This is taken from our blog at http://www.americasbestcompanies.com/blog/Default.aspx Thought most of you would enjoy! The Battle for XP Posted By: Charles C on 4/15/2008 The human body has two ends on it: one to create with and one to sit on. Sometimes people get their ends reversed. When this happens they need a kick in the seat of the pants. -- Theodore Roosevelt True, President Roosevelt was not discussing Microsoft management when he spoke those words, but were he alive today he might well approve of their use in this case. There is a battle looming in the world of personal computing. A fight that will pit the mighty against a foe that still does not know its own strength: Microsoft against that host of loyal PC users for whom Windows XP is the operating system of choice. Now, before you yawn and wander off, dismissing this as a nerd-centric argument that could never possibly impact your life, let me ask you a question: If you had a product that worked well, did nearly everything you asked of it and offered greater satisfaction than you had from previous versions; how would you like to be told that you would have to switch to an obviously inferior product because the maker would no longer supply or support the thing that works so well for you? That is the situation that XP users are in. They like the XP operating system. Why? Windows XP works. It is as simple as that. That is not something you hear in such an absolute way about Microsoft products, but after years on the market, service patches and upgrades, XP is perhaps the most stable, usable operating system to come out of Redmond, Washington in decades. Now, just as PC users have the same reliability as Mac and Linux users, Microsoft is preparing to shove their captive audience to Vista, whether they like it or not. Not that they can go into each and every machine and install Vista. Well, actually, from the technology point of view, if the computer is hooked to the Internet, they can do that, but then how would they charge you? Instead, no new machines will come with XP, only Vista, and support for XP will be diminished and then, after a suitable period of time, eliminated. Of course, you don’t have to take this, you can go to Linux, the open-source, Unix-based operating system; or you can go to a Mac. In either case, you would actually be moving to a stronger, more crash-resistant operating system and there is nothing wrong with that. On the other hand, it could mean new hardware, a new computer system, and it would certainly mean new software applications. That adds up to a great deal of money, enough to make turning your back on Microsoft economically infeasible. Add in any industry-specific software that may only run on Windows and you are even deeper in the mire. So there you are, a captive audience being told that you must move on to a product that has a well-earned and terrible reputation. According to USA Today’s Andrew Kantor, “I can say confidently that it's not yet ready for primetime. Yes, it's pretty, and yes it has some nice new features, but they're nothing gotta-have spectacular. Further, Windows XP works very well, but we live in a society that thinks we need to constantly upgrade our stuff. With Vista, I think the pressure to upgrade overwhelmed the testing process. Too many things are going wrong.†Some of the things you can encounter with Vista include problems with the system’s copyright protection system, various difficulties working with files, a tendency to think that it is actually pirated, the odd mandatory hardware upgrade…the list goes on and if you want to indulge yourself just Google “Vista User Problems†and wait for the deluge of blogs and articles. Of course, Microsoft responded. It took them a year to do it but by March of this year we had Vista Service Pack 1. Here, supposedly, Microsoft took care of well over a hundred issues dealing with hardware, application compatibility, reliability, performance, power consumption, security, new technology support, standards, desktop administration and management, setup and deployment, interoperability, feature or API changes, and a raft of general improvement and enhancements including its alignment with Windows Server 2008. The Fix List is huge and painfully technical, it boils down to Microsoft’s promise that Vista will play well with others. That is great, but the problem isn’t Vista itself. The problem is the high-handed way that Microsoft is pushing its customer base toward a product that most users still don’t want. In spite of the fixes, Vista’s reputation is so bad that no one considers it an upgrade from XP. In fact, many consumers actually purchase a downgrade when they buy a new PC. They pay to go from Vista to XP. Is that a step backwards? Not if you care more about functionality than flash. It is also a message, one that the folks at Microsoft need to hear loud and clear. People really don’t want Vista. They don’t trust it and after a year, during which Microsoft did little more than compile user complaints, a service pack is not going to do much to help the non-believer. Microsoft’s response? Have they moved to regain the trust of those burned by their new copies of Vista? No. Do they accept the fact that they need to prove this will work as well as XP? Not even close. Like the missionaries and crusaders of old, if gentle conversion won’t work, use the sword; if the masses won’t convert to Vista, take away the alternative. Of course, is any of this necessary? Not really. Vista is the result of Microsoft’s occasional desire to reinvent the wheel. Once they had XP so stable, they should have kept it and improved upon it, building on that strength and stability as new technology and capabilities were developed. The agony that has been the Vista experience did not have to happen! However, now that it has and Microsoft thinks they have a handle on it, they are going to push for it. Is this the action of an industry leader? No, it is the action of a boss. According to President Theodore Roosevelt, “People ask the difference between a leader and a boss. The leader works in the open, and the boss in covert. The leader leads, and the boss drives.†Microsoft is not leading the computing public toward something new and better, it is driving them to something unwanted and unnecessary. The question is, do you have a right to refuse? After all, you own the computer, even if you are, in essence, leasing the software. Is it not up to you to decide what software you will or will not place on that computer? This has been the core of the arguments over predatory end user license agreements (EULAs) and the right you give companies like Microsoft to install upgrades and other pieces of software as they see fit. I think that it is at the core of this issue as well. You have a right to have something workable and useful running your computer and since Microsoft is, for all intents and purposes, a monopoly, it has a special responsibility that over-rides its rights to make anything they see fit without taking the needs and wants of their consumers into account. Once they do that, once they start driving rather than leading, then it is time to break that monopoly and reintroduce them to the real world of the open market. Microsoft started small—very small—and now it is a giant. There is opportunity here so the question is: Who is next? Maybe you. Far better is it to dare mighty things, to win glorious triumphs, even though checkered by failure, than to rank with those poor spirits who neither enjoy nor suffer much, because they live in a gray twilight that knows not victory nor defeat. – Theodore Roosevelt
Although i still use windows XP because of my professional work (software developer) and some of the software doesnt work on windows VISTA i don't think vista is a bad OS. Sure it has its quirks but im sure they will release an sp soon.
Why do people still discuss this? 90% of the issues with Vista were fixed in SP1, and when I was running vista(now running Server 2008 Enterprise) I had absolutely no problems.
Same here, just love it. With the development wok I do, it really allocates the memory better, less restarts.
First of all really good article. Now something that I don't really like: It is almost impossible to compete with MS. To make an OS takes time, money and 100s of developers. There is No way one single person or small company can make this. We can only expect this from some big company (*caugh* Google *caugh*). Makeing your own OS that competes with Vista (and also to XP) is impossible by one single person. Just my 2 cents. EDIT: My 100th Post here on DP
People like you is why I wrote this article on my blog a few weeks ago, which is actually one of my most popular articles: Why some people hate Vista
Because they come pre-installed with new computers so you are not given with other option than take it the punch This is a long-time practice performed by Microsoft to impose you whatever they develop but with Vista they changed the games of the rule The software is usually installed in a hidden partition that prevents you switch back to previous Windows versions, but if you have the knowlege you can delete your HD partitions overriden Vista installation disk and the active partition in which it is installed I read that Windows XP, schedule to disappear in June, would be preserved to power low-profiles computers despite Microsoft is not that happy with it
There both crap mate, yer Xp is better than vista still. But Linux is not far from catching up! And i know not everyone likes all the fancy crap like disolvng windows and special effects. But think you should check this video out. http://www.metacafe.com/watch/434675/windows_vista_aero_vs_linux_ubuntu_beryl/ My mate has an installed version and its simply amazing! And the better thing is you wont have 2 download 1 single driver! Everything is there ready to use! Cant wait to get my laptop back to convert to this!!! And there are alot of programs which linux supports and runs these days! Worth checking out. Once you go onto it and start using it you probably wont wanna go back!
Yeah got it in one! lol, I really recommend checking out ubuntu! You can run macromedia dreamweaver and adobe photoshop on it if your using the Windows program emulator "Wine". Im still currently using Vista, going back to Windows XP 2nite as my trial ran out and i actually dont fancy gettin an activation crack as i dont like Vista. And only going back to XP untill my new laptop screen comes thru then doing the change over 2 ubuntu then
Not to give you a hard time but this is a really pointless post. So you're saying that a huge behemoth megacorporation is shoving a new product down our throats to make a profit? Shocking. I liked the old Trans-Am's like in "Smokey and the Bandit" and thought the newer ones looked like crap and heard they ran as poor but in the end as you say it's the customers choice to go elsewhere if they dont like the new product. I dont think Pontiac makes parts anymore for a 78' trans-am still either so all companies pull this garbage all the time to force you to buy new. i have Vista and like it but agree it's bloatware however I dont think Microsoft is going to see this thread and change thier course so what exactly is the point of the point other than to whine? Which is your right, I am not giving you a hard time over that and I'm not even saying you are wrong but again it just seems pointless.
great article and i agree VISTA sucks i rather name it "f*cksta". yet i also have to agree with professionalseo that this is useless if you actually want to make a difference.
Apparently comprehension isn't one of your strong points, because the point of the article is to point out a problem and then present possible solutions. "All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing"-Edmund Burke You point out that I have a right to "whine" about it and you're absolutely correct. You however chose to ignore the possible alternatives to the problem presented and instead suggest we just take whatever is being offered. In addition, you're "78 Trans-Am" analogy is flawed as well. If Pontiac were the only manufacturer of vehicles and a 78 T-A was one of only a handful of models available, you may have made a valid point.(but they're not) Please, don't mistake my tone as being adversarial. I simply want everyone to understand the true nature of the article being posted. Click on my sig to see what we're all about.(on the home page) P.S. I had a 78 T-A once with a 455 mated to a Turbo 400 trans. Screaming chicken on the hood and all. It was OK, but a late sixties Chevelle would have been eons cooler.
I would stick with vista personally ! I am using ultimate version and works perfectly. It has some incompatibilities with older software(programs) but it is better than xp overall !
i got a better idea, all these articles can be avoided as well as the thousands of dollars you spend over time on microsofts products by doing a quick simple and clean switch... http://www.linux.org free for all free SQL and other webmaster tools and products free office software as well as free everything else, constant support and updates and over 10,000 supporting developers constantly working to make it better, fully customizable and YOU are in control... for those who are virus worried, while over 200,000 viruses and worms exist for windows and over 150,000 are still active threats, only about 10,000 exist for linux, and about 4 are active threats since the last linux patch. microsoft does not have anything that linux doesnt, so end this years' long discussion and switch to something reliable. marketing statistics: linux jobs pay 27% more than windows jobs do due to the fact that licensing and multimedia for corporate versions of linux are 63% cheaper then microsoft, and still include all free software.