Vista's great we are repeatedly told....was that your experience? and if not what give you faith in whats being said about 7?
I’ve asked the question many times on this blog, Ive had Microsoft employee’s commenting here. The question was simple, although like the search for an answer to life the universe and everything (no its not 7) I have yet to have any real reply. (IMO)
The question was: “What can 7 do that cannot be achieved either natively or via 3rd party software in XP?”
The follow on question that stemmed from no person in my opinion being able to give a definitive answer was: “What are you doing with Windows that I cannot do with Linux?”
At time of writing this the jury is still out on that one. Having been a Vista user in the past I can see a compelling reason to go to 7 if you are insistent on staying with Windows, however I would like you to cast your mind back a few years when you were a happy XP user and remember what Microsoft was saying to you in respect of Vista (and these are taken from Microsoft’s own PR releases which can be found at the following link):
Windows Vista™ makes it easier, safer and more entertaining to use the PC virtually anytime and anywhere.
Safer? Well my PC spent more time switched off when it had Vista so I suppose that was true. Entertaining? At the time no, I suppose in hindsight I can look back at myself struggling with it and laugh. Lets look at some more comments:
Windows Vista represents the highest-quality and most responsive Microsoft® operating system
I assure you, Microsoft actually said this about Vista. Was this your opinion of it?
New technology in Windows Vista makes the PC significantly more responsive when performing everyday tasks.
I will stop there as I think you get the point. What I am trying to show is that we see the same glowing reports for Windows 7 don’t we? Why should you as a XP user dig into your pocket again and take that gamble on 7?
The saying “if its not broke don’t fix it” is sage advice and heres an articled running on ZD Net where the author points out that his university is staying with Vista for about 4 years. Heres an example of his experiences of what Microsoft calls “significantly more responsive”
I logged into a Vista-running public PC for the first time today. Well, I say “logged in” to the point where I entered my username and password but got no further as the remaining 12 minutes was waiting on the folder redirection policy. I gave up in the end and went to my lecture.
and goes onto say that:
The problems have been numerous and countless and as my colleague put earlier on, a representative of the students in the education sector, he was, “f***ing livid”.
Now balance that with the people telling you “Vista is loved”. The point is, whats the advantage of 7 and what faith do YOU have that its going to be a suitable replacement to XP? Of course now Microsoft want you to spend again and shell out on Windows 7, it will be better this time…promise. Check for yourself on forums and certain sites we are now seeing the increase in attacks on alternative views as the release date to Windows 7 approaches (IMO) One such site is a “boycott” site that attacks Boycott Novell and lists what it claims are its members. I am honored to be listed on that site and I think if they were not worried by what I was saying I would not have a mention at all. This “site” makes some claims about me.
Firstly it claims that I trolled the Neowin website. Please check for yourself at what actually occurred there. I challenged one of there reporters with what I considered as misleading information in respect of the Windows platform. When I wasn’t answered properly (IMO) I made a blog article about it. Was that trolling? Well I suppose if you consider putting an alternative choice to users and challanging misleading information as trolling then I am guilty. What that “boycott site” fails to mention is that on another occasion under similar circumstances, instead of being met by reasoned debate I had the girlfriend of a NeoWin reporter visit this site (and try in a very infantile way) to insult me.
Secondly the site seeks to imply that my challenging of a Linux user FOR EXACTLY THE SAME THING (misleading information) is some kind of implication that I only challenge Windows reporters and on this occasion got it wrong. As I said at the time in the BN chat room (which they obviously don’t link to) I made a point that I couldn’t care if misleading information was pro-Linux or pro-Windows, it’s simply incorrect and I would always challenge. Of course when it comes to pimping proprietary warez, for some, integrity and decency go out of the window (no pun intended)
So now we move on, I am not the only one asking the question about why someone happy with XP should consider upgrade and no matter what you think of my views there are other people asking exactly the same thing I am:
http://www.techspot.com/news/36353-windows-7-launch-may-not-incite-pc-sales.html
http://uk.answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20090918040152AAZ3Uw4
http://blogs.zdnet.com/hardware/?p=4658
Is this a screen of the allegedly great Windows 7? NO! Its Linux! Remind me Windows users, what are you doing with your software that I cannot do with Linux? Remind me how long your boot time is or what specs Windows would need to achieve the above?
I am not trying to convince you that Linux is a better platform, you can find that out for yourself, what I am suggesting is that when you are considering “upgrading” ask yourself why?
I wrote an article a while ago entitled “Are games the last bastion of salvation for the Windows platform?” and last night I had the pleasure of talking in a chat room with a dev for a software house. * Not confirmed but taken in good faith. They stated that piracy was destroying the gaming industry on the PC and that the console was the favorable option for gaming products. I have to agree and couple piracy with the specs the new games require from the PC make it seem we are rapidly heading towards a time when your console will handle all your gaming needs leaving the PC to be the social/productivity machine.
Consider that as more and more apps go web based why should you be spending money on more OS upgrades? and also consider that when you read pro-Windows comments you may be reading those with a financial interest in the product. When I champion the numerous Linux distro’s I do, where is the benefit for me? I will let you judge on where the posting integrity is. If you are happy with XP why bother upgrading to 7 and take that gamble where you could end up “f**cking livid” like the user in the above example was with Vista.
SILENCED OPPOSITION AND FREE THINKING?
Let me introduce you to the Twitter account hashwindows , what appears to be a RT bot that catches Windows comments. What I’ve noticed is my comments and views which happened to have the tags that hashwindows searches for (and RT’s) appear to have been deleted. Why would this be? Could it be that its a PR bot for pimping Windows? Why does this account not like my comments on Windows and appear to silence them?
I wonder what tactics will be used in the approach to Windows 7…in my opinion you will be praised and RT’d if its favorable to Windows 7. If its not there are some who have no limits to how low they will go to cheapen your view..(IMO)
Goblin – bytes4free@googlemail.com
