Strike 2 for Vista?

[Descendency]

Windows Vista SP1 Window reviews - CNET Reviews

Are we going to have to wait for SP2?

[PirateThom]

"Before installing SP1, all users running Windows Vista RTM (that is, if you bought your computer with Vista preinstalled) will need to install three updates from Microsoft. Microsoft's Windows Update will automatically detect and install these updates prior to the release of Windows Vista SP1. Two of these updates increase the success rate for installing Windows Vista SP1;"

Success rate?

Of course we are going to have to wait for SP2..... has MS ever had an OS that is decent before SP2?

[Power666]

That CNET review pretty much paints a mixed bag in terms of improvements. Somethings better and somethings worse. I'm really curious if Vista address memory usage bloat in games.

[xxmynameisjohnxx]

How do I download SP1?
I'm not sure if it auto updated.

[InsightGoalie]

Originally Posted by xxmynameisjohnxx

How do I download SP1?
I'm not sure if it auto updated.

It says it will be available in March.

[Power666]

Well if really want a second strike against Vista, how about some MS executive comments on it?

Mike Nash, currently a corporate vice president for Windows product management, wrote in an e-mail, "I PERSONALLY got burnt. ... Are we seeing this from a lot of customers? ... I now have a $2,100 e-mail machine." Jim Allchin, then the co-president of Microsoft's Platforms and Services Division, wrote in another e-mail, "We really botched this. ... You guys have to do a better job with our customers."

[E6600]

The biggest strike for Microsoft was WinFS, this technology was supposed to be at the heart of Longhorn, where did it go?

Then there is this infamous e-mail by Jim Allchin

From: Jim Allchin
Sent: Wednesday, January 07, 2004 8:38 AM
To: Bill Gates; Steve Ballmer
Subject: losing our way...

This is a rant. I'm sorry.

I am not sure how the company lost sight of what matters to our customers (both business and home) the most, but in my view we lost our way. I think our teams lost sight of what bug-free means, what resilience means, what full scenarios mean, what security means, what performance means, how important current applications are, and really understanding what the most important problems [our] customers face are. I see lots of random features and some great vision, but that doesn't translate onto great products.

I would buy a Mac today if I was not working at Microsoft. If you run the equivalent of VPC on a MAC you get access to basically all Windows application software (although not the hardware). Apple did not lose their way. You must watch this new video below. I know this doesn't show anything for businesses, but my point is about the philosophy that Apple uses. They think scenario. They think simple. They think fast. I know there is nothing hugely deep in this.

http://www.apple.com/ilife/video/ilife04_32C.html [Note: link no longer works]

I must tell you everything in my soul tells me that we should do what I called plan (b) yesterday We need a simple fast storage system. LH is a pig and I don't see any solution to this problem. If we are to rise to the challenge of Linux and Apple, we need to start taking the lessons of "scenario, simple, fast" to heart.

jim

for these who don't know who Jim Allchin is: Jim Allchin - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

[fiasco8]

I'm just curious as to why they haven't released some kind of Windows_lite. Something that is stripped and light weight that is perfect for game or running a server off of or any other multitude of tasks that doesn't require all sorts of bells and whistles. Perhaps even an operating system that goes through questions as it installs to so it knows which functions you need.

As of now the gaping whole is being filled by the hackers and modders. I run XPLite on my laptop and was also running it on my desktop until I installed MCE 2005.

Lost opportunity for MS. Oh well.

It would be even better if they bargain priced it at 50$ or some other value number. How many people would actually purchase Windows for each of their computer instead of whoring out their single disk?

[Power666]

One of the problems with Vista is that there are too many versions of Vista on the market. You have Starter, Home Basic, Home Premium, Business, Enterprise, and Ultimate. That's before we start looking at 32 bit and 64 bit versions of each version.

There is hope on the horizon for Windows, albeit a sort of brute force tactic. Virtualization is of the major features Windows 7 is going to embrace. From all indications, there will be extensive custom install options so that only the services needed are installed and running on a partition. That is likely where much of Windows 7's speed will come from - it'll cut the fat from itself. The downside is this feature is aimed at the server market where virtualization is common and makes sense. The idea of using virtualization in home market has cropped up for things like gaming - the host OS will sleep while a leaner OS will boot with bare minimum of drivers and services for gaming to improve performance.