Jan 30 - Vista Release!

[Shayne]

Can't say I read anything that Cova went back and forth on, as really I didn't care too much.  Having used the OS a series of times through its Beta, RC, and RTM I was thrill with many aspects of it.  Enough that I was going to purchase it, and purchase it I did.

Also the second image shows something I was not aware of.

[Shayne]

The inside...

[Adams]

499 - Damn!

[Darren Dirt]

Here's Tech - Reports spin on Windows licensing.

One would hope for a measure of magnanimity from Microsoft toward consumers, since it enjoys what is essentially a monopoly on OS software for desktop PCs.

By and large, consumers haven't chafed at the existence of that monopoly because it has provided them with a common computing platform at a reasonable cost without causing any major inconvenience.

But if Redmond's newfound assertiveness shatters the illusion of a "fair use" space for Windows and consumers instead see the reptilian visage of an overeager industry tax collector behind it, they may not appreciate their new reality.

Nice conclusion.

[Shayne]

I still sorta doubt it.  I think people on this forum would look at alternatives, but for the most part we are all in a very high % when it comes to computer knowledge and comfort.  Heck most of us spend our days slaving out code.

The flip side is the not so computer comfortable person, people like my parents, my fianc?, my brother.  What windows did in giving a common platform for everything is the very thing that they can't live without.  Perhaps they do get angry and look for another platform, but its when they realize that their precious accounting software, video games, office 2003 don't work is when they will come right back.  You can argue all you want about Wine for this, and OO.org for that, but the complexity and comfort go away with each hack and each sacrifice.  Microsoft would have to do something super foolish and horrible for the landscape to change in any real significant form, and im not talking about activation of software, or DRM on high def content.

[Shayne]

I recall these same doom and gloom conclusions upon the release of XP, but looking at the RW stats it would appear 77% of the traffic runs through XP and 12.2% through Vista.  That would be pretty darn close to 90% of all the traffic being on a modern windows distro.

[Mags]

Can get the oem version of Ultimate at Memory Express for $239.99 if you wish:

http://www.memoryexpress.com/index.php?PageTag=&page=searchproduct&SearchKey=vista%20ultimate

Myself i have read too many DRM doom and gloom reports as well that I'm taking a wait and see for a bit as well. Some site and mags are reporting that you may have to say goodbye to most of your mp3's as well (unless purchased by iTunes or some such place.) Plus, wait for the driver situations to work themselves out like with any new Windows O.S..

[Shayne]

OEM is tied to the motherboard of the machine its installed on.  No thanks.  Also with memoryexpress they are pretty sticky about selling it with a full PC.

[Thorin]

A season of hockey for one of my kids, or an operating system that will probably require upgrades to my hardware to support...  I'll own Vista when I buy a new computer with it pre-installed, unless it comes with OSX pre-installed.

I recall these same doom and gloom conclusions upon the release of XP, but looking at the RW stats it would appear 77% of the traffic runs through XP and 12.2% through Vista.  That would be pretty darn close to 90% of all the traffic being on a modern windows distro.

A lot of the traffic here comes during the day from corporate machines - there's no choice in what operating system we use.  <pause>  Hmm, I went looking for the OS stats you posted so that I could figure out if the percentage change outside of work hours, but I can't find them.  Where did you get that info?

[Shayne]

http://misc.righteouswrath.com/awstats/awstats.pl?config=forums.righteouswrath.com

Not sure you can separate it by time though.  I agree that its corporate machines that count for the majority, but its that same majority that I'm sure pays the larger numbers to Microsoft.

Any who, OSX runs slower on a Mac http://blog.wired.com/cultofmac/2007/01/running_vista_o.html

I still love the whole "I'm gonna buy a mac" argument.  I bought my Apple to install windows on it   The best looking, working and functioning laptop I could find.

[Darren Dirt]

Myself i have read too many DRM doom and gloom reports as well that I'm taking a wait and see for a bit as well. Some site and mags are reporting that you may have to say goodbye to most of your mp3's as well (unless purchased by iTunes or some such place.)

[Napoleon]Ugh! IDIOTS![/Dynamite]

I have purchased about 20 CDs in the last 12 months, all of which I have used Windows Media Player (or a couple of other apps) to rip out the audio as MP3s (without licensing stuff attached -- they all work on my Creative MP3 player) and I would detest M$ even more if they suddenly crippled all them, or at least prevented them from being played on Vista. Seriously, how stupid can they be? Not every unprotected MP3 file is freakin' pirated! Gosh!

[Shayne]

I have installed Vista about a dozen times, not a single mp3 was purchased and each and every time it didn't touch that data.  No pictures, movies, music, isos, games, addresses, emails, etc.  But hey, kudos for posting one of the stupidest things I have ever read.

I love your jumping on it too Darren.  Genius, but hardly surprising.

I would like some sources to that to Mags, please

[Mags]

I have installed Vista about a dozen times, not a single mp3 was purchased and each and every time it didn't touch that data.  No pictures, movies, music, isos, games, addresses, emails, etc.  But hey, kudos for posting one of the stupidest things I have ever read.

I love your jumping on it too Darren.  Genius, but hardly surprising.

I would like some sources to that to Mags, please

According to Tom Halfhill former senior editor of Byte magazine and current analyst for Microprocessor Report:

"Microsoft's release of Vista will prompt some users to hoard Windows XP and perhaps even earlier versions of windows, such as Windows 2000 and 98SE. The reason: digital rights management (DRM). When people discover that Vista is foiling their attempts to use or duplicate copyrighted content--- in some cases, even when it should be legal---they will revert to older versions of Windows that don't play Big Brother. Linux is an alternative, at least for a while, but many folks are more comfortable with Windows. With virtualization, it will be easier to keep an older operating system installed on our machines."

Something from this peice: http://www.maximumpc.com/2007/01/10_reasons_you.html

"The fundamental problem is that for certain key low-level operations,
such as video rendering, Vista has been designed to give third parties?the content providers?veto rights over crucial aspects of your system. Do you trust a company like Sony, which infected millions of PCs with a malicious rootkit, with low-level access to your rig?" - which could obviously apply to audio as well."


"PAP and PUMA the audio equivalents of HDCP

With all the new video protections going on, the content providers didn't forget the audio side. The new OS will include Protected Audio Path and Protected User Mode Audio as well. These will work in a similar manner to HDCP, in that they will check to see if certain hardware is in place during the attempted playback of premium content." - Jason Taylor - overclockers.com
  - Now this is assumed to apply to DRM'ed sources, but this is what I mean by wait and see.

[Darren Dirt]

I have installed Vista about a dozen times, not a single mp3 was purchased and each and every time it didn't touch that data.  No pictures, movies, music, isos, games, addresses, emails, etc.  But hey, kudos for posting one of the stupidest things I have ever read.

I love your jumping on it too Darren.  Genius, but hardly surprising.

I would detest M$ even more if they suddenly crippled all them, or at least prevented them from being played on Vista. Seriously, how stupid can they be?

Apparently, not quite that stupid. Good to hear it's just rumours; I will reserve my dismay for the actual idiocy featured in Vista.

[Adams]

Interesting, I too installed Vista but never did get any issues with DRM and my collection of MP3's and Software... Although it was RC1 so they might have never put that into that version.