Cnet's five reasons not to buy Windows Vista
Time for another BS check, I spotted this over on Barb Bowman's blog (who nicely covers why not to trust Cnet's reviews). Tom Merritt, executive editor at Cnet went over five reasons not to buy Windows Vista, so let's see what he managed to say.
5: Search is buried.
Search is everywhere, every explorer window, its right in the Start menu. It takes one key press or one mouse click no matter where you are to get to search.
Having a huge search bar right in the middle of the desktop would still take one click to bring it into focus.
4: Closed Microsoft eco-system - same old monopoly stuff.
He mentions the Welcome Center being full of Microsoft stuff, and the RSS gadget only working with Internet Explorer.
What a lot of rubbish. Computer manufacturers can customise the Welcome Center, with their own logos, own links, own products, anti-virus search absolutely anything they want.
Maybe if you go and buy a computer with Windows Vista on it, you'd actually see that instead of relying on review copies you got directly from Microsoft.
The RSS gadget plugs into the RSS platform, the only thing in common with IE is that IE uses the RSS platform. It's not tied to Internet Explorer. If Firefox, or application X used the RSS platform you'd have the same feeds there too.
That was the point of having a central RSS platform, you don't have to import and export your feeds every time you change applications, they're all centralised in a single store and automatically updated.
From the RSS team's blog:
The Windows RSS Platform is available to any application. The idea is that applications can utilize the Windows RSS Platform to become RSS enabled without having to re-implement basic RSS building blocks. This can significantly reduce the time and effort application developers have to invest in order to integrate RSS into their programs.
Like many of you, I've been running several RSS applications (aggregators, pod casters, etc…) for some time and am subscribed to close to 100 feeds. Each time I start using another RSS application I play the "game" of OPML export and import. This quickly becomes a hassle, especially when I lose track of feeds because I subscribed to or deleted feeds in different applications and hence my feed lists are no longer in sync.
This is where the Common Feed List of the Windows RSS Platform can help. Multiple applications can read, add, or delete from the Common Feed List and hence are "sharing" the user’s list of subscribed feeds.
Check your facts first Tom.
3: Lack of applications, because of Vista delays 3rd parties are scrabbling to make their products work.
Honestly what the hell is this guy thinking? Windows Vista has been available to developers for well over two years. Delaying Windows Vista gives them more time to get their act together, not the opposite.
2: Price.
This keeps cropping up so I think its time to kill this once and for all. Windows Vista *is* cheaper than Windows XP and 2000. Prices from Overclockers:
Windows Vista Ultimate: £123.36 (today).
Windows XP Professional: £123.73 (9th November 2002 - over a year after launch).
Windows 2000 Professional: £124.55 (9th November 2002 - over two years after launch).
And Windows XP Professional didn't include things like Media Center and Tablet, those were separate editions, so you couldn't have everything in one package.
1: Disappointing.
That's your opinion Tom, which judging on how wrong you are on everything else, probably isn't worth a lot.
20th February 2007 01:11:41, 580 words, 968 views
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8 comments
I laughed at how he used an opinion.
Windows Vista Basic is in the same situation as Windows XP. You could of got the Home Premium or Ultimate SKUs of Windows Vista, but then your average "Joe So" would still be paying for the decoder. Microsoft can't just buy an MPEG2 decoder and be done with it, they need to licence it for every copy sold.
And if they did include a high-quality decoder with all their SKUs they'd be in court straight away for being anti-competitive. You can't have it both ways.
Only £123.36.... I'll buy two then. Perhaps that's pretty cheap if you live in Britain. However if like me you live in a poorer part of the world I think you'll find it's pretty horribly expensive. I live in Poland, where that cash sum works out around 700 zloty - between 2 weeks' or even a month's wage for a lot of people. And this is within the EU, people here have disposable income and shop at Tesco. People in less developed parts of the world really cannot afford to implement Windows legally.
And that's why:
1) People pirate Windows or
2) More people (like me) run a legal alternative - Linux.
Whether or not you believe Windows is great, even it's greatest supporters will tell you that it's only great if you update it regularly. However, you need a legal version for that. Assuming you're honest and have a legit version you might also want to shell out for some anti virus software just to be safe. You'll need probably need to cough up for Microsoft Office to get your work done and so on and so on. Never ending costs.
But a lot of people here can't afford that. And as Microsoft clamps down on pirates we are just moving away. It's easier. Hacking Windows has got harder, harder than installing Linux these days. Perhaps that's a good thing, I am not going to debate the morals. However, these costs meant that School kids are getting IT lessons on Linux because it's a lot cheaper. Small to medium companies are looking to OpenOffice to fulfil their needs. And as we are often running machines that fall far behind the specs needed for XP let alone Vista the Linux alternative ensures our computers keep running. It's all very well to say: hey, go and get a new PC. That option is even more out of the question than a paltry £123.36
And why do you care? Stuff Poland, Ukraine, Russia, Brazil, India..... well, our economies are growing fast and we're being raised on Linux and when we go out into the world this is what we expect to see. And that's what we'll get. When we can afford splash out on £123.36 worth of Vista I think you'll find we don't want to.
You're also not being raised on Linux, Linux marketshare in central and eastern Europe is similar to western Europe. It is slighty higher in Brazil, I don't know about India, but I'd suspect its similar to eastern Europe.
Microsoft have also just announced plans to make Office and Windows available for $3 in emerging markets.
If you want to run an inferior desktop client to Windows, instead of doing what most people in Poland do, which is to pirate Windows, or taking advantage of the $3 thing in certain markets, that's entirely your choice. But if you actually think Linux is better than Windows then something is wrong.
Either way, the EC is conducting a review of Microsoft's pricing (I hope they do the same of Adobe, who's products are £1000s more than in the United States). Hopefully they'll order a reduction in price. I've got a feeling you'll baulk at that, being government interference and regulation, reminds you too much of Stalinism right?