Hidden Costs of a Windows Vista Upgrade
,----[ Quote ]
| So what's the bottom line for hidden upgrade costs? If you've
| got a relatively new system and opt to upgrade Vista over XP
| instead of doing a clean install, you may get away with not having
| to upgrade any hardware, or just need to add some RAM or a new
| graphics card. That won't put much bite on your pocketbook, and
| you won't lose your weekends, either.
`----
http://www.pcworld.com/article/id,128930/article.html
Do We Really Need Windows Vista?
,----[ Quote ]
| Think about it, people are not given a choice to install an open
| operating system like Linux. To be fair there should be no operating
| system installed on a new PC. You should buy a "systemless" PC, then
| choose the operating system you want and the store should install it
| for you before you take your PC home.
|
| As long as PCs are pre-installed with XP or Vista very few people
| will ever switch to Linux. Most people aren't technically savvy
| enough to attempt to do the installation themselves. And even after
| the Linux is installed, it requires some getting used to for people
| who've worked with Windows all their lives.
|
| [...]
|
| We can only be spared their watchful eye by embracing open source
| software like Linux. By being able to examine Linux code, experts
| throughout the world can say with much more certainty that there
| are no surprises placed there by enterprising governments or
| corporations.
`----
http://www.yoursdaily.com/science_tech/do_we_really_need_windows_vista
Eager to see Vista? What's the rush?
,----[ Quote ]
| Finally, my overall impression of Vista: It's a worthwhile upgrade,
| worth waiting for. And that's what I want you to do -- wait for it.
|
| After installing Vista on his home computer, his previous advice still
| stands: This is not the time to undertake this big and complex
| upgrade.
`----
http://www.charlotte.com/mld/charlotte/business/16674303.htm
Related:
Acer: Vista Home Basic is a lemon
,----[ Quote ]
| "The new [Vista] experience you hear of, if you get Basic, you won't feel
| it at all. There's no [Aero] graphics, no Media Center, no
| remote control."
`----
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2006/10/27/acer_slams_vista_home_basic/
The hunt for a Linux PC
,----[ Quote ]
| Where can the average South African consumer get their hands on a
| new PC loaded with Linux instead of Windows? Not a lot of places,
| as it turns out.
`----
http://www.tectonic.co.za/view.php?src=rss&id=1352
Microsoft Shuts Down Linux 10 Years Ago Says Iowa Attorne
,----[ Quote ]
| Going back now to as early as 1998, Microsoft starts to realize that
| Linux might pose a possible threat, and Vinod Valloppillil, who is
| a program manager at Microsoft, is asked by Mr. Allchin, Jim Allchin,
| to analyze potential strategies for combatting open-source software,
| and specifically Linux.
| His memos are leaked to the press in April -- I beg your pardon --
| in October of 1998 and become known as the Halloween documents.
| And the evidence will be that Microsoft uses its influence in the
| OEM channel, the computer manufacture channel, to make sure that
| end users have a difficult time buying PCs with Linux preinstalled.
`----
http://www.linuxelectrons.com/News/RoundUp/Microsoft_Shuts_Down_Linux_10_Years_Ago_Says_Iowa_Attorney
Microsoft's Dirty OEM-Secret
,----[ Quote ]
| They are, in short the secret to Microsoft's success. And the word
| secret is to be taken quite literally: No OEM may talk about the
| contents of his contract, or he will lose his license, and (assumption)
| likely be sued for breach of contract as well.
`----
http://www.kuro5hin.org/story/2001/10/23/13219/110
Dell's secret Linux fling
,----[ Quote ]
| Dell's love affair with Linux is a clandestine affair these days,
| conducted in secret, away from disapproving eyes. But now the pair
| have been spotted in China.
|
| When Michael Dell first saw the web-footed beauty, he fell head over
| heels. Six years ago Dell pledged a series of strategic investments
| in Linux companies, including Eazel and Red Hat. The romance
| attracted the disapproval of Microsoft however, and barely lasted
| weeks. Very quietly, Dell dumped the bird.
|
| It later emerged that Microsoft's OEM enforcer Joachim Kempin had
| promised Steve Ballmer that he'd be putting the screws on PCb
| uilders, or "hitting the OEMs harder" in his words.
`----
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2007/01/09/dell_linux_china/
Microsoft 'killed Dell Linux' - States
,----[ Quote ]
| The States' remedy hearing opened in DC yesterday, and States attorney
| Steven Kuney produced a devastating memo from Kempin, then in charge of
| Microsoft's OEM business, written after Judge Jackson had ordered his
| break-up of the company. Kempin raises the possibility of threatening
| Dell and other PC builders which promote Linux.
|
| "I'm thinking of hitting the OEMs harder than in the past with anti-Linux.
| ... they should do a delicate dance," Kempin wrote to Ballmer, in what is
| sure to be a memorable addition to the phrases ("knife the baby", "cut off
| the air supply") with which Microsoft enriched the English language in the
| first trial. Unlike those two, this is not contested.
|
| [...]
|
| Earlier memos described that it was "untenable" that a key Microsoft
| partner was promoting Linux. Kuney revealed that Dell disbanded its Linux
| business unit in early 2001. Dell quietly pulled Linux from its desktop PCs
| in the summer of 2001, IDG's Ashlee Vance discovered subsequently, six
| months after we heard Michael Dell declare his love of Linux on the desktop
| the previous winter.
|
| Compaq was also mentioned in other memos, with Microsoft taking the line
| that OEMs should "meet demand but not help create demand" for Linux.
`----
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2002/03/19/microsoft_killed_dell_linux_states/
Jury Hears Microsoft Competition Suit
,----[ Quote ]
| A judge on Friday told jurors they must accept as fact that a
| federal court found in 1999 that Microsoft holds a monopoly over
| computer operating systems and that it restricted computer
| manufacturers' ability to use competing systems.
|
| [...]
|
| She said she'll show that the company used its monopoly power
| to exclude competition and control prices and that it conspired with
| other companies to restrain trade, maintaining what she called a
| chokehold on software competitors and computer manufacturers.
`----
http://biz.yahoo.com/ap/061201/microsoft_trial.html?.v=1
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