Top Analysts: Windows collapsing under its own weight; Radical change needed

 

Microsoft’s Windows juggernaut is collapsing as it tries to support 20 years of applications and becomes more complicated by the minute. Meanwhile, Windows has outgrown hardware and customers are pondering skipping Vista to wait for Windows 7. If Windows is going to remain relevant it will need radical changes.

That sobering outlook comes courtesy of Gartner analysts Michael Silver and Neil MacDonald. Half of a full room of IT managers and executives raised their hands when asked whether Microsoft needed to radically change its approach to Windows. Read the full story on ZDNet.Com

 

Soviet Microsoft: How Resistance to Free Markets and Open Ideas Will the Unravel the Software Superpower.

“…Somewhat ironically, one of the most financially successful capitalist companies of the 90s has positioned itself as a modern counterpart to the old communist Soviet Union. Microsoft’s ideological contempt for and resistance to free markets and the open expression and propagation of fresh ideas and technologies is not only a close parallel of the old USSR, but also a clear reflection of why Microsoft is currently failing and why its troubles have only just begun. Here’s a comprehensive look at why this is the case.” Read the full article on RoughlyDrafted.Com

Microsoft admits Vista failure

[Microsoft] is at a dangerous crossroads, if its software bumps up the price of a computer by 100 per cent, people might look to alternatives. That means no [Vista] DRM infection lock in, no mass migration to the newer Office obfuscated and patented file formats, and worse yet, people might utter the W word. Yes, you guessed it, ‘why’. People might ask why it is sticking with the MS lock in, and at that point, it is in deep trouble. Read more.

APCMag.Com: 10 reasons not to get Vista

It’s all too easy to get caught up in the million dollar marketing engine as we approach the consumer release of Windows Vista, so lets not forget that it isn’t the second coming, and by all counts is an upgrade you can do without. There are many lists out there on why to get Vista, so here’s ours on why not to. Read more.

Criticisms of Windows Vista

Considering buying Windows Vista? Read this encyclopedia entry from Wikipedia.Com before you do. Windows Vista, the latest version of Microsoft’s desktop operating system, has been the target of a number of negative assessments by various groups. Criticisms of Windows Vista have included… Read more.

iTunes 7.1.2 DRM cracked

This utility will scrub DRM from YOUR music files and make a backup copy of the originals for safe keeping. Great for iPod owners who now have another brand of music player - iTunes will convert your AAC files to MP3 when you’re ready to run away from Apple. I’m sure this story will be buried by DMCA lovers.

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Analyst: “The Vista Content Protection spec. could [be] the longest suicide note in history.”

Windows Vista includes an extensive reworking of core OS elements in order to provide content protection for so-called “premium content”, typically HD data from Blu-Ray and HD-DVD sources. Providing this protection incurs considerable costs in terms of system performance, system stability, technical support overhead, and hardware and software cost. These issues affect not only users of Vista but the entire PC industry. Read More…

Open source protestor crashes Bill Gates’ speech in China

We’ve certainly seen a variety of crashings go down on stage, but a determined protester and undeterred advocate for open source software rudely (albeit humorously) interrupted Bill Gates’ speech at Peking University in Beijing, China.

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Vista makes me sad: Five years for a chrome-plated turd

Microsoft will tell you that Vista is the next great thing in every way, it took billions of dollars to develop, millions of man-hours, and undoubtedly will be the best selling OS ever launched. The problem is that Vista brings almost nothing to the table that can’t be described by as three year old as “shiny”. If this is all the billions, man-hours and years brought, what was the point? We get a bloated, DRM infected rights removal tool that advances the state of the art to where Apple was the better part of a decade ago, and we are supposed to call this progress? Read more.

A Windows expert opts for a Mac life, Part 2

Last month, I initiated a three-month trial of the Macintosh as a total replacement for my primary Windows machine. That computer is asked to pull double duty as a work and personal machine. It’s also the only computer I run e-mail on. And it’s the one machine (other than backup) that contains all my data files. In other words, it’s got to work flawlessly. I’ve had serious pain switching to the Mac (we’ll get to that in a moment), but I’ve also had great success and no second thoughts about my experiment. Read more.

ZDNet: Five things you’ll hate about Windows Vista

Some users have already questioned the business benefits of upgrading to Vista, citing the relative stability and security of Windows XP and a lack of compelling features in Vista. Read more.

A Windows expert opts for a Mac life, Part 1

If I could strip out aspects of Vista — like Microsoft’s aggressive antipiracy measures and some of its onerous protective mechanisms, the high cost of Vista Ultimate, and other unpleasant aspects of the new operating system — I might continue as a more-or-less content Windows user. But the emergence of Vista has sparked something new inside me, a serious need to explore my alternatives. Read more, or Read the follow up.