A lot of people are asking why MS is cripling this OS beyond recognition. I think it has a lot to do with iTunes.
Apple pretty much proved that the average person will pay for the convenience of having an "official" (and also easy to download) copy of a song over a free one. Sure, people still pirate, but $100,000,000 worth of music is not chump change.
So MS releases an OS for a few bucks. If they *didn't* cripple it, some people (think mom and pop redneck) would probably think up elaborate ways to buy it. I mean, why not: you get full support, you know the version you're getting isn't chock full of viruses, and for once you have a legitimate license.
MS has crippled it to make it less attractive to the average US buyer, but I bet in a heartbeat if they released a version with a few more features and a similarly-low price, mom and pop redneck would buy them up.
I think you're a little offbase. In testing, SUS SP2 rollouts does not present the dialog. In fact, even if it did, it could easily be changed in Group Policy / through a registry key listed on MS's site. Any "office" that's still relying on users to update their machines, or has a tech running around to each machine installing SP2, is just asking for trouble in my opinion.
Geek fandom aside, you don't launch a product (even a beta) and not grab the name. What did they *think* would happen?
*Scratches head* I'm not going to go as far as some press has gone and say Google's been botching the IPO, but one wonders: how are they a good investment option if they can't even get basic business procedures right?
Well, think about it: who uses Nmap more? Corporate administrators or script kiddies? None of the companies I know use it (we use tools we pay for with actual support). Microsoft has every right to block whatever they want.
You're overreacting. The only thing it logs is the fact that the file was downloaded off the internet (and, presumably, only does this for IE). It doesn't know where in particular it came from. The goal is to say to the user "Hey, this file may be unsafe", but not for local executables that have always been local.
Since have MBA and business intelligence become mutually-exclusive? I'm a diehard geek, but recently I've started working towards an MBA because it'll further my career/won't have me losing a job to some guy in India. Just because you're bitter doesn't mean you're right.
Well, my company is very small, and even we have an SUS server in the back pumping out updates. It's just plain easier. System Restore and SUS are two of the best things MS has ever done.
It's standard in smaller organizations as well. My company is going to take a few months to "kick the tires" so to speak. When we're satisfied, we'll roll it out. Until then, my home machine is a guinea pig.:)
"No, we let automatic update do it. That's what it's for."
Well, actually, no. Automatic update is for home users that are clueless. I wouldn't dare let MS automatically update all of my company's workstations (who knows what would break). SUS, while not perfect, is a great tool for making sure every machine has exactly what I want it to have.
And yeah, you're misguided. We have SUS running on a P2 workstation with a 4 GB hard drive. We're a small company, and that's all we really need.
RTFA. They released to manufacturing. You know, OEMs. It's not available for regular folks unless you're part of their beta site.
Besides, most tech support people *I* know won't be rushing to install this on company computers (although I might jump in head-first for a home machine).
Virgin Manager: "Say Bill, I see those iPod things everywhere. I want us to get music onto them." Virgin Tech Guy: "We can't do that sir." Virgin Manager: "Why not?" Virgin Tech Guy: "The only protected format that runs on them is Apple's Fairplay AAC." Virgin Manager: "I thought they were MP3 players". Virgin Tech Guy: "If we sell MP3's, people can copy them wherever they like". Virgin Manager: "Screw that. Apple's format is the only protected one on iPod?" Virgin Tech Guy: "Yup." Virgin Manager: "So they have a monopoly on a protection standard for the #1 hardware. Where are the lawyers?"
They're clearly dominant in legal digital music sales, which is their concern. Especially since Jupiter predicts 20% of all music sales will be downloads in a few years.
What makes more business sense? A company that has 5% of the PC market and a good chunk of MP3 hardware, or one that has a 20%-25% share of the videogame market and insane margins on in-house titles?
Take a walk in NY, or any other major city. You'll find many street vendors hawking DVD-Rs of the flicks. Why bother buying from the industry when I can get it from them for $2? Lost sales.
I recently purchased a GameCube, and I have had a grand time picking up the classics (Metroid, Zelda, etc.) but the current and future libraries are lacking.
"Did you try the "Smart playlists" feature from within iTunes itself?"
Yes, I did. As I said before, it'll create the random list once, but it'll never change the songs after that. You have to (quite stupidly I might add) force iTunes to remove every song from the list to have it regenerated. If it was as simple as some settings in Smart Playlist, I wouldn't have posted it.
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A lot of people are asking why MS is cripling this OS beyond recognition. I think it has a lot to do with iTunes.
Apple pretty much proved that the average person will pay for the convenience of having an "official" (and also easy to download) copy of a song over a free one. Sure, people still pirate, but $100,000,000 worth of music is not chump change.
So MS releases an OS for a few bucks. If they *didn't* cripple it, some people (think mom and pop redneck) would probably think up elaborate ways to buy it. I mean, why not: you get full support, you know the version you're getting isn't chock full of viruses, and for once you have a legitimate license.
MS has crippled it to make it less attractive to the average US buyer, but I bet in a heartbeat if they released a version with a few more features and a similarly-low price, mom and pop redneck would buy them up.
I think you're a little offbase. In testing, SUS SP2 rollouts does not present the dialog. In fact, even if it did, it could easily be changed in Group Policy / through a registry key listed on MS's site. Any "office" that's still relying on users to update their machines, or has a tech running around to each machine installing SP2, is just asking for trouble in my opinion.
Geek fandom aside, you don't launch a product (even a beta) and not grab the name. What did they *think* would happen?
*Scratches head* I'm not going to go as far as some press has gone and say Google's been botching the IPO, but one wonders: how are they a good investment option if they can't even get basic business procedures right?
YMMV. I personally wouldn't play at anything less than 60.
That's what registry hacks are for. OR, get a machine with Linux/FreeBSD. Your choice.
Well, think about it: who uses Nmap more? Corporate administrators or script kiddies? None of the companies I know use it (we use tools we pay for with actual support). Microsoft has every right to block whatever they want.
You're overreacting. The only thing it logs is the fact that the file was downloaded off the internet (and, presumably, only does this for IE). It doesn't know where in particular it came from. The goal is to say to the user "Hey, this file may be unsafe", but not for local executables that have always been local.
"Microsoft bundled a CD burner with XP, and since it sucked SO HARD, ahead and roxio were able to sell their software"
Uh, you do realize Roxio made the built-in burning software for XP right? You know that little copyright at the end of the wizard? Did you miss that?
Since have MBA and business intelligence become mutually-exclusive? I'm a diehard geek, but recently I've started working towards an MBA because it'll further my career/won't have me losing a job to some guy in India. Just because you're bitter doesn't mean you're right.
Well, my company is very small, and even we have an SUS server in the back pumping out updates. It's just plain easier. System Restore and SUS are two of the best things MS has ever done.
It's standard in smaller organizations as well. My company is going to take a few months to "kick the tires" so to speak. When we're satisfied, we'll roll it out. Until then, my home machine is a guinea pig. :)
Yes, no problem. Did it in beta, assuming they didn't change anything. System restore is a freaking godsend.
"No, we let automatic update do it. That's what it's for."
Well, actually, no. Automatic update is for home users that are clueless. I wouldn't dare let MS automatically update all of my company's workstations (who knows what would break). SUS, while not perfect, is a great tool for making sure every machine has exactly what I want it to have.
And yeah, you're misguided. We have SUS running on a P2 workstation with a 4 GB hard drive. We're a small company, and that's all we really need.
And that's why you got "insightful"...
"We got wind of the decision to push it out via that channel just in time to switch windows update off via a group policy."
Wow... a company that doesn't use SUS to control patches. Didn't think you guys existed. You let your users install their own patches up until now?
RTFA. They released to manufacturing. You know, OEMs. It's not available for regular folks unless you're part of their beta site.
Besides, most tech support people *I* know won't be rushing to install this on company computers (although I might jump in head-first for a home machine).
"but that is still a huge number"
Good thing you have facts to back this up...
I found this line interesting:
"Microsoft will use metered downloads to update users steadily without bogging down the entire Internet."
*Strokes chin* How do they do this, exactly? By IP? By Product Key? What determines when someone will get it?
Hopefully we'll see SP2 on Torrents soon.
Virgin Manager: "Say Bill, I see those iPod things everywhere. I want us to get music onto them."
Virgin Tech Guy: "We can't do that sir."
Virgin Manager: "Why not?"
Virgin Tech Guy: "The only protected format that runs on them is Apple's Fairplay AAC."
Virgin Manager: "I thought they were MP3 players".
Virgin Tech Guy: "If we sell MP3's, people can copy them wherever they like".
Virgin Manager: "Screw that. Apple's format is the only protected one on iPod?"
Virgin Tech Guy: "Yup."
Virgin Manager: "So they have a monopoly on a protection standard for the #1 hardware. Where are the lawyers?"
They're clearly dominant in legal digital music sales, which is their concern. Especially since Jupiter predicts 20% of all music sales will be downloads in a few years.
What makes more business sense? A company that has 5% of the PC market and a good chunk of MP3 hardware, or one that has a 20%-25% share of the videogame market and insane margins on in-house titles?
"Prove that it affected sales."
Take a walk in NY, or any other major city. You'll find many street vendors hawking DVD-Rs of the flicks. Why bother buying from the industry when I can get it from them for $2? Lost sales.
Two words: 1 game.
I recently purchased a GameCube, and I have had a grand time picking up the classics (Metroid, Zelda, etc.) but the current and future libraries are lacking.
It's WMV. It's streaming.
"Did you try the "Smart playlists" feature from within iTunes itself?"
Yes, I did. As I said before, it'll create the random list once, but it'll never change the songs after that. You have to (quite stupidly I might add) force iTunes to remove every song from the list to have it regenerated. If it was as simple as some settings in Smart Playlist, I wouldn't have posted it.