Wednesday, May 2, 2007

To Vista Or Not To Vista?

I don't know about you, but I don't know too many people that have rushed out to buy Vista. I know of two, and they bought new systems. I got a look at a beta version some months back. It looks pretty, but to me it's just another version of windows. And all that security? Guess that's why they're already developing service pack 1.

I've heard people in the industry compare Vista to Linux. (I'm laughing). I cut my teeth as a systems administrator on Solaris, so they're gonna have to do better than that.

Maybe I'm not like Microsoft's target customer. I was always 2-3 years behind moving to the next version. I mean, after they introduced Windows 95, everyone rushed out to buy it. Three years later they introduced Windows 98. In 2000, they introduced Windows ME. All bad copies of the original Windows 95, built on the same code just more of it. What's interesting is of all the versions Windows 9x developed, they still couldn't get it right (http://support.microsoft.com/kb/158238/uk-ua). Five Versions of Windows 95, two versions of Windows 98, and Windows ME. And if that didn't confuse people, they also introduced Windows 2000 the same year as Windows ME, and everyone thought they were the same. They may have looked the same but they were very different underneath.

And there were four Windows 2000 versions, three server version and luckily only one workstation version. It was fundamentally different because it could use the NTFS file system, and was the replacement for Windows NT 4.0. Developed for the corporate or work environment, Windows 2000 had increased file security, compression, and encryption. A major improvement from the Windows 9x platforms.

Then Microsoft came out with Windows XP, Home and Professional Editions, along with Windows Server 2003 of which there are 5 versions.

UGH!!! Enough already with all these different versions. Microsoft OBVIOUSLY did NOT learn anything from their previous flops, among them Windows ME and Windows XP Home. Mr. Gates, if the world actually needed another crappy operating system, they surely would only need ONE. Cut the crap, make ONE version of VISTA. Servers version, yes, they apply to specific uses. But there's no difference between home and office use. If they don't want all the security, they can stick with XP. But OH I forgot, support for that will drop off in 2 years or so. Microsoft, please stop baffling us with BS and just give us a product that is reliable and secure.

OK, off my soapbox. I don't see the mad rush to get Vista.... When Microsoft comes out with their own version of Linux the game is over. As long as they continue to make stuff that is flawed out of the box I'll always have a job.


Regards
John Crawford

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