Microsoft Battles Vista Perception With Prizes 342
LambAndMint writes "In what can only be described as an act of utter desperation to overcome Vista's mostly negative public perception issues, Microsoft has put together an online "Fact or Fiction" quiz about Windows Vista. Every person who submits themselves to Microsoft indoctrination gets a free shirt and the chance to win a $15,000 prize. Some of the supposed 'facts' will make you feel like you're reading a document from an alternate reality. Get ready to get a job as a computer salesman for a mass-market retailer as you go through the quiz."
All I read was... (Score:5, Funny)
Re:All I read was... (Score:5, Funny)
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i want a free shirt, seriously i need some new clothes and free is better than paying.
Re:All I read was... (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:All I read was... (Score:5, Funny)
The first was: you're trying to get a free t-shirt. Cancel or Allow?
Re:All I read was... (Score:5, Insightful)
Yeah, ya gotta watch out for those Australians shipping things. Why, they might try to slip a kangaroo into the package or something.
>apparently the SilverLight installer is just some shady
As opposed to the rest of the software on your computer that just magically appeared and runs in some otherworldly fashion, I suppose.
But, my goodness, you're quite the Slashbot - I especially admire the fact that you got modded up for bashing Microsoft when you use Windows on your computer. The hypocrisy here knows no bounds, apparently.
I know, I know: "You must be new here".
Re:All I read was... (Score:4, Insightful)
Well they did say they were okay with ActiveX, and the Flash plugin for IE is an ActiveX control, so it's possible they at least have that installed. The real WTF though is considering ActiveX controls to be somehow different from "some shady .exe".
Re:All I read was... (Score:5, Informative)
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ActiveX controls are supposed to run in a sandboxed environment
Do you have a reference for this? I did a quick Google for activex sandbox [google.com.au] without much luck.
The top hit is this rather dated page [princeton.edu] which says:
ActiveX security relies entirely on human judgement. ActiveX programs come with digital signatures from the author of the program and anybody else who chooses to endorse the program.
You have two choices: either accept the program and let it do whatever it wants on your machine, or reject it completely.
That was written in 1997 and maybe (most likely) they've changed things since then, but it definitely wasn't written with a sandbox in mind. Actually, most or all of the links in that search date from the late nineties.
Changing the search to "activex security" and we get a nice page on MSDN [microsoft.com] that says:
An ActiveX control can be an extremely insecure way to provide a feature. Because it is a Component Object Model (COM) object, it can do anything the user can do from that computer. It can read from and write to the registry, and it has access to the local file system. From the moment a user downloads an ActiveX control, the control may be vulnerable to attack because any Web application on the Internet can repurpose it, that is, use the control for its own ends whether sincere or malicious. But, you can take precautions when you write a control to help avert an attack.
No idea when that was written or if it still applies. So
Re:All I read was... (Score:5, Funny)
The shirt's source pattern? (Score:3, Funny)
####
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Good luck with your free shirt... (Score:5, Informative)
Instructions on how to enter form part of these Conditions of Entry. By participating in this promotion, entrants agree to be bound by these Conditions of Entry.
You must be a Local OEM Channel Partner. Definition of a Local OEM channel partner ("partners") includes resellers and System Builders who resell other branded hardware (PCs and Servers) with Microsoft OEM Licenses or who build hardware to sell directly to end customers.
Entry is only open to Australian residents residing in NSW, VIC, QLD, NT, or SA who are Microsoft OEM Channel Partners. The promotion commences at 09:00am (Sydney time) on Friday 14th December 2007 and closes at 11:59pm (Sydney time) on Friday 14th March 2008 ("Promotional Period"). The Promoter's decision in relation to all aspects of this promotion is final and no correspondence will be entered into.
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What to do with your shirts. (Score:5, Funny)
Donate your shirt to charity. Your feelings will go like this:
Living well is good revenge. Being kind can be better. You will never get back the time you wasted but someone can make good use of the results.
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You mean you're an Microsoft OEM builder in Australia, and you read Slashdot, and you were interested in the free shirt, but then after finding out you'd need to install yet another Microsoft product (after being an OEM builder mind you) you decided it wasn't worth it?
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Re:All I read was... (Score:5, Funny)
I dropped an "r" or two when I first read that. It made better sense at first, honestly.
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Fee shirt? I don't think that makes much sense, either.
Re:All I read was... (Score:5, Funny)
You have to type in Allow before you can put it on.
Can only be washed in Microsoft approved detergent
And isn't compatible with any other clothes I own.
I'll stick with my plain white open source t-shirt
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Is far too big to fit on you.
Re:All I read was... (Score:4, Funny)
Re:All I read was... (Score:5, Funny)
Re:All I read was... (Score:4, Funny)
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Re:All I read was... (Score:5, Funny)
I've open-sourced my Linux shirts.
Just copy the text below into a word-processor, scale it up to your shirt size, and print it onto the shirt.
You can thank me later.
Propaganda (Score:3, Interesting)
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Re:Propaganda (Score:4, Insightful)
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if you're trying to win people over,
why restrict the "facts" site to people you've already got (requiring silverlight....)
Re:Propaganda (Score:5, Funny)
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I don't want it, I don't need it, and please, for the love of god, stop mooning me with it.
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And a bad one.
Here:
Black screen. Only. Okay, NoScript pops up. I *allow* Microsoft.com (pun)
Now the black screen is still black, with a tiny icon on top: Get Silverlight. I *click*.
A full screen pops up inviting me to download. "Install Microsoft Silverlight now for a
better Web experience". I click. "Download Silverlight.exe" 'OK'.
Yes, that's only bad. My browser identifies as "Mozilla/5.0 (X11; U; SunOS i86pc; en-US; rv:1.8.1.
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I want a free shirt
Canadas never get anything.
Also, vista isn't so bad.
Don't like it, then don't use it.
Bitching about it isn't going to make it go away.
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What are you complaining about? You Canadians have lots of stuff that Australians don't have, like maple syrup and Dave Foley.
Say, while you're here, I've got a proposition. We'll trade you North Dakota and Michigan's Upper Peninsula for British Columbia. What do you say? OK, we'll throw in this set of steak knives, too.
* * * * *
Canadians are just Americans with better haircuts.
Cheat Sheet! No Silverlight Required! (Score:5, Informative)
(Fact) Fiction
Windows Vista faces significant Compatibility issues with hardware devices.
Fact (Fiction)
Windows Vista faces significant issues in terms of integrating with other software applications.
Fact (Fiction)
Windows Vista delivers all new levels of security compared to previous Windows operating systems.
(Fact) Fiction
Windows Vista is expneisve to deploy and run.
Fact (Fiction)
Windows Vista hasn't been popular with businesses.
Fact (Fiction)
Windows Vista is unreliable and requires more technical support than Windows XP.
Fact (Fiction)
Microsoft has been swift to diagnose and rectify initial issues with Windows Vista.
(Fact) Fiction
Windows Vista can help deliver peace of mind for parents in terms of their children's online safety.
(Fact) Fiction
Windows Vista won't truly be ready until the first complete Service Pack is released.
Fact (Fiction)
Their answers, not mine!
Re:Cheat Sheet! No Silverlight Required! (Score:5, Insightful)
Pick the answer that makes Microsoft look good.
That sound about right?
Re:Cheat Sheet! No Silverlight Required! (Score:5, Insightful)
pick the answer that is blatantly wrong.
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There is a faint chance that someone will be able to tell a bad application's UAC warnings apart from those of a good application. (You are trying to insert a line break. [Cancel] [Allow])
(You are trying to insert a line break. [Cancel] [Allow])
I think UAC might reduce the danger posed from worms etc. by at least an infinitesimal amount. (You are trying to click a button. [Cancel] [All
Where was I? Australia. (Score:3, Funny)
Re:Cheat Sheet! No Silverlight Required! (Score:4, Interesting)
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Re:Cheat Sheet! No Silverlight Required! (Score:5, Interesting)
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I'm familiar with this story, but followed your link anyway. Where do you get the idea that McDonald's is "suing" anyone?
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No kidding, it's like watching the White House press secretary.
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Re:Cheat Sheet! No Silverlight Required! (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Cheat Sheet! No Silverlight Required! (Score:4, Interesting)
Try telling that to my parents, whose HP printer and scanner won't work with the copy of Vista that was preinstalled on the Dell they bought a few months ago. There's nothing wrong with the hardware, but because the Win2K/XP drivers for those devices won't work with Vista and HP hasn't gotten around to writing Vista drivers for them (and, in the case of their ScanJet 4p, probably never will), they're stuck with some POS Dell all-in-one that should work with Vista, but usually doesn't because of the craptastic drivers that came with it.
(If there's a silver lining in here, it's that they won't ever buy a Dell again. I tried talking them into buying a Mac, but they wouldn't listen to me. Dad was worried about not being able to open Office files; that there are plenty of apps for the Mac that open Office files (including...um...Office [microsoft.com] itself) didn't appear to register.)
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Not all wrong... (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Cheat Sheet! No Silverlight Required! (Score:5, Funny)
Sold more copies of what? XP?
It's the hardware devices that have Compatibility issues with Vista.
Similarly, it's the applications which have trouble integrating with Vista.
How low can you go?
Compared to the hardware you'll need, the OS is downright cheap!
Microsoft is a business, and they certainly like it!
This one's correct, because it is reliable -- reliably slow.
Due to the size of these issues, this "rectification" has produced many goatse look-alikes.
You can't get in trouble online if the computer doesn't work.
I'd say it'll take until the second or third.
But the snarky comments are all mine.
Re:Cheat Sheet! No Silverlight Required! (Score:5, Insightful)
Even though I am usually a pitiless and fanatical member of the Apple Hyper Commando Flame Unit in their Eternal War Against Evil (TM), this has gotten so bad that it is hard for me not to feel a bit sorry for the programmers who wrote Vista. It has to suck when you spend five years on something and pour your heart into it (as many no doubt did), yet poor management turns all your work into that.
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Re:Cheat Sheet! No Silverlight Required! (Score:5, Insightful)
1) Don't know, don't care, the PC market now is vastly different than it was even when XP was released, comparing 1st month sales figures matters to accountands, but up or down don't say much about whether an OS is good or bad. You might possibly be able to compare 1st month non OEM sales, but even that wouldn't make a lot of difference.
2) I haven't used every piece of hardware on the market, but personally speaking I've experienced more hardware incompatibility on Linux than on Vista. A couple of things didn't work right away, and a couple of things required work arounds, but the same has always been true of my Linux system, and at least Microsoft didn't shaft driver developers simply because they disapprove of the way they license their own product(see the whole GPL export debacle a few years back). Hardware compatibility is really a hardware vendor thing anyway.
3)I do Integration work for a living and I don't even know what they mean by this one. I don't really want to integrate my OS with applications, I just want them to run. Do they mean that older applications don't take advantage of Aero or something? If you can explain this one to me, I'd be happy to hear it.
4) The Vista security model is substantially better than the XP security mode, and if we stopped blaming the UAC nags on Microsoft and instead pointed the finger at the lazy software developers who won't right their Windows App code to run in user space instead of as an admin we'd be a lot closer to the truth.
5) In a business environment deploying an new OS or OS version is expensive, and licensing is rarely the largest portion of that. I suppose if you were running your XP machines with Automatic update on pointing directly at windows update instead of at a SUS server, the activation requirement could be expensive or tedious, but that's a relatively small subsection of businesses really.
6) Any new version of anything is unpopular with some parts of business, making a major change to the environment is expensive and risky. My company is just upgrading to XP now, so it's relative popularity in business is really only important to accountants.
7) Haven't really noticed this much, there was a period back last year when they patched it a bit and it got less stable, but aside from the fact that your regular IT people are less familiar with the interface and so it's a bit harder for them to find stuff, it's not been much more difficult for me. In my experience the OS is rarely the cause of support calls anyway. Most issues are with third party apps, spyware, data corruption etc, and 2000 and XP had plenty of wierd it's easier to wipe the system than fix it bugs too.
8) Matter of opinion really I've never found anyone who believed that a developers response time was quick enough, and as I've not been sitting waiting with baited breath for a patch on Vista yet I can't realy talk about the response time. SP1 is taking a while, but that's a big patch set.
9) Total garbage, but no more garbage than any other claim by any government, third party vendor, OS manufacturer, or anything else. No content filtering system is effective, and unless you plan on running your home network like a corporate LAN you're not going to stop your kids from looking at what they want to look at, and even then you're not likely to stop them.
10) If you're not running a bleeding edge environment(which applies to 99% of the corporate world) waiting for a new version of anything to get patched a few times isn't a bad idea. Vista's not worthless pre SP1, but it'll presumably be better post SP1.
A lot of this quiz is marketing spiel, and I hate market droid speak as much as everyone else, but Vista has been the victim of the greatest FUD campaign I've ever seen for software, so maybe they needed market spiel.
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How about also at those lazy Microsoft developers who enabled this behavior?
But more relevantly, if they were going to break so much compatibility anyway, why not go whole-hog? Wrap the old Win32 API
Re:Cheat Sheet! No Silverlight Required! (Score:4, Funny)
Translations: (Score:3, Insightful)
Fact. Translation: We've gotten better at force-feeding upgrades to people. In the past, it was actually possible to buy a computer with the previous version of Windows in that first month.
Fiction. Translation: We consider any hardware that doesn't have a "Works with Vista" sticker on it to be insignif
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If we were discussing anything other than Vista, I'd correct your spelling.
Sheesh. (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Sheesh. (Score:5, Funny)
Uhh... Don't mind the burning fuselage, it's a feature!
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No, 100% safe. (Score:4, Insightful)
Have you ever talked with Microsoft marketing people? Every day they have to go to work and pretend that they are doing something positive for a company that pretends to sell quality products. They pile fantasies on fantasies. They live in a world of unreality.
Microsoft marketing people are far scarier than zombies [wikipedia.org]. Zombies have more respect from the universe; they were at one time at least allowed to die.
Like zombies, MS marketing people also have no will of their own; they are automotons of corporate speak, which is a language that no one understands, including themselves. But they wander the earth undead, believing that they are human, believing that they have jobs.
Okay, some of this may not be completely true. However, I'm not sure what or how much.
Re:No, 100% safe. (Score:4, Insightful)
I'll give it a shot:
- That you've ever met a Microsoft employee, or anyone in the computer industry besides a Best Buy cashier: Fiction
- That you sincerely think you're impressing us by providing a Wikipedia link to "zombie": Fact
Do I win a t-shirt?Yup, real experience. (Score:4, Insightful)
Suppose you had a job, but what you did in your job didn't actually benefit your company. And your company was adversarial toward its customers, as much as possible, so that, even if you did benefit your company, you would being doing harm in the world. How would you describe that?
Re:No, 100% safe. (Score:5, Interesting)
Have you ever talked with Microsoft marketing people?
Sure did, and was sharp that day.
We were at an internal technology presentation, showing off what we do. Being security, we had our BSD, UNIX loggers and appliances on screens for everyone to see. We had a "tail -f syslog" and other logs just a moving every bad event across the screen in real time. Many called it similar to matrix.
Along comes the CFO and the Microsoft sales guy. And asked me, I haven't seen that before what is it. I said it was OpenBSD firewall logs on the vendor net. He said "OpenBSD what? That isn't an OS, is it? BSD what? Is that LSD?" with a smile (He knew).
I looked at our CFO and said, OpenBSD, the operating system we use to keep our Microsoft systems from getting wormed, infected and controlled by others. We also use it for firewalls, detection and system login because they cost less, run longer and don't requires the costly hand care to keep them going as does Microsoft Windows. We don't have the staff, software or capital budget for Microsoft.
Rubbed it right in. My manager heard from the CFO 2 days later, he was impressed and got a second tour with my manager. And a budget increase and authorization to use BSD and open source, in writing to the executive staff.
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Re:Sheesh. (Score:5, Funny)
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
What if Operating Systems Were Airlines?
DOS Airlines
Everybody pushes the airplane until it glides, then they jump on and let the plane coast until it hits the ground again, then they push again jump on again, and so on.
Windows Air
The terminal is pretty and colorful, with friendly stewards, easy baggage check and boarding, and a smooth take-off. After about 10 minutes in the air, the plane explodes with no warning whatsoever.
Windows NT Air
Just like Windows Air, but costs more, uses much bigger planes, and takes out all the other aircraft within a 40-mile radius when it explodes.
Mac Airlines
All the stewards, stewardesses, captains, baggage handlers, and ticket agents look the same, act the same, and talk the same. Every time you ask questions about details, you are told you don't need to know, don't want to know, and would you please return to your seat and watch the movie.
Unix Airlines
Each passenger brings a piece of the airplane and a box of tools to the airport. They gather on the tarmac, arguing constantly about what kind of plane they want to build and how to put it together. Eventually, they build several different aircraft, but give them all the same name. Some passengers actually reach their destinations. All passengers believe they got there.
OS/2 Airlines
The terminal is almost empty, with only a few prospective passengers milling about. The announcer says that their flight has just departed, wishes them a good flight, though there are no planes on the runway. Airline personnel walk around, apologising profusely to customers in hushed voices, pointing from time to time to the sleek, powerful jets outside the terminal on the field. They tell each passenger how good the real flight will be on these new jets and how much safer it will be than Windows Airlines, but that they will have to wait a little longer for the technicians to finish the flight systems. Once they finally finished you're offered a flight at reduced cost. To board the plane, you have your ticket stamped ten different times by standing in ten different lines. Then you fill our a form showing where you want to sit and whether the plane should look and feel like an ocean liner, a passenger train or a bus. If you succeed in getting on the plane and the plane succeeds in taking off the ground, you have a wonderful trip...except for the time when the rudder and flaps get frozen in position, in which case you will just have time to say your prayers and get in crash position.
Wings of OS/400
The airline has bought ancient DC-3s, arguably the best and safest planes that ever flew, and painted "747" on their tails to make them look as if they are fast. The flight attendants, of course, attend to your every need, though the drinks cost $15 a pop. Stupid questions cost $230 per hour, unless you have SupportLine, which requires a first class ticket and membership in the frequent flyer club. Then they cost $500, but your accounting department can call it overhead.
Mach Airlines
There is no airplane. The passengers gather and shout for an airplane, then wait and wait and wait and wait. A bunch of people come, each carrying one piece of the plane with them. These people all go out on the runway and put the plane together piece by piece, arguing constantly about what kind of plane they're building. The plane finally takes off, leaving the passengers on the ground waiting and waiting and waiting and waiting. After the plane lands, the pilot telephones the passengers at the departing airport to inform them that they have arrived.
Newton Airlines
After buying your ticket 18 months in advance, you finally get to board the plane. Upon boarding the plane you are asked your name. After 6 times, the crew member recognizes your name and then you are allowed to take your seat. As you are getting ready to take your seat, th
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then woe betide anyone living on the sides of mountains. the gates foundation will be relocating thousands of tibetan monks.
And the grand prize...... (Score:5, Funny)
I went to Camp Microsoft... (Score:5, Funny)
(But the T-Shirt wasn't half bad)
Prizes (Score:3, Interesting)
What site? (Score:2, Insightful)
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Why do they care about perception? (Score:2, Redundant)
Re:Why do they care about perception? (Score:5, Informative)
Re:Why do they care about perception? (Score:5, Informative)
By not having large corporations move to vista, one of the major incentives for moving to Windows server 2008 is evaporated, meaning a huge financial hit for MS. One of the biggest selling features of 2008, is how well all the new features are supposed to work with vista. Yes, that and server core, and Hyper V.
Re:Why do they care about perception? (Score:4, Funny)
Huh? Didn't you read Microsoft's answers to the Microsoft Vista quiz??!
Windows Vista faces significant issues in terms of integrating with other software applications. Also fiction!!!
I think whoever did your planning needs to re-take the quiz so they can learn the real truth. Microsoft's own quiz proves you wrong. Smackdown!
Little slanted (Score:4, Insightful)
How Software Companies Die (Score:5, Funny)
Vista isn't so bad (Score:5, Informative)
But I customized it so perhaps I just don't see any of the problems. My screen looks like Win2K and all the eye candy and crap is turned off. And I have yet to see any Ultimate Extra that is anything more than a screen background.
One thing that is useful is to download "Server Tools". With it you get a utility that will make bootable iso DVD's. Otherwise I just make DVD's in FreeBSD.
Instead of Gates doing the "Wow" thing, he should have just stuck to the features.
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Didn't someone post a list a while ago, where it shows that the number of features removed from Longhorn before it became Vista is actually longer than the number that remained?
It's like one of those "best mix" radio stations (Score:4, Funny)
Microsoft: The most free money every hour!
Fact or fiction (Score:5, Funny)
[ ] Fact
[x] Fiction
Re:Fact or fiction (Score:5, Funny)
[ ] Fact
[x] Fiction
but wait! its all true! (Score:3, Insightful)
All of the "facts" are true, and yet Vista is still a slow giant that doesn't play well with others and needs an uber-machine to accomplish basic feats.
Comon' guys, the market isn't saying these criticisms based on fictional accounts - they bought/used Vista and it sucked as an experience.
And PLEASE, give up on the Aero-is-cool stuff. You are playing catchup on the desktop - by far. You've simply been in GDI for so long you can't see the irony of cheering about abandoning it now.
Give your user support offices that "quiz" and listen for laughter.
It's a Silverlight app (Score:5, Funny)
Help (Score:5, Insightful)
If I could just finish the quiz I might ditch Slackware and move to Vista!
Fun (Score:5, Funny)
Q: Vista faces significant compatibility issues with hardware devices
A: Fact!
MS: Are you 100% sure? We supported 1.4M devices at launch and have doubled that number since then. Are you sure
YES / NO
A: YES
MS: You're wrong WRONG! WRONG! Too stoopid to have a computer TRY AGAIN
Q: Vista faces significant compatibility issues with hardware devices
I'm sorry Dave, I can't let you do that.
Silverlight (Score:5, Funny)
Is it equally devastating to both werewolves and vampires?
Re:Silverlight (Score:5, Funny)
Fact or Fiction? (Score:4, Funny)
Where's the CowboyNeal option?
Very misleading (Score:4, Interesting)
The Fact or Fiction [microsoft.com] site was put together by Microsoft Australia for "technology professionals" and aims to help Windows tech experts sell Vista to their customers. This is not oriented toward the general public, and frankly it doesn't look "desperate" to me.
Sure Vista has been a disappointment, but not everything Microsoft does is evidence of this.
First prize is a copy of Vista (Score:5, Funny)
An Ignorant Buffoon has qualified (Score:5, Funny)
I have a certificate on my wall that states "This certifies that An Ignorant Buffoon has reached the level of excellence to qualify as a Vista Certified Salesperson".
(I'm paraphrasing as I'm not in the office at the moment).
Holy shit (Score:4, Insightful)
Almost none of the statements on that quiz were 'fact' or 'fiction'; they were mostly opinions that differ based on your needs for a computer.
Security, for example: Sure, Vista has the 'protect the user from himself by continually asking if he really wants to X' features, but I'd be happier with licensing agreements for bundling in AVG and Spybot, both as low priority scheduled tasks (better integration, of course, but basically the same system I use to keep my friends and clients from calling me every twenty minutes saying they've contracted a virus).
Compatibility: sure, Vista supports '2.2 million products', but that's still less than what XP supports. Why don't they have a compatibility layer for legacy devices? Is it that damned hard?
I could go on.
The point is, if you value intellectual honesty, you can't even pass the first question.
It's called propaganda. (Score:3, Informative)
This didn't just turn the winners into good communists (and coming from their enemies in war, that too is a big deal) but *everyone else too*! It was a particularly effective method of indoctrination.
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