System i Addict

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Spurred by an e-mail from someone deep in the marketing ranks, Microsoft last week traveled to San Francisco, rounding up Windows XP users who had negative impressions of Vista. The subjects were put on video, asked about their Vista impressions, and then shown a “new” operating system, code-named Mojave. More than 90 percent gave positive feedback on what they saw. Then they were told that “Mojave” was actually Windows Vista.

If Mark Shearer would have told us that i V6R1 is buggy and crap but we are going to release it to you and it’s a work in progress, we as a community would have had his head on a stake!

For Microsoft to say to us that Vista is a work in progress is just ridiculous. It just shows you that they don’t have any respect for you the consumer or any pride in the product they deliver.

While I don’t think Vista is a work in progress and what they delivered is any better than Ubuntu Desktop, and can’t hold a candle to MacOSX. You see the problem is Microsoft is not a company that thinks you all out there are very smart. They assume you will buy a new PC and just love Vista. I am not sold on the idea, and was recently in a Best Buy where the sales “dude” tried to tell me how much he loved Vista and in a matter of minutes I had pointed out all of it’s problems as I saw it and he agreed with all of them, then I delivered the death blow, with all of these problems how can you call it a good product? He answered, “I ignore them.”

Ah, now we know what Microsoft users all have in common, instead of fixing the problems or improving them, they just ignore them. How very useful. If Ubuntu would have just ignore the issue or short coming with it’s desktop then where would we be? If Apple would have just kept putting out MacOS9 and never really made MacOSX where would we be? So when Microsoft creates a new OS and it’s plagued with problems the users simply love it because it’s new and flashy and the only thing most of them know how to install on the PC they just purchased and have learned to ignore all the problems. Interesting.

Don’t worry Mark we are not going to ignore anything in the new release of i or the new POWER hardware because as a community we expect more from IBM, but have always expected less from Microsoft.

It warms my heart to see IBM wanting to try out Apple hardware and software internally. The same thing happens when I think about Lotus 8 and the new “office software” it comes with as alternatives it makes me all happy inside. See the day is coming when Microsoft is going to start having to cut jobs, and rethink it’s business units. They will announce “restructuring plans” and how they are going to change the way we think. I know it’s not this year but it’s coming. The day SONY buys the XBOX division, and Microsoft starts selling off divisions like Great Plains and other company’s they don’t serve them well. All because big IT is not moving to Vista. IT people hate Vista and it’s not worth the RISK to make that change. Microsoft knows this so they are trying to force everyone hand and when they do that companies like IBM look for alternatives. Maybe they will bring back OS/2? Maybe the world will move to Apple, or is Linux about to have a real sunrise in this arena?

Thanks Steve for saying what we all have been thinking…..Vista is crap and you put it out before it was fully cooked. To bad the junkies that work at Best Buy are all drinking the Windows Kool-Aid and refuse to cal Vista crap.

I am just posting a link and I think that all I need to do. LINK

So with so few companies moving to Windows Vista for so many of the right reasons and if you really want to make an upgrade you could move to MacOSX, but I digress. Many people and CIOs are passing on Windows Vista and waiting now for Windows 7. Lets all hope that the screw that one up too.Link to Post 

So I have made some nice scratch removing Vista from PCs and installing XP for them, in a couple of cases I was able to talk them into Ubuntu and those people have been the happiest of the group.

Once again Microsoft is reporting record profits but sales of Vista are off. LINK HERE

“The sales rate of Microsoft’s Windows Vista is gradually slowing down as the operating system reaches the one-year anniversary of its release to businesses, according to the company’s latest financial results. The Redmond, Washington-based company shipped approximately 28 million copies of Vista in the latest quarter ended September, or 9.3 million copies per month.”

So while I stuggle with a few people I support making a little scratch on the side who run Vista, and now Don Reisinger from CNet says what some of you out there are thinking…..what is Microsoft going to do with Vista?

Not only that but, I got my first taste of the new Office for Windows at college and man it’s just a mess. Nothing is where you think it should be. To say it easy to use would be like saying root canals are fun a exciting. It’s just more poo on more poo. Eventually you have to pick up a shovel and get rid of it. While I am trying not to bash Microsoft I do think they have lost sight of what is impportant…read on and tell me what you think?

CNET - Why Microsoft must abandon Vista to save itself

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Is Linux finally ready to take on Windows as a desktop OS? We tried out both Vista and Ubuntu on individual PCs to see which works better. Here’s who won.

This seems to be one of the most even reviews I have read and will reread it many times to make sure I fully understand it and can consume it.

The last comments seem like the place where the injustice is. At no point does the author seem like either one better. They are still very different OSes.

“Ubuntu’s best strength is handling the ordinary task-based day-to-day stuff. Vista has a level of completeness and polish that some people find it hard to do without. ”

Thanks Switzerland for you super grey outlook and neutral opinion on nothing.  Nice way to not make a point and say what you really feel. I think there were times in the article when you could feel the author start to lean to one side and then at the bottom they call it a tie….oh well. I think we can all read and see who really won. Might I add Vista is expensive and you really don’t own the copy you just purchased and Ubuntu is free and so is the support.

Information Week’s John C. Welch writes and interesting article this week about how he pitted the ever so stable and easy to use (My Words) MacOSX up against the every so bloated and virus laden(Again my words) Windows Vista.

I think this sums it up:

“Hidden behind all of this hoopla, however, is the fact that as much of an improvement Vista is over XP, its main competitor, Mac OS X, still stacks up really well — and even tops Vista in several important areas.”

So with that said I can also add without question MacOSX has been around since 2001 for the current Mac Computers, and if you go back and do a little history with UNIX and Apple then you will find that the original MacOSX has been around now for about 15+ years in some form or another. UNIX as we all know is a “business class” OS. Windows on the other hand should be asked to leave like you would a common thief or convict if he were in your office stealing things and causing all kinds of havoc. Why Windows is allowed to roam the halls of any company is beyond me, it really boils down to lazy Admins and even lazier IT staff unwilling to go the extra mile to use and OS that would keep things nice and secure, rather they would use the Fisher Price equivalent of OSs to run their multi-million dollar companies with a sub standard product…..

Oh did I get off on a rant again? Sorry!

I am going to point out a few of may favorite points in the article and then you can just read it and run out to your local Apple Store and get your own and avoid the virus update called Vista……oooops I did it again?

” While Vista is indeed a major update …..quite frankly, just Microsoft making up for lost time. “

“This means that while Mac OS X has been steadily evolving through 10.0, 10.1, 10.2, 10.3 and 10.4, and is now working towards 10.5,……When it was obvious the original Longhorn OS wasn’t going to happen, they took the Windows Server 2003 code base and used that for the basis of Vista. “

“Microsoft had two serious issues. First, they had to make this update of Windows revolutionary enough that it came close to justifying the delay. Second, they had to come up with something that would stand up well with its main competitor in the desktop OS market, Mac OS X.”

Really is Vista really on the same level as MacOSX? I really don’t think so and in fact I have looked at both and have not been overly impressed with what Microsoft Vista has become. I am not going to take the low road and call Vista a copy cat OS, because it is not, but we all know that since Microsoft released XP everything they have shown as new and innovative in Vista has been something that has either been in MacOSX since the start or was added in one of it’s later dot releases and it just screams that Windows Vista is just a culmination of what Windows users envy in MacOSX.

More fun little quotes:

“Long-delayed upgrade that has to account for almost 6 years of progress by its competitors”

“The other thing I keep noticing about Vista’s UI is how many times things just seem to be changed seemingly for no reason beyond “new version, gotta change stuff.” ”

” I’ve also been struck by how, even with all the notifications I get in Vista, how annoying it is to find basic information.”

“Another UI annoyance, and one I had hoped that Microsoft would have improved, is the hoops you have to jump through to get basic information from the OS.”

Like a pimple coming to a head:

“I could keep bringing up examples, but I think you get the idea. At the UI level, the human level, Vista is different far more often than it is better.”

I think he starts to show his Geek Side here:

“However, is it significantly, or even slightly better than Mac OS X? Maybe in a couple of low-level ways, like the randomizing memory address usage function, or being able to use USB memory sticks as additional RAM, but at the human level? Not even close.”

From a user stand point this is of no use to any Mom or Dad using Vista at home. It’s really more about Web, Email and typing a doc here and there, and with that said a company has the same problems. How do we make the desktop easy to use and the applications seamless or at least simple to maintain?

I think in the end we will all know MacOSX does it best and Windows just won the war based on lazy administration and adoption by software vendors….you would think they would have moved everything to MacOSX/UNIX long ago? Then again most Windows Admins think that UNIX/Linux is hard to learn….go figure. If it ain’t got a Wizard I can’t admin the server, that is what a Windows MSCE test should include. Don’t get me started on Windows Admins now. I don’t have time. It’s always nice to see that there people who call themselves Admins and really they are Wizard jockeys and haven’t a clue about how to Admin a server, much less figure out why something does what it does in Windows.
I think the last paragraph in the article makes owning a Mac make you feel good…..

“I’ve yet to see anything in Vista that blows away the Mac OS, even a version of the Mac OS that’s over a year old. Microsoft still can’t manage to make something simple and easy to use. Vista reeks of committee and design by massive consensus, while OS X shines from an intense focus on doing things in a simple, clear fashion and design for the user, not the programmer.”

Long live Xcode!

Link to article

I always think that David is a pretty fair person, also note he like his toys and his Macs too. David will always be one of the guys I read when I need to laugh. He is pretty funny most of the time too so this should be taken in stride.

The video is a back and forth and it’s pretty good.

Link to Video of David Pogue

Once again I get to point out that Microsoft is a really awful company. They don’t like to play by the ruleas and could care less about the truth and more about the FUD.

They build a highly used and really crappy OS, They market the hell out of it, and they are now bribing bloggers to say nice things with that could be called, the “Ferrari” of laptops, no really you could call it that.

Story Here and some assorted details too….

Trying to explain it as something Normal and Ethical?

So what do we do now? Where do we go? What was Microsoft really trying to do with the laptops? I find this troubling to say the least or as one person put it “highly inappropriate and immoral”.

Nuff Said,
David

Article Here

This is an article about why Windows Rules the world….I would have to disagree and say it has more to do with thier constant marketing and initial sell on simplicity, althought that comes at a price, like the inability to really do antyhing with the OS once you have it installed or be able to trouble shoot it effectily like other real OSes.

“But the real difference between Unix-like operating systems and Windows is their design philosophies. Windows may squander computing power through its clumsy architecture. But by favouring simplicity of use over simplicity of design, Microsoft has been able to leverage cheap but powerful commodity hardware, to provide cost-effective software solutions. These may be complex in design—and full of bugs to boot—but, boy, are they easy to use and maintain. That’s a winning formula in anyone’s book, and the reason why Windows rightly rules the world.” 

This paragraph is the kicker.It does not explain why Microsoft is the most used OS out there, it does however point out that the stupidity of the average user to not know anything about any other OS and to continue to use Windows because they assume it’s easier than other OSes.

“boy, are they easy to use and maintain.

This happens to be the most idiotic statement I have read in a long time. Windows is easy to maintain? I am sorry did you forget about the once a week patches you have to put on? Do you not know about the six figure appliances and devices companies purchase to maintain their Windows desktops? Microsoft Windows XP is probably one of the most expensive desktops to maintain from the word go. I spend far more time updating my one Windows Desktop at home than I do taking care of the 3 Mac, 2 Linux Desktops, and 4 Linux Servers. To be blunt that line is a lie and the writer is uninformed and knows nothing about Windows XP and a Corporate environment.

Full Disclosure : I am not a fan of Windows. I think the world would be a better place without Windows and we also have less talk about security from a single OS than we currently do. I would invite each of you to Try MacOSX or Llinux instead of ever using Windows. I think Microsoft is treating every person and company that uses their software like they are stupid and are to dumb to see the fact that Windows is a filled with problems they will fix later instead of now.

The New Your Times and many other places are reports new security problems in the next version of Windows, called VISTA. There is a Russian Programmer, notice they didn’t call him a hacker and I mean hacker in the good sense of the word, that has found some issues already with the latest release of Windows.

“On Dec. 15, a Russian programmer posted a description of a flaw that makes it possible to increase a user’s privileges on all of the company’s recent operating systems, including Vista. And over the weekend a Silicon Valley computer security firm said it had notified Microsoft that it had also found that flaw, as well as five other vulnerabilities, including one serious error in the software code underlying the company’s new Internet Explorer 7 browser.” 

So at this point on Dec 27th Microsoft still has done little to address thesecurity issue other than saying the following:

“On Friday, a Microsoft executive posted a comment on a company security information Web site stating the company was “closely monitoring” the vulnerability described by the Russian Web site. It permits the privileges of a standard user account in Vista and other versions of Windows to be increased, permitting control of all of the operations of the computer. In Unix and modern Windows systems, users are restricted in the functions they can perform, and complete power is restricted to certain administrative accounts.” 

Is that really an answer? I don’t think it is, I think it’s a cop out and they have failed to see the pinch in the pocket book so they really are not going to fix it. I would bet that SP1 for VISTA will be out sometime Summer 2007.

I don’t get excited or happy when this happens as some of you may think. It troubles me and even more troubling is I heard a person say how much they were looking forward to VISTA? You have got to be kidding me and then went on to say they liked Windows, but to be fair they had never used any other OS other than Windows. You can pick that apart, I don’t need to it’s so obvious.

I am sure they also got the only good Ford Pinto as their first car and have never purchased any other brand since then.

Read the NYT Article and please, please don’t go purchase VISTA, I think it’s going to be the same as those of you who went out and purchased Windows ME. They have been working on VISTA for over 7 years and this is all they can deliver and in that 7 years have stolen so many interface niceties from MacOS, KDE and GNOME that it’s not funny and in truth I have not seen anything in the new OS that is original. I am still looking.

More to come I am sure…..

Link to the Microsoft Get Ready for VISTA Site.

A Windows Vista Capable PC includes at least:

• A modern processor (at least 800MHz¹).
• 512 MB of system memory.
• A graphics processor that is DirectX 9 capable.

A Windows Vista Premium Ready PC includes at least:

• 1 GHz 32-bit (x86) or 64-bit (x64) processor¹.
• 1 GB of system memory.
• Support for DirectX 9 graphics with a WDDM driver, 128 MB of graphics memory (minimum)², Pixel Shader 2.0 and 32 bits per pixel.
• 40 GB of hard drive capacity with 15 GB free space.
• DVD-ROM Drive³.
• Audio output capability.
• Internet access capability.

Now most of you should be able to handle this with your average PC. I am looking at my work desktop and I should be able to run it, I am a bit confused when it comes to Video Cards, but I think I am OK and it should run just fine. The fact that you need 15GB free I would guess to install the OS is just plain silly. Then again Windows just keeps getting bigger.
So give your system the once over and get ready for VISTA, and for all you MacOS & Linux users, don’t worry about a damn thing cause this post is not for you. I can’t wait for the next version of MacOSX and OpenSUSE is not so bad. I am really starting to like it. I can only find one thing on it that is going to keep me from moving to it on my Work Desktop. Rock On and hope you enjoy your VISTA!