The Tech Journal

Ten Reasons not to get Vista and then rebuttals January 22, 2007

Ashton Mills over at APC has written an article on 10 reasons not to get Windows Vista

There has been a rebuttal to it and even his own rebuttal to the rebuttal.  What are my thoughts?  Go ahead and get Vista.  There is enough in there to make it a significant upgrade.  Some of his arguments are:

” Cost $$ – It’s so blindingly obvious, most people will be blinded to it. You already have XP, and alternatives like Linux are free. If you really want to throw money away, go give it to a local charity.”

As with anything it costs.  Linux is free but as the old adage says.  You get what you pay for.  I have better things to do with my time than to work out driver and software dependancy issues that even with things like YUM and Synaptic you run into.

” It’s a big fat target — with a new and untested in the global wild architecture, virus and malware authors are going to work overtime exploiting the holes Microsoft missed. In fact it’s already happening. Loath though I am to use the word ‘security’ and ‘Windows’ in the same sentence, Windows XP has at least been patched to the hilt and can be used with a plethora of reasonably effective security tools that work now, without waiting for an update down the track. ”

As proven by the Apple onth of bugs, all OS’s have their flaws.  Its not confined to Windows and what would actually happen if Hackers were to turjn their attentions to the Mac and Linux systems?  Their world would fall apart much quicker.  Oh and its great to note that the exploit the author is reffering to is an IE7 flaw, not just a Vista flaw.

” Applications that don’t work — there’s been plenty of coverage about applications that won’t work without a vendor update. These include anti-virus, backup and security software such as those from Symantec, Sophos and ilk; CD and DVD burning tools like the suite from Nero need updated versions to work; and even basic disk management and partitioning tools such as Paragon’s Hard Disk Manager are awaiting an update for Vista to be compatible. How many more will fail as Vista enters mainstream? Even Firefox has issues with Vista. “

Is the author trying to suggest no major upgrade to an OS doesnt have applicaztions that fail?  Oh and the only Firefox flaw on Windows Vista is that for right now it cant be set as the default browser, man what a show stopping bug!!!!  They better fix this one in a hurry.

” UAC — Oh yes, the Microsoft solution for an operating system where mutli-user was an afterthought. Sure, you can disable it, but the OS then makes it clear then that the onus is on the user for any damaging programs that got to run with permissions, rather than with Windows in the first place. If you do have it on, it is going to annoy the hell out of you. It pops up far too frequently, and even on a fast PC, the UAC screen takes too long to come up and disappear. “

Then if Microsoft didnt have UAC the author would be bitching that Mac and Linux have it.  Its all an inconvenience, on Windows, Mac and Linux but do you want convenience or security, convenience led to everyone being the administrator.   Multiuser was not an afterthought on Windows NT at all.  It was one of the strong points of it.

Now onto his rebuttal.

“Good point. However, 95% of the world will get Vista not by retail, but via OEM. And when it comes via OEM, people don’t experience it as “paying for” (even though they obviously do).”

That’s an excellent point. We’ll monitor here at APC exactly how much prices on PCs go up as vendors bundle Vista.”

Bundling Windows Vista is not causing systemn prices to go up, bundling things like Media Center, remote controls and shoving multiple cores into systems is what is causing prices to go up.  People want their systems beefed up and a premium is being paid.

”

“This is a typical ‘your mileage may vary’. Vista is demanding on resources, no doubt, but not as bad as some make it out to be.”

Yes, it is. But by way of example a family member here asked if their machine could run Vista. It’s an older machine (not too old, still has 1GB RAM) that runs XP now, and runs it like a dog. Could Vista install on it? Probably, but it’d run slower than XP, doesn’t enable them to do anything they’re not already doing with XP, and would cost them hundreds of dollars for the experience. Would you really recommend this to someone?”

Im running Vista on a laptop that barely meets the requirements its an 800 mhz laptop, and on multiple PC’s one being a 1 ghz system with 512 mb of RAM.  While not speed demons they do work and work reliably.  Sure I dont get the nice Aero glass and Flip 3D effects but then again Compiz and Beryl dont work on either system anyway, so I guess Im not missing out.

I have to agree with Thom over at OSNews.  While Ashton claims he uses Vista, does he?  or is this just some random Linux guy who has a peice of software installed and doesnt use it and prays Microsoft fails.  Vista is very significant and imopressive and allows Microsoft once again to leap frog the competition.  I think its a worthy upgrade and plan to upgrade my machines soon.

This week in review: Iphone, Windows Vista, Home Server oh my!!! January 16, 2007

For this week I have been so busy I decided to do a rollup of the weeks events. First lets start with CES, which I think was the better show this week. We got a really indepth look at Windows Vista. A lot of which puts OS X and rival companies offerings off the porch. With features like that I think this is probably one of the better Windows releases in a little while. At CES you had a fair share of new companies showing off some drop dead gorgeous and functional devices. One of the announcements was Windows Home Server, Home Server will surely be a hit with the extreme techy crowd but the average household will probably hold off.

Macworld.  While everyone is so impressed with the iPhone, Im not.  It does nothing new that my SmartPhone doesnt do.   Its made by Apple; WOW!!!  If Apple doesnt reasonably price the phone it will probably flop.  Of course, reasonably priced, is not in Apples vocabulary.  Apple changed its name to Apple Inc.  which shows they are starting to expand to new markets.  No new news on any new Macs, iPods or Leopard.  The show seemed kind of bland to me.  For me it lacked the excitement of Macworlds long past.

So while Apple may have stole the show on Tuesday, CES really shined and really outdid Apple this time around.

Red Hat’s next Linux due before March December 30, 2006

Red Hat has delayed its RHEL 5 offering until March 2007.  This will be a major update to the system and a welcome one at that.  It has many new features coming and it will be interesting to see how well it stands uop and out to its competitors, Solaris 10 and Windows Server.

Link to article 

Ford to use Microsoft technology in vehicles December 30, 2006

Ford has decided to use Microsoft technology in its future vehicles.  The new technolgy includes a bluetooth device and Microsoft vehicle operating system.  Im waiting for a couple of days from now when someone will offer a Linux based automotive solution and tout its better in a couple of days than Microsofts offering which has been in development a few years now.

Link to article 

FreeBSD 6.2 RC 2 released December 28, 2006

The FreeBSD team has released the new RC of 6.2.  Its been a long time coming.  Not as long as Windows Vista but a long time coming.

Link to Message

Novell and Microsoft to collaborate on Linux November 3, 2006

Today Microsoft and Novell came to a deal that would allow the two to collaborate and benefit from each others respective environments.  They also came to a patent agreement that would allow the SUSE Linux Enterprise line to be immune to any patent infringement claims.

 Microsoft Link

Novell FAQ 

Secret XP Theme uncovered October 29, 2006

Its called Royale Noir. w33bo from Channel 9 uncovered it.  Its simply an older longhorn theme with no transparencies.  You do not need the UXTheme hack for this theme to work.

 Link to article