Vista is released....
... and no one cares
Yeah, all 5% of the personal computer market doesn't care. Fo sho!
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Microsoft Launched Vista on Tuesday
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Yeah, all 5% of the personal computer market doesn't care. Fo sho!
Evening News brought to you by Microsoft
Thoroughly enjoyed my local news starting off with one hard story (mountain lion sightings in town along the river ... kinda important) and then segueing right into the Microsoft Vista infomercial for five minutes (including footage of the "excitement" at the empty CompUSA and some guy apparently installing Vista with a screwdriver (??!!??)) before talking about the various other apparently fluff pieces of the day such as the war in Iraq, a local manhunt which was ongoing, and so on.
Good to know weve got our priorities straight. Seems like the news orgs decided they'd given too much publicity to Apple over the iPhone and wanted to make up for it in one day.
In any case, Vista launch appears to have been a non-event.
For anyone considering purchasing, make sure you buy an OEM version along with a USB cable or something. Yes, OEM versions are tied to hardware (ie, your current MacBook Pro), but the non-OEM version for twice as much is only licensed for installation on two machines over the course of its lifetime anyway. Seems silly to pay for the second machine license up front instead of waiting until you need it (especially considering there's a good chance you'll not want it by then anyway!)
For the guy comparing prices: If you'd been operating on five-year-old software on your Mac for the past five years, you'd have paid $129 or less (seems like 10.0/10.1 was cheaper than that) at the time your Windows colleagues bought XP for $200 a piece, and could upgrade to a modern OS for $129 (presumably) in a few months. A lot cheaper than even the OEM versions of Windows. Instead, you paid approximately the same price for all post-10.0 upgrades to OS X (10.2, 10.3, 10.4, and soon 10.5) as the guy working on the 5-year-old OS (Windows XP) just finally getting an upgrade today to Vista. And you didn't have to work on an obsolete, buggy, insecure OS for three or four of those years.
Thoroughly enjoyed my local news starting off with one hard story (mountain lion sightings in town along the river ... kinda important) and then segueing right into the Microsoft Vista infomercial for five minutes (including footage of the "excitement" at the empty CompUSA and some guy apparently installing Vista with a screwdriver (??!!??)) before talking about the various other apparently fluff pieces of the day such as the war in Iraq, a local manhunt which was ongoing, and so on.
Good to know weve got our priorities straight. Seems like the news orgs decided they'd given too much publicity to Apple over the iPhone and wanted to make up for it in one day.
In any case, Vista launch appears to have been a non-event.
For anyone considering purchasing, make sure you buy an OEM version along with a USB cable or something. Yes, OEM versions are tied to hardware (ie, your current MacBook Pro), but the non-OEM version for twice as much is only licensed for installation on two machines over the course of its lifetime anyway. Seems silly to pay for the second machine license up front instead of waiting until you need it (especially considering there's a good chance you'll not want it by then anyway!)
For the guy comparing prices: If you'd been operating on five-year-old software on your Mac for the past five years, you'd have paid $129 or less (seems like 10.0/10.1 was cheaper than that) at the time your Windows colleagues bought XP for $200 a piece, and could upgrade to a modern OS for $129 (presumably) in a few months. A lot cheaper than even the OEM versions of Windows. Instead, you paid approximately the same price for all post-10.0 upgrades to OS X (10.2, 10.3, 10.4, and soon 10.5) as the guy working on the 5-year-old OS (Windows XP) just finally getting an upgrade today to Vista. And you didn't have to work on an obsolete, buggy, insecure OS for three or four of those years.
Boy those features sound great. To bad I'm at work using an XP machine instead at at the machine at home that has all of those features except for the (tm) parts.
Uh, do you have a Radeon 9200SE in that thinkpad? (hint: it's a desktop card, so no you do not) So... unless you have the exact same computer setup of the user that got the solitaire error message, there's no way you can say it's "total BS". Vista works nicely for you and that's great for you. But don't assume that because it works on your computer that everybody everywhere will have the exact same experience.
Vista is released....
... and no one cares
Apart from a few hundred Mac fanboys here in this forum ;-)
As much as I like my Mac: Windows will stay the dominating operating system, since Microsoft has the industry behind it. Why? Because nobody wants to be dependent on a single supplier, who controls the whole platform. At least Microsoft licenses its operating system to other hardware manufacturers...
And: Mac OS X doesn't run on the tablet PC that I want so desperately.
Anyway, I'm trying to stay open to all platforms, using my Mac at home and Linux/Vista at my office.
cheers,
Georg
Vista's been out for two months
I have it running on three machines, so I certainly wasn't going to go to a store at midnight to get a copy.
Did you ever think that part of the lack of excitement is due to the fact that Vista was released in November to businesses?
I have it running on three machines, so I certainly wasn't going to go to a store at midnight to get a copy.
Sorry but I got Windows Vista Business Edition for free. Now I need to buy a Macbook to stick this sucker on it next week!
My goodness... it's wierd how Vista forced me to upgrade to a Macbook
Okay, I hate this activation stuff. Anyone knows how to get rid of it?
My goodness... it's wierd how Vista forced me to upgrade to a Macbook
Okay, I hate this activation stuff. Anyone knows how to get rid of it?
Agreed, but sooner or later having single supplier of operating system (mono-culture) will break or whole concept of OS will become obsolete.
Regarding Vista, it's hasta-la-Vista for me. I will stick with my Linux and OSX for now as paying $ 200-$400 for the privilege of being DRMed and WGAed is too much for me.
Ditto... I have more lockup's (BSOD) on my Macbook than my (homebuilt) XP desktop. I use only quality hardware with good drivers and I do not load my computer up with worthless programs.
Well, I can see that point of view. I like my Mac laptop & OS X, but as a gamer, I also know that companies like Dell appear to care a lot more about doing business with the millions like me than do Apple.
Apple's attitude seems to be: what, you also play games? Then buy a Mac Pro (or **** yourself off!). As long as Apple can't provide a greater range of hardware at reasonable prices, I'll be staying open-minded about Vista.
However, I also strongly expect Leopard to be more advanced than Vista on a number of levels. So interesting times ahead!
Microsoft May Loose Consumer Sales to Apple . . . Hopefully
I'm a very proud Mac user that occasionally needs to use Windows via Boot Camp and/or Parallels. I've never been kind towards Microsoft, but decided against my better judgement to actually purchase my own copy of Windows Vista for my iMac at home so that I can work from home when needed. This is the story of how what little faith I had in Microsoft was ruined - by Microsoft.
MS has a Family Program, where if you buy a copy of Windows Vista Ultimate (the high end version), you can then also purchase up two two licenses of Windows Vista Home Premium at $50 each for additional machines in your home using a special web site. This is only offered for those who purchase their copy of Vista Ultimate through a retail channel.
I purchased the Ultimate copy via Amazon for my Macbook Pro at work ($400) and then when I got home, I purchased one additional license ($50) for Home Premium through the Microsoft web site for my iMac at home. That's $450 that I gave Microsoft.
The online sale went fine and I was issued a license key for my second machine. The problem was that the key didn't work. I re-entered and double-checked it at length with no luck. Time to go to support. In the email I received it had a web link to follow if you need help, so I clicked. It goes to a non-existant page at microsoft.com, and still does today.
So, next I called the toll-free number in the email. It turns out that this is a Microsoft number, but for a different project. The person who answered my call was unusually candid with me. The poor people working at that number were not equipped for the deluge of calls they were receiving. They were not even supposed to be getting these calls. They had not been trained themselves on how to use Vista yet and had no idea what to do to remedy the problem. He told me that they've been getting "thousands" of calls all day long for this very same issue and that he can confirm for me that the keys being generated by the web site are not working for anyone.
He said all he could do was to take my name and number, which he wrote down on physical paper to deliver to his supervisor (I thought Microsoft had email, silly me). He said they were trying to get the attention of someone "higher in the food chain" to do something about it - or at least shut down the offending web page that's issuing the invalid keys. He told me he hoped that someone would get back to me "within a few days" and that he's very sorry but has nothing more to offer.
Microsoft does not offer refunds for purchases made through their web site and they are sticking to that policy, leaving users like me who already paid them hundreds of dollars with no recourse and unable to affect the remedy to this horrible situation.
On the very day that an OS is released that's been in development for half a decade, the least I expect is that their ordering systems are working correctly and their staff is properly prepared.
This has one again reinforced my impression of Microsoft as being an unresponsive company that makes crap software.
I'm a very proud Mac user that occasionally needs to use Windows via Boot Camp and/or Parallels. I've never been kind towards Microsoft, but decided against my better judgement to actually purchase my own copy of Windows Vista for my iMac at home so that I can work from home when needed. This is the story of how what little faith I had in Microsoft was ruined - by Microsoft.
MS has a Family Program, where if you buy a copy of Windows Vista Ultimate (the high end version), you can then also purchase up two two licenses of Windows Vista Home Premium at $50 each for additional machines in your home using a special web site. This is only offered for those who purchase their copy of Vista Ultimate through a retail channel.
I purchased the Ultimate copy via Amazon for my Macbook Pro at work ($400) and then when I got home, I purchased one additional license ($50) for Home Premium through the Microsoft web site for my iMac at home. That's $450 that I gave Microsoft.
The online sale went fine and I was issued a license key for my second machine. The problem was that the key didn't work. I re-entered and double-checked it at length with no luck. Time to go to support. In the email I received it had a web link to follow if you need help, so I clicked. It goes to a non-existant page at microsoft.com, and still does today.
So, next I called the toll-free number in the email. It turns out that this is a Microsoft number, but for a different project. The person who answered my call was unusually candid with me. The poor people working at that number were not equipped for the deluge of calls they were receiving. They were not even supposed to be getting these calls. They had not been trained themselves on how to use Vista yet and had no idea what to do to remedy the problem. He told me that they've been getting "thousands" of calls all day long for this very same issue and that he can confirm for me that the keys being generated by the web site are not working for anyone.
He said all he could do was to take my name and number, which he wrote down on physical paper to deliver to his supervisor (I thought Microsoft had email, silly me). He said they were trying to get the attention of someone "higher in the food chain" to do something about it - or at least shut down the offending web page that's issuing the invalid keys. He told me he hoped that someone would get back to me "within a few days" and that he's very sorry but has nothing more to offer.
Microsoft does not offer refunds for purchases made through their web site and they are sticking to that policy, leaving users like me who already paid them hundreds of dollars with no recourse and unable to affect the remedy to this horrible situation.
On the very day that an OS is released that's been in development for half a decade, the least I expect is that their ordering systems are working correctly and their staff is properly prepared.
This has one again reinforced my impression of Microsoft as being an unresponsive company that makes crap software.
I got my Vista for free and for me, I don't expect to need any support.
Perhaps people can get Vista help from the Mac Geniuses?
Perhaps people can get Vista help from the Mac Geniuses?
You know that episode of the Simpsons when Homer's brother asks him to help him design a new car... and it totally comes out back-ass-wards? That's vista to me.
Im excited to see just how bad microsoft can make an os. The interview with Bill on the daily show, and pirates of silicon valley speak volumes about where microsoft is headed.
Im excited to see just how bad microsoft can make an os. The interview with Bill on the daily show, and pirates of silicon valley speak volumes about where microsoft is headed.
Wow, what a painful experience. I thought Microsoft had that family offer on Home Premium too. Yours keys didn't work AND you had no one to turn to.
http://www.microsoft.com/winme/0701/29339/GA_Launch_MBR.asx
They even copie the theme song from Apple when the released the 12 and the 17 inch PBs
They even copie the theme song from Apple when the released the 12 and the 17 inch PBs
Already?
I heard an ad on the radio yesterday. The sales guy says something to the effect of "You can come down and by a copy of Windows Vista." And the customer says "You mean it's here already!"
Honesly, you'd think they rushed it out of Redmond on a Concorde or something. With as much time as it spend in devo, a wagon train would have been faster.
I heard an ad on the radio yesterday. The sales guy says something to the effect of "You can come down and by a copy of Windows Vista." And the customer says "You mean it's here already!"
Honesly, you'd think they rushed it out of Redmond on a Concorde or something. With as much time as it spend in devo, a wagon train would have been faster.