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John Dvorak On Vista's Launch
An anonymous reader writes "John is at it again, this time with his take on the launch of Microsoft's Vista operating system. John covers the reality from a market perspective, looking at whether the release will affect PC sales, peripherals ... or even Microsoft." From the article: "While there is no way that Vista will be a flop, since all new computers will come with Vista pre-installed, there seems to be no excitement level at all. And there does not seem to be any compelling reason for people to upgrade to Vista. In fact, the observers I chat with who follow corporate licensing do not see any large installations of Windows-based computers upgrading anytime soon. The word I keep hearing is 'stagnation.' Industry manufacturers are not too thrilled either. One CEO who supplies a critical component for all computers says he sees a normal fourth quarter then nothing special in the first quarter for the segment. Dullsville."
Is this the same Dvorak we've all come to know and love? Who thinks Microsoft should buy Opera, that CSS doesn't work because he couldn't figure out what "cascading" meant, and admits to trolling Mac users?
Oh, wait, he's making disparaging remarks about Microsoft! I'm sorry I ever doubted you, John!
Last week Dvorak was an idiot, but today he's the best tech columnist in the world.Even a broken watch is right twice a day.
> Vista will not be a flop because it won't be long before ...
Vista can be the Edsel of computers.
The Edsel was the best Big American Car. It had all the features and acessories that were available, including some that were novel. It was overhyped and was delivered late.
The problem was not so much the car itself, or the marketing, but that the public decided it did not want a Big American Car, but wanted a compact or a foreign import, or more to the point, two small cars instead of one big one.
Vista is trying to be everything - a computer, a media centre, a games machine, internet access, telephone, all in one with every feature.
But only one person can use it at a time. Just like a Big American Car it lacks flexibility because it can only have one driver. For the same price as one 'all doing' Vista machine with Office and all the bells and whistles, you should be able to buy 2 or more 'foreign imports' (linux) or 'compacts' (like a miniMac) and/or recycle existing machines and link them together so that the family can all access everything they want without queuing for it.
Some years ago Bill Gates noted a survey that found that in most homes the TV and the computer were in the same room. He concluded that this meant that people wanted these to be integrated as one unit. No. Bill, it is because most families don't have 22 room mansions and because _some_ want to watch the one TV while others use the one computer, they don't all have a TV and a computer each.
I like
Its narrow minded sentiment like this that actually keeps people from switching to linux and its surrounding projects. You called the man a fool for stating a FACT. Instead of negative sentiment about M$ why not just give the reasons/FACTS of why linux and FOSS is a better solution. The results might surprise you, unless the only result that you expect from your generosity is for the people you to help to gain your zealotness.
Go ahead and mod me whatever, I've got karma to burn from making insightful posts...
When I have a kid, I want to put him in one of those strollers for twins and then run around the mall looking frantic.
Windows' permissions system has always been superior to that of Unix. Sure, there's POSIX ACLs, but no one uses them and user tools to manage them are just not there as they are on Windows. The masking system used on Unix is just stupid. The fact that a file can only be associated with one group or user is pathetic. The fact that a file must be owned by a user and cannot simply be owned by a group is ridiculous. And finally, while NT has both permit and deny permissions, Unix has only permit. I cannot for example grant full control to all developers except those who are also QA engineers, who are denied write access.
However, it is entirely possible to run any application you like inside of a sandbox on Unix systems, so that's nothing special. And while it is easier to perform superficial management tasks on windows, when you run into something the GUI doesn't cover it becomes much harder than Unix, while on Unix I can use ssh to push and execute scripts to handle border cases securely and conveniently. This functionality is present on NT but not as easy to use or as reliable.
Unless you've done a line by line source code comparison of the two operating systems, you are not qualified to make this statement. Certainly Linux still behaves as if it were more robust underneath than NT; try putting both systems under heavy load, using up all their memory, etc etc and see what happens, see which one is more usable, see which one you can recover and which one you end up applying the BRS to.
"You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
That's a popular theory, but it smells dubious. So I tested it at one site - all the desktops had OpenOffice, Thunderbird, and Firefox on them when they were first installed, and not Outlook or MS Office, and IE was carefully disabled (if it had been a problem, we could have had Office installed later without any trouble).
That site has now been running for over a year.
Several of the users never even noticed that they weren't using MS-ware. None of them cared. There has been no need to install any other applications on any of the desktops.
(We're now planning to deploy Linux desktops at the next new site, and not waste any more money on Windows licenses)
On reflection, the flaw in the theory becomes obvious. Every version of Windows and Office behaves differently. Every Windows box behaves differently after it's been running for 12 months and is starting to get clogged up with worms and spyware. Users are used to computers that don't behave consistently. Why should they care about a version that's slightly different again? They really don't. Most users don't pay any attention to details.
I speculate that the people who moan about how free software "isn't ready" are just trying to justify a political position. My message to them: shut up and get on with your job. Windows and Office aren't ready either, but that's never stopped you before.
For home users, who cares? I don't.
Try telling that to my Casio. I'm still waiting for 88:88ampm to come round.
spoonerize "magic trackpad"