Slashdot Mirror
Microsoft Battles Vista Perception With Prizes
LambAndMint writes "In what can only be described as an act of utter desperation to overcome Vista's mostly negative public perception issues, Microsoft has put together an online "Fact or Fiction" quiz about Windows Vista. Every person who submits themselves to Microsoft indoctrination gets a free shirt and the chance to win a $15,000 prize. Some of the supposed 'facts' will make you feel like you're reading a document from an alternate reality. Get ready to get a job as a computer salesman for a mass-market retailer as you go through the quiz."
Woohoo! Free shirt!
This is left as an exercise for the reader.
I'm sick of following my dreams. I'm just going to ask where they're goin' and hook up with 'em later.
I'm glad they're not running an airline. They'd be in the side of a mountain by now.
Most of the stuff on
is a free upgrade to XP Pro!
...and all I got was this lousy operating system.
(But the T-Shirt wasn't half bad)
first post
The grand prize includes a multitude of Sony products. *sniff* I can smell the conspiracy theorists from here!
All I can see in Firefox is a notice that says "Get Microsoft Silverlight". I thought it was an ad for Vista... *confused*
They should have offered punch and pie!!!
stop feeding microsoft, just ignore them they'll go away and make a good product if they want some attention.
IranAir Flight 655 never forget!
It'll still come preloaded on almost all non-Apple x86 boxes. Like it or hate it, Microsoft still gets the money and the marketshare statistics.
"Believe me!" -- Donald Trump
A free tee-shirt isn't worth installing silverlight on my computer.
This is slashdot, but I find myself a little surprised to see this as a headline. Sure, microsoft is giving crap away in order to boost sales of their new lackluster OS. Same story happens in every business. Marketing gets told to go make some sales happen and they often ocme up with things like this. It's not propaganda anymore than any advertising is propaganda. How about we stick to decrying the main and major faults in the OS, rather than poking fun at a common business tactic. It's not like we are short on low hanging fruit.
Got to get some better packaging. Yeah, that's it.
"I bless every day that I continue to live, for every day is pure profit."
Those of us who went to the Vans Warped tour last year will remember the Zune booth which gave out free Zune wristbands. Shame on Microsoft for not having a clue and shame on the Warped tour for being so blatently corporate whore.
Oh, and nice try, Microsoft, but I'm not installing silverlight.
That was a great way to express my fellings to M$. Let's try it. Hey i can't what is silverlight? Does it run on Linux?
CONDITIONS OF ENTRY
Instructions on how to enter form part of these Conditions of Entry. By participating in this promotion, entrants agree to be bound by these Conditions of Entry.
You must be a Local OEM Channel Partner. Definition of a Local OEM channel partner ("partners") includes resellers and System Builders who resell other branded hardware (PCs and Servers) with Microsoft OEM Licenses or who build hardware to sell directly to end customers.
Entry is only open to Australian residents residing in NSW, VIC, QLD, NT, or SA who are Microsoft OEM Channel Partners. The promotion commences at 09:00am (Sydney time) on Friday 14th December 2007 and closes at 11:59pm (Sydney time) on Friday 14th March 2008 ("Promotional Period"). The Promoter's decision in relation to all aspects of this promotion is final and no correspondence will be entered into.
Windows Vista sold more copes than any other Microsoft Operating System (including Windows XP) In the first month following launch.
(Fact) Fiction
Windows Vista faces significant Compatibility issues with hardware devices.
Fact (Fiction)
Windows Vista faces significant issues in terms of integrating with other software applications.
Fact (Fiction)
Windows Vista delivers all new levels of security compared to previous Windows operating systems.
(Fact) Fiction
Windows Vista is expneisve to deploy and run.
Fact (Fiction)
Windows Vista hasn't been popular with businesses.
Fact (Fiction)
Windows Vista is unreliable and requires more technical support than Windows XP.
Fact (Fiction)
Microsoft has been swift to diagnose and rectify initial issues with Windows Vista.
(Fact) Fiction
Windows Vista can help deliver peace of mind for parents in terms of their children's online safety.
(Fact) Fiction
Windows Vista won't truly be ready until the first complete Service Pack is released.
Fact (Fiction)
Their answers, not mine!
I'm sick of following my dreams. I'm just going to ask where they're goin' and hook up with 'em later.
for the chance to win a home theatre package worth $15K. Too bad it's only for Local OEM Partners. (Being Canadian doesn't help either, heh.)
I've got a triple boot laptop: Vista, FreeBSD, OpenBSD. I only ever had one problem with it and it was fixed- the USB subsystem blue screen. Most of my old programs run on it unless they have some funky driver.
But I customized it so perhaps I just don't see any of the problems. My screen looks like Win2K and all the eye candy and crap is turned off. And I have yet to see any Ultimate Extra that is anything more than a screen background.
One thing that is useful is to download "Server Tools". With it you get a utility that will make bootable iso DVD's. Otherwise I just make DVD's in FreeBSD.
Instead of Gates doing the "Wow" thing, he should have just stuck to the features.
Vista is such a steaming pile of 5hit. Why would I want to wear a shirt with that on it?
I'd rather have a full bottle in front of me than a full frontal lobotomy.
that secretaries listen to that suck so much that they have to give away money every hour to get people to listen.
Microsoft: The most free money every hour!
This test is interesting enough to clog your system with silverlight.
[ ] Fact
[x] Fiction
We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
All of the "facts" are true, and yet Vista is still a slow giant that doesn't play well with others and needs an uber-machine to accomplish basic feats.
Comon' guys, the market isn't saying these criticisms based on fictional accounts - they bought/used Vista and it sucked as an experience.
And PLEASE, give up on the Aero-is-cool stuff. You are playing catchup on the desktop - by far. You've simply been in GDI for so long you can't see the irony of cheering about abandoning it now.
Give your user support offices that "quiz" and listen for laughter.
If Microsoft Marketing was running an airline, it would be 100% safe! Zero crashes. Because no Microsoft aircraft would work well enough even to taxi on the runway.
Have you ever talked with Microsoft marketing people? Every day they have to go to work and pretend that they are doing something positive for a company that pretends to sell quality products. They pile fantasies on fantasies. They live in a world of unreality.
Microsoft marketing people are far scarier than zombies. Zombies have more respect from the universe; they were at one time at least allowed to die.
Like zombies, MS marketing people also have no will of their own; they are automotons of corporate speak, which is a language that no one understands, including themselves. But they wander the earth undead, believing that they are human, believing that they have jobs.
Okay, some of this may not be completely true. However, I'm not sure what or how much.
I can't find this.
Anyone have a link?
"Silverlight?" WTF?
'Once scientists, even the dim-witted social scientists, get muzzled, the Western Civilization is finished.' - oldhack
I think the thing is buggy. When you had to choose which version for the person, I couldn't click on anything but Vista Ultimate.
...Quizaganda.
How long before Microsoft's popularity dips so low they decide to change their name?
Think "Splenda" for something which rots your dick upon contact.
I like that you have to accept their terms and conditions before playing.
I love how the silverlight download wants me to run silverlight.exe to install it... on my Linux box. Probably not going to work. How about some better user-agent checking with a message like: "For your own good, please go away. We are only planning to provide half-baked implementations and lip-service to non-Microsoft platforms".
And maybe it would be nice if my OS didn't take twice as long to accomplish the same basic task while you're at it ...
-- Tigger warning: This post may contain tiggers! --
Make sure you complete the quiz from your Linux box (or use the User Agent Switcher add-on under Firefox)
Can somebody help me? I'm trying to complete the quiz, but I'm having trouble installing this sliverlight stuff on my Linux box and getting the site to work under Firefox.
If I could just finish the quiz I might ditch Slackware and move to Vista!
Find coupons in Greeley
Q: Vista faces significant compatibility issues with hardware devices
A: Fact!
MS: Are you 100% sure? We supported 1.4M devices at launch and have doubled that number since then. Are you sure
YES / NO
A: YES
MS: You're wrong WRONG! WRONG! Too stoopid to have a computer TRY AGAIN
Q: Vista faces significant compatibility issues with hardware devices
I'm sorry Dave, I can't let you do that.
.. paranoid crackpot leftover from the days of Amiga.
You want the shirt's 'source pattern'? Here you go. I ... uhh ... reverse engineered it:
####
####
####
I'm not too familiar with this 'Silverlight'.
Is it equally devastating to both werewolves and vampires?
... or cry.
Engineering is the art of compromise.
Text quoted from the Silverlight quiz applet...
How to Play
Fact or Fiction is designed to test your knowledge of the Windows Vista operating system. There are 18 questions in total, and you must answer every question correctly in order to go into the draw to win.
Here's how to get started:
I actually got them all correct. It is nice to see that you also included the wrong answer in parentheses.
AUD 15000 = USD 13486.50
They say the mind is the first thing to
Where's the CowboyNeal option?
telegram poie
Yeah man, you said it...
I think MS got the idea from the Philipean religious community: "Be nailed to a cross for $5,000!"
Table-ized A.I.
Sort of cute, isn't it? However, I think it is definitely a step in the right direction. MS Vista is a bad OS but is really not as bad and unusable as it is made out to be.
that's the best give microsoft could ever give, a ticket out of windows.
Free t-shirt? Vista is the greatest!!
"UNIX is very simple, it just needs a genius to understand its simplicity." -Dennis Ritchie
Isn't this just a quiz? What reason would there be to require users to install silverlight just to answer yes/no questions. I can't access it as my OS is not supported but is there any reason the quiz couldn't just use a check box and a next button?
The Fact or Fiction site was put together by Microsoft Australia for "technology professionals" and aims to help Windows tech experts sell Vista to their customers. This is not oriented toward the general public, and frankly it doesn't look "desperate" to me.
Sure Vista has been a disappointment, but not everything Microsoft does is evidence of this.
Read the EFF's Fair Use FAQ
That site has been around for weeks........... Why dont they juts have the following on the page: Is it true that Microsoft Vista sucks ass (oh and disable the No button so even Microsoft cant generate phantom positive responses) Meanwhile for the T-Shirt, i submit: Microsoft Vista Im not the only thing thats bloated.....
for australia only :(
I've met Microsoft Marketing employees, that's what I was talking about. I was just trying to describe what I saw. My sense of horror was stronger than I am able to put into words, however.
Suppose you had a job, but what you did in your job didn't actually benefit your company. And your company was adversarial toward its customers, as much as possible, so that, even if you did benefit your company, you would being doing harm in the world. How would you describe that?
Second prize is two copies.
Give it a fucking rest already people.
Right now, I have 4 systems running at my desk. A desktop running Vista (that I'm typing this on), another desktop running Leopard, a laptop running Mandriva 2008, and another laptop running XP. And ya know what? They all have their problems. The Leopard box and the Mandriva box have locked up as many times as the Vista and XP box. My Vista box runs for weeks at a time without reboot, its stable, and I use it (and compile software on it) every day. It, like the XP box, has never had a virus, adware, or malware on it, nor do I run eleventybillion packages of "protection" software on them...I use intelligence and common sense when I surf and read email. The only hardware compatibility issue I've had with any of the boxes is its apparently a bitch to find a Mac-compatible sound card without spending bags of money.
Everyone claims Linux and Macs "just work". Funny...I see just as many pleas for help in all the Mac and Linux magazines and web forums as I do in the Vista and XP magazines and forums.
If you don't like Vista or it doesn't work for you, fine, run something else. Get what works for you and makes you happy. But the constant Vista/Microsoft bashing (mostly, or so it seems, from people who don't actually use it) when Linux and OS X have their issues too is getting tiresome.
I want a new quote. One that won't spill. One that don't cost too much. Or come in a pill.
Vista is FAIL - http://wwwfail.com/?url=microsoft.com%2Fvista
Aside from ms orifice and maybe hex-box, how can they NOT fight for saving vista, however dim the view ahead? After all, since they're adding prizes to the gimmickry to generate uptake....the money they sunk into it makes it their most... ummm.. "prized POssession", or OBsession or CONfession...
Previously: "Linux... Toward the Sunrise..." Now: "Linux... Toward the-- No, now, part of Every Sunrise"
I actually did this a while back (the promotion has been running since December 2007 IIRC). They send both a shirt and a certificate (as a Vista certified salesperson) to whatever name you fill in the form. I did it several times with the names "A Retarded Monkey", "Someone Brain-damaged", etc.
I have a certificate on my wall that states "This certifies that An Ignorant Buffoon has reached the level of excellence to qualify as a Vista Certified Salesperson".
(I'm paraphrasing as I'm not in the office at the moment).
> Every person who submits ... [gets] the chance to win a $15,000 prize.
/. just to lower the odds.
So, you post it on
Cheers, mate >:
Max.
True. "Cancel or Allow" is certainly a new level of security.
Safety? Probably not from Microsoft. Peace of mind? Depends how gullible the person is.
Could be fiction. Define "complete".
Thanks for the questions. I wanted to take the quiz, but I got an error when I tried to run the file. "bash: cannote execute binary file"
Write your own Choose Your Own Adventure. http://www.freegameengines.org/gamebook-engine/
"Rilly Sabbit! Kixs are for TRIDS!!"??
Or, um, I meant... "Silly Rabbit! TRIX are for KIDS"??
Maybe ms should eat Lucky Charms or Total, or Gain or Alpo?
Wait, they can sell 3 licenses to each employee, and inflate their uptake counts. Or, put windows on floppies, err, umm, DVDs like AOL did its warez on CD...
Previously: "Linux... Toward the Sunrise..." Now: "Linux... Toward the-- No, now, part of Every Sunrise"
Fact. Translation: We've gotten better at force-feeding upgrades to people. In the past, it was actually possible to buy a computer with the previous version of Windows in that first month.
Fiction. Translation: We consider any hardware that doesn't have a "Works with Vista" sticker on it to be insignificant.
Fiction. Translation: Windows Vista is not an application, it's an operating system. Therefore, we squeak by on a technicality.
Fact. Translation: We're more secure from bad press, because we can always say "They clicked allow at some point! Don't you know you were supposed to click 'deny' on that one?"
Fiction. Translation: There's no such word as "expnesive". Alternate translation, in case the typo was only the parent post: It's only expensive once you actually want to use it for something. But if "deploy" counts as part of a new computer, and "run" counts on booting up, it's dirt-cheap!
Fiction. Translation: It's been popular with some businesses, like MSN and NBC! No one said anything about Vista being popular with all businesses, or even a majority of businesses!
Fiction. Translation: The only tech support you need with Vista is "Here's a copy of XP!" That's a lot less time on the phone! Ok, yes, Vista is unreliable, but didn't you notice that's an AND statement? If either half of the statement is Fiction, the whole statement is Fiction!
Fact. Translation: "Swift" is relative, but yeah, we have been working our asses over here -- mostly because there were so goddamned MANY initial issues with Windows Vista!
Fact. Translation: Parents are so easy to fool. Heh heh.... Wait, did I say that out loud?
Fiction. It will take much more than one service pack to fix it.
*vomits*
Seriously, how can anyone write this bullshit and not actually throw up? I'm having a hard time holding my dinner down, and at least I'm writing satire, not outright lies!
Don't thank God, thank a doctor!
(T>t && O(n)--) == sqrt(666)
How about you get WinFS and all the other components promised, but never shipped, and dropped.... Microsoft, what sort of arseclown do you want to be today?
"I know, I know; it's not an OS, it's a POS! But buy it anyway. Here's a T-shirt!"
That'll work!
Dude, the waft of bullshit coming off that quiz is unbearable. I couldn't get past the first part because I couldn't stop clicking the wrong thing.
Almost none of the statements on that quiz were 'fact' or 'fiction'; they were mostly opinions that differ based on your needs for a computer.
Security, for example: Sure, Vista has the 'protect the user from himself by continually asking if he really wants to X' features, but I'd be happier with licensing agreements for bundling in AVG and Spybot, both as low priority scheduled tasks (better integration, of course, but basically the same system I use to keep my friends and clients from calling me every twenty minutes saying they've contracted a virus).
Compatibility: sure, Vista supports '2.2 million products', but that's still less than what XP supports. Why don't they have a compatibility layer for legacy devices? Is it that damned hard?
I could go on.
The point is, if you value intellectual honesty, you can't even pass the first question.
110100 1101000 1101000 1100110 0 1101111 1101000 1100011 1
You appear to be talking to Microsoft. They're probably not listening but, anyways, it was this that caught my eye:
I always assumed they were more akin to Nod...must...stop...playing...C&C...
Truly, you have a dizzying intellect.
That, is the sad truth. When MS released ME, they at least had the NT Windows getting ready for XP, with Vista, there doesn't seem to be any new technology to save MS. With all the delays that it took getting Vista out, I doubt that we will see NT 7 betas until 2010 at the earliest. About all MS can do is clean up the bloat with a few service packs and take out the DRM and speed up the OS or release a version of Vista: Light that will work on normal hardware and not require a $600+ computer to work well on.
There is no "disagree" moderation, and troll, flamebait and overrated are not valid substitutes
To be fair, I'm sure they've sold a ton of copies of the license sticker.
All of them stuck to PCs running XP.
They can call that a win if they want to but it's not a win for Vista.
Help stamp out iliturcy.
But, isn't the wasteful demand for 2GB RAM and 2GHz CPU what differentiates Vista from KDE/Linux?
...
Granted, I don't even have 3D/Compiz/Beryl in my KDE on my new Gateway P-6301 (2 GB system RAM, with 384 of it to the Intel X3100+ (shared card, so probably the bane of my laptop's existence as goes 3D), but maybe it's just the driver I'm using), but for KDE and other Linux GUIs to not demand what ms is doing with vista speaks volu... umm, SCAN-LINES.
And, to have Vista get better hard disk throughput virtualized in VirtualBox than on native hardware only shows (to me) that ms from some point decided to drive people to shell out dollars for the sheer support of the hardware industry.
I think if ms wants to survive as far as vista goes, they better pull an AOL: give it away on DVDs, but in cereal boxes, shoe boxes, and even with his/her Viagra SUBscriptions, PROscriptions, INscriptions and CONscriptions. This cannot be good at ALL for msoft.
It will be even WORSE for ms if LINUX DVDs are given away in cereal boxes, shoe boxes, and, well,
Previously: "Linux... Toward the Sunrise..." Now: "Linux... Toward the-- No, now, part of Every Sunrise"
Donate your shirt to charity. Your feelings will go like this:
Living well is good revenge. Being kind can be better. You will never get back the time you wasted but someone can make good use of the results.
The silverlight plugin won't work on wine.... Ahh weeellll....
Semi-automatic amateur armchair Australian philosopher; conjecture ready at any moment...
They already have, its called P2P networks, truthfully, thats how MS is surviving, via OEM editions and getting marketshare via "pirated" Windows, when they collapse due to MS's lawsuits its going to be funny to watch MS's marketshare drop like a rock.
There is no "disagree" moderation, and troll, flamebait and overrated are not valid substitutes
I would've read and watched their propoganda for a chance to win but silverlight is required and I have no interest in ruining the internet. Yes, I could've turned on my Ubuntu PC instead which even has IE7 (as a joke really, I hope my sites break on IE7) and then installed the Novell version of silverlight (is it finished?) but that's also not going to happen. FU MS and Miguel
With a new desktop theme for all my 10,000 customers care. They're not going to deploy it anyway.
Put whatever sticker you want on it. Just give them an XP image preinstalled so they can get their work done. They genuinely (genuine?) don't care what's in Vista any more.
No Vista last year, no Vista planned this year. Vista pilots dying on the vine from loss of volunteers so probably no Vista next year. Every developer they interview that claims the ability to port their apps to Vista is a drooling idiot. Three year OS cycle. Math: remember it?
Cue Verizon commercial: "Can you hear me now?"
High point of my day: High level customer asks out of the blue: "so... we're not thinking about it because we're a Microsoft shop, but if we were... can you support linux?" Of course I said "Server to desktop, Infrastructure, Architecture and Services. Seven courses from soup to nuts, that's us! Of course we can."
Windows Vista won't truly be ready until the first complete Service Pack is released.
That one will probably still be fiction even after the 1st service pack.
I'm afraid the rest of us are out of LSD.
A fool and his lamb are worth two in the bush.
The Iraqi Information Minister
Be sure to check out the Treasury of deathless quotes. It's like a Microsoft Vista press release except because it's happening to somone else it's funny instead of sad.
Help stamp out iliturcy.
FTA: "Every person who submits themselves to Microsoft indoctrination..."
Coming from Slashdot, of all places, that is some really rich irony, right there. Funnier, still, is the fact that most slashdotters are actually not smart enough to realize it.
And I have been paid twenty five quid to scorch my children with the unholy fire of Microsoft's Vista marketing.
*starts sweating*
Marketing executives, marketing executives, marketing executives!
*wild look in the eyes*
Silverlight will install and run on Windows 2000. [ ] Fact [x] Fiction
In Soviet Russia the insensitive clod is YOU!
with social means is doomed to fail, at least in the technical sense.
Oh, ROFL, I get the dollar signs. Yes, clever. You're a riot. Too bad you post at -1... oh wait.
be careful they only license you the shirt, with the ability to take it back at any time.
I seem to recall a particularly interesting technique for indoctrination done to prisoners of war in some communist country somewhere, whereby the prisoners would be rewarded (with a better meal, I recall - a big deal when most everyone is malnourished) by competing in a competition to come up with the best communist slogan or advertising campaign, or what have you. The contest would be held on a regular basis too, and so the inmates would compete with ever more ferocity.
This didn't just turn the winners into good communists (and coming from their enemies in war, that too is a big deal) but *everyone else too*! It was a particularly effective method of indoctrination.
"No problem. I have the capacity to do infinite work so long as you don't mind that my quality approaches zero."-Dilbert
You raise an interesting point. When MS realised they couldn't continue with the 3.1 series of windows (3.11, 95 etc) they bought NT. Now that they've so thoroughly killed all their OS competition there is nothing waiting in the wings ready to be bought out and branded with the MS logo.
It's an oversimplification but and interesting idea.
We don't believe in radical loony monotheistic religions from the middle east -- we're Christians.
Give that 99.999999999999999999% of competitions on the net are only for americans I was looking forward to entering for atleast a chance in the $15,000 worth of stuff. Then I learn it's not only closed to most people BUT even if u are a system builder it's not open to people in Western Australia. For those not in the know, thats Australia's largest state which also has the biggest economy... nice one to alienate a 'state load' of people microsoft.
To poop on.
So, in addition to the chance game that running Vista is, they've now added a game of luck that involves just knowing about it?
Seems you have to be one lucky dude to get anywhere in microsoft territory.
Assorted stuff I do sometimes: Lemuria.org
...because they can't even type in some 300 lines of plain old HTML 4 code without messing it up:
http://www.microsoft.com/australia/vistafacts/vista.aspx
This page is not Valid HTML 4.01 Transitional!
Result: Failed validation, 12 Errors
(validator.w3.org)
(Sign over Marketing Department): Two Drink Minimum
You must not be microsoft certified, as you'll realise just how similar this indoctrination is to the one you sat through to get your Microsoft(tm) permission to work in IT.
1) Create quiz so crap that everyone talks about it (but not so bad that it's obviously intentional).
2) Geeks want to see what quiz is really like (and quite honestly won't reject the chance to win $15,000 if it's going anyway).
3) Geeks happy because they think they got one up on The Man by not taking his quiz seriously. MS laughs because they got them to install Silverlight which was the main idea all along.
"Slashdot - News and Chat Sites Deviant". (Click "homepage" link above for details).
I see this is getting marked as a troll. Fair enough, if that's your opinion, BUT... it's my opinion that moderators should have actually done the certification before saying that, or THEY are the ones with a bias.
I used to hate MS on principle, but I've no longer got anything against MS or their O/S's, they simply aren't my cup of tea anymore. Sorry MS but gimmicks like this just make them look silly and very, very desperate, maybe not to Johnny Saturday Shopper, who doesn't really care about what his PC does, but I've made a choice to join the Ubuntu/Linux crowd, the O/S just suits me better. I like the fact that it simply works and I can get my hands on oodles of great software for nothing, with no guilt and no silly nag-screens asking for payment. Ubuntu simply ask that I pass it along to all my friends. Above all I like the fact that the "company" who supplies my O/S has some integrity and care to try to make this world just a little bit easy to get along in.
Windows guys please stop pissing on everyone and the Linux guys stop pissing in the wind, hoping to hit Windows guys!
...that this site will probably convince some people that Vista is, oh I dunno, just as compatible and industry tested as XP. Which it isn't, blatantly (even if it's no where near as terrible in reality as some of the people make out on this site).
Yup, I too nearly hurled when taking "the test", and I work with Microsoft tech every day and quite enjoy it. But, this type of marketing will no doubt end up in the inbox of some CIO followed shortly by an order to "Roll out Vista now, it's ready for prime-time!".
As laughable and lamentable as this is, it will increase Vista sales. Microsoft are a very calculating company, do not underestimate that.
throw new NoSignatureException();
I haven't heard such a blatantly unbelievable set of lies since the Iraqi Information Minister was on...
"If you think the problem is bad now, just wait until we've solved it." --- Arthur Kasspe
laugh out loud when they read that?
Seriously, by now those who have had poor experiences with Vista and gone back to XP are not likely to go back to Vista and the general buzz with Vista now is that it's "OK". Nothing wrong with being "OK"...
Personally, my Dell Inspiron 1500 laptop with a Sempron 1.8GHz (512K L2 Cache), 1GB DDR2 RAM, and ATi Express 1150 graphics CAN play World of Warcraft at decent frame rates in XP, but CAN'T play at playable frame rates with Vista Home Basic. Boot time is also a whopping 12 seconds slower with Vista! So, for me it makes more sense to use Windows XP, because in practice it does perform better on my hardware. With my Core2 desktop (ASUS P5K-VM motherboard, 2GB DDR2 RAM, 8600GT) would run Vista just fine, but I already own Windows XP for it and it makes me happy (I don't have any DX10 games and don't really want any - I'm so old...), so I really don't have any compelling reason to upgrade to Vista. In fact, the only thing that would get me to upgrade to Vista is if there was a REALLY fun game that I absolutely had to play, but even then I'd probably just hack it to work on XP to save the $125.
Suck it up Microsoft, Vista isn't for everyone and XP was a decent product.
I should add that my other computers run Kubuntu, Slackware, Fedora, and OS/2 Warp Ver3...
Resistance is futile.....You Will Be Assimilated!!!!!
Somewhere in a dark place you will find:
www.m1
Hey, maybe they'll give free Tux shirts for reading through their Get The Facts on Linux campaign FUD.
Do the second section with your sound turned off!
What's purple and commutes? An Abelian grape.
the same way the evil empire gives gifts to those who insult me and dont allow me to live in peace :)
That's funny.
...
He is making jokes about this Microsoft web page: Microsoft SQL Server 2008 Roadmap Clarification. That web page is the finest, the very finest baloney artistry:
"The past few months have been an amazing time for the SQL Server team as we gear up for the start of the global launch wave on February 27.
... "To continue in this spirit of open communication, we want to provide clarification on the roadmap for SQL Server 2008. Over the coming months, customers and partners can look forward to significant product milestones for SQL Server. Microsoft is excited to deliver a feature complete CTP during the Heroes Happen Here launch wave and a release candidate (RC) in Q2 calendar year 2008, with final Release to manufacturing (RTM) of SQL Server 2008 expected in Q3. Our goal is to deliver the highest quality product possible and we simply want to use the time to meet the high bar that you, our customers, expect.
"This does not in any way change our plans for the February 27 launch and we look forward to seeing many of you in Los Angeles and other events around the world."
Do I understand correctly? There is a "global launch wave" of the new SQL server version in Los Angeles on February 27, and people are traveling there for that event. But Microsoft won't actually deliver the new SQL server until 7 months later, or maybe after that? What is a feature-complete "CTP"? There is a childish ceremony celebrating the fact that programmers at Microsoft actually delivered something, called "Heroes Happen Here"?
However, that's a Microsoft Marketing person being sneaky and dishonest and living in a world of Microsoft Marketing fantasy. "To continue in this spirit of open communication..." Hah!
That's not what I was talking about in my grandparent post. I was talking about something even more scary than that: Microsoft Marketing Zombies say things that are completely irrelevant, and no one listens to them anyway. They are the undead. But everyone pretends that they are actually alive.
Microsoft is at least not killing Iraqis and pretending that killing Iraqis will make them less violent.
For a successful technology, reality must take precedence over
public relations, for nature cannot be fooled.
Thank God and the heavens above that I no longer am working in an environment that requires me to support Vista! What a pile of garbage that thing is. Don't want it and even now Dell's line of computers that I would like to have is now forbidden because they only sell it with Vista. Screw em'. I'll just build a box that fits what I need and put what I want on it.
All content in this message is copyright (c) 2008. All rights reserved. RIAA is prohibited here.
http://slashdot.org/ This page is not Valid HTML 4.01 Transitional! Result: Failed validation, 7 Errors http://kernel.org/ This page is not Valid HTML 4.01 Transitional! Result: Failed validation, 6 Errors http://wikipedia.org/ This page is not Valid HTML 4.01 Transitional! Result: Failed validation, 15 Errors http://www.fsf.org/ This page is not Valid HTML 4.01 Transitional! Result: Failed validation, 27 Errors Lets not forget, though... http://www.microsoft.com/en/us/default.aspx This page is not Valid HTML 4.01 Transitional! Result: Failed validation, 29 Errors
Oh no, not for me, it's for system builders and OEMS only.
Sorry guys this is a no go for the most of us.
(Actually I used to be a system builder so I could do this but I already have an xbox 360 and I don't need a new tv)
Sorry, teleporters just kill you and then make a copy. A perfect, soul-less copy.
I especially admire the fact that you got modded up for bashing Microsoft when you use Windows on your computer.
It's only the poor who truly know what poverty feels like. :-)
While it is possible to avoid using Windows, it's quite exceptional - most of us end up using Windows because one way or another, network effects push us into it (e.g. "my customers use it", "my employer insinsts on it because his/her customers use it", "my gran uses it" etc.).
Is it just me, or is it the absolute height of hubris for Microsoft to be putting up a contest that is essentially one long Microsoft ad, using proprietary "Silverlight" technology that requires the user to be already running Windows? It won't be very persuasive for someone running Win2K, 98, Linux, BSD, etc. to use Vista if they can't even see the advert.