Archive for Vista

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Microsoft Relases “Reliability Update” For Vista SP1…. Insert Vista Reliability Joke Here

Posted in Commentary with tags , on June 26, 2008 by itnerd

I noticed today that Microsoft has posted a “reliability update” for Windows Vista on their download servers. Being the curious type, I read the knowledge base article relating to this. In short here’s what it fixes:

  • Fixes crashes when using Apple Inc.’s QuickTime multimedia player
  • Fixes stuttering audio and video high-definition playback on systems equipped with Nvidia network adapters.
  • Fixes an issue where large applications cannot run after the computer is turned on for a long time.
  • Improves the stability of Vista when you try to check e-mail by using Windows Mail or Mozilla Thunderbird and have third party anti-virus/spyware apps installed.
  • Fixes a problem when you delete a user via the control panel and the system hangs.

These aren’t on Windows update for some reason, so the only place you can download them is from the knowledge base article I referenced or from these links:

32-Bit Update

64-Bit Update

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Intel Skips Vista…. I Guess They’re Not Impressed With Aero Or Something

Posted in Commentary with tags , , on June 26, 2008 by itnerd

In the latest affirmation to the fact that Vista sucks isn’t being widely accepted, The New York Times Is Reporting that Intel isn’t going to update to Vista. Think about that for a second. Intel who has tied its fortunes to Microsoft for years is NOT going to update to Vista. A source within the company who was smart enough to hide his identity said the following:

“This isn’t a matter of dissing Microsoft, but Intel information technology staff just found no compelling case for adopting Vista,”

An Intel sock puppet spokesperson sort of confirmed this by saying the company was testing and deploying Vista in certain departments, but not across the company. That my freinds is SPIN.

The article goes on to say that while 30% of business skip any given version of Windows, the number who will skip Vista will be higher:

“….Michael Silver [of Gartner], said that about 30 percent of corporate customers skip any given new version of Windows. But the percentage will be higher for Vista, Mr. Silver predicted. Gartner’s corporate clients that plan to skip Vista, like Intel, do not see value of this upgrade, particularly since it requires new PC hardware at the time when the economy is weak and corporate budgets are tight.”

Perhaps what’s needed is Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer to meet with Intel CEO Paul Otellini so that he can show the value of upgrading to Windows Vista to him using a cool PowerPoint presentation and perhaps underscoring his points a flying chair or two.

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Why I Dislike Windows Vista

Posted in Commentary with tags , on June 24, 2008 by itnerd

Regular readers of my blog might notice that I take a fair amount of shots at Microsoft Windows Vista. Clearly I’m no fan of it, but I guess it would help to explain why I feel this way. So, let me list the reasons why I dislike Vista:

  1. Cancel or allow hell: I generally don’t turn security features off, but to actually use my Vista computer I had to shut off User Account Control because of all of the cancel or allow prompts. Security should not get in the way of the user experience. With Vista, security is always in the way.
  2. Vista requires 2GB of RAM as a minimum for even a home system so that you can get decent performance. At least with XP you could get decent performance out of 512MB to a 1GB. At least RAM is cheap these days.
  3. Want to upgrade to Vista on your current hardware? Forget it. You’re better off buying a new system as your current hardware likely won’t be able to handle Vista.
  4. The driver support has been sketchy at best. That’s been underscored by the fact that poorly written drivers are the main cause of Vista instability (just ask nVidia video card owners).
  5. Battery life on portable computers nosedives if you have Vista thanks to all of the Aero eye candy.
  6. The many different versions of Vista confuse the hell out of basic computer users as they have no clue what exactly they need. Do they need basic or premium? What about ultimate? I guess Microsoft is counting on Joe Enduser to take the easy way out and buy the most expensive one.

I’m sure I can come up with more, but these are the ones that I deal with in some way, shape, or form on a frequent basis. Perhaps the OS will grow on me as it matures. But by then Windows 7 might be out, and I might be using that instead.

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Dell Keeps Windows XP Alive Until The 26th… Cites “Popular Demand”… Duh!

Posted in Commentary with tags , , on June 21, 2008 by itnerd

Sure you can get nailed for up to $50 more for an XP machine soon enough. But if you want a honest to goodness XP machine without paying the extra $50 from Dell, you’ve got until June 26th to get one because of “popular demand.” I take that to mean that Vista sucks isn’t what people want, so Dell is simply responding to customer demand.

Since we’re talking about Vista, things are looking up for it. Someone actually got a printer working with Vista, although it took a Microsoft engineer to personally visit his house to get it going. But hey, at least Microsoft is focusing on customer service.

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Dude! A Dell With Windows XP Will Cost You Up To $50 More!

Posted in Commentary with tags , , on June 19, 2008 by itnerd

You want to buy a Dell, but you want an operating system that actually works Windows XP. Well, according to this Computerworld article, that’s going to cost you an extra $50 depending on what you buy. If it’s a Vostro, you pay $20 – $50 depending on what you get. However Latitude, OptiPlex, Precision get $0 upgrades downgrades to XP. This is to get around the June 30th Microsoft imposed deadline to stop shipping computers XP. What Dell is doing is taking advantage of the downgrade rights built into Vista Business and Vista Ultimate. That loophole allows Dell to install Windows XP Professional in lieu of Vista, although Vista is still shipped with the machine so that the new PC owner can downgrade upgrade from XP to Vista if it actually works right in the near future when the time is right. I wrote about how this makes both Dell and Microsoft happy in a previous post.

I would expect other PC companies to do the same thing so that they don’t lose business to Dell. When I hear anything, I’ll let you know.

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Report By Anti-Virus Maker Says Vista Can Be Hit By Malware…… Something Is Fishy Here….

Posted in Commentary with tags , , , on May 20, 2008 by itnerd

As if Microsoft doesn’t have enough issues with its dead on arrival new Vista OS, a new report by Australian anti-virus firm ThreatFire says that Vista can be hit by Malware:

“In total, Vista suffered 121,380 instances of malware from its 190,000 user base, a rate of malware detection per system is proportionally lower than that of XP, which saw 1,319,144 malware infections from a user base of 1,297,828 machines, but it indicates a problem that is worse than Microsoft has been admitting to.”

Now this is usually the part where I bash Microsoft and tell you to run LINUX or buy a Mac. But I’m not going to do that this time. Why? Simple:

  • Malware is not defined anywhere in the article. I know from experience that some “malware” scanners tend to mark even cookies as malware. So one has to wonder if this is what the article is referring to.
  • How many of these “infected” computers had UAC and automated updates turned off? That would make it rather easy for “malware” to sneak onto a Vista machine.

These two items alone make me want to file this under FUD. I’m not a fan of Vista, but it seems that this report is simply a means to sell anti-virus software. This report also creates the impression that Vista is insecure. It might be or it might not be. This report doesn’t exactly do anything to confirm or deny that in any meaningful way. I’d love to see somebody outside of the anti-virus industry do a study like this so that we can answer this question once and for all. At least such a study would be impartial.

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Gates Says Vista Doing Okay. … Yeah Right!

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

During a recent partner meeting in Japan, Bill Gates said that Windows Vista has sold 140 million copies to date worldwide which he called “a very rapid sales rate.” I wonder what figures he’s using to come up with that. Could it be that some percentage of that 140 million bought computers with Vista and then took advantage of a downgrade program (like the one Dell has) to go back to an operating system that works Windows XP? Perhaps that number includes all the copies of Vista not being used by people who bought and installed XP out of frustration with Vista? I’m also guessing it also includes all the copies that are sitting in stores like Best Buy gathering dust.

Gates also took the opportunity to back away from some recent comments he made about Windows 7:

“Gates said Microsoft is “hard at work” at developing the operating system to follow Vista, code-named Windows 7. He said that historically, the company has unveiled new systems every three years, but declined to say when the new software might come out this time around.”

If Vista adoption rates continue to suck be below expectations, expect Windows 7 to make an appearance sooner rather than later.

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Vista SP1 And XP SP3 Updates On Again!

Posted in Products with tags , , , on May 6, 2008 by itnerd

I came across this posting noting that Vista SP1 and XP SP3 are now accessible through Windows Update. I’ll give you the usual warnings:

  • Wait a week until all the problems are out in the open.
  • Have a current backup.

On top of that, don’t install either of these if you have Microsoft Dynamics RMS installed.

UPDATE: It’s showing up in Windows Update on my PCs.

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Microsoft Tries To Clarify Ballmer’s Remarks… Fails Badly…

Posted in Commentary with tags , on April 28, 2008 by itnerd

Steve Ballmer really muddied the waters last week by saying that Windows XP could live past June 30th if he got feedback from users that they want it. So a Microsoft PR rep tried to clear those waters by saying that there was no change in the June 30th deadline. Among other things the sock puppet spokesperson said:

“Our plan for Windows XP availability is unchanged. We’re confident that’s the right thing to do based on the feedback we’ve heard from our customers and partners,”

Who are they speaking to? Have they not noticed that nobody is moving to Vista? Perhaps they are listening to shareholders who want a return on the $6 billion or so that was spent developing such a flop the Vista OS?

Man, the spin from Redmond is getting so bad, there must be a tornado over Microsoft HQ.

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Another Sign That Vista Is Half Baked… UAC Is Easy For Coders To Bypass

Posted in Commentary, Security with tags , on April 28, 2008 by itnerd

I’ve made no secret of the fact that I think Vista sucks isn’t all that it’s cracked up to be. But I read something a few minutes ago that really says to me that I should stick with XP. Free software developers from the non-profit NeoSmart Technologies have published a report detailing their experience with coding around Windows Vista’s UAC (User Account Control) limitations, including the steps they took to make their software perform system actions without requiring admin approval or UAC elevation. Their conclusion? That Windows Vista’s improved security model is nothing more than a series of obstacles that in reality only make it more difficult for honest guys to publish working code and not actually providing any true protection from malware authors. Note the key comment from these guys:

“Perhaps most importantly though, is the fact that Windows Vista’s newly-implemented security limitations are artificial at best, easy to code around, and only there to give the impression of security.”

The only upshot is that the methods that they employed make the code more secure in some ways, but still it’s a bit of a hole. I can’t wait for Microsoft to respond to the fact that their annoying pop ups telling you to cancel or allow something are just bullshit there for show and don’t actually provide any security.

Oh, here’s a document that describes what User Account Control is supposed to do for you.

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