Archive for Vista

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Another Sign That Vista Has Failed: Ballmer Says It’s Okay To Wait For Windows 7… He Says Some Stuff About Yahoo And Google Too

Posted in Commentary with tags , , , on October 16, 2008 by itnerd

Microsoft Chief Executive Chair Thrower Officer Steve Ballmer was speaking at Gartner’s Symposium/ITxpo conference in Orlando today, and according to ZDNet, he said something that must have sent a few tremors through the crowd. He said that if people want to wait for Windows 7, that’s cool with him. But he did qualify that statement:

“If people want to wait they really can,” said Ballmer. “But I’d definitely deploy Vista.”

Now that it’s cool to wait until Windows 7, good luck in terms of selling copies of Vista Mr. Ballmer. Because I assure you that not many business are going to do so now. To be fair, he did defend Vista a great deal. But given the fact that XP will be around for some time to come and he’s talking about Windows 7, it’s become clearer than ever that Vista is a failure in the marketplace.

Ballmer also talked about Yahoo and Google. In the case of Yahoo, he made this comment:

“It’s clear Yahoo didn’t want to sell. They probably still think it’s worth more than $33 a share. I still think it makes sense for their shareholders and ours.”

Yahoo stock which had sunk to $11 a share as recently as yesterday shot up by about a dollar the second he said that. I guess Yahoo shareholders agree with him.

As for Google:

“We have better competition today than Google Docs and Spreadsheets. We get more competition from OpenOffice and StarOffice frankly,”

That’s interesting. Considering that the mere mention of the word Google reportedly enraged Ballmer enough to throw a chair across a room and threaten to “kill” Google, not to mention that his kids are banned from using the Google search engine (as well as iPods, which must make them the biggest losers in the school they attend),  I find that statement odd.

One thing to note, check the picture of Ballmer’s handlers in the ZDNet article. The guy needs five of them? Maybe it’s because they want to make sure that he doesn’t throw any chairs if he gets ticked off.

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Vista Is Dead…Microsoft Is Moving On…. But Is It Too Late ?

Posted in Commentary with tags , on October 9, 2008 by itnerd

Let’s face it. Windows Vista is not setting the world on fire. I suspect that it’s causing Microsoft more problems than it solves. After all if you have to drop $300 million to improve the image of this operating system, you have a problem. A very serious problem. Given that XP’s life has just been extended again, I think the fact that Vista was dead on arrival has finally become clear to Microsoft. Another sign that Microsoft is giving up on Vista is that Windows 7 is entering beta later this year, and will likely be released in either 2009 or 2010. Of course that depends on which chair Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer throws that day.

The thing is, it may already be too late. Apple has gained historically high marketshare over the last little while, plus people are trying out LINUX as well. And chances are, if they like what they see they won’t be back in the Microsoft camp any time soon, if ever.

So dear readers, what do you think? Is it game over for Microsoft, or can they rescue the Windows empire? Leave a comment and us know.

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Ballmer Uses “Sgt. Schultz” Defence In “Vista Capable” Lawsuit

Posted in Commentary with tags , , on October 6, 2008 by itnerd

It’s been a while since I’ve discussed this, but this document (Warning: PDF) posted on the Seattle Post-Intelligencer website, Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer claims that he had no direct knowledge of the “Vista Capable” circus. He chooses instead to point the finger at two retired MS employees:

“I was not involved in any of the operational decisions about the Windows Vista Capable program. I was not involved in establishing the requirements computers must satisfy to qualify for the Windows Vista Capable program. I was not involved in formulating any market strategy or any public messaging surrounding the Windows Vista Capable program. To the best of my recollection, I do not have any unique knowledge of nor did I have any unique involvement in any decisions regarding the Windows Vista Capable program. All of my knowledge about those decisions came through other people at Microsoft, notably Jim Allchin, Microsoft’s then-co-President, Platforms Products & Services, and Will Poole, Microsoft’s then Senior Vice President, Windows Client Business.”

Well if I’m Allchin or Poole, I’d say it’s time to lawyer up and make sure their ducks are in a row as they’re sure to be answering questions in front of a judge shortly. While they’re at it, they should find some way to defend themselves against flying chairs.

But I digress.

I find it incredible that Ballmer knew nothing beyond the superficial details of the “Vista Capable” program. After all, he is the CEO and from a legal standpoint the buck should stop with him. Hopefully, this “I didn’t know anything” defence gets ripped apart.

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Windows XP Gets Six Month Extension….. Again

Posted in Commentary with tags , , on October 3, 2008 by itnerd

I guess sales of Windows Vista must really suck. Because according to The Register and confirmed by News.com, Windows XP lives for another six months for OEMs to include XP recovery disks or even to “downgrade” from Vista. This is the second extension since the OS shipped last year. According to the News.com story:

“As more customers make the move to Windows Vista, we want to make sure that they are making that transition with confidence and that it is as smooth as possible,” Microsoft said. “Providing downgrade media for a few more months is part of that commitment, as is the Windows Vista Small Business Assurance program, which provides one-on-one, customized support for our small-business customers.”

Let me translate that for you: “Vista sales really suck. So we’re forced to pop XP in the box to encourge people to buy PC hardware while we use some slight of hand to record a Vista sale. That way everybody wins.”

The News.com story notes that Microsoft Chief Executive Chair Thrower Officer Steve Ballmer noted that 180 million copies of Windows have been sold to date. The question is, how many copies of Vista are actually being used.

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Weird Vista Error Message

Posted in Commentary with tags , on September 25, 2008 by itnerd

Take a look at this error message:


So… I don’t have permssion to to view the current permissions for properties, but I can change them. Which means that I must logically be able to view them so that I can change them. Right?

Does anybody else find that weird?

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iTunes 8 Causes Vista To BSOD… It’s All Apple’s Fault.

Posted in Commentary with tags , , on September 11, 2008 by itnerd

This posting on Apple’s Discussion Board seems to indicate that iTunes 8 users who are running Vista are getting frequent Blue Screens Of Deaths unless they unplug their non-Apple USB devices. It’s always difficult to tell how widespread a problem is from a board posting, but ZDNet did a poll that indicates that 36% of Vista users seem to be having issues. While the poll isn’t scientific, that’s not exactly a small number. Also, ZDNet’s Ed Bott has a clue as to what might be going on here and he points the finger squarely at Apple:

“An even bigger problem is Apple’s attitude toward its Windows customers. These additional software packages and drivers are being installed with no disclosure and no consent. A pile of software, including the troubled MobileMe service, is also being installed and enabled at startup on Windows machines, even where the user has no MobileMe account and, for that matter, no mobile device.

Apple’s Get a Mac ads love to tweak Microsoft for its frequent crashes. Someone from Apple needs to look in the mirror and realize that they’re the problem in this case.”

Ouch. That’s harsh. But I have to agree with him. Apple has really shot itself in the foot when it comes to how it treats Windows users. That needs to change.

I’m seeing a iTunes 8.0.1 update hitting the streets shortly.

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Microsoft Details The Reasons Why The Vista Launch Crashed And Burned

Posted in Commentary with tags , on September 10, 2008 by itnerd

Maximum PC has an “exclusive interview” with a Microsoft exec where he comes clean about the failure of Vista. It’s a rather frank interview that I strongly recommend that you read, but here’s the summary as to why Vista bombed (from page 3 of the article):

  • Our Microsoft source blamed bad drivers from GPU companies and printer companies for the majority of Vista’s early stability problems.|
  • He described User Account Control as poorly implemented but defended it as necessary for the continued health of the Windows platform.
  • He admitted that spending the money to port DirectX 10 to Windows XP would have been worth the expense.
  • He assailed OEM system builders for including bad, buggy, or just plain useless apps on their machines in exchange for a few bucks on the back end.
  • He described the Games for Windows initiative as a disaster, with nothing more than 64-bit compatibility for games to show for years of effort.
  • He conceded that Apple appeals to more and more consumers because the hardware is slick, the price is OK, and Apple doesn’t annoy its customers (or allow third parties to).

You can read the full article here. The article is remarkably candid and it shows that Microsoft is no longer drinking the special kool aid. The article also goes into great detail about how they fixed Vista so that it is better. To be fair, some of Vista’s more annoying “features” have been fixed. However, one must wonder if even with SP1 out in the wild if it is too late for Microsoft. Maximum PC throws in its $0.02 worth on that:

“If you already have Vista, there’s no reason not to use it, but should you go out and buy Vista today? Probably not. With Windows 7’s launch scheduled for early 2010, we’re actually closer to that date than we are to Vista’s launch. If you’ve ridden out the storm on XP so far, it probably isn’t worth investing in Vista for just a year and a half of use.”

That sounds like the advice that I give those who ask me about Vista. That’s a problem for Microsoft, but great news if you’re Steve Jobs or Linus Torvalds.

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It’s Official…. Vista’s Security Is Useless… Maybe….. [UPDATED x2]

Posted in Commentary with tags , , on August 8, 2008 by itnerd

The Black Hat security conference had a bombshell dropped on it yesterday. Mark Dowd of IBM Internet Security Systems and Alexander Sotirov, of VMware Inc. have discovered a technique that can be used to bypass all memory protection safeguards that Microsoft built into Windows Vista:

“The researchers were able to load whatever content they wanted into any location they wished on a user’s machine using a variety of scripting languages, such as Java, ActiveX and even .NET objects. This feat was achieved by taking advantage of the way that Internet Explorer (and other browsers) handle active scripting in the Operating System.

While this may seem like any standard security hole, other researchers say that the work is a major breakthrough and there is very little that Microsoft can do to fix the problems. These attacks work differently than other security exploits, as they aren’t based on any new Windows vulnerabilities, but instead take advantage of the way Microsoft chose to guard Vista’s fundamental architecture. According to Dino Dai Zovi, a popular security researcher, “the genius of this is that it’s completely reusable. They have attacks that let them load chosen content to a chosen location with chosen permissions. That’s completely game over.””

From what I can tell, the hack takes advantage of the way Internet Explorer handles scripting languages. That implies that Firefox/Safari/Opera users are safe (or at least safer). Also, I would think it’s perfectly reasonable to assume that a rewrite of the affected portions of Vista will provide the fix if that is the case (that of course assumes that the cure isn’t worse than the disease). So to say that it’s broken and can’t be fixed is as much of a sure thing as saying it’s secure and can’t be hacked.

In any case, Microsoft is apparently aware of the research and wants to see it. Given all of the negative press that Vista has, you’d think Microsoft would have paid them to bury the research. In any case, it will be interesting to see how Microsoft responds to this.

UPDATE: Here’s another link with more detail.

UPDATE #2: Here’s a very detailed PDF from the two researchers on this issue.

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HP Says XP Still Outselling Vista…. Shock! Not!

Posted in Commentary with tags , , on August 7, 2008 by itnerd

According to Microsoft, they’ve sold 180 million copies of Vista. But according to HP, they’ve been shipping PC’s with Vista Business licenses and XP Professional on the hard drive. That makes XP the default OS that the customer uses.

Not Vista. XP.

To top it off, this has been since the June 30th date that Microsoft has declared that XP will be as dead as disco.

So, that raises an interesting question. Since we already know that Dell does the same sort of thing, how many Vista licenses that Microsoft sells through it’s partners like HP and Dell are truly in use?

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Microsoft To Planet Earth: We Botched Vista, And Those Apple Ads Suck

Posted in Commentary with tags , , on July 8, 2008 by itnerd

Brad Brooks, Microsoft’s VP of Windows Vista consumer marketing came out at Microsoft’s Worldwide Partner Conference and admitted what everybody already knew. Microsoft made mistakes with the Vista launch but they are ready to counter attacks from Apple and let customers know that Vista is “finally stable and ready”:

“We broke a lot of things. We know that, and we know it caused you a lot of pain. It got customers thinking, hey, is Windows Vista a generation we want to get invested in?”

But much like the Cylons, they have a plan to fix that:

“We’ve faced these challenges before, and we’re going to solve them again. There’s a conversation going on in the marketplace today and it’s just plain awful. We’ve got to get back on the front foot.”

Wow. It’s really unusual for anybody from Microsoft to be that honest. I guess he stopped drinking the special Kool Aid. As for those Apple Ads:

“We’ve got a pretty noisy competitor out there,” Brooks said of Apple whose “I’m a Mac… and I’m a PC,” commercials criticize Windows Vista. “You know it. I know it. It’s caused some impact. We’re going to start countering it. They tell us it’s the iWay or the highway. We think that’s a sad message. Software out there is made to be compatible with your whole life.”

Cute, but lets take a look at reality. First of all, it’s been the Microsoft way or the highway forever, so they’re hardly in a position to take Apple to task on that. Second this is what I have experienced since I switched to my Mac as my full time computer:

  • I no longer get the Blue Screen Of Death, nor do I miss it
  • Windows via Parallels on my Mac is actually MORE STABLE than on a real Windows Box
  • I don’t get the weird hardware/software issues that plague Windows users
  • OS X isn’t the pig that Vista is
  • There’s no User Account Controls prompting me to “cancel or allow” something
  • Everything “just works”

Net result, I have a positive user experience. I couldn’t say that when I was a Windows user.

Vista was the straw that made me switch to Mac as my main machine. Judging from the fact that every time I go to the Apple store it’s packed with Windows users, I’m guessing that others feel the same way.

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