guard."
And I'll eat all the hot grotecakes More Science High can deliver in Sectors "R" Through "M."
"Awww.. Man, The never come up into the hills!"
All they have to do is to discontinue XP.
In fact, that's really the only way how they can do it, by selling it with new computers.
In the corporate or home environment there is really no significant difference between W2000, XP and looking at the new features in Vista, I don't see there anything, either.
With the declining hardware prices for corporations it's just easier to buy a new box than any hardware upgrade - or in same cases even repairing. And, of course, it's more convenient to buy the new PCs with OEM pre-installed OS.
Microsoft has realized that. They release new version at about the rate of the hardware becoming a write-off.
The latest features are not even driven by user demand: in a corporate environment I hardly ever see any requests for missing features by end-users.
Microsoft started to cater to certain industries instead, most remarkably with DRM. They volunteer digital policing for the entertainment industry.
That should just about cover the cost of all the havok it will cost to patch the security holes and lost time of doing what i really want to be doing instead of dealing with bugs and poor programming.
Karma: a simple way of silencing those with unpopular views regardless how correct or just that view might be.
And I'll think about it...if the reviews are good and it isn't the "train wreck" Thurrott said it will be. Even if I used Windows more than I do, I see no truly compelling reason yet why anyone would want to upgrade from XP.
But for now, I'm happy with XP SP2 for Windows and DOS games (well, at least the ones that will run on XP -- I have to use 98 for some, still) and Tiger for everything serious.
Yeah...well I'm gonna build my own Vista, with blackjack and hookers. In fact, forget the Vista.
-- How many sigs are as useless as this one?
I don't see how microsoft is going to make any money on vista.
For one, I don't know of too many computer vendors who are willing to ship a system with 2 gigabytes of memory and a 256 mb video card.
Heck 2 gigs alone runs about the same price as a very low end system. most entry level systems ship with 512 mb of ram. Most of the cheaper laptop and notebook computers come with 256 mb of ram.
Anyways, by having such high system requirements, this will kill the low to medium end computer market, therefore hurting alot of companies.
I have a feeling windows xp is going to be a choice for many for years to come. Of course, microsoft will do anything to make the push to the new os.
If Bill will personally donate $5B USD cash to schools in China I'll buy two copies of WIndows Vista Full Tablet PC Super Duper Non-Upgrade Edition (or whatever they're calling it) at Full Retail. Any one else?
But I heard MSFT took that out. :-\
A new vista out your window?
Yes, I'd like that. Could mine over look the ocean? Some pine trees near by would be nice as well.
This message was brought to you by "Lack of Sleep."
Here Bill. You want my money? Then you are going to have to earn it. Firstly I want two editions, not 7. Home and Pro just like before please. How about every version by 64bit capable and all have MCE built in as well. In today's world not having all the multimedia capability in all your Os's is silly. Let the HOME user have all the capabilities as PRO but keep the very high end security requirements needed for the corporate environment out. With MCE built in Vista Home should sell for $100 and PRO should be $150. This would seem fair to me. Otherwise I see very little reason to change from XP.
capable of running it!
Si vis pacem, para bellum! For evil to succeed good men need only do nothing!
I'll upgrade when I see that the 64-bit version has software written for it. Or maybe when 5ghz dual-core and 3 gigs of ram becomes the standard. since every os they make seems to be painfully bloated. not sure what there is to look forward too since they keep stipping everything outta the os. it's just going to be xp on crack with new visuals. and another group of certs to get, especially when Vista Server comes out.
I would say I switched to Vista for a small fraction of that amount...how about a piddling 0.01%?
When the people fear their government, there is tyranny; when the government fears the people, there is liberty.
If I was Steve Balmer I'd spend it on open source development
And the fewest number of changes.
I fire it up and the darn thing us swishes through the boot.
Apache, MySQL and all the devices are up and running in less time than my Win2k box takes to show me that Win2K is finlly loading my user setings.
MSBPodcast.com The opinions expressed here are my own. If you don't like 'em... Think up your own stuff.
If $100 Million dollars won't make you want to switch to Vista, what will?
One billion from IBM?
Oh wait... people still don't use Linux.
For only $200, either the beer or the hooker is going to be damn poor in quality.
First, you claim you aren't a troll/zealot, but you insist on using the childish "M$". Second, you say that you are writing applications for end-users, but then you say that you have a problem with paying a ridiculously small amount of money for developing drivers, and then you say you are leaving to write userspace applications for Linux.
> If $100 Million dollars won't make you want to switch to Vista, what will?
TCO.
Nah. Scratch that... total cost is an illusion. Benefits come first, followed by cost comparison among equally yielding alternatives.
So, quality will make me switch.
Nah, ditch that, too.
I want freedom, not for the ideals, but because of the strategic flexibility it brings.
So, maybe a GPL Vista... so people can fix it and make it like Unix, like a real OS should be.
But... erm... that would be just like... uh... Linux, wouldn't it?
So, what's the point in switching?
??
what planet are you on? who are you talking to?
, and one who worked on the microsoft account for many year, this really isn't that huge of a budget. the article is written to blow the number out of proportion, but in the realm of advertising budgets it's not insanely large. there are many clients that spend $100m a year or more on advertising. granted, this is for only one product, but essentially the next version of windows will take a big chunk of ms's marketing budget for that year.
(nm)
Sure, it takes some work to master the unix toolchain. but in the end, you end up saving time AND money.
Saying that Windows is better because you don't have to learn anything is both untrue and reminiscent of people who go around proud of "not knowing", of "keeping it real, baby!". It figures - only the ignorant WOULD be proud of being ignorant.
Windows gives me absolute shit for support.
Currently I have a AMD 64 bit processor and no way to really use it effectively, and no real effort to do it. Do I really want to re-iso my drive and buy winpro to do it? FUCK NO. Jesus fucking christ MS, these x64 processors have been around for fucking years. YEARS! And now you address it only in PRO? What a bunch of bastards.
If DRM comes around full, and screws everyone, then I will go for the mild screwjob of a Mac, because the price point for a system that actually works will finally happen. Right now, macs are way too fucking expensive for the rig I want.
The only real reason that I am staying on Win right now is gaming. When the next gen consoles come out, Adios baby. I'll be gaming without the PC. Screw it. I want a 'Tendo.
Mac world, I'm coming. I'm saving money to be there. Personally, I am exhausted with all of these forced restarts and buggy issues, so when I can get the new cool game on a home system at the same time as PC? Adios baby.
If $100 Million dollars won't make you want to switch to Vista, what will?"
A frontal lobotomy?
Nothing to see here
I thought it was stupid, and bitched about it in my journal here, and gloated about the ruling earlier this morning here.
I also notice that they tried to spin the ruling, but that it doesn't work. One of the original "talking points" was to prevent people from using the term linux in connection with, for example, porn, a la "linuxporn". Now they're pointedly ignoring that one of the consequences of this ruling is that anyone can go and make a "linuxporn" (whatever that would be - I'm sure it would be at least as popular as Lesbian GNU/Linux).
This was a dumb move, and it failed. But back to your problem - have you tried a copy of the knoppix 4.0 dvd? Or SuSE 9.3? It's neat watching it boot off an external usb dvd.
Why not buy off the hacker/exploiter/worm writer commmunity with 100 mil & make Vista the reliable piece of system & play a monopoly game????!! advantages: 1.need not negotiate OS license price with OEMs(DELL, HP etc).... 2.can name the price for normal end users... 3.can make special pacts (read: revenue sharing) with harware manufacturers for APIs/documentation 4.employ the above community to exploit linux & mac & bring their reputations down... 5.patent this whole process..so that noone else can use it against..... Boy..i desrve a managemnet job in msft....
we made XP a little TOO stable!
Did you ever notice that *nix doesn't even cover Linux?
For me, it just works fine!
You do not like Windows Media Player? I beleive it's much better that crappy real player or damn Jetaudio or
Have you ever used XP? Device drivers are simply removable, you've also got other options like Rollback in case of a problem with new installation. In Vista the device driver model has changed a bit so that drivers are written in a way that theoretically they can NOT crash the whole system should they have some problem, MS says they will have limited access to the core of the OS.
Depricate DirectX?!! OMG! So many of pre-Vista stuff won't work, so many software/game developers will have to make a big big switch and the most important of all, I will lose NASA Worldwind. This is not only impossible but also unfair
I definitely agree w/ this one
If $100 Million dollars won't make you want to switch to Vista, what will?
instead of spending $100 million on marketing, just give away 500,000 copies of the software. that's the only way they'll get me to use the software. i'm sure as hell not paying $200 for an upgrade that's been in development for 5 years, yet has had most of it's major features cut.
what is vista anyway? from what i've seen, it's prettier than XP, it has some weird virtual folders thing, it will have WinFS, and... well, it's good becuase microsoft says so i guess...
WinFS is about the only thing I would have liked to see in Vista. I've been waiting for that probably almost as long as Bill himself has.
Very little else that I've heard has excited me, though. The 3d additions to the user interface haven't sounded like much more than an excuse to force hardware upgrades.
As someone else said, a decent CLI and scripting language would have been really good, but it's probably true that those of us who want such things are a minority; from Microsoft's perspective, they wouldn't have to care about us.
It's a shame they feel like that, though...because although it might seem to them as though they'll make more money from the home users, the corporate trench coders are probably the people who'll spend the most time using it...so you'd think that they should get some sort of input as to its features.
For Windows 95 we got to hear "Start Me Up" by The Rolling Stones ad-nauseum. I hear that Windows Vista's theme song will be Billy Joel's number "For The Longest Time"
You moved your mouse. Please restart Windows for changes to take effect.
Why not just give out the first million copies for free instead. That will at least build a user base.
Whenever Microsoft has a major new thing, they tout their $100 million marketing budget. Whether it's the new MSN Search, Media Center PCs, a campaign to maintain interest in Win XP as OS X Tiger was released or Windows Longhorn Vista, Microsoft marketing is at the ready with the $100 million check to buy mindshare (except for MSN 8, back in 2002. They got a $300 million budget. Remember that campaign? Me either). The best part is that, as this Slashdot article can attest, just saying you're going to spend $100M is enough to start getting some free press, though maybe not as much press as the $1 billion Windows 95 campaign.
Oh, to be fair, Apple isn't much better.
Kevin Fox
You can cut that budget by a hundred bucks since I won't be buying regardless.
I downloaded and installed the vista beta.
I couldn't tell what it had that xp doesn't except for look upgrades. It isn't worth buying it if that is all it has to it.
I probably wont buy it.
"If $100 Million dollars won't make you want to switch to Vista, what will?"
Or pay the money to Angelina Jolie (or one of her charities) to date me.
On second thought, just pay me the money. I'll deal with Angie. (Brad is not a factor - with $100 million, I can deal with him, too.)
Richard Steven Hack - This sig is TOO GODDAMN SHORT TO DO ANYTHING USEFUL WITH! MORONS!
Yeah...well I'm gonna build my own Vista, with blackjack and hookers. In fact, forget the Vista.
And the blackjack. Let's just get hookers.
(Vista Blackjack Hookers? Sounds about right.)
The article tells that the last release was Windows XP in 2001, now Vista will be 2006... I don't see how that qualifies as upgrade cycle.
Anyone here still running a Linux kernel from 2001 on their desktop ?!? I doubt it..
To Terminate, or not to Terminate, that's the question - SCSIROB
...that the entire purpose of a PC is to run an OS. That is all you need to have a life, or as they say, a "rich user experience". Applications are just an add-on distraction.
...make you switch to Vista?"
The end of the world.
Reversal of gravity.
A change in the fine structure constant.
I've got my issues with Linux (Fedora Core 1 wouldn't auto-detect my dirt-common S3 graphics chip or my AC97 sound system) but I've learnt to love GNU linux after Micro$haft's BS. When XP's DRM phone-home policy came into effect, that was it. I abandoned M$ as a customer.
Still run Win 2K on one of my machines, but from now on, boys 'n girls, it's GNU linux for all my new computers. And linux keeps getting better and better. It's not there yet -- but it will be soon. Linux already has a one-click install (yeah, yeah, you gotta get a supported graphics card and a supported PCI soundcard, but they're cheap and it's no big deal) and eventually linux will arrive at one-click software installs and enough driver support to make life comfy even for Joe Six Pack.
At that point, M$ is toast.
Truth to tell, Vista smells like IBM's debacle with the infamous Micro Channel. IBM said boo and the consumers said "Get lost." Is Vista the Micro Channel of the early 2000s? Too soon to tell. But it gives off the same unbearable stench of overweening hubris...
$100 million? Pah.
You couldn't pay me enough to use Windows Vista.
"Nine times out of ten, starting a fire is not the best way to solve the problem." - my wife
If you work in a Windows house and you can't do everything that you described doing in UNIX, then you are a fucking moron.
Every task that you described can be done in Windows just as elegantly using 1 or 2 open source programs and the tools that come with the operating system. If you can't think of their names, then you really ought to be fired for complete incompetence.
Windows is a tool. Quit bitching and learn how to use it.
Considering the "Uba" graphics package that will make it look pretty I have a advertising slogan for Vista Windows Vista. Now with Ray Traced Fonts! -Reed
Cheap bastards... probably spent more on trying to get people to buy XP.
Since there's no technical reason to upgrade to Vista (and at least one reason not to... *cough*drm*cough*), they'll need the giant marketing push to create the perceived need to upgrade.
$100 million should be enough to buy a chair for every man, woman and child in the USA. Afer the chairs have been ritually tossed around at, say, precisely 11 a.m., the shards could be gathered together into a great bonfire atop of which St Linus of Mount Kernel can be burned in effigy. This might be a lot more fun than reading about Vista every time you open a paper over the next year.
Las qué passoun
tournoun pas maï
As a developer who has tinkered mildly with Vista betas, I have no idea what this request is asking... Sadly, with the stream of feature cuts, I don't see how most developers will be changing their ways from XP at all, as most new Vista features are aesthetic or not of general interest to developers. I suppose they could be implying more x86-64 optimizations and the like, but I was under the impression that developers were gearing up for that already. I'm sure as Vista launch day approaches, developers may find more things to concern themseleves with, but right now I think Microsoft shouldn't worry about selling them on basically XP with next-gen hardware support.
I don't think "MARKETERS! MARKETERS! MARKETERS!" is quite such a rousing chant.
If you were blocking sigs, you wouldn't have to read this.
Product Activation. Sure, you could get rid of it with a russian crack, but then you need to find another one with each update...
Also its not funny to turn off all those annoying "features", even with xp-antispy and friends.
I have not had any problem with games using w2k. Really old games run perfectly with dosbox. Drivers are always updated with those from the manufacturer, except the bt878, with a much better open source driver.
No artificial 800x600 limit, a 640x480 desktop looks better on tv...
Home Edition edition has so many artificial limitations its not even funny to mention. Just wait for the fun with the (at least 7) different Vista "flavors"...
Finally: If what you have is doing the job just fine, why bother?
Fisher Price bloatware activated limitations are not worth it. I admit fast boot is nice to have, but im not rebooting everyday... Nothing else is worth it.
How to install Windows XP in 5 hours or less
Artix
Your Linux, your init.
The article mentions that microsoft wants programmers to build software for vista?
However, the article did not mention what the reason would be for building software especially for vista?
Will old software that already runs on windows, not run on vista?
Does vista have some special new features that make it more interesting to software developers?
Ah, so there's truth in the rumour about Bill giving out cash if I forward the emails to all my friends!
Years ago when I first brought in my G4 Powerbook into the office, most people had no idea what Mac OSX or any concrete reason to switch... but withtin 2 weeks five of my cubemates did. You know why? Because it was pretty. Guess what else? Four of them switched back because of various incompatibilities with how they used to use their Windows-based computers. People are sheep.
n/t
I still have to install videolan player and codec packs to get good multimedia ability in XP, and that just brings me to the level of what I would have in Windows 2000.
an expanded native driver database
Which still doesn't have the drivers for my motherboard chipset built in, and neither does 2000, but both can go on Windows Update and download them.
and better support for legacy software and games.
I guess you missed the Appcompat application that ships with Windows 2000?
If the eye candy that was added to XP annoys you, you can turn it off. If some newer features like System Restore annoy you, you can turn it off. If other added features like Auto Update annoy you, you can turn it off. Essentially you can make XP just like 2000 except for the added support for the things I listed above.
So it's just Windows 2000 with a lot of extra steps turning shit off that makes it different than Windows 2000...
XP also has a more annoying "Find Files" dialog, ships with a more resource intensive version of IE, other features enabled by default that take up resources and I have to turn off such as System Restore...
he said Windows performance was better.. it might be - if you have all of the Linux daemons in your distro turned on and have dma and all the hdparm tweaks set to their worst settings. and that's a case of bad administration. there is no fucking way that windows could be faster on identical hardware if Linux is set up properly and the correct modules for the hardware are loaded.
I'll take just $10 Million of it, and not only install it, but tell everyone I LIKE IT.
AND... I won't even install Firefox.
Beat that!
All my liberal friends think I'm a conservative, all my conservative friends think I'm a liberal.
My sig is at my blog.
Think Deeply.
Of course, since Stallman once said something intelligent
Well, He's one up on you, DA.
Ignorance is not a crime; neither should it be a way of life
Congress control $ = inmates run the asylum
I decided some time ago that Win2k would be the last version of Windows I run on my own computers. I dumped MS-Office in for a my $20 OEM copy of Wordperfect 3 years ago. Now that Apple has finally signed up to use Intel processors OS-X has become my next Windows Upgrade. This will allow me to have all of my personal/business computers running some flavor of UNIX.
I will have to multi-boot one system with Win2k on it till my favorite games become available for OS-X or Linux, but that will be the only MS-junk still running on my computers.
Would, if not I'm not intrested.
Oh, and it has to be of the good kind aswell.
Mine would be a Saturday Night Special pointed at my head.
Vista recommends 256 Mb of video RAM. I can't imagine a more ridiculous requirement for an OS attempting to move in on the server market. However, since it would be a server running Windows, you'd probably be spending long hours stuck in front of it trying to drag it back to life, so maybe it does make sense after all, in an insane sort of way.
I abandoned Microsoft because it sucked horribly in numerous ways. FOSS would have to suck a lot for me to even consider going back, and I don't see that happening anytime soon.
"Tongue tied and twisted, just an Earth bound misfit
couldn't expect less from a Microsoft Whore(TM) like yourself
xp has windows product activation.
I will never switch to an operating system that creates an activation code tied to the serial numbers in my hardware. Thus if I want to move my enhanced xp operating system to a more capable hardware platform 3 years from now (assuming driver availability), I have to ask "mother may i" from microsoft. They might give you a code, they might not. Never mind the incremental nightmare upgrades that Vista is bound to be, or the enhanced wpa known as ngscb.
If you run win2k add a hard drive, download the suse 9.3 iso's and install on your new hard drive. The default graphical/kde install will get you all that xp eye candy, without all that drm. Don't wait, it's easy to do now and be prepared to avoid the ensuing Vista hassles to come.
jj
Like it or not, in 2006 we will see many building blocks of modern software finally roll out to millions of users around the world.
o rkflow/ )
q / )
This is a good thing since we've been stuck in the world of (1970s/1980s API + OO) stagnation for the last 15 years.
- Workflow replacing OO and procedural programming paradigms
(see http://msdn.microsoft.com/windowsvista/building/w
- Win Vista replacing X-Windows derrivative GUIs (i.e., replacing Win32)
- WinFX replacing Win32
- Querying simplified into mainstream languages and with all the power still there
- Dlinq for databases
(see http://msdn.microsoft.com/netframework/future/lin
- Xlinq for XML
- Qlinq for data structures
- The relational filesystem
Lets see, $100 Million, divided by the ~1000 mainstream press people that simply parrot what MS tells them to say. That's $100K/reporter.
Did I mention I'm starting a Vista magazine? Please put the bribe^H^H^H^H^H donation in a plain brown paper bag and place it...
Pretty cheap I'd say.
- Adam L. Beberg - The Cosm Project - http://www.mithral.com/
Marketing - $ 100.000.000
RAM usage reduction - $ 100
Patching vulnerabilities - $ 100
Fabio Aquotte
"If $100 Million dollars won't make you want to switch to Vista, what will?"
Gates and Ballmer naked and bound, being used and abused by everyone who has ever been screwed by Windows. No holds barred. Use your imagination.
Or they could give me $10 million and I'd be happy to upgrade.
A Gun pointed at my head might do it. Besides being forced to choose between death (or dismemberment) and Vista, there's not much that would convince me. I'll only upgrade when I have no choice.
Fanatically anti-fanatical
LP, Baby!
See my journal for slashdot ID's by year. Mine created in 2005. http://slashdot.org/journal/289875/slashdot-ids-by-year