Why exactly did you major in CS if you don't like programming? Isn't that the point? And, how exactly did you finish your major without much programming skills?
The way it identifies what to patch is cool, but the 'hot' part of the patch is ultimately just simple trampolining -- replacing the start of the patched function in the code segment with a jmp to your new code. I did similar work in the linux kernel for a masters project.
Other than Aero glass being off (transparent windows, ooh!), what exactly are you deprived of on a low spec system with Vista? Glass is a stupid feature anyway.
I don't understand this argument... MS Office is destroying OpenOffice even when people have to pay quite a lot for it. How is introducting a third option of paying a few bucks a month going to move folks to open source alternatives?
Assuming the merger occurs Microsoft, regardless of its promises, will have to start integrating Yahoo into MSN or vice versa. It would make no sense to run two competing operations under one roof.
Not really. In the end all they want is online advertising. It may make sense to adopt a single advertising platform, but keep both properties (MSN, Yahoo) separate to appeal to the broadest possible audience.
Could someone clarify -- when this gets thrown out (hopefully), won't the companies be entitled to get payback from the guy for all the money they spent fighting the suit? Given that these companies probably have the best lawyers in the biz, couldn't this figure be in the hundreds of thousands?
What on earth are you talking about? DRM has yet to come in to play in my year's worth of Vista usage. I happily play all my unencrypted media. Built-in things like DVD Maker make it a few clicks to go from DIVX/XVID to DVD. I can take my HD recordings from my Vista media center box and copy them to my Vista laptop, or burn them to DVDs, no DRM. The fact is, DRM doesn't enter your life until you actually try to play media that is DRM (gasp). What else are you expecting?
I'd love to hear exactly what your experience has been with Vista DRM.
Are you comparing your OEM out-of-box Vista experience with a clean install of XP? I'd say give a clean install of Vista a shot. You'll be surprised how much the OEM junkware that comes pre-loaded to a machine really hampers the system's performance. I had the same experience years ago with a XP OEM laptop. The machine ran like junk, until I formatted and installed a clean copy of the OS.
How does the install base in 2001 compare to the marketplace in 2007? This is the key to interpreting these statistics fairly. I'm willing to bet the % of new PCs sold compared to existing install base was much larger back then. Let's be honest, a very small % of people actually upgrade their Windows OS, period. Most Windows sales are new PCs.
That said, how's the Vista market share compared to other non-MS operating systems?
I just received my brand new Lenovo T61 preloaded with Vista home basic. What a disaster... but not because of Vista, but instead because of all the pre-loaded junk. The taskbar had 7 icons in the notification area in addition to the ones from the OS, plus a useless battery power gauge that took up another big chunk of real estate (this side-by-side with the already existing Vista power gage, so I'm getting duplicate data). I actually took a screenshot since I couldn't believe it. I did a quick registry check and counted 30 executables set to auto-start on login. On every log on I got nagging pop-ups about turning on some lenovo software. Launching IE brought up two tabs, one set to always load the lenovo page. It was a slow, annoying mess...
I flattened the machine and installed a fresh copy of Vista Ultimate. With the all the cruft gone, things are now flying on the machine, and I'm quite happy with the OS. The difference is astounding.
All these negative comments I kept hearing about Vista make sense now, but it's clear that at least some of the disenchanment is misdirected. Don't OEM's actually use the machines they send out?
Why is it not surprising that this is how the quarterly earnings report makes it onto Slashdot? The title could have read "Microsoft Reports 27% Revenue Growth; Fastest First Quarter Since 1999", or that Microsoft stock has reached its highest point it over 5 years. It might be notable that the Entertainment division was this quarter profitable, or that income in the client division still grew 25% (claims of slowing Vista sales notwithstanding).
As much as folks here love to think that MSFT is a sinking ship, it's having its healthiest growth in years.
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Same here on Vista... This person is doing something seriously wrong.
Why exactly did you major in CS if you don't like programming? Isn't that the point? And, how exactly did you finish your major without much programming skills?
The way it identifies what to patch is cool, but the 'hot' part of the patch is ultimately just simple trampolining -- replacing the start of the patched function in the code segment with a jmp to your new code. I did similar work in the linux kernel for a masters project.
Other than Aero glass being off (transparent windows, ooh!), what exactly are you deprived of on a low spec system with Vista? Glass is a stupid feature anyway.
I don't understand this argument... MS Office is destroying OpenOffice even when people have to pay quite a lot for it. How is introducting a third option of paying a few bucks a month going to move folks to open source alternatives?
Assuming the merger occurs Microsoft, regardless of its promises, will have to start integrating Yahoo into MSN or vice versa. It would make no sense to run two competing operations under one roof.
Not really. In the end all they want is online advertising. It may make sense to adopt a single advertising platform, but keep both properties (MSN, Yahoo) separate to appeal to the broadest possible audience.
"In fact, even Microsoft will tell you that its fortunes peaked several months ago."
Yes, MS' quarterly report released yesterday is all doom and gloom. What with it's 30% increase in revenue and all.
Could someone clarify -- when this gets thrown out (hopefully), won't the companies be entitled to get payback from the guy for all the money they spent fighting the suit? Given that these companies probably have the best lawyers in the biz, couldn't this figure be in the hundreds of thousands?
DRM, it requires much more memory, and price
What on earth are you talking about? DRM has yet to come in to play in my year's worth of Vista usage. I happily play all my unencrypted media. Built-in things like DVD Maker make it a few clicks to go from DIVX/XVID to DVD. I can take my HD recordings from my Vista media center box and copy them to my Vista laptop, or burn them to DVDs, no DRM. The fact is, DRM doesn't enter your life until you actually try to play media that is DRM (gasp). What else are you expecting?
I'd love to hear exactly what your experience has been with Vista DRM.
Are you comparing your OEM out-of-box Vista experience with a clean install of XP? I'd say give a clean install of Vista a shot. You'll be surprised how much the OEM junkware that comes pre-loaded to a machine really hampers the system's performance. I had the same experience years ago with a XP OEM laptop. The machine ran like junk, until I formatted and installed a clean copy of the OS.
How does the install base in 2001 compare to the marketplace in 2007? This is the key to interpreting these statistics fairly. I'm willing to bet the % of new PCs sold compared to existing install base was much larger back then. Let's be honest, a very small % of people actually upgrade their Windows OS, period. Most Windows sales are new PCs.
That said, how's the Vista market share compared to other non-MS operating systems?
I just received my brand new Lenovo T61 preloaded with Vista home basic. What a disaster... but not because of Vista, but instead because of all the pre-loaded junk. The taskbar had 7 icons in the notification area in addition to the ones from the OS, plus a useless battery power gauge that took up another big chunk of real estate (this side-by-side with the already existing Vista power gage, so I'm getting duplicate data). I actually took a screenshot since I couldn't believe it. I did a quick registry check and counted 30 executables set to auto-start on login. On every log on I got nagging pop-ups about turning on some lenovo software. Launching IE brought up two tabs, one set to always load the lenovo page. It was a slow, annoying mess...
I flattened the machine and installed a fresh copy of Vista Ultimate. With the all the cruft gone, things are now flying on the machine, and I'm quite happy with the OS. The difference is astounding.
All these negative comments I kept hearing about Vista make sense now, but it's clear that at least some of the disenchanment is misdirected. Don't OEM's actually use the machines they send out?
Why is it not surprising that this is how the quarterly earnings report makes it onto Slashdot? The title could have read "Microsoft Reports 27% Revenue Growth; Fastest First Quarter Since 1999", or that Microsoft stock has reached its highest point it over 5 years. It might be notable that the Entertainment division was this quarter profitable, or that income in the client division still grew 25% (claims of slowing Vista sales notwithstanding).
As much as folks here love to think that MSFT is a sinking ship, it's having its healthiest growth in years.