Microsoft Using Apple’s Macbook Pro In Promotional Material

“…sometimes one encounters stuff that is just too good to pass. So that other day my dad bought a new HP Pavilion desktop, and since I am the geek in residence I ended up setting it up for him. So while I was waiting for Microsoft’s endless configuration and setup screens I decided to dig into the fluffy paraphernalia and promotional material bundled with the Desktop. The first thing that fell into my hand was this Microsoft Vista promotional booklet that had an image of the ideal happy family computing on a laptop. What stood out was that the laptop looked awfully similar to the Macbook Pro!” [It IS a MacBook Pro - Jay]

See the full post including the Playstation in place of an X-Box on Royal HeHe2-ness

Microsoft renames it’s Vista Blog to the Windows Blog

“…we just re-launched our blog today as The Windows Blog sporting an all-new look and feel reflecting Windows in a broader sense instead of a single Windows release. We figured it was time to give our blog a good facelift (it’s looked the same since we originally launched in October of 2006) – especially as we start talking about Windows 7, Windows Live, and many other interesting Windows topics. Our old design focused strictly on Windows Vista. Our new design is no longer tied to a specific Windows release allowing us to talk about a wider range of topics.” Visit the new site here.

“Hey, Dad…Can I have Linux back?”

“My oldest son, creator of flame wars, finally discovered that you can only surf to the nether regions of the Internet so many times before even Vista business succumbs to malware. His computer an unusable mass of pop-ups, spewing traffic over our network actually asked me tonight to reinstall Linux for him.

He still wants a Vista virtual machine since Spore is a pretty fine game and his Zune probably won’t play nice with Linux. However, for everyday use, he’s done with Vista. Not only does it lack the “amusing desktop effects” (which his mother hates, by the way, on her new Linux desktop), but even running Clamwin and Windows Defender, he still managed to infect it with a variety of junk, rendering it useless when he had a term paper to write.” Read the full article on Christopher Dawson’s Blog

Former Mac hater reflects on his switch to Mac. (Pt. II)

“…What I find interesting after 6 months is the impact buying that little MacBook had not only on the way I handle my personal computing but to a large degree the influence it has had on the way I do my development work. You see after I bought the MacBook I found myself doing more and more with it. I had a Windows XP development / gaming rig parked directly in front of me but I was constantly sliding my hands over to the MacBook.

My entire development platform-at the time Visual Studio-was completely set up and I had my after-market libraries installed and was using it to build my next online service business. Even with all of my development experience being Windows based I constantly found myself pushing away from my XP system and over to the MacBook.” Read the full story on David Alison’s Blog

One customer’s nightmare getting a refund on Vista.

My laptop was stolen, so I went down to Best Buy and picked up an HP dv6815nr since it was on sale for $599.99+tax. After powering it up, I was confronted by the Microsoft Windows Vista EULA and the HP EULA.

If you take the time to read the Microsoft EULA it is disturbing to say the least. But I won’t get into that here – many others have bashed this EULA to bits. Notice that there is no option to not accept their terms – you agree, or else… Or else what? I stared at the screen, and decided it was time to take the leap to Linux.

I found an 800 number on the HP website and made Phone Call #1 Read the full story on Equiliberate.Org

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

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

Hi, I’m a Programmer. I’m In love with my new Mac because…

“…I’m just like you, seriously! I’ve been using Microsoft stuff since 1992! That’s right, I’ve been a windows user most of my life. I remember 3.1, NT, 95, 98, 2000, ME (fucking stupid, 2000 in a different box, right?), and then on to (OOooOOoo) Windows XP. Luckily for me, the buck stopped here.

It’s about here that I meet Jay Phillips. Jay, a fellow hacker, is the creator of a very successful Telephony application called Adhearsion. He will be the first to tell you owes some of his coder success to his MacBook. Honestly, Jay even looks like the Mac guy on the commercial (see right). Anyway I was in the mood to debunk this obviously misguided coder (because coders need TECH machines, not pretty toys, right?) and I can honestly say from the deepest techie place in my heart: I got PWWWWWWND. This is why: Read the full post on SiKaNrOnG.com (found via SwitchingToMac.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

How Microsoft can fix Vista in 4 steps.

“…Microsoft wants to hold on to Vista regardless of where it takes the company. Will it force the company into a tailspin? I think it already has. Will it get worse? Possibly. But if Microsoft heeds my warnings and follows some of the tips I will outline below, Windows Vista may not be the utter failure I think it will be if nothing changes.” Read the full article on C|Net blogs

Former Mac hater chronicles his 6 month trial switch to Mac.

“…I’ve been hating the Mac for a long time (hating the PC too, but for different reasons). But the calculus has changed.”

“…what I need is a really reliable, really easy to maintain machine that will allow me to quickly do what I need to do and then get back to the really important stuff: spending time with my daughter. Sure, I love that the PC is so open that I can customize and tweak until my computer is just perfect. But I don’t have those hours to spend on that crap anymore. What I want now is a machines that will be 98% of the way there out of the box.” Read about his adventure on his blog at SixMonthMac.Blogspot.Com

Wall Street Journal: Leopard: Faster, Easier Than Vista

On Friday evening, Apple will release yet another new version of OS X, called Leopard, to replace the current version, known as Tiger. I’ve been testing Leopard, and while it is an evolutionary, not a revolutionary, release, I believe it builds on Apple’s quality advantage over Windows. In my view, Leopard is better and faster than Vista, with a set of new features that make Macs even easier to use. Read the full article on All Things Digital

Microsoft Update brings Networks to a standstill

…Something seems to have gone horribly wrong in an untold number of IT departments on Wednesday after Microsoft installed a resource-hogging search application on machines company-wide, even though administrators had configured systems not to use the program.

“The admins at my place were in a flap this morning because Windows Desktop Search 3.01 had suddenly started installing itself on desktops throughout the company,” a Reg reader by the name of Rob informs us. “The trouble is that once installed, the indexer kicks in and slows the machines down.” Read the full article on The Register

Leopard is landing this week- Microsoft should be shaking

…What surprised me about Mac OS X that I realized while chatting with Kevin today was something that hit me full in the face when it occurred to me. One of the major reasons I used to justify the purchase of a MacBook Pro early this year was how easily I could run Windows programs on the Mac using Parallels Desktop. One of the first programs I installed on the Mac was Parallels followed by installing Vista Ultimate in a virtual machine. This would make sure I could run my Windows apps, the ones that I had judged essential and that the ability to run under Parallels helped me justify the purchase of the MBP. It runs flawlessly and I was impressed with how well Windows ran on my Mac from day one.

Chatting about this to Kevin today made me realize that I haven’t run Vista on the Mac in well over a month! Read the full article on jkOnTheRun

8 Reasons Windows Users Don’t Switch

I have been a die-hard Windows user since I started computing. If you had told me I would switch to Mac at any point in the future, I would have laughed at you. There was nothing that could ever make me switch! Well, that didn’t exactly last forever, but as a recent Mac “switcher,” I have a unique perspective on both worlds. Read the full article on AppleMatters.Com

Vista Blue: A User’s Frustrations.

I’ve spent about 15 hours trying to install a $100 Vista “upgrade” on two different machines. If I spend 2 more hours, I would have been better off working at McDonald’s for $7 per hour and throwing this crap out. Read more.

Editor’s note: Doesn’t Bill Gates own McDonalds?

Vista Nightmare: The “Oww!” Starts Now.

Dear Microsoft Corporation,

You’ve really done it this time.  And I am leaving and never speaking to you again.  It’s not that I want to dislike you. I was loyal to you for so long.  I stuck with you through thick and thin. From DOS 5.0 through XP. Through decent functionality and through countless crashes.  But this new operating system is the last straw. Read more.

Vista: 150 problems, 0 solutions

Microsoft likes to boast that Vista is better than ever at logging difficulties with software and suggesting solutions through its Problem Reports and Solutions feature – but for an OS that’s been in final release for six months, the number of actual solutions is a tad on the minimal side. Here’s the sorry evidence of what actually happens when you try and get Vista to heal itself. This is a true story, and none of the names have been changed. Read more.

Well worth the upgrade from Vista to XP

I’m really glad I followed the upgrade path from Vista to XP. I had had a good go with Vista and there is nothing it had to offer that I miss now I’m no longer using it. Read more.

Weblog of a “Switcher”

Discovered this site which is the diary of a Windows User switching to Mac. Seems Dave started with a Macbook and then went full tilt to a Mac Pro. I’m jealous and looking forward to reading this in it’s entirety when I have more time. Head on over to Weblog of a “switcher”

VistaReview: A chronicle of one user’s pains

Follow one user’s experience with upgrading his laptop and OS. “Now that Vista has been officially released, I’ve decided to take the plunge myself and buy a brand new Toshiba Satellite Laptop to test the “Windows Vista Home Premium”. Let’s find out what you can and can’t do with it. I will post everything I learn here on VistaReview.info for you to read. Hopefully it will help some of you make the decision whether or not Windows Vista is something you want to upgrade to or get installed on your new PC or not.” Read the first post. before proceeding to the later ones. Subsequent posts can be read by clicking the link in the upper right above the post’s title. This will allow you to read them in the order they were written.

Microsoft Paid Top Bloggers to Promote Vista

The stodgy old media industry has a rule that newspaper reporters, and TV news hosts, shouldn’t trade on their public trust to endorse products. It’s become redundant: the reading public typically wants journalists to drop the pretense of objectivity, and wear their prejudices in public. (For the record, my current passions are the iPhone and Facebook.) But there are limits to journalistic endorsements, and Federated Media just crossed them. Read more.

Microsoft Developer: Installing Vista: My Personal Hell

You know it’s bad when even Microsoft developers blog about the horrors of Vista. Andy Pennell is a developer at Microsoft working on HDi, the interactivity layer for HD DVD. “Short story: Installing Vista for me was a catalog of problems, some mine and some not. It started out with not being able to open the box, and went downhill to include weekend-long unsuccessful installs, bricking my PC, and exercising my Dell warranty to get a replacement motherboard, hard-drive and secondary hard-drive. And after all that, guess what: I still haven’t installed it.” Read more.

The Guide to 100%-Linux/KDE/Desktop-Success (The Linux manifest)

This is a guide on how Linux and especially the KDE desktop could revolutionize the world of computers and operating systems and bring a major breakthrough so Linux would go mainstream. Read more.

[Most] Vista PCs being sold right now aren’t powerful enough to run Vista

Just imagine what might happen if the majority of Vista PCs now being sold were not up to the job of running Vista. If users were experiencing unacceptably slow performance, although the published minimum specifications were met. 

 In that situation you might expect there’d be a lot of dissatisfied customers right now, and the ranks of the disgruntled would be growing daily as Vista PCs continue to be sold in large numbers. Well, this exactly what is happening at the moment. Read more.

From the “I’m glad I’m not a Vista salesperson” files

I feel for the folks hawking Vista right now. There are too many conflicting pieces of information coming out of Redmond to figure out what to tell customers — especially business customers — who are wondering when/whether to upgrade. Consider the evidence: Read more.

“Dad, do you have an unused copy of Windows XP?”

I thought the request was weird. Why? Well, he has a cool MacBookPro and already has Vista running on it with both Parallels and Bootcamp. Read more.

If Microsoft made toasters

I believe that Microsoft’s domination of the PC software market has dulled and altered our expectations of the ‘fit for purpose’ and ‘use from the box’ aspect of all – not just computer software – products we now shell out our hard earned for. Read more.

68 y/o Grandmother: I Forced a Mac on My Daughter

I’ve been a computer user and fan of the product since the 1980s with my first army-green Kaypro and WordStar software. I eventually graduated to Gateways and Word Perfect. Over the years, I accumulated and discarded several desktops and one laptop. “You’re not a Mac person?” friends with Macs would ask in surprise. “Too tricky to change,” I’d answer, “and besides, Macs are for graphics people.”

Read more.

Spice up Windows – Replace it with Linux

Alex writes on his blog: “I decided to write a series of essays about moving from Windows system to a Linux one. There are plenty resources online that can help with this transition. I just thought to make an easy one and with explaining each step of doing so.” Read more.

A thought from the author: PC vs Mac

I came to a realization the other day while surfing around the net looking for things of interest. I happened to read a comment on a site from a PC user to a Mac guy. It was a very biased and ignorant comment that left me envisioning this PC user as a 5 year old kid with his index fingers in his ears yelling “Lalalalala. Macs suck. Lalalaa I can’t hear you!”

But then it hit me. I used to be one of those guys!

Mothers, don’t let your children grow up to use Vista

You know those commercials where Mac and PC hang out but there’s this security guy going “Mac has hailed you. Cancel or allow?” Vista is ACTUALLY LIKE THAT. EXACTLY LIKE THAT. It’s not even close to being a joke. I can’t even laugh at the commercial anymore because it’s the fucking gospel truth. You will not only be treated like an idiot but your system will crash and burn while you already feel like a fool. And once you’ve realized that it’s actually not you, –because it’s way too early for it to just be you– you just feel like a retard for buying it. Read more.

DUMPED! Vista & Office 2007

Stuart Henshall writes: I just dumped Vista and Office 2007 and I couldn’t be happier. I have abandoned a new Thinkpad in favor of my previous now 3.75 year old Thinkpad. As I stated a few weeks ago my next laptop will be a MAC. This was the last straw for me. Read more.

13 Comparisons of Vista vs OSX Tiger

Competitive and fast are two terms that are applicable to the world of computers. Constantly changing and evolving computer systems bring many advantages to the users and techies alike. The race for supremacy between the yet to be launched Vista (scheduled for 2006) and Mac OSX Tiger began in 2003 with Microsoft’s announcements of plans for an integrated desktop search functionality in Windows Vista. While opinions vary and are really personal choices in many ways, the following sums up the functionalities between Vista and Tiger. Read more.

UpWord: Windows Vista Pain and Agony

I’m no fan of Macs (twice the money for half the performance, and if their interfaces are intuitive, then I’ve got a defective intuition), but recent experiences with Microsoft do lend some credence to their appeal. (And their amusing ads sure do hit home.) I recently bought my husband a new PC… Read more.

Former Microsoft Insider Speaks Out

It is quite a rare thing for someone who was an employee of Microsoft to openly speak about the actions of a company that in the past tried to eliminate any potential competition.  He states that GNU and Linux are superior to Microsoft Windows, Office, and Internet Explorer. Read more.

How to make Ubuntu Linux look like Mac OS X

I have noticed that many people try to imitate Mac OSX Tiger’s look with their current operating system. No matter is it Windows or Linux. I’m one of those people and this is my atteption to make Ubuntu Linux look like OSX Tiger. I use Ubuntu simply because it is the best distribution of the best operating system. Read more.

Vista Day 2: It Gets Worse

Duncan Riley’s Vista Installation Saga Continues… “Yep, they’re telling me to reinstall Vista TWICE! Are they f*cking joking? I asked them to give me a key that works, they told me I’d have to buy it despite the fact that I’ve already purchased Vista and could provide them the Vista key and the original XP key. So I’ve got 29 days before Vista shuts down.” Read more.

The Grooveblog reviews Windows Vista Home Premium.

My Dell E520 has arrived. As previously reported, it came with Windows Vista Home Premium. Jesus christ, could these lame Windows icons be any fucking larger? Vista looks sharp, but to be honest, I prefer the graphics and look of XP. Vista is just full of bloat and by bloat I mean… Read more.

Microsoft Vista & Office 2007 – It’s A Lemon!

When I bought my Lenovo T60p a few months ago I was excited it was all optioned up on the hardware had Vista Business and while it shipped with Office 2003 they promised me an upgrade. My first new laptop in four years. The last was a very trusty Thinkpad T40. Now I’ve had no end of problems with Vista.  Read more.

60 Days With Ubuntu Linux (A Switchers Review.)

I have been using Ubuntu for approximately 2 months now. This has been a fairly monogamous relationship, I think I booted Windows all of twice, mostly because I had to go to a specific site that uses IE7 streaming capabilities. I know I can install IE7 in Ubuntu, but I am not that devious. So, how does it feel like?

read more | digg story

Duncan Riley: I hate Vista already

I’m tempted to download Ubuntu and be done with Windows altogether, or even the hacked version of Mac OSX that is suppose to run on a normal PC Read more.

What do you think is Windows Vista’s biggest problem? [Poll]

Vista4Beginners.Com has a Poll running that let’s you voice your opinion on Vista’s biggest problem. (I picked “general usability”.)

read more | digg story

Vista’s Morning Sickness

Some mornings Vista is all but unusable. On waking it up from standby it seems frozen, except the hard disk light is permanently on, suggesting it is moving massive amounts of data between RAM and the Page File. It is unresponsive to the point that it can take minutes to respond to a single mouse click. It takes a reboot to bring it back to “normal” responsiveness. Read more.

What’s so great about Vista that it’s worth crippling my PC for?

The rationale of investing in a machine with at least 5 times the processing power, 4 times the RAM, 3 times the disk space, more modern and faster architecture, was all about getting some performance out of it. The reality is that my new PC with Vista on it is just as slow and tedious, and in some instances far worse. It still chugs for ages writing to the page file and it sometimes takes absurd lengths of time to do what you’d think are trivial things, like emptying the recycle bin. Read more.

My hate for Windows Vista…

I’m more disappointed from a consumer standpoint. Basically – you need a new new machine that was custom built with vista in mind. This way you have the few drivers that exist for Vista. If you’re just Joe Schmoe with somewhat decent hardware updating to the Vista isn’t the best idea. We’ve found multiple instances where even “supported” network cards are no longer recognized when we install Vista.  I hate you Microsoft. I’m seriously thinking about going Mac. Read more.

What’s with all the Macs?

A blogger’s observations on the status of Macs. “They’re everywhere! Just yesterday I caught my best friend, who has been a proud Mac hater for years sitting in front of an iMac asking a colleague whether iMacs comes with dual core processors. What’s the world coming to?”

read more | digg story

5 Things I Hate About Windows Vista

Microsoft have recently announced its new OS, the highly we’ve-been-waiting-for Vista. While it looks splendid and very Web 2.0-ish, it is another money-sucking phenomenon from the Bill Gates empire. Through certain ‘behind the curtains’ deals with vendors and dealers Microsoft will soon make billions of bucks on selling the castrated Vista Home Basic. Below are five reasons I think Windows Vista should be hated for and I believe you’ll share ‘em! Read more.

Vista Thoughts

Does moving to vista now make sense? Not for me. I think the technology in PC’s have flat lined for the average user, sure they are coming out with all kinds of Dual core, quad core, multitasking goodies. Motherboards can handle 4 gigs of RAM and you can run dual SLI video cards, do you really need that? Look at the computer that I built four years ago,it now resides at my mother’s house as her main PC. When I’m visiting her and using my old PC it still feels just as quick as my current system, for daily tasks. That’s a four year old computer. Read more.

Freshman 15: Vista Sucks

If you took Windows XP you currently have, added some fancy transparency and shadows (That Linux users and Mac users could enjoy for a while now and also requires accelerated video hardware to not suck) and then add faster searching ability (That only works on your home folder, we even told it specifically to allow searching of other folders, and it failed to find anything in them) you’ll pretty much get Windows Vista. Read more.