Survey Finds Few Intend to Upgrade to Vista 429
thefickler writes "A recent Harris Poll has found that while most online computers users are aware of Microsoft's Windows Vista, few are intending to switch over to the new operating system anytime soon. The Harris Poll of 2223 US online adults in early March found that 87% were aware of Vista. Unfortunately for Microsoft, only 12% of Vista-aware respondents were intending to upgrade to Vista in the next 12 months."
Re:Early Adoptor == Burned (Score:5, Insightful)
Truthfully, I don't want Vista on the computer. However, I wonder how many other people find themselves in this predicament of basically being forced to pay Microsoft twice?
I just switched... BACK (Score:3, Insightful)
-Aero is a joke. The ~5 mm glassy effect (which does not improve productivity at all) comes at a way too hefty performance-cost.
-Vista dumbs the user way too down.
Example of an everyday-task gone wrong: When using a laptop and traveling much, my ip-adress will often fluctuate. To show my IP-adress under XP, i doubleclick on the connection-icon in the systray and change to the second tab. Under Vista, i doubleclick the connection-icon and end up in the Connection-Center. From there, i have to choose the common Task to manage connections. There i have to rightclick on the connection and click on properties. THERE i have to click on the advanced-button.
- The driver-situation is embarassing.
-SSH dynamic port forwarding does not work under Vista (used putty and plink; neither did work)
What i really liked in Vista was the combined search/run-field in the startmenu. But i can live happily without it when the rest of my system behaves.
Re:ORLY? (Score:5, Insightful)
XP all over again (Score:2, Insightful)
That's how Microsoft pushes out the vast majority of licenses. Not through the retail channel.
This is nothing new, except for the constant "Vista is teh sux" drumbeat.
Re:Early Adoptor == Burned (Score:3, Insightful)
Not too realistic when you are comparing the security of software from 30 years ago (in a much different environment) to a global commercialized network with millions of computers being used by your Mother, Father, Grandparents, Etc..
After all these years Windows is still a big mysterious black box, wherein things happen of which we know little and therefore
have little say in behaviour of or control over.
Besides, I've always been a fan of having the actual code at my finger tips.
Most people could care less about having code at their fingertips or what operates inside of the big black box, as long as they are able to complete their task.
What's old is new? (Score:2, Insightful)
I have until 2010 to upgrade (Score:5, Insightful)
irrelevant (Score:4, Insightful)
And this likely does not matter to MS. From some estimates I have seen, MS makes 80% of it's money from license only deals, and most growth comes from OEM sales. Therefore, MS seems to be most concerned with keeping the OEM in line, doing whatever is necessary to keep the desktop monopoly.
In any case,here are the facts as I see them. MS sold millions of copies of MS Vista even before the product was publicly released. Many were already sold through the commercial licensing program. I seem to recall that every one of those contracts were an implicit sale for MS Vista, which is why MS had to get out the OS, at least to corporate, by december. In addition, many machines that have been shipping since December are also an implicit sale of MS Vista, not to mention most machines that are now shipping.
I suspect that the retail software channels are kept awake at night figuring out how to convince the unwitting MS consumer that MS Vista "slim" edition is superior to MS Windows XP, but I doubt seriously many higher ups at MS are.
Fixed (was Re:I just switched... BACK) (Score:3, Insightful)
-Those ugly Theme things hog way too much CPU.
-XP dumbs the user way too down.
- The driver-situation is embarassing.
What i really liked in Vista was the smart icon arrangement in the startmenu. But i can live happily without it when the rest of my system behaves.
Fixed. It's just like Windows XP all over again.
Another 5 years and everyone will be bitching about the switch to Windows Panorama and asking why anybody would ever want to leave Vista. LOL
Re:Early Adoptor == Burned (Score:5, Insightful)
There isn't much of a need to pay for XP if you've bought vista. Consider if a trade. Buy Vista (which is Windows tax with the new laptop) -- chuck it -- download XP and use that. Vista probably costs more than XP, so in fact Microsoft profited.
It's not like he's going to buy the vista/laptop, THEN download XP and use it on a 2nd computer.
I use to pirate Windows, but then I started using Linux primarily. Now I am legit I suppose. Although I did purchase a laptop loaded with XP, and I haven't bothered installing Linux on it.
It's all about the spin baby... (Score:4, Insightful)
"In other news, a recent survey says that over 10% of all adult computer users are intending to switch to the new Microsoft 'Vista' operating system. This is great news for the software giant, as it indicates that Vista is being embraced by more than the 'early adopter' crowd.
Amazing how different that sounds, eh?
Err, forgot where I was, sorry. I mean "M$ sucks. Boo. Boo-urns..."
Re:I just switched... BACK (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:What is is (Score:2, Insightful)
Re:Early Adoptor == Burned (Score:3, Insightful)
I wonder if you are still using wood #2 pencils since there is no "real benefit" to those new fangled plastic and metal mechanical pencils.
Re:What is is (Score:3, Insightful)
The only thing that eats into "performance" is that it actually want you to have a 3d video card, which can be had for the princely sum of $50 to run the extra eyecandy. If that is too rich for your blood then you can run it in standard 2d mode and it looks alot like XP.
The other is the "bloatware" that eats up practically all the RAM. Well that bloatware is Vista pre-caching your favorite programs so that they instant start when you click on them. Just because the RAM is showing 98% utilization doesn't mean all that info is blocking programs from working, unlike previous versions of Windows, it just dumps it as it's needed and things continue to hum along as if the RAM wasn't even full. Personally I like it and I'm going to go out and get more RAM to bring up my total to 4gb since the process works so well. In the month I've been using it, it has already spoiled me badly, so the normal 30 second wait for most programs on my machine at work to start is driving me completely batshit.
Re:Actually.... (Score:3, Insightful)
Does the EULA define what a downgrade is? Just wondering.
Re:Early Adoptor == Burned (Score:4, Insightful)
Re:Early Adoptor == Burned (Score:3, Insightful)
A lot of mechanical pencils do indeed break their lead too easily. They're poorly designed; if the tip tube is long enough and narrow enough, and the space between the feed and the start of the tip tube short enough, the lead doesn't flex enough to snap. Also, don't press so hard. I wish more were better designed but I've used well-built pencils where breakage is not a big problem.
Given the above, I think good mechanical pencils suck a lot less than wooden pencils, which need sharpened, get unwieldly short and waste trees.
Re:Early Adoptor == Burned (Score:4, Insightful)
Re:Early Adoptor == Burned (Score:1, Insightful)
Vista has been out 3 months, and you've already had to reinstall enough times to know it only takes 30 minutes? And you're okay with that?
That's simply not true. A "cheapo" machine of today has twice the power of a decent machine back when XP came out, and should run XP great. The only reason it doesn't is because Windows sucks.
Re:Early Adoptor == Burned (Score:5, Insightful)
So Dell is willing to call such a machine 'Vista-capable', and Microsoft was willing to certify it as such. What the hell do I want with an os that does nothing but boot? Dell and Microsoft conspired to screw us both: Dell wanted to unload low-end overstock hardware, MS wanted to limit the availability of pre-installed XP to boost Vista's numbers. Not everyone wants a gamer machine -- if I buy a low-end box that is 'Vista capable', I shouldn't end up feeling like a fraud victim.
Re:What does it offer? (Score:5, Insightful)
Maybe it doesn't offer you anything. That's fine. Don't assume that's the case for everyone else.
Re:ORLY? (Score:3, Insightful)
Period.
Average Joe shops at BestBuy, Walmart, or Circuit City. Average Joe will, 90% of the time, purchase a Windows Vista computer, unless he happens to live near an Apple Store or choose to shop online. And most likely (85+% of the time) Average Joe will purchase a Windows Vista computer online.
Now, having said that, I find that if you evaluate "power users" or "IT Professionals", you have a different situation. There is a *great* deal of interest in Linux solutions. Now, does that mean people always choose Linux? No. But Linux has a substantial server/workstation market share, and is the majority in some market spaces.
Linux has no chance, ever, in the "Average Joe" market until Linux can be competitive in the retail space. By this, I mean either having "Linux Stores", or a significant number of Linux offerings at electronics stores, especially on the software side (games too).
One of the reasons Microsoft is stagnating is that it can. Microsoft, through years and years of delays with Vista, has determined that it really doesn't have to do *anything* to own the market. Should Apple or a Linux begin to see significant sales in the Average Joe space, MS Vista+1 will see serious improvement.
It's always arrogant to believe we have reached a pinnacle of technology; and when you "found" a market that isn't seeing much improvement year to year, you're seeing technological stagnation.
Too much negative hype (Score:4, Insightful)
Let's look at the facts:
1. For all intents and purposes it's a Windows XP + stuff. aka a glorified service pack.
2. Quite obviously it will displace XP in corporations, educational institutions and home with time.
3. Unless you're using domain logons, It is MUCH MUCH MUCH MORE SECURE than XP because UAC is on by default, palatable to power users (I've been working with it for several weeks now, it's ok) and teachable to non-tech users. Overall, it's worked out much better than you could have done on XP. It is not OpenBSD and shouldn't be compared to it, it is probably less secure than Gentoo with KDE. Nevertheless, compared with XP's work-as-root model, it's worlds apart. I'm not suggesting it's either bulletproof, bugless, unexploitable or mature. But A security model, ANY security model, is better than XP's *NO* security model.
4. Laugh at UI all you like, but a good UI is something everyone can use to get more done. Both joe averages and powerusers alike. Vista's UI serves as a welcome improvement over XP IMHO. I'm talking about useability improvements ala sidebar, "open containing folder" stuff etc, not eye-candy a-la aero which I frankly couldn't less.
5. It guzzles 700MB RAM on neutral right after loading. Who gives a flying fuck? My kde desktop at work eats 200MB. the number is *meaningless* unless it indicates, say, an excessive overpricing of the machine. is 200MB a lot? 10 years ago, we'd have all said it was. Does that make my gentoo/KDE desktop bloated crap today? no. On the same coin, when 1GB of RAM is next to free, 700MB is just another meaningless number.
1GB of DDR2 lappie ram costs 70US$ on ebay. Sure, if you have a P3, run XP. But if you run any form of hardware bought anywhere in the last 5 years, plug some RAM and you're good to go.
6. Microsoft will stop selling and supporting XP at some point anyway. So it's not like Vista will be some doomed stop-gap measure until something significantly better comes along, like Windows ME was. Vista is here to stay for the next 5 or so years until another "service pack" along the same lines appears.
7. If whatever DRM is built into the system prevents you from doing what you're used to do with a computer, use Linux.
Case in point:
If you're screaming "Vista's shit!" and have an old computer with XP you don't want to spend more money on, you're likely making the right call, but are an idiot for screaming out the shit bit. I have a 2005 Toyota echo and screaming how the 2007 model is shit because I don't need it (having the 2005 one) would make me the same kind of idiot.
If you're screaming "Vista's shit!" and you're using Linux/MacOS, you're either a clueless fanboy or someone who's tested both ends and can draw up pros and cons of each and stake a legitimate fact-based preference.
If you're screaming "Vista's shit!" and thinking you'd rather be getting XP with a new computer, you're a total clueless idiot. Especially if your spiel contains the word "security" in it.
Vista is a welcome improvement on XP. Give it some time to mature, give IT departments time to evaluate and learn to work it, it'll be ok.
Is it worth upgrading from XP? depends. Depends if you value a better security model (and eye candy). I've serviced many people with many malware computer problems who paid me lots of good money to fix said problems. Wild guess says a security model for them will pay for itself, from the money it costs them to periodically fix their shit. Locks tend to be cheaper than periodically re-outfitting a robbed house, and people tend to be able to do math when it's their money.
Re:What does it offer? (Score:2, Insightful)
So, to summarize, No, vista has nothing worthwhile to offer to the majority of Windows users. And in fact, for the majority of customers, the transition to Vista will be a nuisance. The market of people who actually want to upgrade to Vista will have been depleted a few months from now, and MS will be falling back on OEM sales and other products.
Re:Luckily I have a sane boss (Score:1, Insightful)
You also compare Exchange against (what exactly?) I assume Exim/Postfix/Qmail etc? Not quite the same. Why isnt everyone using Notes? Its been around as long. Is it better? Its a better comparison anyway.
Im dreadfully glad you are not an admin anywhere near my systems.
Re:Early Adoptor == Burned (Score:5, Insightful)
granted most of thses "improvements" have been in unix since the 70's but still, at least they exist.
vista is no more than windowblinds+truecrypt except not as good as either
-5 Redundant (Score:2, Insightful)
Re:I just switched... BACK (Score:3, Insightful)
1. On the Start Menu, right-click on Network and click Properties (2 clicks)
2. A Network and Sharing Center window will open. Click View status to the right of Local Area Connection. (1 click)
3. In the new Local Area Connection Status window that opens, click Details. Your IP Address will be listed among the other connection details. (1 click)
(that would be 4 clicks)
In XP, you can right click on your network icon, click "status", then click the "support" tab to see your IP address (that would be 3 clicks). I'm surprised there's no network icon in the system tray in vista.
I wouldn't say that 1 extra click is "much less efficient".
Re:Early Adoptor == Burned (Score:4, Insightful)
I think that if people don't care that they are being forced to buy Vista and if they can't be bothered to seek out alternatives then there is no problem with all the places where they are likely to shop taking advantage of that. So long as the rest of us can excercise our own choices to not have any particular operating system thrust upon us, which we can, then all is well.
Re:Early Adoptor == Burned (Score:3, Insightful)