Slashdot Mirror
$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 $100 Million dollars won't make you want to switch to Vista, what will?"
I'm still running win2k as my prefered OS. I'll switch to linux rather then buying a new windows, why get stuck in M$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.
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.
- New Audio Stack
- New Network Stack
- Updated native apps (outlook express, sndrec32, games, much more)
- LUA
- Better IO cancellation
- New communications architecture/api
- New graphics architecture/api
- Better task scheduler (based on events instead of just time)
- New WinPE environment (preinstallation env), can run from usb key or ram drive
- Hardware failure diagnostics, will warn you when hardware is failing (such as hard drives, through SMART, which already works in Beta1)
- Transactional File tranfers and registry
- Better stealth modding (updating hardware without reinstalling)
- Application Resource Management in the kernel. Apps can request what kind of memory and cpu time it needs to run efficiently
- TCP/IP offloading to the NIC instead of the CPU
- WinSAT (for gamers)
- Auxiliary display support
- Windows filtering platform for networking (more fine tune controls of networking at a lower level for fireware and other networking developers)
- Much much more that I can't think of off the top of my head.
All while maintaining backward compatibility (a small number of apps will break, but it's the same with every major release).
Tell me what they AREN'T changing.
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.
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.
Maybe Slashdot posters are NOT the target audience?
Of course Slashdot posters are not the target audience. We know enough about computers to know Window's Vista is of the garbage dump. It does make you wonder though; Who is the target? Concidering most people will have to buy a new computer just to support the minimum specs, why advertise? It's been a long time since I've seen an Apple computer ad. I've never seen a Linux ad. I'd say they are competing with themselves (Windows XP), but as I said, you need a new computer to run it. All new computers will come with it. So, what's the point?
Request a Linux Shockwave player here: http://www.macromedia.com/support/email/wishform/
Try the entire http://www.the-underdogs.org/ catalog. 90%+ of those games will still run on a modern PC. Flight simulators and anything without massmarket appeal (flight simulators, wargames, etc) Throw in everything MAME can do, as well, for an encore:
Eventually, all of the games you're now playing on will come to the PC, just as nintendo, sega genesis, super nintendo, N64, and sooner or later dreamcast have.
Also, modifiability. I build new levels, textures, etc for games. Mods are what make PC gaming go from on par to better than most consoles. The (current) Xbox is a special case, being of course a general-purpose P3 and Nvidia card
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
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.
You are being more than unreasonable, let's step through your points:
No copy protection ("DRM") facilities or support anywhere.
While you and I might hate DRM with a passion, the media mogles still see it as the only way to distribute their data, and thus, we have to live with it for the time being, or simply boycott it (as I have done). Simple.
ext2 filesystem compatibility, so I can read all my Linux files
Not a bad idea really, but the last thing Microsoft wants to do is be interoperable with linux, so don't expect to see this one any time soon/ever. I'm sure they still hold NTFS as being the superior file system.
Dump CRLF newlines, convert entirely to LF
This one I could imagine them doing, but it would take months to test everything and make sure that there weren't any compatibility errors, and since Windows has a long history of using CRLF and developers might get confused, it's probably better to just leave it be. It's not that big a problem, and if you (as a developer) have a problem with it, the error's probably yours.
The file's type becomes true metadata, and is not embedded in the filename
This is a hotbutton for UNIX people, and is a fundamental difference on how Microsoft and UNIX differ. I don't believe this point will ever be entirely satisfied; EXE will probably always be a requirement for an executable, even if they do hybrid it with some kind of execute flag. Truly, I don't see a problem with all executables having a certain extension, it allows someone to easily tell if something's a program. But yes, an execute flag would be nice to have for security.
Make OpenGL the low-level rendering model for the entire system
Okay, you're now starting to digress. Direct-X has been supported for years, and they're working on making the GUI use it, finally, which should make it easier for everyone, but probably won't. OpenGL can't get its act together and unify itself, and splintered a million different directions with extensions. Honestly, I love Open Source and OpenGL, but DirectX has some distinct advantages, and I feel that developers should have the choice to use either. If Microsoft ever tries to kill OpenGL, I believe they should be punished by the Justice Department, but until that day, I can't see a problem with having competing graphics standards.
Fix Kerberos implementation
Yet another reasonable assertion. I agree.
Make IE severable from the system
Sure. Microsoft would love to do that one. Of course, the Justice Department would love it to, but as they've already ruled that they don't really give a shit on this one, it's pretty unreasonable to keep complaining. Just use Firefox/Opera/your-web-browser-here and ignore the 10 megabytes of space IE takes up. Same goes with WMP (even though you can delete lots of it and not cause a single problem??), and WM (again, removable).
Add a "force uninstall" tool to purge botched device driver installations from my machine,
Window's Driver model could use a complete overhaul, but as this would probably require another 9x->NT-type jump, I'm sure they'll hold off on this one. Again, not unreasonable, but it would cost a shitload, and Microsoft's not about redesigning their OS from the ground up; they'd rather carry on their current codebase for as long as they can still compete with Apple/Linux (as Linux doesn't innovate nearly as fast, and Apple is still a 'lock-in' company). (No, I'm not trolling; Linux is very to slow innovate; they're very fast to copy. There are innovative things in Linux, but they don't happen nearly as fast as Apple can really. It helps to have complete and total control of your hardware.)
Drop about $50 million on the EFF.
Oh you're kidding.. haha that's a funny joke.
---- No copy protection ("DRM") facilities or support anywhere,
/etc directory for central configuration is one of the best. Let the FS handle keeping tabs and you can easily search for files and grep the text. Since MS owns Windows, they could make a nice tool and enforce proper use. Each user could have their own overrides for programs (wow, the way unixes do).
/dev/dsp and I record, as such...).
Support for base encryption and user-servicable encrption plugin system available for any service/program. Includes filters to install/remove DRM on any protected file in which you own the keys. Banning any technology is where we get into this mess, so we allow it for everyone and every program.
---- ext2 filesystem compatibility, so I can read all my Linux files,
Publish free specs on how to make file system drivers. Current specs to make Windows FS drivers are about 1000$. It's about 1000$ too high. I also see no reason why MS should put forth effort into making drivers to read a system that is continually changing. Let it so the hackers can make the FS drivers, but dont go out of your way. Reasons: JFS, XFS, EXT3, Reiser3, Reiser4, umsdos, ad absurdum.
---- The file's type becomes true metadata, and is not embedded in the filename,
SO you end up breaking every file pre-Vista. Nice.
---- Fix Kerberos implementation,
Fat chance. Kerberos is a competitor to their auth services. How about severing it completely and publishing security hooks. With the published security hooks, we can shim ANY auth system, including ones that will be out "tomorrow".
---- Make IE severable from the system,
Why? Does KDE work properly without Konqueror? Instead, I have a much more "radical" offer: Make the GUI severable from the system. I want a nice shell, virtualscreen2text mode for current programs without text only access, good scripting. How big will Windows be if it was running stripped down? How fast would it be then?,
We can even go from the "sever the desktop GUI with the system" paradigm further. How does Debian work? You have a service that reads a DB stored on the file system that categorizes every package. I'd like to see a system like this (with gui and commandline parts) in which I can see every component of Windows and drill-down to which parts I do not want. It'd be easy to add idiot-mode to prevent somebody from unloading stuff they shouldnt.
---- Add a "force uninstall" tool to purge botched device driver installations from my machine,
There should be a true Safe mode in which the kernel is executed and ONLY runs certain signed binaries. There should be a verified good GUI and text mode. A real configuration panel should easily allow you to unreference any failing VXDs along with a way to manually load each driver at a time, whilst keeping track of dependancies. Obviously, when loading one at a time, crashes at a certain driver indicate a bad driver/hardware problem.
Still, MS doesnt meet MY needs.
Why doesnt Windows have a simple Visual C++ compiler? Such an app wouldnt be questioned by any other OS maker, so why MS? Even making a "Visual Quickbasic" would fill that niche of amateur programming rather than finding somewhere to pirate.
Why hasnt Windows found a better paradigm of the "Registry"? Have they not learnt that the more keys you have, the slower the parser goes? If anything, the
Why is it so hard on Windows to access a specific device? For example, I want to disallow this user from opening the 3D capability on the graphics card. In windows, I know of no such way. There's alwo no way to record any sort of data on devices. I can simply cat a device on Linux and out it comes (can tail a users terminal session and watch what they do, can cat
I thought that meant that he's just not interested in the "latest-greatest", only upgrading as absolutely necessary when what he's using now is no longer supported. I still use 98 to check IE's rendering of my web pages, and will probably have to upgrade to whatever will support IE 7 when it comes out. If I didn't develop for the Web, I wouldn't have Windows at all.
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.
Faster reboots? What flavour Linux are you running?
No, really. I'm curious.
I'm all for running Linux, but the two distros I've had on this laptop (SUSE and Ubuntu) have both rebooted slower than Windows XP.
Noise Is Music Podcast.
freedom is expensive
Hivemind harvest in progress..