__/ [ Rex Ballard ] on Sunday 17 September 2006 07:05 \__
> [H]omer wrote:
>> Yes folks, I've decided to pull Microsoft out of the shit, and help them
>> debug their Slopware.
This thing will never ship in time. If it does, it'll remain a "steaming pile
of dirty socks". Have a look:
Microsoft wants more Vista testers
,----[ Feed Excerpt ]
| It hopes to have about 5 million testers checking out latest version
| of Windows update, as it tries to stamp out bugs.
`----
http://news.zdnet.com/2100-3513_22-6115744.html
Now, tell me, how does overwhelming feedback from so many people can even be
processed? My guess is that they want to gather enough statistics to
identify errors that recur most often and deal with them in sensible
priorities. This means that the intent is never truly to polish the final
product. It's a case of damage control.
Expect some fake drama where Microsoft blames the EU for delays and ships the
product late. They line up their excuses and keeps those fingers crossed.
When the product is finally out, there will be an onslaught of lawsuits over
use of the desktop for extending the monopoly. This has been mentioned
before. There will be last-minute changes.
> Why? It's pretty obvious you aren't that fond of the company or the
> offering.
> Why lend "aid and comfort to the enemy?".
I think that good criticisms will deem credible after some first-hand
experience. That's what [H]omer delivers here. And he is not the first.
>> Seeing as MS are so desperate for unpaid guinea pigs, and since I want
>> to see first hand what all the fuss is about, I've downloaded their
>> Slopware DVD and installed it under VMWare. I even jumped through their
>> activation hoop, so I'll keep a look out for the black helicopters
>> circling the perimeter. I can't tell you how creepy it is having an
>> e-mail from Redmond's finest sitting in my inbox.
>
> I guess you forgot to read the fine print in the License/Nondisclosure
> agreement. That part about No benchmarks, and no publication of your
> opinions and observations without prior written permission from
> Microsoft. Fortunately, Microsoft doesn't consider usenet postings to
> be true "publication" and so long as the submissions are not edited by
> the archive manager (such as google), the archive can't be "censored".
>
> No big deal. Posting to the COLA group should keep it out of
> Microsoft's radar.
It does, however, make you wonder about many blogs that attest to a similar
experience, as well as various major sites (news sites as well). CNN is
among the bashers, but it doesn't present or deliver anything that's akin to
a benchmark.
>> The clock is ticking folks, so start your engines and rev up for some
>> snail's-pace action, as we navigate the BSOD's, and flood those inboxes
>> with bug reports, whilst Microsoft's "developers, developers,
>> developers" run around screaming in fear of missing that deadline.
>
> This is looking more and more like Windows NT 3.1. There have been
> numerous reports of instability, yet it looks like Microsoft is
> determined to meet their 2007 delivery date "ready or not".
As regards hardware compatibility, the best bet is to rely on the OEM
channel. But this narrows down and reduces the reach.
> The challenge for Microsoft is that if they wait too long to get it
> out, Linux, Unix, and Macs could completely capture the 64 bit desktop,
> and dual-core 32 bit machines will be running "co-resident" Linux and
> Windows. Linux could become the Xen controller and XP would become a
> Xen client.
>
> On the other hand, if they release too early, the market could go cold
> completely. An unstable and/or unimpressive version of Vista that is
> too similar to Windows XP that provides no significant benefits,
> corporate customers might simply refuse to upgrade, refuse to purchase
> new machines, and simply boycott the Windows market. OEMs would then
> have to offer the more Linux-friendly XP product.
While your paragraph seems hypothetical, it pretty much reflects on a
reality. Windows Vista is said to be "feature complete". Meanwhile, Linux
vendors are preparing to take over. The release of Vista will be a
significant catalyst.
Linux Distributor Interactive Ideas To Deliver Xandros' End-to-End Windows
Alternatives To UK
,----[ Quote ]
| "I see a bright future for Xandros in the UK. We have seen a steady growth
| in the UK market for Linux servers, and with the approach of Windows Vista,
| both users and resellers are beginning to understand the tremendous value
| and opportunity that the Linux desktop presents as well, so the timing
| couldn't be better," said Mike Trup, Interactive Ideas Managing Director.
| "While everyone is sold on Linux stability and security, a principal
| deterrent to its widespread adoption has been the perceived difficulty of
| installation and use. Even cursory hands-on experience with Xandros
| desktops and servers completely changes that perception, and when you
| factor in their outstanding Windows compatibility, it is readily
| apparent that Xandros provides the easiest transition to Linux to date.
`----
http://br.sys-con.com/read/272819.htm
Linspire Offers Cash Incentive for Pre-Installing Linux on Desktop Computers
,----[ Quote ]
| Linspire, Inc., developer of the commercial desktop Linux operating system
| of the same name and Freespire, the free community desktop Linux operating
| system, launched a revamped partner program today that pays system builders
| a percentage on all commercial Linux software and services purchased by
| users of either Linspire and Freespire pre-installed desktop and laptop
| computers using CNR (Click 'N Run) technology.
`----
http://www.tickertech.com/cgi/?a=news&ticker=a&w=&story=200609200609140600PR_NEWS_USPR_____LATH078
Among others.
>> The initial results are not good. I've seen 4 BSODs so far, the event
>> viewer was a sea of red and yellow checkmarks, USB is b0rked (surprise,
>> surprise), and sound doesn't work:
>> http://www.genesis-x.nildram.co.uk/nindows-fista/
>
> Of course, you did install it under VMware, and Vista is pretty nasty
> toward VMWare.
> Microsoft seems committed to forcing Vista directly onto the hardware.
> This is a critical decision and could either give them strategic
> placement, or become loathed feature which would be rejected outright
> by corporate customers. It's a big gamble, and I if Microsoft's final
> product is still "Virtual hostile", I'll be buying puts.
>
>> And no, "Nindows" is not a typo ... look at the screenshot.
>
> What I found most striking was the similiarity between this screen and
> one of the SUSE screens.
I suppose you are referring to SLED/SLES 10. I am not sure if Vista builds
predate the design of the SUSE logon screen though.
Also see:
http://beranger.org/index.php?article=1567&from=rss
Just seen it the other day. I suspect that Xandros and that Fujitsu
distribution have a similar login screen as well.
>> Oh and apparently my "Windows Experience Index" is 1. Time to "refresh"
>> that hardware folks. No $100 OLPC PC for me, boys and girls; looks like
>> I'll have to re-mortgage and move to a trailer park, just to bump my
>> index past 1. OK, so to be fair this *is* a VMWare session, but then XP
>> (as shite as it is) was never *this* freakin' slow on VMWare.
>
> Beta versions are often memory pigs, because there is lots of "debug
> enable-able" code that can be turned on when real issues pop up. How
> much RAM did you give to the Vista VM? I've heard that 2 Gig is
> reccomended.
I can't help but feel that Microsoft is deliberately pushing the limit or
programmers build the O/S in the least efficient way. I can doing fine with
256 MB and 512 MB of RAM. And I have eye candy turned on, as well as have
dozens of applications open. The price tag on Vista-ready machines will
be/is very high, so Linux offers will not be overlooked or ignored. To the
seller, on the other hand, Linux will seem like that cheap option that
distracts the customer from the cash cows. And that said, the majority of
people like (or can only afford) to buy cheap. So the seller risk losing
business unless they stock Linux workstations.
>> I can see where Thurrot's coming from. Good grief, does MS *seriously*
>> expect people to pay for this steaming pile of sweaty socks? Do they
>> seriously expect *businesses* to cripple their hardware with this putrid
>> pile of bloated garbage.
>
> Microsoft has been able to force their "shovelware" into corporate
> sites even when they don't want it. When Windows XP was released,
> corporate customers had to pay as much as three times the cost of their
> previous support plan, At the time, it was October, and Microsoft
> demanded that customers upgrade or "go on their own". The corporate
> customers also had to accept "shipment" of licenses for each computer -
> whether it was unstalled or not.
At the time (2001/2002), there was no alternative that was equally capable
(some may argue). The bridges between the proprietary lockins and the open
world were less mature. There were also fewer case studies to install
confidence in the customer's mind, as well as be seen as precedence. Now, on
the other hand, Microsoft must be careful with the bullying.
> It is pretty clear now, that Microsoft wanted to close the support
> contracts BEFORE letting them know that anyone who got XP, even the OEM
> version, would get exactly the same kind of support that the corporate
> customers got - the automated updates.
>
> The irony is that many corporations were actually unwilling to accept
> the automated updates and ended up having to filter or pre-test
> upgrades, often delaying updates and security fixes that broke 3rd
> party applications critical to the enterprise for such functions and
> time sheets, expense reports, and travel arrangements as well as "core"
> applications such as purchasing, inventory, and shipping.
>
> Nearly 85% of Microsoft's biggest corporate customers developed
> "migration plans" which included steps that have already been taken,
> such as confirming that all machines purchased can be converted from
> Windows to Linux in less than 1 hour, deployment of OSS software such
> as FireFox and OpenOffice, and staying at earlier "OSS compatible"
> versions of MS-Office such as Office 2000, Visio 2002, and Project
> 2000. Other measures included choosing Java-2 applications and applets
> rather than VB applications and ActiveX controls.
>
>> Oh, but it looks soooo pretty. Yeah well so does XGL, but unlike Aero it
>> weighs in at only 2.5MB, and doesn't bring the system down to a crawl.
>
> Again, some of this might be debug code, but clearly XGL is shifting
> the balance in favor of Linux as the primary Operating system.
> Microsoft may have to offer Xen, VMWare, and User Mode capabilities to
> stay in the marketplace and displace the Windows 9x, NT, and XP systems
> already deployed.
That must be the reason behind the joining with XenSource.
>> "Installing Nindows...
>> That's all the information we need right now.
>> Your computer will *restart several times* during installation"
>>
>> "Several times" ... Jesus Christ!!!
>>
>> Looks like Microsoft's efforts to "reduce the number of times a user
>> needs to restart the PC" has been flushed down the toilet.
At some point in time (over a year ago), Microsoft raved about system updates
that do not require a reboot. It seems like the aspiration to reduce the
number of reboots is yet another 'feature' that was dropped.
> Flashbacks of Windows NT 4.0 again. That puppy was really slow to get
> acceptance, and even then consumers rejected it for the most part,
> opting for Windows 9x instead.
>
>> Reboot several times during an installation ... how quaint.
>>
>> Oh and where the fuck has "display settings" gone? It seems to have
>> disappeared from the control panel.
>
> Does right-click on desktop still work?
That route to Diplay Settings has always been counter-intuitive.
>> I'll be sure to include that one in my usability report to sweaty Ballmer.
>>
>> Now, where do I pick up my cheque? ... oh wait ...
>
> Funny. Some people that that if they climb into bed with Microsoft,
> some of "Billy's Billions" will come their way. But "Billy's Billions"
> came because Billy makes sure that nearly all of the money flows one
> way, out of your pocket and into Billy's. If you like Billy's toy,
> then pay more into Billy's Billions, and accept that that's all part of
> doing business with Microsoft.
...Now you know how contributers to Xen probably feel. I see the same
sentiments among WordPress.org contributers (me included). WP.com and
Automattic is now a company and there is little interest in helping.
However, the wide exposure of the project always attracts some new faces.
Best wishes,
Roy
--
Roy S. Schestowitz | Windows all-in-one: Word, IE (for E-mail) & iTunes
http://Schestowitz.com | SuSE Linux | PGP-Key: 0x74572E8E
7:20am up 58 days 19:32, 8 users, load average: 0.16, 0.45, 0.32
http://iuron.com - Open Source knowledge engine project
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