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Vista Makes CNET UK's List of "Worst Consumer Tech"
Several anonymous readers pointed us at CNET UK's Crave blog for a list of what is or was, in their opinion, the worst consumer tech in history. Vista comes in at number 10, in company with Apple's puck mouse (number 6) and Sony's CD rootkit (number 9). According to Crave: "[Vista's] incompatibility with hardware, its obsessive requirement of human interaction to clear security dialogue box warnings and its abusive use of hated DRM, not to mention its general pointlessness as an upgrade, are just some examples of why this expensive operating system earns the final place in our terrible tech list." That's gotta hurt a little, coinciding as it does with Apple's Don't Give Up On Vista attack ad.
Come on Microsoft. Vista is #10 on the index. You need to try harder, that #1 slot can be yours within an SP or two!
Karma Whoring for Fun and Profit.
Apple's puck mouse was #6. Vista was #10 and Sony's rootkit was #9. I admit that the mouse was more form than function. But it didn't really cause harm unlike like Sony's rootkit and isn't the fiasco that is Vista. So why is it higher? Also if users didn't like the mouse, they could replace it with a $20 model from a store. Many people I know don't use the mouse that came with the computer. You can't easily replace Vista or get rid of the rootkit.
Well, there's spam egg sausage and spam, that's not got much spam in it.
That's gotta hurt a little, coinciding as it does with Apple's Don't Give Up On Vista attack ad.
I wish they would go back to the ads showing how sexy the technology they offer is (like the PC with a mess of wires in the back compared to the iMac with nothing but the keyboard and mouse or the continuing awesome iPod ads with catchy tunes from bands with moderate success prior to the release of the video) instead of those crappy "attack" ads. Hell, go back to the old ads with the geek chic that was ever so popular here on Slashdot even.
Just enough talking about Vista and Windows -- they're starting to sound like politicians. In fact, they've been picking up other bad habits. My wife and I went into the Apple store at the Mall of America and while I was gawking and drooling over those huge displays, two of their employees launched a Best Buy style sales attack on her. She actually said, "you know, we used to enjoy entering this store and you're now very much like Best Buy, you might want to rethink that." The sales people actually left her alone after one replied, "sorry, I will bring that forward." Who knows if they did or not.
Think different, again, please!
and its onerous security notifications, adherence to DRM and general pointlessness, I don't think that "incompatibility with hardware" is really a valid statement. It runs on modern hardware from a wide variety of vendors. If you want to see an operating system with stringent hardware requirements, you need look no further than OSX. At least I can show people how to run the OS on my own hardware without the software's manufacturer coming after me and threatening legal action if I don't stop.
I stole this sig from a more creative user.
I don't think there is any specific order with respect to collateral damage. Though it may seem that the order implies (1 being least to 10 being highest) their perspective of the worst products.
je suis parce que j'aime
How can a mouse with a somewhat confusing design be "worse" than someone selling a rootkit that compromises the security of functionality of your computer? Shouldn't crappy design take a back seat to outright sabotage?
Nine old obscure products I can use as an excuse to slam Vista.
The Apple mouse was ranked 6th while Vista was 10, but the article has a pro-Apple stance. I just wanted to point that out. I mean, I'm a Mac fan, and I know Vista is the more current topic, but still, kinda unfair....
:P)
(Yes yes, I know, "You must be new here."
I have had the displeasure of using one of these things and they are right about not knowing which way is up. Because it is circular there is no way to control how the thing is rotated so it frequently would become the case that moving the mouse (if you could call it that) left would move the cursor up on the screen. It seriously made me hate MAC computers just based on the "PUCK" and it made me contemplate putting out a hit on whomever designed this useless piece of shit. Yes, you could replace it but most Universities with MACS did not replace them.
That device (puck-mouse) should be listed as a torture device. It hurts your hands, it is counter-inuitive, it clicks sometimes for no reason, and it is the ULTIMATE nightmare in function follows form.
I seem to recall reading a number of articles a few years ago where Gates and Balmer said that they were "betting the company" on the upcoming release of Windows. I wonder how this is working out for them.
UAC is NOT working as advertised. It is so useless that EVERYBODY turns it off! That is everybody who can find the button to turn it off. I've used Vista and within the first five minutes I turned off UAC and this wasn't even MY computer. The whole problem is that there is no ROOT account. You have to explicitly tell an app to run as Root and even then it balks at you. And a shitload of apps didn't work on it and many still don't. How much did Microsoft pay you?
I've run Linux as my only OS for a whole year once, but now I'm back to XP simply because I like to play my games. I see no compelling reason to upgrade to Vista - I don't have DX10 hardware and WindowBlinds makes XP look almost as nice. Right now I run Linux in VMWare and I really hope someday that I can switch to Linux fully as my booted OS and run my Windows games in VMWare or equivalent! Games are the *only* reason I still use Windows, Linux is much more fun to tweak for a person like me!
Shh.
Vista is #10. Go RTFA. Again.
One would assume that it's because the puck mouse was a periphery that was easily replaced and not lauded by Apple. Whereas Vista is Microsoft's flagship product. (not to mention that the puck mouse happened almost a decade ago)
"Vista... general pointlessness as an upgrade..."
Praising Microsoft products again, I see.
Microsoft has once again released a product before it was finished. That has wasted the time of many, many educated people, dragging down their quality of life and their productiveness.
That is NOT "pointlessness". That is abuse.
http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=DRM+in+vistaGive any of these a read
Vista's implimentation of DRM forces video card manufacturers to jump through idiotic hoops in order to play high def content of any kind, as well as not allowing full HD resolutions even when it does let you play the media.
This is not a Windows Media Player issue either, this is a Vista driver issue and is forced by Microsoft upon video card manufacturers.
Security is mostly a superstition... Avoiding danger is no safer in the long run than outright exposure. - Helen Keller
The abundance of "lists as articles" makes me want to vomit, but this one takes the cake. They just randomly put down ten tech mistakes in an ad-baiting format (click here to see the next on the list - we won't tell you what it is, but if you click here, we'll get more ad revenue!). What's the time period? What are the criteria for selection?
The writers just pulled nonsense out of their asses, and somehow that passes as valuable information. In this so-called Information Age, one would think better writing would rise to the top. Sadly, that doesn't seem to be the case. We get crap, but at least we get it instantly!
Read the EFF's Fair Use FAQ
I spend much of my time using Windows (2K pro, 2003, XP, and Vista) and OS X , and a little on Linux. I consider myself experienced with both OS X and Windows. I much prefer OS X but I can say there is also some things I like about Vista. I have not had any speed issues and only a few software compatibility issues. I appreciate the structural improvements made in such areas as the management console, event logger, command line utilities, and kernel structures. Vista isn't the upgrade it should have been but it is not horrible. Microsoft is on the right track with UAC, and with some fine tuning it will be worth the trouble. The display subsystem is moving in the same direction that NeXT aka OS X took 15 or so years ago (think display post script in NeXT, now display PDF in OS X). It's taken Microsoft far too long to catch up but I do think they are on the right track. Remember the resistance XP met with when it first arrived. Now it's well received. I think Vista will eventually achieve this status a few years down the road.
-Master Switch, one more element in the machine
Any reason why it is at the end of the damn article, then? Normally you present a 'top ten' from the bottom to the top.
Read the ENTIRE article. Starting at page one.
I'm running Vista now (it's free from work, so I decided to install Business edition), and I have no real issues with it. It's a memory hog and whatever else, but I just have to laugh and say, "how quickly we forget".
Almost all of these complaints were exactly the same when XP was released. Memory, drivers, utility, etc... Vista runs all my games (which is why I have it) without a hitch, even the old DOSBoxed ones. I know we will have Mac fanboys up and down the aisles here so my probability of being modded down is higher, but so much software written for OS9 doesn't work on OSX any more at all. At least I can say that four OS versions later (95, 98, 2000, XP) and software CONTINUES to work (maybe not all of it) well... that's not too terrible either. I'm not saying Vista is "the shit" either -- I much prefer my Macbook for the OS use, but when I want to play my games, old and new... I can run them on Vista without a hitch.
I'll wait for SP1 to see how well Vista fares in the future, but as it stands right now, I haven't had a BSOD or a crash in over a month, and my games play fast and furious, though I do lose a few frames per second since the drivers just aren't as good for Vista yet.
I'll be patient, and remember my history.
The price is always right if someone else is paying.
I'm using Vista, no big deal for me. But then again, I make up my own mind and only read stuff like this (and hence the majority of kdawson's postings) for a laugh.
Of course there are problems, plenty of bad design issues. But then again, there are in Linux too. No operating system is the holy grail, and I prefer the software selection in Windows.
I don't consider myself a Linux fanboi, so I won't throw balls of tar covered in flames at you. Instead, I'll tell you why I won't install Vista on my machine.
1. I've had troubles reading DVD's from other regions... in XP. "You can only change your DVD region code only 4 more times". If things go as I've read, Vista won't be any better.Perhaps you don't have trouble because all your DVDs are Region 1, but that's not the case with the rest of the world.
2. Have you actually tried to *back up* your DVDs? (because that's where you'll most probably find any problem - not that I've actually tried, btw)
3. Remember the recent Vista blackout regarding product activation and genuine advantage?
4. The point with Vista is not whether it ACTUALLY prevents you from watching DVD's. The point is that it can in the future, and that you won't be able to do ANYTHING about it. Vista is taking all the decisions for you, and where you'd like to be asked "Cancel, or Allow?" regarding updates-from and reports-to Microsoft, you won't be. If Redmond decides to install a rootkit on your vista, you won't even notice!
wikipedia it.
I don't see what the big deal is about UAC - especially as the Mac does the same thing. Any time you need to run an app that requests administrative rights - the UAC prompt pops up. All its doing is asking you if you really requested this elevation. You can change it so that it asks you for the admin password, but this isn't default behavior.
My friend who is a Mac die hard tells me - but you need to fiddle with the UAC prompt when setting the clock! Well? Guess what - you do on the Mac as well. Same with installing most apps, setting a good chunk of settings as well.
Also on the Mac if you try to copy a file into a directory you don't have permission to - it prompts for elevation - same as Vista.
I think most people are pissed off because it doesn't work like XP which let you have free run of the machine, but then the slashdot crowd bemoans the fact that XP is insecure. Microsoft fixes that - and now Vista is crap - I don't get it.
Fact is - I play games on my Vista box, browse the net, and watch "pirated" videos on it - and gasp - it works quite well. My TV tuner work, my scanner works, both my printers work, my video card works, everything works - and this is even the x64 version. I rarely ever have to deal with UAC unless I'm installing something.
At least you can swap in another mouse in a few seconds. OS X has supported two buttons from the beginning which is why those that still complain about one button get pushed around and dirt put in their hair.
A laptop I recently purchased came with Vista preinstalled, and I've been using it fairly regularly for these last few months. Personally I only see UAC prompts when I am configuring settings that should require administrative access, or when I run poorly written applications.
There are plenty of examples where software ask you for confirmation by default. Think about sending POST data unencrypted in Firefox. Deleting a file in Konqueror. Installing software in Ubuntu (even requires your password, generally). The general attitude is to be on the safe side.In general, programs that are written to Microsofts guidelines (of the past 7 years or so) will work fine. Crappy software transfers poorly, everywhere. At this point however, I'd be really surprised if you could name any major software from the last few years that does not work in Vista.
You're one of those idiots who logs into root on a linux box and doesn't see a problem with it, aren't you?
/usr directories it would not be seen as a linux fault that you had to run it as sudo, entering your password manually
Badly written apps are not MS's fault. If a linux app wrote (as a user) to random
Like this?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ZX_Spectrum
Actually, they're just not ranked at all.
I'd suggest both of you read the article, then take a timeout in a corner somewhere.
"It does not do to leave a live dragon out of your calculations, if you live near him." - Tolkien
Ok, maybe I'm blind, but I can't find the print link, or the all-on-one-page link? Does this really require 10 separate pages to view?
That said, UAC is no bad thing - if it wasn't for and even then it balks at you. This is Vista's fault how, again? That's the drawback. I can't log in as an administrator to do some administrative work without being bothered by the OS. OK, maybe I can, I must admit that I have only used VISTA for about an hour or so when one of my users got a new computer. He downgraded within a weeks time. As an administrator, I like to open up a console (window) and log in with some supervisor account to perform a couple of tasks that would otherwise ask me for privileges...
Let's face it: Vista is a giant step for Windows, but a small one for operating systems overall. Compared to XP, Vista excels with a lot of new features (besides the graphic UI) that may even make it worth the money - but unfortunately it introduces a lot of unwanted behaivour and while you may feel that "UAC works as advertised", UAC still has to catch up a little to reach the standard of today's operating system security models.
I'm an infovore...
makes sense...
most of the products in the list are unfunny game-consoles... just like vista...
The MAFIAA is a bunch of mindless jerks who will be the first up against the wall when the revolution comes
Oh yeah, I remember that thing. The Barcode Battler it was called.
Support the First Amendment. Read at -1
I liked the puck mouse.
No, really. I did. I still have a few sitting around in my shed. I have large hands, and I found that the mouse fit quite nicely in the cage of my fingers. I'd rest my wrist on the mouse pad and just use my fingers to move the mouse for most actions. I found it pretty good for fine control - the Logitec and MS mouses of the time were predominately those monstrosities that were moulded to your hand, so you had to move your whole arm to move the mouse. The puck had a nice weight for its size, making motion feel "inertially correct". With the Apple's current tampon mouse, pulling down often results in the arse of the mouse hitting my palm, requiring me to move my whole arm out of the way.
Of course, I probably couldn't go back to using a puck these days - I am too in love with the invention that is the scroll wheel.
Is an option at a couple of local independant PC store near me
From Vista of course. Costs £50 a pop and they guarentee not to wipe any of your data - have your computer 'fixed' in under 24 hours.
You should check out who's actually behind the products coming out of the US.
Doesn't it make you feel good to know that our freedoms are protected by politicans, lawyers and journalists.
They do, it's just not active. However, IIRC the first few versions of Ubuntu would fail to add the account created during setup to sudoers - are they doing that now?
And frankly, the all-powerful master account is a bad idea. It just hasn't been exposed to half a billion clueless people.
I know, but thanks.
No, yes you can. All you need to do is disable UAC for that account. Easy, eh?
Yes, that's what I do. After all, everything is scriptable in Windows.
It works as advertised because it's designed to work within the constraints of the Windows security model and provide backwards compatibility with existing applications at the same time. In that sense, it's perfectly fine. It's not the same as sudo, but it was never meant to be anwyway.
Web2.0: I love when people Flickr my cuil and digg my boingboing until my google is reddit and I start to yahoo
At the risk of having a thousand demons raping my karma, I do think some stuff from MS is cool, or at least far better than other alternatives.
I'm too lazy to think of any product, maybe that's why I think they're cool?
I had an important business presentation with a Vista laptop that I had to buy in a hurry several months before (old one was damaged right before a business trip). The damn thing updated Vista online overnight by itself and then collapsed the next day on reboot and couldn't restart for 15 minutes in a meeting. There is no excuse for the problems that I have had with this Vista laptop, it should be more stable before it ships. IMHO any IT type recommending Vista deployment before SP1 or 2 should be terminated on sight. It is by far the most annoying I've had, far more than anything on previous 95, 98SE, XP laptops.
In Ubuntu, I can use sudo or similar to run any application as root, and then it keeps me without having to enter my password for about a minute or so (it can be user configured) I can also use sudo bash which keeps me in a root environment for compiling software and the like, I can also create a root account and log in with it, with Linux I can customize just about anything I don't want with MS all I can do is hope that it is fixed in the next patch, service pack or Windows 7.
There is no "disagree" moderation, and troll, flamebait and overrated are not valid substitutes
UAC is NOT working as advertised. It is so useless that EVERYBODY turns it off!
I left it on. And I know how to turn it off. Part of my job is to develop and support applications, and I need to know what my users are experiencing. So I left it on. And you know what, get over yourself, its not nearly that bad.
The *only* program I use on a regular basis that recommends 'run as administrator' and requires escalation priviledges each time I launch it is visual studio 2005. And I expect even that will be resolved in the next version. And frankly, I'm not even that put out that a tool incorporating a low level debugger to need explicit admin priviledges each launch. (And VS2005 can be run without admin priv's but then some features do not work)
Other than that I only get UAC prompts when I install software, or add devices. I can live with that too.
As for 'a shitload of apps didn't work on it and many still don't'. I haven't encountered that. And from what I can see most of the stuff that 'broke' was badly written, and *shouldn't* have worked on any OS. I was pleasantly surprised to learn that nothing I've written had any trouble on Vista, and caused no UAC prompts except during install.
I'm also running the 64 bit edition, and there have been some minor issues related to that, particularly the management of 32-bit and 64-bit odbc drivers, for example was clearly an oversight.
My only real complaint about vista so far is:
driver signing - I would like to be able to sign unsigned drivers to authorize them to run on my system, even if they aren't blessed by microsoft. I am aware I can disable driver signing requirements entirely, even in x64, but I don't want to turn the feature off. I think its a GOOD THING(tm). I just strongly believe the owner of the PC should have the right to authorize unsigned drivers for his own pc by allowing an owner to add his own signing key to the trusted list (with UAC prompt), and then signing the driver (again with UAC prompt). A driver signed this way would only run on machines with my key installed.
This would give me the ability to preserve the only run signed drivers function of Vista, without losing the ability to authorize F/OSS drivers I build myself, etc...
MS Croney: Look! A widget!
User: Erm... so?
MS Croney: It tells you the time and allsorts!
User: Again, why should I care?
MS Croney: Because it's NEW and it's VISTA!
User: Meh. Why don't my old games work?
*MS Croney explodes in a violent blast of non-backwards-compatible energy*
It may look much slicker, but Apple still could have learned from a similar design failure from a few years earlier. The old VAXstation 3100s used a round mouse, and everyone hated the fucking things. As with the Puck mouse, you couldn't easily tell by feel how it was oriented, and with three buttons instead of one it wasn't difficult to accidentally use the wrong one.
At least Apple avoided the other problem with them. The VAXstation mice didn't use a ball, but a pair of cylinders mounted so as to engage the surface at right angles to each other. When you were using it at the edge of the mousepad, one of they cylinders would invariably go past the edge so that the cursor would stop moving in one direction.
And the brethren went away edified.
Vista's DRM problems are no "Myth" at all.
Maybe some overblown exaggeration made by some blogger and the Zdnet blog you're citing is specifically attempting to debunk them.
That doesn't prevent Vista's DRM to suck anyway.
- About the HDCP/DRM
Needing a whole DRM stack just to connect your screen is what I find the most abusive.
It's MY display that I BOUGHT legally with MY OWN MONEY.
It's MY graphic card that I BOUGHT legally with MY OWN MONEY.
I have complete legal ownership of both these items.
THEN WHY THE HELL MUST THERE BE A DRM STACK that has to decide what goes on my screen and what doesn't ?
Why is it putting arbitrary restriction on what I can do with something I own legally ?
All this stupidity only because the **AA are afraid that someone *might* attempt to pirate digital content at no loss using the digital transmission.
(As if all this has prevented Muslix64 and Co to design a method to decode HDDVD & BD using keys dumped from software).
The some idiotic design is replicated on other channels, including the audio path. And give the ability to the audio player to refuse to play if it considers the driver stack insecure.
- About the drivers for Vista 64.
Sorry, but Windows Vista 64 driver models seriously challenge free drivers (like kxProjet alternative drivers) and completely prevent open source driver project ( like 3DFX Voodoo 3/4/5 - which are compatible with 64bit system : XP 64).
The former, as a free/beer project may not have the budget to buy signing keys.
The later, as a free/speech project need to grant its user the ability to do whatever they want with the code. Should a newer patch be available for either Mesa or Glide, I should be able to recompile mine and load them (the recent patches to enable Quake4 on MesaFX comes to mind as an exemple). Without a signing key, it's something impossible to do. This both contradict the fundamental liberties that organisation like FSF are fighting for, and also violates GPLv3 (don't know if currently there are GPLv3 drivers being developed).
Yes, one could find signing key from other CA. But that cost money that some project don't have, or would require every single end user to have access to the key in order to keep the basic software freedoms.
And the ActiveX fiasco (and the various CA-signed malware that has appeared in the past) has already shown that merely signing code won't actually guarantee it's quality.
So these two are clearly both useless (video content got copied anyway, signing has never kept out malware) and arbitrarily restrict users freedom (I should decide what goes on my hardware, without needing to pay additional fee just to use something I've already paid for).
"Sufficiently advanced satire is indistinguishable from reality." - [Tips: 1DrYakQDKCQ6y52z6QbnkxHXAocMZJE61o ]
As previous people have mentioned, many of the items got bad marks for goofy shape which is not really enough to classify them as worst tech.
Engineering is the art of compromise.
Just stick the free Ubuntu CD in the drive, reboot, and follow instructions.
Warning: this article may contain humor, sarcasm, parody, and perhaps even irony. Read at your own risk.
You are welcome on my lawn.
I for one hate it, I'm sure many people do for all the usual 1-button and form factor problems it had. However, I can not for the life of me convince my grandmother to LET GO of the puck no matter how many other awesome mice I show her. I can't understand how it doesn't hurt her MORE to use that damned thing. Is there something I am just missing? She wouldn't even swap it out for something with a scroll wheel! So, is there anyone out there who has any sort of affinity for that piece of plastic junk? I'm really, really curious.
"are just some examples of why this expensive operating system earns the final place in our terrible tech list." Keyword being "final place". Allright ? I'll let it sink in for a while.
http://crave.cnet.co.uk/gadgets/0,39029552,49293700-8,00.htm
Sure it's a piece of crap for 2000 but did it take them 7 years to figure that out? Or have they been including this all seven years. Fucking ridiculous - right up that nutcase Dvorak's alley.
Wow...that's weird. Just seems hard to believe he was 52 years old?!?! Just seems a short time ago he was part of the early I want my MTV years crew...wow, getting old here.
To keep it on a bit of a tech note...I did actually see him wandering around one year when I was at Comdex out in Vegas. I guess he had a hair transplant after the early MTV Quiet Riot days....took me a bit to recognize him then. Tall som'bitch.....
Mama we're all craaaaazeeeee now.........RIP Kevin
Light travels faster than sound. This is why some people appear bright until you hear them speak.........
Will they look at that and realize the reason, or will they just not include the ability to roll back next time? Or will they look at it, knowing full well why they allow rolling back, but then the beancounters just refuse to put the rollback option in fearing that it would "engender a sense of insecurity" in its purchasers? From what we've seen from Microsoft over the years, that level of stupidity almost has to be expected. In any case, it doesn't bother me any if Microsoft wants to keep shooting themselves in the feet until they can no longer walk, I develop for a lot more than one OS. But for the sake of just plain common sense...
The Ergo 4000 keyboard is the best thing to happen to my wrists in a long, long time. Now if I could just get a vertical mouse that doesn't look retarded...
And to really rub salt in that wound, I eventually drove 20 minutes to fetch my linux laptop. And it just worked, even with someone else's camera. No screwing around with drivers that didn't even work, just click "Import Photos."
Everyone bashes the iMac's "hockey puck" mouse, but why don't they mention the keyboard? I've used several crappy keyboards in my life, but that thing is the worst. It was literally a pain to use, typing on it quickly made one's knuckles hurt. The translucent looks of later models made it easy to see the dirt that got in there; any hair and dust was very visible, and you had to open the damn thing to remove it. And the keys soon started to get jammed.
And it's sad to think that Apple's previous keyboard was among the best. On par with the Model M, perhaps. So... if anyone knows how to adapt an ADB keyboard to a PS/2 port, PLEASE tell me!
Circumcision is child abuse.
Yes, OS X is a better OS overall- but many seem to forget how incredibly painfully sloooooow OS X was back circa 2001 when it was just introduced. Zero backwards compatibility with the installed base and nearly impossible to use for anything useful; it took Apple a full two years to release something worthwhile (10.2!) Apple does indeed move faster than Microsoft with OS upgrades, but when you control the hardware and have an installed base that's willing to throw out their old apps to buy upgrades it makes things a bit easier.
Vista has a lot going for it; under the hood is really what Microsoft should be focusing their marketing efforts on. We're talking volume shadow copy (without requiring an external device like Apple's time machine), an incredibly sophisticated event management subsystem, and a very good problem reporting & resolution center. These things don't exist on OS X but sure would be handy.
To be sure, OS X wins for UI innovations such as Expose (which I use constantly when using one of my Macs) and the UI generally "gets out of the way." And yes, the UNIX underpinnings score points with me (and Cocoa is great!) But Vista is not nearly as bad as people are making it out to be, and Microsoft seems on track to getting those last few things sorted out. It happened with Windows XP when it was first released; it happened with OS X when it first came out.. it'll be a little while longer before everyone just takes Vista for granted like they do XP but we'll get there.
(written from Firefox on Vista.)
I heard that ergo was pretty good. I'll have to try one out next time I go to MicroCenter.
You are welcome on my lawn.
Microsoft is on the right track with UAC
... is laden with DRM. Microsoft checks with the RIAA before it shows you anything. See other comments in this story.
Oh no it's not. UAC is not a security feature. I don't know what it is, security is not it.
"processes running in the sandbox are running as you, and so can read and write any files, Registry keys, and even other processes to which your account has access. That caveat creates major gaps in the walls of the sandbox and malicious code written with awareness of the restricted environment could take advantage of them to escape and become full administrator."
http://blogs.technet.com/markrussinovich/archive/2007/02/12/638372.aspx
"Are you sure?" is not security. Linux, BSD's and OSX are dramatically better online user systems. It's just so much easier when you deal with a well designed system to begin with.
The display subsystem
Apologize to the baby jesus!
http://www.maxineudall.com/2010/02/should-economists-be-sued-for-malpractice.html
...isn't free, and Microsoft has to pay in order to include it in Windows. Not a lot, mind you, but they have to pay 'per copy sold'. As such, they only include it in Home Premium and Ultimate, the editions that have Media Center. On any other SKU, just download a 30-day trial of a DVD Player, install it, and forget. Even after the trial expires, the codec doesn't.
OVER NINE THOUSAAANNND!!
Seriously really informative and insightful post.
Most people aren't thought about after they're gone. "I wonder where Rob got the plutonium" is better than most get.
I think this is because we remember that we are even more angry now. On top of an OS which should not show the same error and bad quality as in the past, it has abusive DRM showed down your throat, and an abusive driver certificate problem. So yes, it is definitively worst than any other OS you cited. At least those previous disaster OS, were only disaster from the quality of the code, not because they wanted to play NANNY with what i could do or not do.
I don't use linux, and I think if you check my post history you will find out I never (not that I recall) was a windows-hater. But Vista intrusive DRM changed that.
C. Sagan : A demon haunted world:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0345409469/
visit randi.org
It took me a long time to pull that one out of my childhood memories. I knew it was in there. I accept all of your accolades for superlative example of an obscure reference for the word "astrosurfer".
I see the blindly anti-Microsoft idiots are awake today then. The GP was completely lying about UAC - it works by design, end of story. If you see UAC popup too often it is because a badly written app is trying to do stuff it shouldn't.
Imagine if you will an application for linux that auto-edits the xorg.conf file. In Linux it would simply fail unless run directly as root or run after a su. In Vista, UAC would kick in automatically asking for priveledge elevation rather than automatically denying it - and that's when logged in as 'root' - more secure than Linux if you ask me, which for an equivalent level credential will just grant full access without thinking twice.
Users know when the screen goes dark and the "A program wants to change your computer" box comes up, their computer is about to have something changed. They can either click yes or no. I'm sorry but UAC works, and it works well IMO - it's just a shame there's so many apps used to Admin level rights without even asking for it; that's the true problem.
throw new NoSignatureException();
Microsoft Natural Keyboards.
I can't think of anything else, except some of their games
Is it just me, or does anyone else find it extremely ironic that Vista is suffering from having to compete with an entrenched WinXP market ?
.. no patch ever available
.. but then again its not working for XP either .. so we have to make a decision and change everything anyway).
That has been one of the big obstacles to Linux adoption - its a radical change to make for the sake of little short term gain. The rewards for going from Windows to open source are long term gains after some short term pain. Vista on the other hand offers some short term pain for no long term improvement.
However, they are still reporting millions of dollars in income - because of bundled deals, where Vista is often discarded and the system retrofitted with the more comfy XP.
So, if MS thought deeply about this, they would realise that they could simply release something new every 6 months, no matter how bad it was - just any old crap really - and make money by bundling it with everything from laptops, desktops, packets of cornflakes, and shoe laces. All they need to do from here on is make sure that whatever crap they throw out onto the market, they provide some mechanism to allow the hapless consumer to 'downgrade' back to XP, and pickup twice the income on each pass through the loop.
Its unlikely that the clueless consumers would ever wake up to the scam.
But still, it is ironic how they have been caught smack bang in the middle of a minefield that they themselves planted several years ago. One day though, they may wake up and see that Linux and Apple are not the only enemy - WindowsXP may be seen as the enemy as well. One day, out of frustration, they may start to play their usual dirty tricks on destroying the established base of XP. That will be a fun day indeed.
Look out for the following things in the future :
- XP clients start having erratic problems connecting to windows servers.
- IE8 only available for Vista/Win7
- Games companies releasing DX10 only games that wont work on XP
- Office for XP occasionally generating random errors in documents
- Price rises for XP
- Major websites subsidized to only work for IE8
- Major titles (AutoCAD, Adobe, Quicken, etc) bribed into coding hacks into their products and file formats which break XP compatiblity
- etc, etc, etc
Only then will Vista become as wildly popular as they NEED it to be in order to survive. But once they do that, the compelling reason for not moving to Linux is also removed (ie. Cant move to linux coz program XYZ is not available for linux
What can Microsoft possibly do to keep their income levels at such obscene levels that their shareholders remain happy ? No easy way out that I can see.
Next:
- Ford, Toyota, Hundai et all enforce speed limits.
- Bacardi, Budweiser enforce amounts of alcohol you drink before getting behind the wheel.
- Gun companies enforce gun laws.
Did you get it or should I throw more analogies at you to remark how idiotic is for MS to be enforcing the wishes of content producers?
IANAL but write like a drunk one.
Wow. Is English your first language? I sincerely hope not.
"Earning the final place" =/= "Earning last place".
It merely means there was one spot left in the list and Vista got it.
"It does not do to leave a live dragon out of your calculations, if you live near him." - Tolkien
... might not be the best reason to jump on the Linux bandwagon, sparky. Ubuntu (lovely stuff, I run my business off of it), out of the box will not play DVDs, MP3s, or whatever it is you get from iTunes. Vista will, on the other hand, not generally force you to hack around their licensing regime to play DVDs.
You can use free software, enjoy media in the common formats, and respect the law: pick any two.
Help poke pirates in the eyepatch, arr.
The UK are great at producing inventions, but shit at capitalising on them and turning them into successful products. The period since WWII is awash with great inventions that were ignored, underfunded (both by public & private funds) or just given away ("Here America, have the jet engine. No, there's no need to pay us!").
The complete lack of support and funding in the UK (and to a lesser extent, within the EU as a whole) continues to this day. Got a great invention or a business plan that involves more than a corner shop and a small van? Take it to America. No one in the UK is interested.
I was amazed at the number of comments on the site from UK people who like Vista just fine. I was also surprised at the level of naivety on display. One person said they had no problem with the intrusive security measures because they just turned all that stuff off! Another said people should quit whining and upgrade their computers. Apparently he was unaware that a mid-sized company with 25 desktop computers and maybe another dozen laptops would be stark, raving mad to throw them all out (and maybe some other hardware, too) in order to use an operating system that has known, acknowledged issues.
And I would NOT like to be giving a PowerPoint presentation in front of 150 people when Vista performed a spontaneous update, decided something was wrong and went into that barely-functional drone state.
I've calculated my velocity with such exquisite precision that I have no idea where I am.
Microsoft is way too big for me to have a single opinion about all of it. Same with Sony and other large companies/organizations. Some parts of them may be horribly evil, but that doesn't mean there isn't significant goodness in there as well.
My ZX Spectrum+ 128 can kick your Commodore 64's ass any time any day.
for the last time people, I am "frodo from middle eaRTH", not "middle eaST".
Vista is listed at page 10, which does not necessarily mean that it is #10. Look well there is no explicit ranking... In fact, top tens usually mention the winner last. We may have winner here...
Darth Vader wasn't all evil and Han Solo wasn't all good (he shot first, damnit) but it doesn't exactly preclude you from having a general opinion.
Live today, because you never know what tomorrow brings
If you bothered to read through the link provided, you would find the information about UAC. Better still, google "mark russinovich" UAC That should give you a few more references.
Protected Video Path (multiple components within this generic description) : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Protected_Media_Path
Protected Audio Path (more components in this generic description) : http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa376846.aspx
I'm sorry to burst your vista mindwarp bubble, but there are a couple of well-designed viable alternatives that don't treat the consumer like the enemy.
http://www.maxineudall.com/2010/02/should-economists-be-sued-for-malpractice.html
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No I don't usually. On this one box I logged in as root because no other accounts were set up and I wasn't maintaining the thing. Otherwise I have no problem loggin in with a simple user account and using root only as needed. My point is that even the "Administrator" account is not the top level account in Vista. Does nobody see a problem with this? You still have to right click things and tell them to run at an even higher level. And yes many programs still don't work right on Vista. I know I posted this before but here is a list of crap that you had to upgrade to get to work when Vista came out.
Adobe Acrobat Installer
Cisco VPN Client
Blackberry Sync
Many programs just didn't run right and still don't unless you dictate them to have special privilages. This I can get over but the common user is going to have a shit fit figuring it out.
So where is the goodness in MS? (And I don't mean the charities Bill set up in an attempt to buy his way out really bad karma or damnation.)
I used to think that MS did a good job with TrueType fonts, until someone pointed out they didn't develop TrueType.
Think Deeply.
Games - I agree Vista sucks, but then I stopped playing games on PC since I bought PS3. The U3 drive is hardly a Vista problem - I have heard it doesn't work with anything but XP - not mac, not vista. I don't understand the slow booting part - I never reboot it for one and for other whenever I do it is pretty quick.
All OSes on major upgrades make things incompatible - that's why they are major upgrades and that's just the technical limitation that we have to live with. Look at how many things Leopard made incompatible - http://www.macintouch.com/leopard/compat.html . On the other hand there is a ton of other stuff that works just fine on Vista and OSX Leopard.
I too like my Xbox360, although there's a few limitations in it I could do without.
:) ]. It came with Vista Home Premium. I know the computer isn't the fastest thing around, but it's got > 2Ghz processor and 2GB of RAM [upgraded]. Why, when I try to change settings, for instance the parental controls [just testing it, she's only 2, doesn't really need it yet], does the machine become unresponsive for 2+ minutes? That's just not acceptable. So now I'm fighting myself to just blow it away and put XP on it. That's just sad. I might wait to see if SP1 fixes anything. If not, I'm going to XP.
I couldn't live without my MS Intellimouse Optical though. 7+ years old and still going strong.
With that said, Vista really blows. I picked up a computer this weekend for my daughter[Sweet $299 deal at Fry's with a 20" WS LCD
And no, I can't just install Linux on it until all the Blue's Clues, Dora and Backyardigans games work in Linux...
Nothing to see here
Semantic differences are minor, combined with the fact that this is a "top ten" list. And Russian is my first language, not that it applies here.
Sure, Vista is a crappy product, but its presence on this list isn't particularly noteworthy or interesting. And Vista is lame in a mostly non-mysterious way: thanks to preload arrangements, they're guaranteed some market success no matter how bad it is. Vista doesn't make you wonder, "WTF were they thinking? Did they really think they'd be able to sell this?"
The bad mouse is the same. If you bought an iMac at the wrong time, you were going to get one of those. It's lameness didn't really endanger Apple's profitability much.
No, the true "star" of this story has to really be the Barcode Battler. That is just spectacularly bad, and makes you wonder how they imagined making any money.
As copyright owner of this comment, I authorize everyone to defeat any technological measure which limits access to it.
Please excuse me while I laugh my head off at your ignorance (and believe me, I'm giving you the benefit of a doubt by merely assuming ignorance).
First, Vista DOES have an Administrator account (obviously, else how could you list "Administrator" as a user in the ACLs?). The account (like Ubuntu's root account) is disabled by default; it's a matter of under 15 seconds (including a single UAC prompt) to re-enable it, if for some reason you want to. The only problem here is that by default, it has no password and it is always enabled if the computer boots in Safe Mode.
Second, far from "EVERYBODY" turns off UAC; those who are familiar with the dangers of running as a full Admin will either leave it alone and accept the occasional delay of a couple seconds as a warning that something potentially dangerous is occurring, or will configure it so it doesn't get in the way of their normal activities. The smart ones will probably configure it (and modify the ACLs of what they access so stuff that they don't want to get prompted for doesn't prompt them) and then either run as a limited account or set UAC to demand the user's password, a more Unix-like security model that protects against tampering by somebody who comes by if your away from your desk for a few moments and forgot to press Winkey-L.
"You have to explicitly tell an app to run as Root and even then it balks at you." Okay... go back and read that again. Think about it. Are you honestly saying that right-clicking a file should be all that's needed for privilege escalation? All that right-clicking it does is marks it for escalation WHEN RUN. The actual act of the escalation is carried out by UAC, which IS what it's intended to do (and since it's configurable, this provides a degree of security control far above normal).
As for the apps that don't work... I don't know, maybe I've just been lucky. I use third-party, proprietary and open-source, IM clients and web browsers, software dev tools, image viewing/manipulation software, and games dating all the way back to WarCraft: Orcs and Humans (complete with "Quit to DOS" on the main menu). The only problem I had was one game's online updated didn't work, and I had to get the patches manually. Oh, the horrors...
There's no place I could be, since I've found Serenity...
You can get them to work under Linux. What I've done for my kids is to install vmware server, install Windows 98SE as a client, (smallest footprint - lowest requirements), and run the games in that with ripped CDs and daemontools.
If it's not a fully blown 3D app, (which I've found a lot of those games aren't), you can run it easily with this setup. I have around 40 to 50 games setup this way.
The best thing about it? I've set it up in read only mode, so that any changes made get wiped when vmware client reboots. So, no spyware, no worms, no problems. They can trash the Windows box for all I care - it comes right back up again the way it was before.
-- main(s){printf(s="main(s){printf(s=%c%s%c,34,s,34
The UK isn't the only country that suffers this issue. A huge amount of inventions have come out of Australia only to be gobbled up by the US.
One, extremely important one recently is the Wifi patent. yes we managed to get a patent on something, however it's being contested in court by IBM, Intel, and MS.
So, even when we do come up with some good stuff - it just gets gobbled up.
-- main(s){printf(s="main(s){printf(s=%c%s%c,34,s,34
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