Suresh

Windows Vista is nothing more than new offering from a predatory and monopolistic software giant. Why on earth is a commercial product launch being covered as though it is news? Smaller software firms get nowhere near this degree of free advertising to promote their wares

XP is stable enough (IMHO) and contains more than enough bloatware for most systems. Does anyone actually need Vista other than Microsoft?

Diesel

Agree! Huw Edwards in a This Morning style intv with Bill Gates on the news last night. Slipperier than a slippy thing and the answers given werent even 'news' [I'd have dropped it if I was the editor].

Still dont know what the product is/does... [Huw's on a couple of million back'ander maybe...?]

What happened to 64 bit OS's?

D

PeteBrant

The MS PR machine has made this headline news. MS absolutely need VIsta to be a success, they are buggered if it isn't (unlikely)

Sub97

Because it's the new operating system from Microsoft, the company which supplies the operating system for around 90% of the world's PCs (I think it's around that).

Whether you like them or not, I don't find it unreasonable that it's in the news.

ReallyReallyGoodMeat

Vista is 64 bit if you buy the 64 bit version.

STi wanna Subaru

iTrader: (1)

Of course it's news. Some people on here are so far up their own ***** it's untrue. How they manage to get on their high horses like that as well is beyond me.

KiwiGTI

Not really - in terms of revenue Office is the more important one. Plus their server licensing. (eg: a 15,000 seat company might pay £3 million in O/S licenses for their entire desktop and then £12 million for their server licenses such as SQL etc)

Corporates will pretty much move to Vista eventually anyway, it's on virtually every company's tech roadmap for their desktop programmes.

The Snug Rhino

Nearly EVERY pc in every home and most in offices run Windows - heres the new version....of course its news, anyone that doesnt see why needs to stick to Newsround.

PeterUK300

iTrader: (1)

When you buy a retail version you get both 32 bit & 64 bit DVD's

PeterUK300

iTrader: (1)

Also the launch of VISTA will boost PC sales as they reckon 78% of home PC's are not powerful enough to run VISTA.....

So think it is wider than the kingdom of Gates

PeteBrant

Operating systems and Office are the two big revenue streams for MS - They would not invest $10billion and 5 years (hundreds of man years) on a product that had no real impact on revenue.

I think you somewhat underestimate the importance of Vista to MS - Not that it is going to fail - it will be the de facto stadard in 3 years or so.

Diesel

So many saying ITS NEWS! Still dont know WHY - the purpose of news is to explain maybe? What does this one do more/bigger/better/faster - write e-mail for you; could it suggest you to watch the 'news' item before you comment on it ?

turbomatt

iTrader: (1)

New operating systems make alot of hardware peripherals redundant from my experience.when i switched from 98 to xp my joystick,steering wheel and scanner wouldnt work on xp and there were no updated drivers ever released.So thats one bad thing about this new vista.Also wont be upgrading just yet, best to wait a few months for all the creases to be ironed out.But its bound to be better,more stable hopefully and better security wise.

Holy Ghost

**

suresh: i've spent nearly 18 years in technology marketing for companies like bt, netscape and nec. when the majority of the planet's desktop & mobile users run Windows, from one of the world's biggest companies, a new operating system *is* news. microsoft in itself is a news institution for the press, as is bill gates - regardless of how you might regard it and him. what it - and he - does has a significant impact on the way we use technology simply because of the company's reach, clout and ubiquity.

getting coverage for microsoft is pretty straightforward but it'll be good as well as bad because of the deeply split opinions of how it works as an organisation. from experience, i can tell you that plenty of smaller companies get really good coverage where it really matters (trade & business) and if what they have to offer is of a suitable impact - ie makes a good news story that affects people in the mainstream - it will leak into the wider consumer media too.

a journalist will most always apply the "so what?" test when judging a story. doesn't matter how big you are, if it's presented in the right way and passes this litmus test, it'll more often than not get covered. that's simply a fact of media relations and the press. microsoft is one of those companies that very often passes the "so what?" test because so many people with a computer use microsoft in some form or other.

my eldest brother is an IT guy with goldman sachs in zurich: he's a UNIX diehard, shares your view of microsoft and builds his own kit. it's a perfectly valid view and i suspect you're probably an IT professional too. but for the rest of us - your average user of which there are hundreds of millions around the world - a computer with reasonably reliable software that can do lots, and do it quickly and affordably is all we want.

on the other hand, my middle brother is a corporate financier. he's your typical microsoft user: WP, spreadsheet, email & web. that it helps him do his job and run a useful, reliable laptop WLAN at home that all the family can use easily is all he really cares about.

another example: clarkson might loathe the vectra - for very good reasons of design, build and performance - but plenty of hundreds of thousands of people are content to drive them as they do what they're supposed to pretty competently, if rather blandly.

view this whole thing through the eyes of an average computer user - rather than from your specialist perspective - and you'll see what i mean.

scoobydooooo

bloody hell diesel, you're either naive or stupid !! of course it's news how else do they get free publicity !!

Diesel

I said Huw Edwards' interview with Gates wasnt news - it wasnt as it told me NOTHING; it was PR and some of us 'naive' ones can tell the difference between 3mins of news and a 3' corporate ego shaker. So - C'mon - why os this 'new' OS groundbreaking & fab?

davegtt

Maybe you should listen or read the news then and you might learn how you'll benefit from it.

Diesel

Ok I'll Google 'Vista' - forget this thread

davegtt

Well it would be sensible wouldnt it? Why would you want us typing shed loads of info when its all readily available with a simple google. Maybe you should have done that before starting the thread and looking a wally

p.s. I know it wasnt you who started this thread but the sentiments are the same

Shark Man

Vista 64 might be a hope of half decent 64 bit support.

My systems now run XP64 and even though its been out for donkeys, support is rubbish. They thankfully, have free upgrade to vista.

Not even companies as big as Adobe (Flash player) and Canon (printer/camera drivers) still doesn't support it. Hopefully Vista 64 might coax them into pulling their finger out.

Diesel

You clearly cant read thinking I started the thread and once again I said "Huw Edwards' interview with Gates wasnt news". Spot the subtle difference? Wally back atcha Have Googled and have ordered my copy - ITS a wonderful thing dotcha know.

davegtt

If you say so, your the one still blabbing about not knowing what its all about. those who are interested and will buy it know what its about so Gates isnt going to waste his time sitting in an interview selling it is he? Wally!!!

RMA26

I’ve been using it for the past few months, obviously not the official version, but a certified (non copy, or unlicensed) version

I am well impressed, but weird at first but the little things like displaying the windows in 3D make an impression

Leslie

Apparently Billy Boy has chummed up with Gates because there is a highly paid job of some kind available for him when he gets chucked out of his present job, and he will have ordered the BBC to make it "news". They are a good pair I think!

Les

TopBanana

I've been using Vista for a couple of months now. On the whole, I find it a little more unstable than XP was. It may be down to the drivers I'm using though. There are also no compelling new features in my opinion. I'm still just as happy plugging away on Windows 2003 or XP.

jonc

Its not worth installing at least until it comes with Service Pack 1!! I toyed with it for a few months and IMO doesn't hold that great an advantage over XP. OK it looks prettier boots up marginally quicker but that about it. It's a lot more restrictive in what you can do, say if you perform a major hardware upgrade, you will have to contact MS again to reactivate your OS, otherwise it locks you out of your PC. You also get anying prompts every time you need to perform an administrive task.

XP has been on the market for quite a while and in that time, its been "honed" into quite a stable and secure OS. If it aint broke, don't fix it, or at least until MS decide to stop supporting XP in a few years time.

f1_fan

iTrader: (9)

I think a new version of the OS that is used by 90% of the world's PCs that has been five years in the making and is hopefully a lot more secure straight out of the box than its predesccsor IS news. It is something that is used by people all over the world every day of their lives and in the same way that for instance digital TV is news why shouldn't it be discussed in the mainstream especially the security aspect of it.

Oh and Les change the record just for once will you? I can't be the only one here who finds it tiresome to see every thread turned into a campaign against NL.

TopBanana

Not sure about anyone else but I won't tire of it until they're up against the wall.

J4CKO

iTrader: (1)

What it means is cheap XP machines !

In the next few months retailers will be looking to offload lots of XP machines that they will have cluttering up warehouses, they will offer a free upgrade to Vista but Joe Public won't want to bother with that and once he gets the message that XP is old and Vista is new, XP machine will be hard to shift, cannot see the retailers rebuilding thousands of 500 quid laptops with Vista, so perhaps time for a cheap computer.

cottonfoo

All of the DRM and anti-piracy measures that pander to Hollywood rather than the end user (with MS still using terms like "better user experience") will put me off buying this prettied-up XP out of principle until I absolutely have no choice. At least NGSCB was dropped - this time.