Windows Vista is the best thing to happen to Apple
This came across my desk the other day and I thought it was hilarious. I do work on both an Apple and a PC – but haven’t yet upgraded my PC to Windows Vista as of yet; don’t know if I ever will. I am consulting with a start-up in northern Virginia and their entire team upgraded – I’ve heard nothing but endless complaints since. I thought it was funny that Vista has so many options and all seems to miss the mark.
If anything were to ever to convince me to drop the PC entirely and be completely mac dependent, it is Windows Vista. Don’t even get me started on the cursing that has come from Office 2007.
Good luck Microsoft, my next computer will undoubtedly be a MacBookPro.
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Categories: computers
- March 23rd, 2007
- 28comments
- I am a proud member of the 9rules network
the salesman looks like bill gates.
HA! I have to imagine that is intentional.
“Good luck Microsoft, my next computer will undoubtedly be a Mac Book Pro.”
Welcome to the sunshine.
There was some discussion at my work about getting a Vista machine to evaluate and the consensus was “Why bother?” If you look down the list of features there’s just nothing there for us:
* Improved security: Yeah right. That’s what we heard about XP a couple months before Sasser, Blaster, etc, ILUVYOU, etc. Due to all the security problems with Windows in the last few years we’ve had to adopt a total lockdown policy — the plus side to this is we really don’t have to worry about security as much now. We heavily filter e-mail/web access, we lock down the local machine to run 2 or 3 apps. I can’t imagine Vista’s new security features would really help us enough to justify the risk of the unknown.
* Improved GUI: Eh.. that one is debatable. I’ve spoken with some customers who have Vista and it’s an absolute nightmare trying to communicate directions to them. I’m also very found of consistency — our users sometimes have to share machines and I don’t want them confused switching from XP to Vista machines. If we switch, it has to be 100% of the machines. That’s a daunting task to even consider at this point.
* DirectX 10: Yeah this is EXACTLY what we need at work.
* Kernel improvements, 64bit support, etc: Doesn’t apply to us. We don’t have people maxing out dual core CPU’s or running 4GB+ of RAM.
When we can no longer (easily) get XP compatible machines I guess we’ll look into Linux. Probably 80% of our day-to-day computer tasks have already moved to a web app interface. The big problem is this one particular win32 app that is vital to just about everyone in the company but luckily they are developing a web based version. As soon as they can provide that we’ll likely switch our 50 or so desktops over to Linux. I’m guessing it will probably be CentOS.
HA HA. I think for me and many others, the big turning point where we got 100% Apple is when Adobe/Macromedia products go completely cross-platform on per license. My Macromedia software can run on both machines, but I only have CS1 on my Mac and have to use my PC for CS2 — because I couldn’t afford to buy two licenses (just doesn’t make sense). There are other reasons why I got a CS PC license to begin with.
Mark my words: Microsoft is in REAL trouble. They released Vista, and nobody cared. They released Office 2007, and nobody cared. They released the Zune, and nobody cared.
When Apple went to Intel, and Parallels let’s you run the “mission critical” windows app at 99% full speed, that probably was the straw that broke the camel’s back.
I run OS X with my Bible software under Parallels. I do not install any email application, or even do any web browsing in Windows/Parallels. My “windows” area is virtually virus foolproof since there is essentially no way for the virus to enter the system. I use OS X for web browsing, email, and everything else.
This is the future. Microsoft will sell bare-bones versions of it’s operating system to folks wanting to run the various mission critical applications. The applications will slowly migrate to Linux, OS X, or Web Based. Microsoft’s place in history is gonna dwindle quick.
Notice that Bill Gates chose to leave Microsoft just when all this was coming together. Perhaps he saw the future, and chose to bail out before it got really bad for Microsoft.
They are in REAL trouble now.
Mike the great, you have hit the proverbial ‘nail on the head’. Microsoft is in REAL trouble indeed.
The trouble MS is in comes from people just loving to bash them. Most of the things windows is criticised for are not even better with OSx. It’s cool to bash Microsoft. So you’re right. They’re in trouble. Just not for the reasons you state.
“They released Vista, and nobody cared. ”
Actually sales of new PCs went up the first month of Vista’s release. What everyone interested seems to be waiting for now is the driver and application developers to catch up to what was released to manufacturing as final Vista code. There are quite a few hardware and application developers that care about what the new driver model and APIs offer for their products.
“They released Office 2007, and nobody cared.”
From what I’ve seen Office 2007 has had generally good reviews, and a better reception than Vista at launch. I have it, (installed the trial version just before the new year) and have not had much need to push the capabilities of all the apps, but I like what I can do so far in Word, Excel and Outlook (and I used to despise Outlook).
“They released the Zune, and nobody cared.”
Here’s one part of the statement that is close to correct; people cared, but have been mostly confused as to Microsoft’s strategy with the Zune; particularly the inconsistency of selling it separately than their “Plays4Sure” initiative of the previous year. One of the Zune team actually explained the reasoning behind that on a TWIT podcast recently, but still failed to explain why they didn’t make that reasoning clear to the rest of the industry and the media when Zune was first launched. The rest of the products offering seem to be lacking compared to some other devices on the market.
The real problem is, people look at Vista, Office 2007, and the Zune as the only products from Microsoft that matter, and ignore or are not aware of the dozens of other apps and services that they have in place to leverage their flagship products.
As you say Oluseye, that Microsoft has trouble from up and coming competition in a few areas is clear, what is not as clear is what that competition can do against those areas of the market that so far MS has no direct competition for, and whether they can maintain a lead in those areas long enough to matter to the growth rate of those flagship products as the year goes forward.
I’m not sure that Microsoft is in that much trouble. There are still a great many people for whom Windows is simply “good enough.” I have no doubt that OS X and various Linux distros will continue to gain new users, but for a lot of users there’s simply no reason compelling enough to make them switch.
Don’t be mistaken, Microsoft is by no means going out of business. They have lost one customer here though. They may never lose total market share, but they will continue to lose customers.
hey …anytime before heard the word “linux” ….?????
It seem the whole world is just mac o win…
And they stand to gain a few in the process.
The computer industry is not a closed system. Even after almost 60 years of progress, there are still more people alive who have never used a “computer” than who have. There is still a lot of room for growth for all the major computer companies, and even more room for development if we start to look beyond the traditional definition of a personal computer.
I am running Vista and Office and haven’t experienced any problems, i don’t care what operating system i use mac, windows, linux but seriosly Vista is the best and windows have the more intensly broader vison and strategy to cover technological developments. Macs are nice looking i agree! the brand is cool! i like the iPod i think they have done that right, i will never give up my loyalty to Microsoft - they will get it right! its easy to build an operating system on top of unix and get stylish design - WAKE UP! They still have to support the best software word, excel, outlook, messenger, bootcamp is hilariously silly - and there marketing is childish - they know there operating system isn’t better - and i would dare guess you are another mac follower who is promoting them because you think the world should look like pretty white and ordered.
Greg, I prefaced this post with the fact that I am running on both a PC and a Mac — so calm down a little.
Secondly, it is a commonly known fact that the Mac operating system (applications aside) has always been superior to Windows since inception. However, Gates is a much more savvy business man than Jobs and was first to realize that distribution was more important than quality alone (Beta Max vs. VHS as another example).
All that aside, Vista is clunky and demands so much of a machine that most of the computers being sold to-date (those including the ones shipped with Vista) can’t fully support it. All those who went out to buy a $499.00 computer at Wal-mart are going to be in for a huge shock when they try and upgrade. This vista upgrade requires more than a software upgrade for the masses — it demands a system upgrade and a personal upgrade with respect to computing.
The system strives to break convention (in an attempt to be more mac like — my opinion) and thus has alienated a majority of their audience that has learned how “windows” works. Most people in the general population are not computer savvy, they are Windows and Internet savvy — something to keep in mind.
You are the very first person I’ve heard to really praise vista and your aggressive approach gives me the sense that if Gates put his garbage in a box and labeled it with a Microsoft logo, you would still praise it.
Apple feed into the imagination of consumers to buy a good looking product capable of providing a platform for easy lifestyle tasking and running software. They do not in my opinion look at the programmatic issues concerned with complexities of forward thinking technologies like Microsoft - i would agree that less ‘computer savvy’ people would be better suited with a Mac.
Also Bill being involved in philanthropy should give you guys more reason not to cuss him - he is supporting the welfare issues more than anybody at the moment. Stop getting wound up, its only a Mac.
However I also believe it possible there will be a new operating system emerge in the next twenty years that involves holographic 3D projection rendering and bio interconnectivity.
Greg — I appreciate your insightful comments and thank you for them. I think you are providing valid points. I don’t however think this is a Mac vs. PC debate. The real topic of conversation here is did Microsoft miss the the mark with their latest version of Windows? I believe they did and from what I’ve heard from others, it seems to be a general consensus — I doubt it will have much of an impact on Microsoft sales or market share; because they have a rock solid distribution model that is near impossible to penetrate.
It has however pushed me more to the mac side, not because I am a mac person, but because I believe (both from my own experience and the experiences of others) it to be the next best alternative. Yes, Apple is ONLY an alternative. I think in a perfect world we would all be working together on similar systems that behaved in similar ways paving the way for better collaboration through cross-platform compatibility. I say that Apple is only an alternative, because the masses run on Windows. If I could choose which platform the masses ran on, I might be more inclined to pick Apple’s OS, but I don’t have the knowledge or experience to make that sort of call — I can only proclaim what I personally like and dislike; Vista being a big dislike.
LOL….Very funny. Quite true too. I think Microsoft have indeed got a bit carried away with the numerous versions of Vista.
@ Greg
I’m not really interested in getting involed in the whole “Mac vs. PC” debate (there is none, in my opinion), but you should seriously learn a bit more about OS X’s development platform before making rash statements like “They do not in my opinion look at the programmatic issues concerned with complexities of forward thinking technologies like Microsoft.”
Mac OS X development is literally years ahead of Microsoft’s programatic platform, and to say anything is flatout, inarguably, false.
Great perspective Brian.
I use a Mac at work and a PC at home. Having worked on a Mac now for almost 2 years I do have a better appreciation of the Mac, but I have to say that some apps on the Mac are just horrible.
I find that Photoshop, Dreamweaver and Firefox to name three that have a lot of trouble performing well. I’m often working in one of the programs and open a file, add text or do anything and all of a sudden the ‘rainbow wheel of death’ starts spinning and I find myself sitting, staring at my monitor for several minutes. My Apple fanboy co-workers will tell me to “Repair Permissions” as if that is somehow a valid solution.
Also, I never really understood the ‘Windows is unsecure’ argument. I run XP on a machine that has been running constantly for several months, I don’t use virus software because I’m not stupid enough to run IE, open attachments or go to sketchy websites. I also use a firewall and am able to block any and all incoming traffic that I didn’t initiate. Windows isn’t, IMO, less secure than OSX, it’s perceived that way because a lot of people who use Windows don’t get it, can’t secure it and because of its large user base is an easy target.
Jeph,
Good points. I do think you are right with respect to the Windows un-secure thinking — those with the larger market share are more open to attack.
Well said Jeph - I would like to mention again that Vista is very seriuosly cool.
Macs are silly. ha
Vista has made me to the same indecision, I’m switching to linux, and next computer for design/graphics are probably gonna be one with OSX, I mean apple has always been a good os for designers with support for photoshop, flash etc
so thanks micro$oft for digging your own grave
Sad bunch of mac idiots - In my opinion Apple are false, wacky freaks who lie and have a bad attitude towards competetitors, any way Microsoft invested $100 million in Apple for them to survive, so thank Microsoft for the defromed unix mutation your about to call Leoperd - why not call it leotard.
About 3 months ago, I bought a Vista laptop, after being used to XP , never loaded Office and it crashed. As bad luck goes, on my main PC, the Mobo fried. The mere thought of having to buy a new Vista PC made me ill. I took a shot at building my own PC (which btw has an Athlon XP2 6000 CPU With an AMD chipset board by ECS. I bought good old reliable XP Pro(32 bit) and now I’m really happy!
My system is stable, and it rules! To me, Vista is another Windows ME nightmare. When this one goes…I’m getting a Mac!
Vista is not perfect,but it’s far better than any Mac OS