Slashdot Mirror
Microsoft Tries To Prevent Further Discovery
An anonymous reader notes the considerable irony in Microsoft asking for relief from further discovery in the Windows Vista Capable debacle. This is the lawsuit that was recently granted class-action status, and Microsoft wants the wheels of justice to stop while it appeals that designation. It's easy to see why Microsoft wants to prevent further digging around in their and their OEMs' email archives, with stories like this one from the NYTimes (registration may be required) revealing Redmond's highly embarrassing internal emails to a mass audience.
After, all that discovery is only producing documents which will torpedo their appeal of class action status.
Can't have that, can we?
I'm glad that I gave my Mum (uncontaminated with years of learning Windows) a Linux box, and that both my grilf and father have independently, and without any prompting from me, asked if I can fix their machines the same way (one's on Vista on a budget laptop - yes, I did warn her - the other's on XP "media centre edition". (It's got no TV tuner, surround sound, IR or anything else (even a big HD) that lends the machine to being a media centre, so I guess Dell must have wanted to puff the numbers for Unca Billy.)
I.e. it would cut even further into Vista sales.
and would jeopardize Microsoft's goodwill with class members.
What does this mean in normal human language, rather than lawyerspeak???
I Am My Own Worst Enemy
When I bought a laptop a few months ago, even the sales people were telling me how much Vista sucks (despite the fact that some of the stores didn't even sell XP laptops anymore so they were sure to lose a sale). When the people selling PCs are actively discouraging customers from buying newer systems with newer operating systems, Microsoft clearly have a problem... so I'm not surprised they want to hide their dirty laundry rather than have it exposed in the press.
Although I have not read the CLASS documents, this is coming from the consumer side. These are people that are not IT professionals. I am an IT professional, and when I did the very same research you did, I told every customer I had, "Look, what Vista is bringing to the table, you really don't need". The people you have working for you perform about 4 basic functions. a) They type up documents. b) They do basic spreadsheets, nothing fancy nothing remotely resembling complicated. c) They do e-mail correspondence. d) they do minor web research.
I told them 95% of your machines will require a memory upgrade and a new video card, since the on-board video system will not handle Aero and with parts and labor that is going to cost you about $300.00 per machine so that's going to be around $30K PLUS the upgrade licenses, training costs, etc. To a client, they all said, "And I would do this why?".
On the consumer side, all they see is "Vista Capable". Now if they had stickers like "Vista Capable but NOT vista premium Capable" that might have made consumers step back and say "Huh, what you talking about Willis?". Their own e-mail exchanges ( which I have read ) clearly indicate that they knew the marketing was going to confuse the crap about of your average consumer, that they knew the Intel video chip-set was "No Go" but they made the decision to push forward anyway, even after one of their own said, "I now have a $2100.00 e-mail machine", with no printer drivers, no Aero, none of the "WOW" that was being heavily advertised and promoted as the lunchpin of their upgrade sales strategy.Microsoft really really put shit out there that is now coming around to bite them in the ass, and deservedly so.
Hey KID! Yeah you, get the fuck off my lawn!
It's great but ultimately MS got money from your family so they got the dollar-votes...
"They are NOT meant to administrated by users. What marketing says is one thing, reality is another."
Fine, so again:
Which is it? Do you need expert skill and knowledge to run windows properly and safely or not?
And, if you do need the experts, who should the administrator be for the average home user?
all the best,
drew
http://zotzbro.blogspot.com/
FreeMusicPush If you want to see more Free Music made, listen to Free
... who thought from the very beginning, having experience with minimum sys reqs and having the ability to see through marketing, that 'capable' meant: It can boot and nothing more?
And BTW (this rule always aplies...): always get informed about a product first before you buy it. I can't say this enough times. There are always products that may have downsides/flaws.
Here be signatures
For the DVD and Vista comparison and to kill the lies and prevarications, DVD ready does not mean it can only play the DVDs at half speed. People have a expectation of performance, M$ advertises it's products showing it performing at a certain level, and basically lies, when those products can not perform as advertised.
Chaos - everything, everywhere, everywhen
I was painfully truthful, I laid out the entire upside/downside. To give an example, one was an accounting firm w/ +-130 desktops. They are not in an AD environment, they are in an Edir environment. They are all running XPsp2 with one common desktop user for every machine, that way each user can work at any vacant desk, they get the same set of app's. E-Mail client loads from the server, no local PST files, nothing makes the machines unique and although it took a lot of trial and error, we made their tax-prep, time & billing software all run with only user level security.
Now at some point there yes new machine will have ONLY Vista, but hopefully by then Vista will be on sp2 and be something worth using.
I still see absolutely no reason for Aero in a business environment. These are not play toys, these are tools for employee's to use and as such Aero provides no value, only additional resource requirements, just generally slows everything down and gets in the way. As to UAC it is pretty pointless as these machines are locked down hard and I have encouraged these companies to implement IT policies that say in nice terms, You install software, you are fired, thats what we pay the IT people for and you are specifically not authorized to do so. Yeah its draconian but these companies were pushed to that extreme by stupid users who tried to or installed any bit of virus spreading, mal-ware installing, root-kitting bit of garbage from places like Facebook, Yahoo, MySpace
These are NOT personal computers they are the companies computers. You want a utility, an additional tool, then make the business case, put it in writing and in about 99% percent of the cases you get it, after its been vetted by the IT guys. When down time costs upwards of $200.00 per hour, per employee, company owners tend to be a tad touchy about this stuff.
Hey KID! Yeah you, get the fuck off my lawn!
Nowadays the speed advertisements make even less sense as Windows is preinstalled on practically everything and the only people installing manually are on old hardware.
Once you start despising the jerks, you become one.
Terrible error.
You should not be allowed to post comments on Slashdot if you don't know some basic things about the software industry. For example, since April 1, 1994 Microsoft Owns the Catholic Church.
Also, the U.S. government is NOT a subsidiary of Microsoft. They are both subsidiaries of the same organization, "Do Evil if You Can". For example, see Remarkable occurrences involving the Bush family.
"Actually yes, the argument you're making"
Not the argument I am making... The argument I see people make when they want to say linux is too difficult for the average person but windows is easy for the average person.
People make the other argument I put down in other circumstances of course.
all the best,
drew
http://zotzbro.blogspot.com/
FreeMusicPush If you want to see more Free Music made, listen to Free
MSFT lower pricing on Vista misses the point entirely, as the NYT article so eloquently points out. Vista causes too many bad experiences. Perhaps with SP1. I tried to use it on my work system so that I could show off our own Vista-ready capabilities (http://www.pcdoctor-community.com/pcdblog/2007/10/02/vista-begone-my-windows-xp-upgrade/). Terrible experience that resulted in my "upgrade" back to XP. Ask any of the big OEMs about how much Vista they are shipping into the enterprise. I have, and the answer is next to nothing. And I bet they are getting killed with support calls because of MSFT's misssteps.
You're forgetting the disturbing Western trend that the accused are guilty of crimes before a trial even happens.
TV shows like Law and Order state in their introduction voice-over that the DAs "prosecute offenders" not suspects.
Police on shows like Cops routinely justify their overzealous use of power with no regard for citizens' rights (including questioning without Mirandizing them).
People should be ashamed that they've turned on each other and decided they can be judge and jury based on facts heard third and fourth party through the Internet.
Let someone have their day in court then feel free to judge based on the facts.
- Michael T. Babcock (Yes, I blog)