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Vista SP1 Released to Manufacturing
Reverend Ninja writes "According to the Windows Vista team blog, Windows Vista SP1 has been released to manufacturing. It appears we'll have to wait until mid-March to play with it though, as the team cites that they want everyone to have a 'great install experience'. 'Service Pack 1 brings new improvements that are based on feedback we heard from our customers. It further improves the reliability and performance of Windows Vista. The information we collect thanks to tools like the Customer Experience Improvement Program, Online Crash Analysis, and Windows Error Reporting help us learn about where and when customers are having issues with Windows Vista and the applications that run on it. Since these issues have a direct impact on our customers' experiences, we've invested time and energy to make this better. While Windows Vista Service Pack 1 is an important milestone, we will continue to invest in the continuous improvement process.'"
Come off it already. "great install experience" ... hey, its not a f*cking condo timeshare!
And just to show that I'm not reserving my spleen for venting on Microsoft, This is as stupid as the naming conventions that have taken over in the open-source world, calling different versions by weird names,, like 'Gutsy Gibbon'.
Kevin Smith on Prince
Of course this should be just as stable as Vista was originally. Anyone have bets as to how long before a significant program of widespread use is broken, or Vista breaks itself with SP1? I give it about 5 minutes following release.
Beyond that, has there been any actual basis showing that SP1 (of the testers) adds any form of significant performance enhancements? Last I read about improving Vista performance people basically said "turn off everything that differentiates vista from XP"
IIRC, torrents of Windows Vista appeared within about fifteen minutes of the RTM. Anyone have a link to SP1?
I've used a Vista machine at work for a little while now and don't really see it for being anything other than just another Windows version with cosmetic changes for the types of functions I use it for. I am mystified at the claims made about the operating system. Does anyone have any actual evidence that:
Sales are actually worse than previous Windows versions?
Actual poor performance on systems that actually meet the minimum requirements?
Problems with apps or games that weren't fixed with updates?
Security or virus problems?
Or any of the seemingly million other problems the operating system is claimed to have?
Notable changes in SP1 Hot fixes and patches rolled up in SP1 Release Notes document /. I've been mostly satisifed with my Vista install so far. The only real problems I've experienced is the repackaging of some of the SDK tools such as graphedit which used to be available as standalone, but the 64 bit vista specific version is only available as part of a multi-gig sdk download... Also some vendors have been slow to ship good drivers although I suspect that MS requiring a 64 bit for the "vista compatible" label and not requiring a 32 bit version will in time result in a better driver base.
Unlike most of the chatter I've read on
-*The above statement is printed entirely on recycled electrons*-
Hey, I like raping babies as much as the next person, but on wheels? You need to get with the Microsoft program and make your install process smoother.
Ars Technica claims that file copies are now 50% faster in SP1.
:-)
It should only take 65 and a half years, instead of 131, to copy 168 Mb of pictures now. What a great feature!
Inquiring minds want to know ...
-- Tigger warning: This post may contain tiggers! --
Time to do some FUD-busting ;)
Everything you've read about Vista's DRM is wrong:
http://blogs.zdnet.com/Bott/?p=299
http://blogs.zdnet.com/Bott/?p=304
http://blogs.zdnet.com/Bott/?p=309
The nutshell version. If you're mad at Vista for including HDCP support -- Leopard, the PS3, or any HD-DVD or BluRay player on the market has it as well. Get pissed at the entire industry or don't bother getting pissed at all.
I love how they announce it then make us wait 6 weeks to actually download it. While I can perfectly understand not releasing it via Autoupdate immediately, at least give us a freaking place to get it manually from MSDN or the Download Center.
And I most certainly won't be trusting leaked torrent versions when it comes to Service Packs.
The Computations of AdamR
http://www.adamreyher.com
Am I becoming excessively cynical for thinking that SP1 for Vista was rushed out the door for marketing reasons?
It's common for people to wait for the first service pack before moving to a new software platform (not just Microsoft's), and I've seen in their marketing they've been attempting to address the "myth" (http://www.microsoft.com/australia/vistafacts/fact.aspx) that Vista won't be ready until SP1.
I'm predicting that SP1 will just be a bunch of already released hotfixes bundled together and won't do much to cover up the stench of excrement the product exudes.
I'm sorry that this is slightly flamebait, but I don't like Microsoft's products that much and I'm still bitter that my employer forced me to install Vista on my work laptop.
Why do you need a 'great install experience' when you can just force the update on your userbase?
and it doesn't appear to have helped reliability or performance as far as we can see. We still have TrendNet wireless nics that will not work using Vista drivers on a factory install of the OS. We still have file copy operations that should be timed with a calendar. We have Vistafied versions of applications that generate interestingly cryptic "unable to assign resource" errors.
I hope that any changes between RC1 and RTM are actually going to deliver on those promises they keep making.
load "$",8,1
1 Uninstall Firefox
2 Uninstall iTunes and any non Windows players
3 Uninstall Open Office
4 Update Vista
5 Max Firewall settings
The nutshell version. If you're mad at Vista for including HDCP support -- Leopard, the PS3, or any HD-DVD or BluRay player on the market has it as well. Get pissed at the entire industry or don't bother getting pissed at all.
My PopcornHour Network Media Tank doesn't have any copy protection and I can play x264 720p/1080p HD-DVD & BluRay rips, xvid, divx, dvd ISOs, et al. just fine.
Trolling is a art,
In what way is the DRM bad?
I'm no Microsoft apologist, but I do think the unbridled hate that pervades /.'s reaction to every single Vista article is a bit out of hand. Maybe this will help stem the tide of Vista-bashing. Sure, Vista kinda sucks, but all Windows versions kinda suck. I think most people who are ripping on Vista for being the operating system anti-christ are forgetting how badly XP sucked pre-SP1, and even pre-SP2. 7 years ago, the chorus of "OH MY GOD XP IS SO MUCH WORSE THAN 2000! THERE'S NO NEED TO UPGRADE!" in every XP article's comments were eerily similar to the ones you hear now every time Vista gets a mention.
Vista's maturing, and as it does it'll become a better operating system, and everyone will benefit, even if they don't use Vista. Microsoft still competes largely on the basis of being a de facto standard. Vista's release has caused them to lose this edge somewhat, and the window has opened for their competition, who compete mostly on features, to get a little lazy (Leopard, anyone?). Microsoft competing more vigorously on their stale plank, assuming they don't magically find traction they've been unable to find for years, can't do anything but help the products on the market.
Okay, now it's time to cue the million responses calling me a Microsoft shill. Suggested topics: "There really was no reason to upgrade from 2k to XP, I still use 2k just fine," "Vista is beyond repair because of DRM," and "Vista is way more broken than Leopard, how dare you rip on OS X."
Even Jesus hates listening to Creed.
Windows Vista has "Support" for DRM, which means content creators such as music and movie makers can CHOOSE to use DRM... IF they want to. HOWEVER, there is no "DRM FORCE" on the user. Which means you CAN STILL use your downloaded mp3s and other files ( porn ) perfectly OK with Windows Vista.
If you dislike DRM, don't buy from the content creators which put DRM in their content. That has nothing to do with an Operating System.
Educate yourself.
So can my Vista64 box.
based on Winmin
It is spelled wymyn you sexist pig!
echo -e 'global _start\n _start:\n mov eax, 2\n int 80h\n jmp _start' > a.asm; nasm a.asm -f elf; ld a.o -o a;
Didn't bother to read the links before posting a rebuttal right? :)
Your media tank does indeed provide an HDCP path. Either that, or when the ICT bit is set on media shipped in 2010 onwards, your playback will degrade to roughly 950x550.
This week on WWE RAW we have the fight-to-the-death match of the century - brother against brother - OS against OS.
Will the newly-upgraded Microsoft XP Service Pack 3 be able to take on its younger brother Vista with Service Pack 1 or will it be too old in the tooth to stand up to its sibling?
In a fight scheduled to go several years and refereed by IT managers worldwide with the bragging rights of the very name "Windows" on the line, the world will find out which is the better OS.
Stay tuned for
Microsoft Windows XP Service Pack 3
vs.
Microsoft Windows Vista Service Pack 1
this week on WWE Raw.
Knowledge is how to play a game, intelligence is how to win, wisdom is knowing what game to play.
Ok, so the DRM isn't as intrusive as Gutmann said, but it is still there, and intrudes when you play back "premium content", right? (Thanks for those informative links, I am not going to buy a Vista computer, so I haven't really been following that stuff)
And how do you know that the Reduced functionality mode is actually gone?
I don't have a single device that uses HDCP.
Not my Upconverting DVD player, my PS2, or any of my linux devices/computers.
Maybe I am pissed at the whole industry, then. I am not going to get a Blu-Ray or HD-DVD player until Helios Labs makes one without the DRM.
If I have nothing to hide, don't search me
By the way, those articles are one big rant without too much proof.
You know, Digital Restrictions Management is not about hardware, nor software, not even content. It's about restricting users to do exactly what the content providing industry wants you to do by allowing you to see what they want you to see and to let you listen to what they want you to listen to. There ought to be a law against it.
In conclusion, as far as I'm concerned : the entire industry.
News about the Kettle Open Source project: on my blog
I personally have experienced none of the problems you mention.
In fact, I haven't had any problems with XP, 2000, NT, CE, 98, 95, 3.11, 3.1, 3.0, DOS 3.3 either.
For a company so adept at spinning information into pro-MS propaganda (much like any big company, mind you), you would think that they would do a better job of obfuscating the fact that they have at least 3 different channels for collecting program crash information!
In what way is DRM good?
All DRM tries to do is prevent the user from doing stuff, but can't possibly be successful due to the analog hole.
If I have nothing to hide, don't search me
OK, so I'm trying to read the press announcement and my eyes keep glazing over. What I get is this:
I really just want to know if they include the flying chairs screen saver. Although granted, Vista's DRM will kick in and turn the screen blank...
Funny how you haven't listed Windows ME.
Correct. But that means that if you want to watch BluRay or HD-DVD on your linux machine you have the following options: - Only watch media that doesn't have the ICT bit set (we are at the publishers mercy on this one as to when they decide to set it) - Come up with an HDCP implementation for Linux systems (yes -- that's DRM) - Watch HD media with the ICT bit set, at a degraded resolution of roughly 950x550 (I forget the exact numbers) instead of 720p or 1080p. Like I said, get mad at the entire industry or don't bother getting mad at all. Singling out MS isn't going to achieve anything if defeating DRM is your goal.
If you have ever taken a business class (which I have) you will know that Continual Business Process Improvement is not just a buzz-phrase but instead it's a way of life and a way of doing business. (See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quality_management) It means that you constantly look to improve the quality of the product, process etc. in such a way that improvments are realized and then you improve some more.
A good example of this is my form I use for processing new employees. When I first made it I left out some things. I wouldn't make sense for me to keep trying to make that old form work. So I changed it and added in the things I left off. Then we added another login which I needed to make sure I created. Therefore I changed it again. Each iteration becomes more streamlined and accurate.
Anyone know the intentions on Microsoft when it comes to exFAT?
...
Will it hold tight, like it has on NTFS, or allow cheap access to the net version of FAT?
I want exFAT on OS X
What's Leopard got to do with HDCP? As far as I'm aware, Apple haven't delivered HDCP support on any hardware or software.
They'll no doubt add it for Blu-Ray or HD-DVD playback, in which case the question becomes: "Is it in the OS or app layer, and if it's the former, how pervasive is it?"
Time for some more FUD -> http://www.cs.auckland.ac.nz/~pgut001/pubs/vista_cost.html
What power has law where only money rules.
Actual evidence, no. Anecdotal evidence, yes. The Graphic designer here installed Vista (that was a mistake) and it brought his computer to it's knees. The problem was in the indexing service. I doubt they have fixed this but I don't know because he reverted back to XP. Also note that the actual minimum requirements are for the Home Basic version which doesn't actually have any of the "features and improvements" so touted by Microsoft. Therefore if you have the minimum requirements but not the requirements for Ultimate then you are much better off sticking with XP.
What makes you think I'm not pissed at the entire industry? I don't own a single device implementing HDCP and I don't plan on it either. If they want my money, they can sell me a FULLY FUNCTIONAL device.
Give me Classic Slashdot or give me death!
Thanks for those links. Cleared up a lot of misapprehensions I had about Vista.
End of lesson. You may press the button.
Posting a 1 GB link on Slashdot is not the smartest thing you can do.
Knowledge is power. Knowledge shared is power lost.
How's 'bout some hard fact 'bout what they're fixin'? And, er, um - what'll it break and how long 'til SP2 fixes it?
Woops, I forgot all about that.
But you're right I didn't have problems with that one either.
or with this one for that matter:
http://www.geocities.com/rcwoolley/
WTF? That's something *completely different*.
There is nothing interesting going on at my blog
I need a 64 Bit OS. XP64 is too unsupported, and Vista won't even install on my hardware (don't know why, tried everything, there's nothing odd about my setup though). Someone turned me towards Server2008, which I downloaded from Microsofts site right away. I haven't installed it yet, but wanted to ask the community what its pros and cons were compared to both XP and Vista.
How would it fare as a workstation OS? Is it at all hampered by the memory hogging components that Vista uses? How about privacy? Why is it not getting as much press as Vista and XP as a viable alternative?
Thanks to anyone who can enlighten me on this!
... to have the service pack go RTM today and yet delay the release until a month later.
Unless Microsoft aren't concerned about leaks and torrents.
oh come on, how many slashdotters can there be using vista? :)
I'm with you. . . if they've started manufacturing discs of Vista SP1, isn't it a little late to be worried about a "great install experience"? I can only guess that what that means is they are burning what they've got now to discs, but they want to have a mini-service pack ready to roll-out with Windows Update as soon as people install SP1. . . "Thank you for taking an hour to upgrade to Vista Service Pack 1. In order to complete the installation process, Vista needs to connect to Windows Update to download and install SP 1.1, which should take another 1/2 hour to an hour. [OK]"
So does Vista. Even Vista Media Center plays them. Assuming you've been smart and, you know, installed the codecs. Just need one, actually: ffdshow. If you want to go for broke, you can also install the Combined Community Codec Pack (CCCP). Throw those at it, and Vista will play every file I have, including the MKVs and the OGG/Vorbis files.
And unlike your box, my Vista-based media center will actually play BluRay discs, as well as rips. And it'll play them at full 1080p through the HDMI or, if I prefer, the DVI output on my computer. Both of which support full HDCP. (I'm using the DVI, with the coaxial Dolby Digital output going directly to my decoder at the moment. I'll go HDMI when I replace my 24" WUXGA+ LCD display with a 46" HDTV in the near future)
The FUD about the DRM in Vista is completely overblown. It's in there, but it's not going to prevent you from viewing pirated content if that's your thing. Vista doesn't complain at all about playing videos or songs in my collection. The DRM is in there so that I can play my legitimately purchased content at full resolution, which is something you can't do with your box.
If you believe everything you read, you'd better not read. - Japanese proverb
I'll check back with my mate Chris.
Chris: Fucking Vista! Its gone into reduced functionality mode and says I have a pirated version!
Me: Chris, you do have a pirated version.
Chris: Well..... fuck.
3laws: No freebies, no backsies, GTFO.
Let's say you're copying some files. The actual copying isn't that bad, but waiting for the copy window to appear might take a full minute. Starting an application is my cue to sit back and maybe make myself a drink. I'm going back to XP because a friend with an 8800GT and similar specs gets 700+FPS in a Q3 timedemo, whereas the overhead of Vista drops my two 8800GTs in SLI to ~400 FPS. DirectX 10 in Crysis isn't worth the waiting (and the shame).
Consciousness is a myth. Trust me.
DRM by choice is still DRM and bad. Enabling DRM for DRM sake on a General Purpose computing device is insane. There is no reason to have an OS have any DRM at all. None. If Hollywood and Americal Idol folks want to have DRM, let them build specialty products and require the users to buy those.
... ) then they'll realize that Elvis (or his kid, grand kid etc) isn't starving. Yes, some of us are that old.
... I like Tom Petty, but that halftime show sucked. BORING.
And when they've bought the same album (or movie) for the fifth time (45, 8 track, 33, cassette, CD
Really, I don't have to or want to buy it again. Offtopic rant semi-related
Agent K: A *person* is smart. People are dumb, stupid, panicky animals, and you know it.
nt
We're getting the guys together to install some Vista SP1! Bob's bringing the snacks and Larry is bringing the drinks, it should be a Great Experience(TM).
Obligatory blog plug: http://www.caseybanner.ca/
Has anyone actually done an enterprise deployment of Vista? Give me the news that everyone wants. When is XP SP3 coming out? That's what everyone really cares about. That's the news Microsoft is keeping silent. They don't want enterprise customers to know that XP is viable.
New laptop you say? If you truly intended to install Linux on this from the outset then you would have shopped more carefully as there are new laptops that Linux supports well. It isn't the fault of Linux that off-brand laptops are still packed with embedded bargain bin hardware.
Go back under your bridge.
Apple has already implemented HDCP in Leopard: http://arstechnica.com/reviews/hardware/aluminum-and-glass-a-review-of-the-new-imac.ars
From the link: "There's also HDCP support built in, so future support for Blu-ray and HD DVD is not out of the question." I had read a more direct reference on Apple's site but I couldn't find that link right now.
Please don't interpret this as an anti-Apple rant though. Rather, as I said in my original post, get pissed at the entire industry, or nobody at all.
Apple never had a choice in the matter, and neither did MS. If you want your system to play HD-DVD or BluRay media once the ICT bit is set, you have to have HDCP support otherwise the playback resolution has to be degraded.
Whether you implement this in software or hardware (firmware) of course, is entirely up to you.
Yes they do. I have a Blueray drive and HDCP is recognised by my Fujitsu plasma. IIRC HDCP is not allowed to be touched by software, it is done by hardware directly.
Ubuntu wouldn't recognize the broadcom NIC - how lame is that?
My bridge is warmer than your rock.
If it has nothing to do with the operating system then why is it in the OS? Why not have a userspace application to handle the DRM business?
"What lies behind us, and what lies before us are tiny matters compared to what lies within us." Ralph Waldo Emerson
Yes, I *do* take issue with Microsoft. (and Apple, if the DRM measure is implemented in the OS X system).
Basically, DRM for this purpose should not be in a "General Purpose" Operating Environment. Breaking rank and implementing bends to the will of the media companies. I do not mind a crypto facility that I am in control of, though. As long as *I* am in control of the hardware.
If I buy a dedicated player, I don't expect it to be a "General Purpose" device. It would be nice, though, just not what I paid for.
In breaking rank, other proprietary Operating Environment vendors will feel pressured to ALSO include the feature; hardware vendors will feel the pressure, and the media companies will PWN YOU.
How this affects me? I have an excellent HD TV (Hitachi 42") that is analogue (no DVI or HDMI inputs). It actually resolves 1080i, and HD movies look great. But with the ICT token, I cannot view HD (and ICT has just started to be enabled by Studio Canal for some HD-DVD releases). Pisses me off, but at least its limited to my dedicated HD-DVD player. I wouldn't tolerate this on my computer.
So -- no Vista (or even general deployment of XP) for me (I will ALSO not tolerate the need to register my copy -- more than is needed to run a single instance of XP). If OS X does it, I won't be using that either. I guess I am "stuck" with Solaris, Linux and BSD.
Which relates to my signature. Ratboy666 is not (as some may think), the sign of the devil. Ratboy is an indication of my tendency to occasionally "go down ratholes" in search of answers, and 666 is the Unix "open access to all" permission.
Back to the original topic. For these (and some other) reasons, I have never used Microsoft Vista. Which means that the release of "SP1" is of utterly no interest (the reactions of other people is the only interesting thing here).
Just another "Cubible(sic) Joe" 2 17 3061
So they're holding off on SP1 for a 'great install experience'? Does that mean they want everyone to install Pre-SP1 and try out the locust-ridden Vista before installing the new SP1 with its signs of remission? Is this to better ratings by new users by making them say, "Oh, my experience greatly improved after installing SP1."
it's not about euphemisms.. it's about marketing, and it's not so '90s either.. it's still alive, even if you might be critical of the use of it.
watch http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/persuaders/view/ for a fairly interesting docu PBS did on it (warning: the fact that the people that are being interviewed take their jobs seriously is unnerving as well as a partial explanation of why and how they can keep coming up with stuff like it.)
This does it for US$179, has a remote and is NonGeek friendly :)
Our previous Mythdora box never got much praise from the better half.
Trolling is a art,
It allows me to pay 10.00 USD per month to have access to a library of hundred of thousands of songs.
Just my own anecdotal evidence from using Vista for a year on my primary PC well above minimum specs. (FYI I have 2GB of RAM and 1GB of Readyboost flash RAM.)
-Vista takes fucking forever to shut down or restart. It's frustrating enough to make me hard reset the PC everytime. One time I corrupted my iTunes library doing this. I still hard reset everytime because corrupted files are less annoying that waiting 5 minutes to restart. FUCK.
-Vista takes fucking forever to boot up. After booting it continues to prefetch apps from the hard disk for 10 minutes before I can use the PC. FUCK.
-When running Vista my soundcard crashes a few times a week. I know this is probably due to shitty soundblaster drivers but I never had sound card crashes in XP.
-Vista refused to stay in sleep mode for me or even start the screensaver automatically. This bug was aknowledged by Microsoft 11 months ago and only just got a fix in SP1. I've been running SP1 for about a month now and while it is an improvement (my PC will sleep now) it's still fucking Vista.
-Vista runs all my games slower than XP. Shitty graphics card drivers? Perhaps. Luckily I don't do much gaming on the PC anymore. Vista helped cure me of that addiction.
-Fucking UAC drove me insane until I downloaded TweakUAC to disable the prompts
-Vista refused to remember my folder view settings in Windows Explorer and to this day it still does.
-Vista refused to autostart my RAID monitoring application. I go into Windows Defender to set it to allow at start and the option is fucking greyed out. Nothing I could do would ungrey it. This garunteed 1 annoying UAC prompt at every boot. Fixed by disabling UAC prompts. FUCK.
-When troubleshooting some bad RAM Vista deactivated itself. How did I manage this? By rebooting my PC 1 DIMM at a time until I found the bad RAM. After 3 or 4 reboots Vista thought I had a new PC. I had to call India at 3AM and the call lasted over 30 minutes to resolve this. FUCK FUCK FUCK FUCK FUCK.
-Vistas continuous flow of security updates seem to garuntee me at least 1 horrible reboot experience a week
No it isn't. It's a mechanism by which you can prove that you have permission to play media which may require that permission. There's absolutely nothing which stops you playing un-DRMed media. Got some old AVIs? They'll play. That shelf full of CDs? No problem. All those MP3s you've been collecting? They'll still work.
Also, your "Digital Restriction Management" is about as useful as "Winblows" or "Micro$oft". Grow up.
How many people can read hex if only you and dead people can read hex?
The information we collect thanks to tools like the Customer Experience Improvement Program, Online Crash Analysis, and Windows Error Reporting help us learn about where and when customers are having issues with Windows Vista and the applications that run on it.
Translation: We'll spy on our customers until we figure out how to give this pig some wings.
That's our life, the big wheel of shit. - The Fat Man, Blue Tango Salvage
I don't know if Linux works well on HP laptops or not, but I can tell you that my nephew has some HP laptop (don't know what model, sorry), and it's a stinking pile of bargain-bin crap. So, yes, at least some HP notebooks are bargain-bin category.
Change is certain; progress is not obligatory.
Has anyone let the index thing finish? It has to suck while it is running. When (does it finish?) it finishes then see how the computer works. If the index kicks off every time you add files, then yes has to suck. If you can tell it to run when you are not using the computer (and stop when you start using the computer) it might stay out of your way.
Only one of the above are in the (potentially highly abuse-able) position of being able to push this onto the desktops of over 90% of all computers in the whole world, in the realm of mainstream computing - every document, every file, nearly every computer.
Each of those you've mentioned with HDCP support are in HIGHLY different situations with incredibly different potential ramifications, it is thus perfectly valid to get pissed selectively.
Seriously, wtf is Sony gonna do, at *worst* - cut you off from some games or movies? Now think about the worst-case of a company whose technology controls 90% of computers.
My desktop isn't fully supported, though all I'm missing are drivers for my X-fi. So I just use onboard sound.
My ancient laptop can run up to Ubuntu 6.10, but 7.10 won't install.
You pretty much have to go into a Linux install telling yourself you're going to work through the problems that arise. If you can't commit to spending a little time in the forums to figure some things out, you're better off installing Windows.
Change is certain; progress is not obligatory.
The only workaround I found was to tell it NOT to index certain types of files or to turn it off completely.
Escher was the first MC and Giger invented the HR department.
"7 years ago, the chorus of "OH MY GOD XP IS SO MUCH WORSE THAN 2000! THERE'S NO NEED TO UPGRADE!" in every XP article's comments were eerily similar to the ones you hear now every time Vista gets a mention."
Yeah, but XP came out less than 2 years after 2000. MS spent over 5 years on Vista and what did they come up with? A pretty interface and DRM. Vista is a giant blinking neon sign announcing that MS' devleopment process is broken--don't believe me? Read this.
Hey, I don't hate Vista. If I have to look at a monitor all day, I'd just as soon have a pretty OS to look at. But it's obvious that huge amounts of time and money were wasted, and maybe if enough of their customers rip on them MS will take the steps necessary (cue the rolling heads!) to do better next time.
Never let a lack of data get in the way of a good rant.
Well, unless your computer has an operating system that supports DRM (not Linux, BSD, or Solaris!), that is exactly what you will get on your computer. So how are you going to cope with your intolerable computer?
Anyone can "stand up for what they believe", but it takes a very brave individual to change what they believe. - Loundry
http://thepiratebay.org/tor/4007215/microsoft_windows_vista_with_service_pack_1_x64_rtm_e%20nglish_reta
http://thepiratebay.org/tor/4011992/microsoft_windows_vista_sp1_x86_eng_rtm
Alas, one does not exist, since your definition of "Fully Functional" seems to be "plays HD content with the ICT bit set without HDCP support".
Anyone can "stand up for what they believe", but it takes a very brave individual to change what they believe. - Loundry
In what way is DRM *not* about restricting the usage of a file encoded with it?
Causation can cause correlation
"The OEM Bios exploit, which involves modifying system files and the BIOS of the motherboard to mimic a type of product activation performed on copies of Windows that are pre-installed by OEMs in the factory."
They can't do this to me, do they have any idea how many OEM installs WGA breaks daily already? The dead systems from that 'fix' are going to flood the call centers.
Apparently I need a new job before mid march, I am not going through that.
Liberte, Egalite, Fraternite (TM)
"Not that it'll be bug free... I'm sure it will be ridden with mistakes and problems, accidental and deliberate. But it won't be because of lack of effort. I'm sure some Microsoft employees have poured their heart into this thing."
Just because you use a gold plated wide-mouth container for carting "night soil" doesn't mean you not hauling a bucket full 'o stinking shit.
Keerist. I've been hearing about Vista for YEARS, how it was going to be the 'be all and end all' and now they have to TWEAK it?
Linux has episodic incremental releases.
OS X has episodic incremental releases.
Windows has "events".
What unmitigated bullshit.
MSBPodcast.com The opinions expressed here are my own. If you don't like 'em... Think up your own stuff.
It confuses people. Same as all the different names for the various pentium variants ... pentium, pentium II, pentium pro, pentium 3, pentium IV, itanium, 586, 686, xeon, core duo, core 2, core 2 duo, and amd is just as bad.
Another example - usb - "full-speed" and "hi-speed".
Another telling example - the "version number game". Everyone plays it. Remember how Wordperfect was at 6.0, Microsoft bumped Word's verion from 2 to 6, just to be seen "as good."
Or when Mandrake bumped their version from 6 to 7, pretty much everyone else followed suit, so as not to be seen as "behind the times."
Mainstream success will come when people can get the information they need to make decisions without having to parse through all the static of weird names, version skewing, bafflegab, etc. According to your theory of "inventive names being better", the latest version of OpenOffice should be called "MonkeyBalls", and the next version something completely different, like "Wrath of Khan".
Kevin Smith on Prince
Reread it, and note the past tense. Customer Experience Improvement Program, Online Crash Analysis, and Windows Error Reporting are tools bundled with Vista SP0. They were able to look at the problems people were having from the word go.
I'll subscribe to Slashdot when I see a month without a dupe, a typo, or an article the "editors" didn't read.
Everybody's waiting for SP2 to come out before they upgrade to Vista, so Microsoft might as well just crank out the service packs.
And yet, you continue to use it. Why? (Not a troll, I'm seriously interested in your answer.)
Good, inexpensive web hosting
You high?
/sarcasm
It provides *zero* support for HDCP protected content, nor does it support FLAC, Ogg, APE...
Nice try. Really.
Because you bought the movie to watch it on your player, or from the disc you bought it on on devices that support it.
If you aretrying to do something unsupported with it, well, that's *your* problem. It's not a restriction.
FFS..you sound like Mr. Mackey from Southpark.
DRM is bad...mmmkay? It just is, mmmkay?
I agree with you that copyright terms (The Elvis bit) are *way* too long. Hate to say it, but that isn't DRM's fault.
DRM isn't the problem. Copyright extensions and transfers *are*.
-Vista takes fucking forever to boot up. After booting it continues to prefetch apps from the hard disk for 10 minutes before I can use the PC. FUCK.
Vista takes 5 seconds longer to boot up on my laptop than Ubuntu to get to the log in screen. Ubuntu takes a few seconds longer than Vista to get to the desktop. Overall, Ubuntu wins by a whopping 2-3 seconds. Whooptie friggin do. And what the fuck is shutting down? Is your crock of shit PC so ancient it doesn't support suspend?I only please one person per day. Today is not your day. Tomorrow isn't looking good either. - Scott Adams
Who pissed in you cheerios? It didn't sound like he got a laptop to run Linux, he got a laptop and THEN decided to run Linux. You Linux fans are getting more and more pissy. It is funny how Ububuntu is free but what I've been hearing lately is "buy hardware that works with Linux". Why don't I just buy hardware that works with Vista out of the box and just not worry about all the hassles like dual-monitor setups.
Will there be away to update your install disk to have sp1 and efi and bios boot for the 64 bit disk.
Or will there be a free iso download as you need the key to install and all ver of vista come one the same 32 bit or 64 bit disk.
I've just helped a friend upgrade...
Upgrade to Kubuntu, I mean!
Circumcision is child abuse.
Customer Experience Improvement Program == Now includes built-in tray notifications to let you know how much better off you'd be *purchasing* an upgrade to Windows XP Professional.
Change is certain; progress is not obligatory.
It's nicer than USB2 because it's faster and uses a crap less CPU. But Microsofts implimentation is blastimous to a very well constricted out but badly marketed technology.
Once you start despising the jerks, you become one.
1, Vista's DRM is integrated into the kernel, it should be in userspace and only activated when called upon (it shouldn't be there at all but that's another argument)
2, in order to play 1080p video it must go through the Protected Media Path, meaning if I have made my own 1080p recording (quiet possible within vista's life cycle) that isn't DRMed it cant be played (so much for "choosing" to use DRM). If a 1080 recording doesn't go through the PMP it will be degraded (down to 720 IIRC).
Vista has great support for DRM because of its tight integration into the core of the OS. The main issue with DRM is that it treats the end user (Alice) as the Attacker (Eve) so when Bob want Alice to use his software but he doesn't want Eve to use it, but DRM cant differentiate Alice from Eve.
Kindly follow your own advice and "educate yourself".
Calling someone a "hater" only means you can not rationally rebut their argument.
Someone wake me up when XP SP3 is released...
If you have non-DRM'ed 1080p content, it will play at 1080p just fine in Vista!
Try it - there's plenty around.
My video compression blog
Vista has a lot of instrumentation for when things go wrong, more then any previous OS release. It's amazingly productive and useful when you can prioritize and fix issues based on real world data instead of guesswork and vague bug reports.
Why should anyone be suprised that Microsoft is proud of that ability and it's results in SP1?
Heh. Thanks for pointing out that little egg. I saw Leela quotes too.
I have found there are just two ways to go.
It all comes down to livin' fast or dyin' slow. -REK, Jr.
That would be true if Fair Use was "supported". Fair Use is what you are legally permitted to do by copyright law. DRM takes away some of those legally permitted uses. That's a restriction if ever there was one.
How the hell is this rant considered informative? I swear slashdot is going to the dogs.
MS controls driver signing for Vista and unsigned drivers aren't officially permitted. That means they can very much control what you can and can't watch. New standard making it mandatory to encrypt high def content. No problems. Vista "supports" it, and you no longer can view unencrypted media.
The OS has everything to do with it. It provides the tools in the same way that an arms dealer can provide the tools to those who would want to defend or turn nasty and sell to the highest bidder regardless of their ethics.
These posts express my own personal views, not those of my employer
Have gnu, will travel.
Hate Vista. Love the 10 billion tons of software noone has ported to Leopard yet. Awaiting SP1.
``Tension, apprehension & dissension have begun!'' - Duffy Wyg&, in Alfred Bester's _The Demolished Man_
Fork Forthcoming
whois gawk date unzip strip find touch finger mount join nice man top fsck grep eject more yes exit umount sleep dump
I rather liked the nomenclature that Clipper (an old dBase III-compatible compiler) used: "Winter '85", "Autumn '86", "Summer '87", etc.
Please stand clear of the doors, por favor mantenganse alejado de las puertas
He got pissy with a trollistic post first. Read the parent. When Windows fans are polite, then I'm polite. When a post comes off like it was written by a parental basement dweller who thinks his experience reflects everybody's then I roast and toast accordingly. I know there is hardware that Linux doesn't support. That is a reality I've run into myself. It isn't the fault of hard working hackers that they haven't reversed engineered every piece of hardware put out by obstinate and difficult vendors. The rather large swath of hardware that DOES work is a testament to their good efforts and the efforts of others that get some specs released.
He had a bad experience with some unsupported (and unspecified) hardware and cast blame where it doesn't belong. It's a matter of both tone and clue. He has the use of neither. The nice way he could have handled it was to post the model of machine to an appropriate forum so that others who want to try Linux might get to avoid that hardware. Instead, he employed an insult: "Call me when Linux is ready for prime time." Or he could have at least dispensed with that last little comment entirely. The whole way he went about it is utterly devoid of both information and civility.
BTW, the quick test is to use a recent LiveCD to boot the prospective hardware. If that doesn't work or at least mostly work then give an install on that piece of kit a pass. You're not out much that way. And yes, it is necessary to buy hardware that is supported. It's much much easier than it used to be though there still are a few recalcitrant vendors who provide neither drivers or specs.
Incidentally, I spend quite a bit of time cleaning up the Windows hassles of others. It simply isn't so that Windows is compatible computing nirvana while Linux by contrast is utter junk that doesn't run on anything, The truth isn't nearly as neat or black and white I suspect both you and the parent poster are still too young to have learned that yet.
What happens when the "Online Crash Analysis" server in Redmond crashes?
---- "Logoff! That cookie shit makes me nervous!" - A. Soprano
I find it insulting that I have to "prove" that I purchased my dvd, blue ray disk, and/or HDdvd. I find it disturbing that SONY's only sorry for installing a root kit on my computer because they got caught at it, and for once the media companies actually aired it in the news. Or that big media finds it "okay" to make music CDs that aren't really music CDs and aren't compatible with a bunch of CD drives, and often attempt to install unwanted software on my computer - the SONY root kit wasn't the first copy right software on an audio disk. I find it insulting that I can't load my legally purchased disks into a big disk changer and stream them to any of the screens at my house - and that they sued a company that was making a very expensive player for rich clients that was making just this out of existence, that if I was an "early adopter" of a high def TV means that I can't play these disks at full resolution, that I can't put my legally acquired media onto a huge hard drive and leave the relatively fragile disks in some safe place where they won't get damaged when the blue ray player gets unaligned and the lens starts scraping the disks. I dislike the fact that big media would roll back the advent of the VCR if they could with the broadcast flag. I dislike the fact that they've poured so much money, and so control the broadcast media, that our politicians let them pass the DMCA which neatly bypasses all fair use rights. I find it insulting that I have to watch previews every stinking single time I insert certain disks, or watch the stupid "you wouldn't steal a car" commercial at the beginning of a bunch of disks - or that they even put that into my legally purchased DVD. I mean, c'mon, it's only the legal disks that will have this, the pirates will just remove it. I'm tired of being their customer and being treated like a criminal for being so. Or how about the digital signing of my downloads, and that if they decide to close down that devision of their company that I'm simply SOL because they decided NOT to migrate me to an offline DRM scheme. DRM in all forms is all about control. It doesn't stop piracy, heck, it barely slows it down. It just makes it very inconvenient for those who wish to "do the right thing" and use the media that they've legally purchased in the way that we chose to use it. It's a sad state of affairs when the "pirated" media can be just as high quality, treat's me the "customer" with a lot more respect, won't sue me, threaten to throw me in jail or bankrupt me, and unlike traditional "pirates" won't rape me, kill me, or pillage my belongings, and is "more compatible" then the legally purchased big media disks. That if I purchase a screen that's big enough and want to invite a bunch of my friends over to my house, or my church, to watch the big game that I might be infringing somebody's copyright and they might sue me - they don't have a "screen size" control yet, but I wouldn't be surprised if that's coming, but it's perfectly okay for the sports bar down the street that's MAKING MONEY because of the same fricking big screens can show the game to as large a crowd as they want.
Oh, yes, and lets not forget about the possibility of one of those scurvy pirates of cracking a license key and making my blue ray or hd dvd player not capable of playing any disks published past that sad date. Sure, I blame the pirates for breaking the code, just as I would if they managed to break my XP/Vista license key and MS disabled my OS. But I also blame the media companies, and MS in this case, for building in something to a product I legally purchased and had no way of protecting that would render the product I legally purchased unusable.
It'll auto-install the Yahoo Toolbar for Internet Explorer!
"It was a summer's tale: Just a boy, his Linux, and a head full of dreams..."
As other posters have said, the art of installing Linux is to ensure you choose your hardware dilligently, especially with laptops. If you don't have the technical skills to install Linux, then why not buy a pre-installed Linux laptop?
You also need to bear in mind that using Linux defines a need for some personal responsibility, self determination and self motivation - there's no denying that the moment you start using it as a newbie then you're going to be on a steep learning curve. If you're not prepared to invest time in that or spend some time researching web sites and forums where other people may ahve experienced the same problems as you and published a fix or workaround, then don't use it. It's that simple.
And I'm afraid you're going to be a long time waiting for that call - Linux is not going to come running to you, you need to demonstrate a willingness to invest some time and effort in it before you will see any pay-offs and fully understand why so many other people use it.
Gentoo Linux - another day, another USE flag.
No, I am not blaming only Vista/Microsoft. But I will certainly not defend Microsoft for "doing the same".
P.S. If those stories about "tilt bits" are true then I can directly blame Microsoft. They should know better.
So... you may disagree and have this pollyanna don't-buy-it-if-you-don't-support-it attitude, but some of worry about the future of humanity and can legitimately call Microsoft on these shenanigans.
-1, Too Many Layers Of Abstraction
Alternatively, you could have downloaded one of the "support as much hardware as possible" distro boot disks like Knoppix and see if that picked up the NIC.
Again, you need to want to help yourself. If you're going to fall at the first hurdle then stay away from Linux - you don't need it.
Gentoo Linux - another day, another USE flag.
In other news, a new bycicle store opened for fish.
In other words, who cares?
Real Nerds don't do Microsoft.
You might want to check your manufacturer's manual for your TV.
I am willing to bet that since it is a Plasma (AKA: it's fairly new) it supports HDCP.
HDCP is a form of copy protection. Please see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hdcp for way more information than I can provide.
HDCP works over DVI or HDMI. HDMI is basically DVI with an audio transport and a smaller connector. You can get HDMI to DVI adapters and cables. I am guessing that you have either confused or associated HDMI and HDCP as one in the same.
I liked to insist on that too, but I finally gave up. Technically, if not logically, "its" has no apostrophe (mercifully, people rarely need to use "it" in the plural form).
Property is theft.
Actually the "network/audio QoS" bug you talk about is not fixed in SP1. More tech details:
The computer drive supports movies in that format. The computer can process the data from those discs and output the correct video from discs without a particular bit enabled. The monitor can accept 1080i or 1080p video from any of those discs and the videostream. Every part of the system supports playback, except for a software restriction. The hardware supports what users are trying to do. The software supports what users are trying to do, and if a bit wasn't enabled, it would do exactly what the users are trying to do. That bit is a restriction.
Unlike Winblows and Micro$oft, Digital Restriction Management is a more accurate description of what the term means. It's also not trying to be juvenile. It sounds like it could be the correct term. If it caught on among enthusiasts, it could redefine how people think about the acronym and counter the bullshit of the consortium that made it up.
DVD once meant either digital video disc or digital versatile disc. Then people agreed what it should stand for. We could yet decide DRM should stand for something different. We could get recognition to the point where tech-columnists write "DRM stands for Digital Rights Management or Digital Restrictions Management, depending on your point of view."
It's going to take a month and a half to create a good "install experience"? Ubuntu update manager suddenly looks state of the art. A team of people should not need a month and a half.
Censorship is the opposite of education. If neo-darwinism were defensible, people would not need to try and censor ID.
The thing is, opposed to XP i REALLY like the vista indexing service (and its integreation into the start menue).
The old start-menue (with 4-tiered menue hierarchy), i.e. the shit every linux gui copied, got old pretty quickly. Now you can just type into that box and use autocomplete. Not only for startmenue items, but also for the document index, with results as two seperate lists.
While i was always pretty serious about using the explorer and folder hierarchies to organise stuff, but after upgrating i feel this as a real benefit to user experience.
I have it for a week now, and already i couldnt think about going back to xp.
Also, under "Energy Options", you can select the priority of the index service. Also IOs of the index service run with low priority. Looking at the Ressource Monitor, i can see them defered and having 100s of miliseconds of latency while app requests are in the 10s (because they are priorized).
So I cannot really see a way how the indexer should block any recent system (maybe if the HD had a million doc files on it or something...)
HI O WISE PRINCE. WHT TOOK U SO DAM LONG?
I don't think I can call this hard evidence of anything, but Vista on my laptop tends to lag even when doing simple things like opening up a folder in Windows Explorer. With lagging I mean that the folder window stops responding at all for a period of maybe 10-20 seconds. (Showing the grayed out window if I try clicking on the window.) This is on a gaming laptop with Core 2 Duo 2GHz, 2GB RAM and NVidia 8600M. It sometimes lags in other programs too, but since I can't tell if the fault lies with Vista or with the programs, I'll give Vista the benefit of doubt.
That is however the biggest complaint I have for Vista. Other than the lagging problem, I don't really have much against Vista. (Disabling UAC was one of the first things I did though.)
Do they mean this one by any chance?
Slashdot has covered this before but, conspiracy theories aside, isn't the possibility of a backdoor enough to make this algorithm a misfeature?
Don't panic, it's not a security problem for you unless software developers choose to use it. I just can't see why they are giving us such a bad option.
You should not make that bet.
There are even now flat TVs (lcd/plasma) sold which do not have HDCP. It is easy to see, if there is no "HD ready" sticker then it does not have HDCP (at least so in Finland).
My plasma was bought 2003. I doubt there were any HDCP capable TV's back then.
I find it irritating to have to regularly look at
Debian is even worse. Nobody *ever* uses the release numbers.
I don't mind releases having a nickname. Except they shouldn't be used all over the place. Especially not in the system. (why does apt repositories always use the nickname instead of the version for example ?)
May contain traces of nut.
Made from the freshest electrons.
Wow, can anyone REALLY be this clueless? DRM is there so you can watch your stuff at full resolution? What's next - war is peace? Freedom is slavery? Ignorance is strength?
You've either swallowed the line bait, hook and sinker, or you're an astroturfer. I'm going to apply Hanlon's razor and go with the former, assuming stupidity rather than malice, but still... sheesh. Lay of the crack, man, it's not good for your brain.
Redmond, WA, Feb 4 (BSIS) After numerous delays, the widely-expected Service Pack 1, or SP1, for Microsoft Vista was sent from the development team to the Microsoft organization responsible for manufacturing CDs and online bits for the use of customers. Many analysts have predicted that SP1 will be in the hands of "end users" by approximately April 1, a traditional Microsoft-related date.
Microsoft occasionally releases these "service packs" to minimize or obfuscate the more egregiously defective "features" in its software, which is known to infect hundreds of millions of "PCs"; computers that would have been classed as "supercomputers" a few short years ago. The company's "Vista" product, an aggressively-marketed degradation of its long-time "Windows" line, has been singled out for more-than-usual ridicule and loathing since its release over a year ago. Though admitting that sales of Vista have been slower than previously commanded, Microsoft has recently been forced to swallow embarrassment and 're-release" Windows XP to the retail and manufacturer channels. Millions of PCs have been upgraded from Vista to XP since then. SP1 had been touted as carrying Microsoft's hopes that its newest cash cow would finally be taken seriously by analysts and usees.
However, sources tell BSIS, immediate and severe problems have arisen around the "impending" public release of Windows Vista SP1. A source who spoke on condition of anonymity explained, "Manufacturing got the gold masters for SP1 a few hours ago, both for the "upgrade" and "new insallation" versions. Unfortunately, a low-level employee attempted to actually install the complete system (Vista and SP1 together) on one of their machines, and the entire Manufacturing network blue-screened." ("Blue-screened" is a term used to refer to the "Blue Screen of Death", an indication that Microsoft's software has encountered an impossible or unusual condition, such as disk or network data transfer.) "When we rebooted the systems, all they would do was display a video of SteveB (Steven A. Vallmer, CEO of Microsoft) throwing chairs at some poor girl. It was horrible. We had to put new (disk) drives into every single PC to get them working with XP again."
No official or independent confirmation of this chain of events was available by the time this story was filed. Microsoft continues to insist that all is well. A public-relations official, speaking off the record, quipped, "Hey, if Bush can get away with all the (stuff) he's pulled, why does everybody pick on us?"
In related news, Microsoft shares continue their long-term downward trend.
I read the FUD, the anti-FUD, the BS. In the end I simply state "Vista, is simply not right for what I want to do, right now." I prefer my Ubuntu, it does me just right. I like the fact that I have everything I need for free. I'll be honest, when I was running Windows, if wanted to do something I would simply fire up uTorrent and a browser and keep ripping stuff off from torrent sites until I found something that worked. I filled HDDs full of shite, for good reason other than being lazy. Now I have an O/S that I need to work a little harder with, but I know when I download software, the local Polizia won't be banging my door down. My missus now uses a Mac for much the same reason, if she wanted to do something, I would rip stuff off for her too.
I'm not trying to be all full of Linux or Apple righteousness, it's a free world (mostly), pays yer money makes yer choice, Lin and Mac just work for me at the moment. Maybe I'll change with "Windows 7", but right now it has helped me kick my addictive pirating habit, which Windows fostered in me.
Windows guys please stop pissing on everyone and the Linux guys stop pissing in the wind, hoping to hit Windows guys!
"From the link: "There's also HDCP support built in, so future support for Blu-ray and HD DVD is not out of the question.""
I suggest you reread the article, because the reviewer was referring to the fact that the ATI Radeon graphics hardware in the iMacs supports HDCP, not OS X 10.5 (Leopard).
I'm not going to change your sheets again, Mr. Hastings.
I just bought new monitor (22' widescreen) and graphics card (GeForce 8800GT). I would really like to use DirectX 10. The newer games are starting to support it. For this I would need Vista. What I want to know is if Vista w/SP1 is good enough to use. Can I replace XP with it and get a better experience in games and light non-game use? (For any real work I'll use a remote linux server anyways.)
Computers are useless. They can only give you answers - Pablo Picasso
1. Points. 2. Laughs. 3. Laughs some more. 4. ...
5 PROFIT!!!
Ah, the good old days. Clipper 5.2 and Clipper Toolkit 3.0 were all I needed.
Kevin Smith on Prince
I think you're suffering from a cranial-rectal inversion. You may want to get that checked.
DRM doesn't prevent me from watching anything I have. You missed that part, right? I can download all I want, and Vista isn't going to stop me from doing it. I know this, because I use it for exactly that purpose (it being the only computer other than my server that I leave on all the time).
And as any technically-minded person can tell you, there is *nothing* at the software level that can prevent me from copying something. Any new copy protection scheme they come up with *will* be broken, and in fact already has been broken. So what do I get from the DRM embedded in Vista that I simply cannot get from Linux? The ability to play full HD content on my TV. Without the DRM, playback gets downgraded for both the audio and the video signal. And that downgrading is done *at the hardware level*, by the TV itself. It's part of the specification. And I'm not a skilled enough hacker to bypass that in the TV. I *could* hook it up to a computer monitor, but have you compared the difference in cost between, say, a 30" computer monitor and a 46" 1080p TV? Simple economics.
And for the record, Vista hasn't prevented me from ripping any DVDs or CDs. It's not capable of it.
If you believe everything you read, you'd better not read. - Japanese proverb
And my experience beta testing, and just about everyone else I know is that this is "by far" the best version of Windows Server yet. The server version is nothing like Vista in terms of user experience (despite the fact they're built from the same code base). Basically everything gets better, and you get more functionality. They just need the server team to work on consumer OS now :-)
See this eweek review: http://www.eweek.com/c/a/Infrastructure/Windows-Server-2008-Is-Microsofts-Leanest-Meanest-Yet/
This is the same problem that MS has had for something like 10 years. When they first snuck indexing into Office, your computer would slow to a crawl for no apparent reason until you turned it off (assuming you could figure out what was causing it, which 95% of users would _not_ be able to do). Then there was the indexing service in XP which was a big performance hit. The problem with Microsoft is that they never learn a lesson.
You are in a maze of twisty little passages, all alike.
Obviously you have missed all the fla^Wdebates about tuning linux kernel for server usage or ui responsiveness over last 6 months...
SP1? you are quite brave...
;))
NT 4.0 went stable with SP3. Ish. SP6a really made a difference, but came too late.
Windows 2000? SP4. Again, rather late in the cycle.
XP - ok, SP2 is pretty good. SP3, if to judge by past experience, will be a fuckin hotrod screamer (good
Vista and SP1? No way. SP1 (from microsoft) qualifies product for initial experiments and light research. As in - stable beta.
Microsoft didn't have to play their game. They chose to. Whenever the ICT flag gets set in a movie, I won't be able to use my monitor to view high definition video through Vista, should I desire to. Despite the fact that it would decode just fine, if not for DRM. Despite the fact that it would display just fine, if not for DRM.
Quote from the blog: "The key learning over the last year is that when we change the operating system, it takes time to let the ecosystem make sure that the hardware and software that they build works well with Windows Vista. So as we release Windows Vista SP1 to manufacturing, we are going to be thoughtful about when and how it gets distributed." Note that the Microsoft wants to "make sure" that the "ecosystem... hardware and software" must "work well with Windows Vista" and *not* that Windows Vista works at all with the "ecosystem". And as a result of this musing, Microsoft plans to ration SP1. being "thoughtful about when and how it gets distributed". This is yet another declaration by Microsoft that the market marches to Microsoft's beat and that Microsoft can produce any crummy thing that they please and the "ecosystem" has to adjust to Microsoft.
Suspend was broken for me until installing SP1 about a month ago.
Because I'm too lazy to look for my XP key, backup my data, and then reinstall XP. I've decided to wait for Intel to release Penryn and then I'll upgrade to a new PC with XP or switch to Apple.
Generally, if you have XP, you can get the same functionality with Find and Run Robot and Locate32. Oh, and locate32 only indexes when you tell it to/schedule it to. Both are free.
The problem isn't so much Vista's features as it is a big meh vs what everyone who cared already has in XP with free or cheap 3rd party add ons.
For me, Vista's big problem isn't that it's slow. It's that it's slow for me to operate because MS, like every time before, decided to *MOVE EVERY DAMN* setting location so I can't find anything. Oh, and lots of hardware doesn't work because manufacturers suck with the drivers. Not MS fault, but there it is (same as it isn't Linux's fault, but doesn't matter, I can't use it without buying new crap).
So I'm still left with, what do I get? New Features? Not really, I can skin XP if I fell like I need eye candy. I've got indexed search that doesn't kill the PC. I've got keyboard find as you type access to the start menu. I've got breadcrumbs via Directory Opus, and way the hell more of a file manager in general. I've got CDBurnerXP for DVD and CD Burning. I've got Comodo Firewall for a actually USEFUL HIPS (and 2 way firewall) vs UAC which is just a PITA that has to be turned off (for me anyway).
Vista isn't more stable than XP. Vista isn't more secure than the above setup. Software still comes out for XP, and it doesn't look like it's stopping.
I build my own PCs, so I'd have to get the retail version of Vista if I want to be legal (if I do understand their licensing, which is kind of confusing). They aren't selling me on Vista like they did with XP over 98SE. Now with new PCs, bought in the store, it's half and half if people want Vista or XP. Lots want XP because of familiarity. I really think MS just want's to make it harder on itself... otherwise, why is the UI for Vista about as similar to XP as KDE is?
Opera, Proxomitron-Grypen,GPG 0x0A1C6EE3
Then don't buy the disks. Sorted.
How many people can read hex if only you and dead people can read hex?
I haven't bought or downloaded music in years. There's no DRM on "real" CDs, but the music companies don't advertise which disks are "standard" CDs and which ones have autorun programs on them. Voting with your dollar becomes a little harder in this case if you can't get accurate information on which disks have junk ware on them and which don't.
It's a similar situation with the advertisements on DVDs. The DVDs aren't required to label that there are 5-10 minutes of commercials in the guise of previews and FBI warnings and media company "education" that you may not be able to skip by. So if you're willing to swallow the DRM, you don't get to know until after you purchase the disk that you also have to swallow their advertisements. So, again, voting with one's dollar becomes troublesome here as well.
I have purchased a few DVDs, and I'm of very mixed mind when I do. I like the shows I'm purchasing, but I'm obviously supporting a group that I don't agree with. My bad when I do break down and purchase a DVD then.
Simply not purchasing disks isn't really going to accomplish anything, unfortunately. There are so few people, relatively speaking, that even realise or care about the restrictions on the various media that it's not an effective boycott.
That, and the media companies are doing their best to make it so that ANY copyrightable media is copy righted indefinitely, that any channel that one might get the media through has DRM built into it from beginning to end, that given their druthers, there would be no media except DRM'd media, which is almost the point we're at with DVDs, and I expect Blue Ray and HDDVD to be at least as bad. I'm heartened a smidge by the music industry backing off, a little, on DRM, but I don't expect it to last indefinitely. It won't stop there if they have their way. It'll continue on to broadcast and cable with the broadcast flag and the DMCA backing up their poor encryption on that channel. It'll start there with a few shows, then a few more, and eventually you'll have pay per view everything.
If you take this to its ultimate conclusion, there won't be a choice to have non encrypted media, then when people say it's such a horrible thing they can say "but EVERYBODY's doing it." even though it was them who forced the DRM down the hardware manufacture's and citizen's throats.