Windows Live Goes to College

Tobias writes "BetaNews is reporting that Microsoft has struck a deal with 72 different colleges to use Windows Live for their email services. The problem with this is that Windows Live does not support any browsers besides IE 6, does not support POP or IMAP, and does not support email forwarding." From the article: "The Redmond company believes that catching the students early on will turn them into life-long users of Windows Live. They would likely create a Windows Live Messenger account, start a blog and organize their favorites under this e-mail account -- especially if they plan to continue using it, Microsoft says."

Comments

Cue the "window sucks" whiners

[Anonymous Coward]

I'll just say: Linux is not an alternative.

Linux is *not* user friendly, and until it is linux will stay with >1% marketshare.

Take installation. Linux zealots are now saying "oh installing is so easy, just do apt-get install package or emerge package": Yes, because typing in "apt-get" or "emerge" makes so much more sense to new users than double-clicking an icon that says "setup".

Linux zealots are far too forgiving when judging the difficultly of Linux configuration issues and far too harsh when judging the difficulty of Windows configuration issues. Example comments:

User: "How do I get Quake 3 to run in Linux?"
Zealot: "Oh that's easy! If you have Redhat, you have to download quake_3_rh_8_i686_010203_glibc.bin, then do chmod +x on the file. Then you have to su to root, make sure you type export LD_ASSUME_KERNEL=2.2.5 but ONLY if you have that latest libc6 installed. If you don't, don't set that environment variable or the installer will dump core. Before you run the installer, make sure you have the GL drivers for X installed. Get them at [some obscure web address], chmod +x the binary, then run it, but make sure you have at least 10MB free in /tmp or the installer will dump core. After the installer is done, edit /etc/X11/XF86Config and add a section called "GL" and put "driver nv" in it. Make sure you have the latest version of X and Linux kernel 2.6 or else X will segfault when you start. OK, run the Quake 3 installer and make sure you set the proper group and setuid permissions on quake3.bin. If you want sound, look here [link to another obscure web site], which is a short HOWTO on how to get sound in Quake 3. That's all there is to it!"

User: "How do I get Quake 3 to run in Windows?"
Zealot: "Oh God, I had to install Quake 3 in Windoze for some lamer friend of mine! God, what a fucking mess! I put in the CD and it took about 3 minutes to copy everything, and then I had to reboot the fucking computer! Jesus Christ! What a retarded operating system!"

So, I guess the point I'm trying to make is that what seems easy and natural to Linux geeks is definitely not what regular people consider easy and natural. Hence, the preference towards Windows.

Re:Cue the "window sucks" whiners

[ElleyKitten]

Take installation. Linux zealots are now saying "oh installing is so easy, just do apt-get install package or emerge package": Yes, because typing in "apt-get" or "emerge" makes so much more sense to new users than double-clicking an icon that says "setup".

Or, if your not the command line type, click on the "Add Programs" icons, and then look at all the programs that you can install for free. Click one. Click install.

Versus Windows. You decide you want some program. So you google for it. And Google for it. Then you find something. So you download it, open it, and it's a virus and eats your computer! Or maybe it's not, maybe it's just adware that pops up crappy ads everytime you open it up. Or maybe it's nagware that'll stop working after 14 days and then bother you to give it $20 to stop bothering you. I don't know about you, but I'ld rather save my time and download my programs in 4 seconds in linux than waste my time googling for something for windows that's probably going to wind up not being what I want.

Linux has made great strides in usability, and if Vista doesn't make much improvements in that department then linux will easily surpass windows in the next few years. Don't believe me? Try Mepis. Just try it, don't bicker and assume, just try it.

Re:how long...

[panaceaa]

Are we supposed to believe someone who goes to college in Mississippi and calls it "Uni"?? :)

its a constant problem with firefox

[Anonymous Coward]

while overall firefox seems like a nice browser, thats only when taking working features from across several different releases. Each given release of firefox usually has many broken features which can only be fixed by upgrading, which in turn breaks other features. Firefox has never had a relatively stable release, whereas internet explorer has a stable browser around .02 of any given release.