InfoWorld’s “Save XP” Petition

 

“…Millions of us have grown comfortable with XP and don’t see a need to change to Vista. It’s like having a comfortable apartment that you’ve enjoyed coming home to for years, only to get an eviction notice. The thought of moving to a new place — even with the stainless steel appliances, granite countertops, and maple cabinets (or is cherry in this year?) — just doesn’t sit right. Maybe it’ll be more modern, but it will also cost more and likely not be as good a fit. And you don’t have any other reason to move.

 

That’s exactly the conclusion people have come to with Vista. For most of us, there’s really no reason to move to it — yet we don’t have a choice. When that strong desire to stick with XP became obvious in spring 2007, major computer makers such as Dell and Hewlett-Packard quietly reintroduced new XP-based systems (but just to business customers, so as not to offend Microsoft). Come June 30, however, even that option goes away.” Read the full story and sign the petition at InfoWorld.Com

Microsoft loses ‘Vista Capable’ appeal; more insider e-mails could emerge.

Microsoft Corp.’s attempt to reverse a lower court’s ruling in the ongoing “Vista Capable” lawsuit was denied by an appeals court on Monday. The decision means the case can resume.

It also means that new insider e-mails subpoenaed from Microsoft and nearly 30 other companies could be made public.

In a brief order dated April 21, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals rejected Microsoft’s request to overturn a decision by U.S. District Court Judge Marsha Pechman in February that granted class-action status to a lawsuit that charges the company deceived consumers in 2006 with its Windows Vista Capable marketing program. Read the full story on ComputerWorld.Com

 

Why ‘No Macs’ is no longer a defensible IT strategy

Once confined to marketing departments and media companies, the Mac is spilling over into a wider array of business environments, thanks to the confluence of a number of computing trends, not the least among them a rising tide of end-user affinity for the Apple experience.

 

Luckily for IT, many of those same trends are making it easier for tech departments to say yes to the Mac by facilitating IT’s ability to provide enterprise-grade Mac management and support.

“We’re seeing more requests outside of creative services to switch to Macs from PCs,” notes David Plavin, operations manager for Mac systems engineering at the U.S. IT division of Publicis Groupe, a global advertising conglomerate. There are so many requests that Plavin now supports 2,500 Macs across the U.S. — nearly a quarter of all Publicis’ U.S. PCs.

And Plavin is less of an anomaly than you might think. Buoyed by increased interest in the consumer arena, Macs are cropping up in more and more organizations, in large part because end-users are pushing for them. Read the full article on InfoWorld.Com

 

Ballmer: Vista is ‘a work in progress’

 

As PC users clamor for Microsoft to continue to support Windows XP, company CEO Steve Ballmer called the Vista OS “a work in progress” at an annual Seattle event on Thursday.

“It’s a very important piece of work. We did a lot of things right and have a lot of things we need to learn from. You never want to let five years go between releases,” he said.

While Microsoft recently extended the date when the XP software will be available for low-cost PCs, it doesn’t plan to listen to some other complaints, including that Vista is too big. “Vista is bigger than XP and it’s gonna stay bigger than XP,” Ballmer said. Read the full story on MacWorld.Com

 

IBM contemplating switching to Macs?

“IBM’s Research Information Services division is investigating the possibility of moving a significant number of employees to Apple’s Macintosh platform according to a report acquired by RoughlyDrafted.
“In line with IBM’s external strategy of offering a true ‘Open Client’ that may be Windows, Linux or a Mac,” the document noted, “[Research Information Services] is focusing on providing an IBM application stack on multiple Operating Systems, rather than be confined to one or the other.”
The first phase of the pilot program was conducted between October 2007 and January 2008. During this phase, 24 MacBook Pros were distributed to researchers and used as the primary notebook, with the employees’ existing ThinkPads acting as backups if needed.
Of the 22 of 24 who responded, 18 said that the Mac offered a “better or best experience” compared to their existing computer, one rated it “equal or good,” and three said the Mac offered a “worse experience.” Seven reported having no or marginal prior knowledge of using Macs, while 15 reported having moderate or expert knowledge of the platform.” Read the full story on RoughlyDrafted.Com found via MacRumors.Com

 

Vista Update Causes USB Problems

A recent Vista update is causing headaches for users with USB devices.
Microsoft last week re-released a software update intended to provide performance and reliability enhancements for Windows Vista -based and Windows Vista Service Pack 1-based systems. It was one of eight security bulletins and updates the company made available on April 8.

Users who installed the update, however, soon found their USB devices unresponsive, particularly mice and flash drives. Removing and re-installing the programs reportedly did not immediately solve the problem.

Microsoft confirmed the bug, but declined to provide further details. Read the full story at PCMag.Com found via Bink.Nu

 

Windows XP fans don’t want it to XPire

 

A petition to “Save Windows XP” has drawn more than 111,000 supporters — and continued shots across the Microsoft XP vs. Vista bow, a battle that began with Vista’s release last year.

The operating system succeeded XP, which came on the market in October 2001. Despite Vista’s much-improved security measures, it has met with criticism and some reluctance by consumers and businesses that don’t want to make the switch.

Among the concerns about Vista are the amount of computer memory and space it requires, its seemingly slower speed and frustration over the fact that third-party drivers for some printers and other devices are still not available from the companies that make those devices. Read the full story on… MSNBC (?!)

 

Vista downgrading: What are your rights?

Talk about a catch 22. Did you know that in order to be allowed to downgrade Vista to XP on a new computer, Microsoft expects you to have one of the more expensive editions of Windows Vista that most OEMs don’t even put on their machines. It’s true. Have a look at this official Microsoft one-sheet explaining the intricacies of downgrading from Vista that’s come bundled with a new PC.

You’d have to add $180 to the price of a Dell Inspiron 530 in order to have the right to use XP instead of Vista.

See the one sheet on Microsoft.Com

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

 

Former Mac hater reflects on his switch to Mac

“…While I am not a card carrying Mac fanboy (it does have issues like any piece of technology), I wanted to try and summarize why I like the Mac so much now that I’ve been using it heavily for the last two months.

I have been a Windows user and software developer since 1992, and a DOS user and developer since 1984. I used to hate Macs and as recently as 9 months ago my avatar on one of my forums was John Hodgman (the PC guy from the Mac ads).

Now I really enjoy using my Mac and am drifting away from Windows as a platform. Here’s why:

Read the full story on David Alison’s Blog found via SwitchingToMac.Com

Creative Labs shoots self in foot. Tries to stop the bleeding.

Since the release of Windows Vista, Creative has promised their Sound Cards as being ‘Vista Ready’. Unfortunately, as many unlucky customers did discover, this is not true. What the users actually found were buggy, feature crippled drivers. Creative insisted that features such as Decoding of Dolby® Digital and DTS(TM) signals and DVD-Audio which worked fine in WinXP, would not work on windows Vista. With Creative releasing less than one new driver a year, things seemed bleak. Fortunately, a talented user, Daniel_K, was recently able to ‘fix’ many of the drivers, enabling the incompatible features and also fixing many bugs.

Creative decided to put a stop to this. They removed all links to his modified drivers, and banned several users who were posting links to the now banned drivers.”

The move backfired big time, generating a media firestorm and howls of protests from outraged users on technology forums across the web. Guess what, Creative has reinstated Daniel_K’s posts. Read the full story on TheRegister.Co.Uk found via SlashDot.Org

 

Bill Gates: Vista replacement “Sometime in 2009″

 

Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates on Friday indicated that Windows 7, the next major version of Windows, could come within the next year, far ahead of the development schedule previously indicated by the software maker.

In response to a question about Windows Vista, Gates, speaking before the Inter-American Development Bank here, said: “Sometime in the next year or so we will have a new version.” Referring to Windows 7, the code name for the next full release of Windows client software, Gates said: “I’m super-enthused about what it will do in lots of ways.” Read the full story on C|Net News

 

Microsoft Succeeds in Making Vista Even Worse

Windows Vista is already perhaps the most frustrating product Microsoft has yet heaved onto the computing public. But now its Service Pack 1 update, which is supposed to FIX holes and squeaks in the Vista code, seems to be making things worse — so much worse that venerable publications like Computerworld are running stories about how to get SP1 off your machine. InfoWorld has a piece about how Vista users are blasting Microsoft on Microsoft’s own Vista blog. Read the full story on SeekingAlpha.Com

Vista SP1: Threat or Menace?

“Popular wisdom says you should wait for SP1 before switching to any new version of Windows. Ironically, the question on the minds of current Vista customers iswhether it’s the right time to switch to SP1.

Vista SP1 reportedly wraps some 551 bug fixes along with performance, reliability, and compatibility enhancements. But given how customers who have upgraded from XP have struggled with driver and application incompatibilities, it’s no surprise that many are gun-shy of the latest update.” Read the full article on WashingtonPost.Com

Microsoft top brass ‘burned’ by Vista problems

“Private Microsoft emails unearthed during a US court case have revealed that even the software giant’s own executives struggled to get Windows Vista running smoothly.”

“…One executive, Mike Nash, complained he was “burned” so badly by compatibility issues he was left with “a $2100 email machine”.

Steven Sinofsky, the Microsoft executive in charge of Windows, struggled to even get his home printer working with Vista.”

“Jon Shirley, who experienced compatibility problems with his Epson printer and scanner and his Nikon film scanner.

He could not even get some of Microsoft’s own MSN software products to work on Vista and refused to upgrade his other computer to the operating system.

“I cannot understand with a product this long in creation why there is such a shortage of drivers,” Shirley wrote to Ballmer.

Other emails from various Microsoft executives show that even they struggled to work out what “Vista Capable” and “Vista Ready” meant when buying a new PC.

“Is it true that Vista Ready doesn’t necessarily mean Aero capable? I got a Dell Latitude that is Vista Ready but doesn’t have enough graphics [hardware],” Sinofsky wrote.”

Read the full article on SydneyMorningHerald.Com.Au

See also this article on the NYTimes.Com

My nightmare trying to upgrade to Vista SP1

“Pity me. I’m trying to update to Vista SP1 and it turns out I’m one of the people on the Vista SP1 banned driver list. I’ve wasted hours of my life that I won’t get back, and still no SP1. I’ll show you what I’ve gone through, including screenshots, so that you don’t have to go through this mess yourself.” Read the full article on ComputerWorld.Com

Windows Vista SP1 wreaks havoc on some PCs, users complain

“…Microsoft on Tuesday made Vista SP1 widely available for the first time. The company has admitted it’s still not perfect.The service pack will not install on computers that use peripheral device drivers that Microsoft has deemed incompatible. The list includes a small set of audio and display drivers made by Realtek and Intel, as well as drivers from several other manufacturers.

Microsoft said it’s working to resolve the compatibility issues”

“…Other troubles reported by Vista SP1 users ranged from a simple inability to download the software from Microsoft’s Windows Update site to sudden spikes in memory usage. “Went from using 650 MB RAM idle to 1 Gig… I’ll be switching back,” said “Kurrier.” Read the full story on ITNews.Com.Au

Apple snags 14 percent of US-based PC retail sales in February

Apple’s computer sales in the US have grown considerably from last year - at 60-percent unit growth and 67-percent revenue growth - granting it 14-percent of all computers sold for February. According to AppleInsider, Apple’s laptop systems saw the largest growth, representing a 64-percent increase in units sold, and 67-percent increased revenue, suggesting strong acceptance of the company’s new ultra-portable, the MacBook Air. Read the full story on AppleInsider.Com

Desktop OS, Hold the Vista

EWeek has released their Enterprise IT survey findings on OS migration. The general consensus? IT Pros still hate Vista.

“…72 percent of respondents said they expected the desktop OS they were using now to be the one they would be using in 2009. Some respondents were looking beyond Vista, with 6 percent saying the desktop OS they expected to be using in 2009 would be Windows “7,” the post-Vista version of Windows.” Read the full report on EWeek.Com

Want to join the classaction lawsuit against Microsoft?

I received word from the lawyer handling the case who is looking to find people who wish to participate in the suit against Microsoft. If you purchased a computer listed as “Vista Capable” you should get involved. Jeffery Thomas of Gordon Tilden Thomas & Cordell LLP is handling the case and can be contacted at (206) 467-6477

Interested participants should go to the law firm’s website and fill out this form.

digg story

Court docs reveal Vista requirements lowered to help Intel sell incompatible chipsets.

“So now that the “Vista Capable” lawsuit is a full-blown class action, the judge has unsealed all 158 pages of emails between Microsoft execs trying to sort out what went wrong with the sticker program. While bits and pieces have been blacked out, what remains is still fairly incredible — although Intel’s 915 chipset was initially rejected as incompatible with Vista, MS execs flatly admit that “In the end, we lowered the requirements to help Intel make their quarterly earnings so they could continue to sell motherboards with the 915 graphics embedded” and “We are caving to Intel.” Read the full story on Engadget.Com

‘Vista Capable’ lawsuit against Microsoft now a class action

“In a blow to Microsoft Corp., a federal judge granted class-action status to a lawsuit late Friday alleging that Microsoft unjustly enriched itself by promoting PCs as “Windows Vista Capable” even when they could only run a bare-bones version of the operating system, called “Vista Home Basic.”The slogan was emblazoned on PCs during the 2006 holiday shopping season as part of a campaign by Microsoft to maintain sales of Windows XP computers after the launch of Windows Vista was delayed.

At a hearing two weeks ago, lawyers for Microsoft argued that because each consumer who bought a computer touted as “Windows Vista Capable” had different information at the time of purchase, the lawsuit should not be granted class-action status, while plaintiffs’ lawyers said that all individuals who bought “Windows Vista Capable” PCs were united in that “each person in our class did not get what they paid for.” Read the full atricle on SeattlePI.Com

Will Windows 7 Track Your Every Move?

File this one under “You’ve got to be f***ing kidding me!”

“…One good place to look for what might be coming in Windows 7 is an early planned feature list of Vista (then called Longhorn) back in 2003. If one intriguing feature, called Location Awareness, makes its way into Windows 7, it could track your every move…and that could be a good thing.

Microsoft described Location Awareness, along with a host of other planned features, in a document called the Windows “Longhorn” Pre-Release Privacy Statement that detailed to beta testers Longhorn’s expected data collection and use. (Thanks to istartedsomething for uncovering this document and its relation to another potential Windows 7 feature, HomeGroup.) Many of these features never made it into Vista — remember WinFS anyone?

Location Awareness, according to the Microsoft document:

collects computer location data such as address, position, building/floor/room, and stores it locally in the WinFS store. It also collects data that helps to determine the location information of your computer, but is not directly useful as location information itself, such as: MAC addresses of access points near your computer and the IP address of the subnet and default gateway to which you are connected. It collects data from you, from the active directory, from wireless zeroconfig, and from IPhelper.

Read the full article on ComputerWorld.Com

Microsoft Pulls Troubled Vista Update

“Microsoft TechNet forums started to buzz with trouble late last week, after update KB937287 caused some Vista PCs to either fail to properly boot up or enter an endless boot up loop.“

“Microsoft released a statement:

“We’ve received reports that some customers may be experiencing an unusual reboot cycle after installing KB937287, the servicing stack update we released last week. To prevent further instances of this issue, we temporarily stopped automatic distribution of the update and are investigating solutions to the problem. We believe this problem only impacts a small number of customers. We are working to identify possible solutions and will resume automatic distribution again after we address the issue.”

“I can’t recall a time when Microsoft acknowledged any problem causing trouble to more than a “small number of customers.” How does Microsoft define “small?” Read the full story on MicrosoftWatch.Com

Mac customers 81% “Very Satisfied” compared to Vista Basic’s 15%.

The chart above says it all but you can still read the full story at BaltimoreSun.Com. Found via SwitchingToMac.Com

Business Open Source Use Up 26% in One Year

CBR is reporting that open source use in the workplace is continuing to grow at an astonishing rate. Up 26% since last year, businesses are using 94 different open source tools to get the job done.

“[OpenLogic's] breakdown of licenses for the top 25 packages found that Apache, not the GPL, is the most common license. 62% of the packages use Apache, 27% use some variant of GPL and 4% each use BSD, CPL, Eclipse, MPL and Perl licenses (since packages may be released under two or more licenses, percentages total to more than 100%).”  Read the full story on CBROnline.Com found via SlashDot.Org

UK education agency says no to Vista, Office 2007

“The British Educational Communications and Technology Agency (Becta) has published its final report (PDF) on Windows Vista and Microsoft Office 2007. The agency is largely sticking with its interim recommendations that schools steer clear of Vista in existing deployments and Office 2007 altogether.”

“…Becta recommends against deploying Vista in current setups, saying that the upside of such upgrades aren’t worth the cost. According to Becta, only 22 percent of school PCs in the UK are capable of running Vista “effectively.” Read the full story on ArTechnica.Com

Sales Pitch: “We remove Vista” [pic]

“…the sign appeared in the window of A&D Computer, across the street from the town square. Shop manager Aaron Kaplan said they were prompted to put it up because so many people were having problems with Windows Vista, including compatibility issues with older software and trouble adjusting to the interface.”A lot of people didn’t like using Vista, and a lot of the manufacturers forced people to go up to Vista,” he said.

What was the demand for the service? “We had a lot of people coming in and asking about it,” Kaplan said. “Of all the signs we put up there the last two years, at least, we probably got the most response out of that one. A lot of people coming in.” Read the full story on SeattlePI.Com

Legal IT Consultant: Vista = My Own Personal Hell

“…My conclusion is now that NO ONE who values their sanity, their time, their psyche and general sense of well-being should use Vista. At all. Under any circumstances. In fact, after giving it more than a fair shake over 11 months of daily use, I know think it deserves to be classified internationally as a Weapon of Mass Data Destruction. In fact, perhaps the best way to defeat Al Quaida or any other terrorist group would be to send them free copies of a particularly brain-dead version of Vista like “Home Basic” - it would stop them in their tracks, as it has done with me and so many others.”

“Vista is the #1 reason Apple has been so successful in the overnight turnaround of its Mac product line. The best feature of the Macbook and iMac series is they DON’T have Vista, not the fact they now have Leopard.” Read the full post on Rossipsa.Com

Bill Gates: ["Vista Sucks"] [video]

Gizmodo recently interviewed Bill Gates at CES. They posed a carefully worded question to the man and got a surprisingly frank answer…

Wow. See more of the interview at Gizmodo.

CES: Where Vista Wasn’t

“Windows Vista was everywhere-and yet nowhere-at this year’s Consumer Electronics Show.Vista was everywhere because the operating system was on most PCs. But it was nowhere in terms of branding and marketing. Microsoft banners and other promotional material reverted to “Windows” branding with no “Vista.” Where Microsoft had Vista, something else accompanied it, like Windows Live, Media Center or Windows Media Extender.

Now what does that say about Vista, the brand, and Microsoft’s commitment to Windows XP’s successor? Has Microsoft given up on Windows Vista-as a brand, at least? The answer is perhaps yes.” Read the full article on Microsoft-Watch.Com