A computer operating system is like a desk. It should be comfortable to work at; sturdy and stable; handsome to look upon, but not distracting; it should be able to store files and tools away when not in use, but keep them accessible when you need them. But above all else, an OS should get out of the way and let you get your work done. Now imagine if your desk were enormous—taking up a significant portion of the room you keep it in. To get started working requires unfoldings, knob-twistings and other complex procedures. When you finally are seated, you open a drawer on your desk to get a new pen and the drawer instantly snaps shut on you, saying “Do you really want to use that pen? It’s new and I don’t know where it came from.” Then you say, “Yes, I bought the pen and I’d like to use it. I know where it came from.” And then your desk replies, “All right, fine. Use the pen, but before you do, I want to make sure that I’ve expressed my reservations about that pen. It’s a fountain pen and those have been known to explode and shoot ink all over the place. You’ve been warned.”
It sounds silly, but that’s exactly the problem with Windows Vista, a big, creeping, cumbersome embarrassment for Microsoft the past few years. The worst part is that Vista was an honest attempt to deal with the consequences of the success of Microsoft’s Windows XP’. The ubiquity of Windows has made it a frequent target of cyber attackers and criminals, and the reviled User Account Control was intended to create a barrier so no program could install itself on your computer without your consent. The world got more dangerous, so Windows got more protective. The slow boot time and bloated size of Windows were consequences of the system’s need to be a photo viewer, media player, e-mail client and movie editor. And because, unlike Apple’s Macintosh OS, Windows is built to support thousands of potential computers with millions of potential peripherals, it must have generic support for most of those things built in.
Archive
Tag: Operating SystemThis blog post talks about a few of the improvements that will be in our Release Candidate (RC) based upon customer feedback. There are many under the hood changes (bug fixes, compatibility fixes, performance improvements, and improvements) across the entire dev team that we just don’t have room to discuss here, but we thought you’d enjoy a taste of some changes made by three of our feature teams: Core User Experience, Find & Organize and Devices & Media. The comments in this article come from a variety of verbatim sources, with identifying information withheld.
Desktop Experience
1. Windows Flip (ALT + TAB) with Aero Peek
We’ve received overwhelmingly positive feedback about Aero Peek and how it helps customers switch windows with increased confidence. Daniel wrote to tell us “I’m wondering why Peek was never implemented for the ALT + TAB window. The thumbnails look/behave the same way as the taskbar thumbnails when you hover the mouse over them. It seems logical that they would exhibit the peek behavior, too”. We decided to make this change since we heard many requests for it. One can still quickly flip between and cycle through running windows using the ALT+TAB keys, but when more window information is needed Aero Peek will appear. This is triggered by a time delay as you pause while keyboarding through running windows.
Fig 1.
Dell has announced that it will offer the aging Windows XP downgrade if customers pay a US$150 surcharge on top of their usual fee for Vista.
It appears that the move comes at the request of Microsoft, which gets a cut of the downgrade fee.
The news comes five months after Dell formally it stopped offering XP on its Inspiron consumer desktop and laptop PCs.
Dell has had a devil of a job saying no to customers who want Windows XP. So has Microsoft, and its deadline for downgrades has been pushed back twice.Gizmondo has pointed out that market share of XP has dropped by 10 per cent during 2008, but that it still has 66 per cent of the market.
It looks like downgrade fees will be a way for the likes of Dell to make a bit of cash on the side, while seeming to discourage people from upgrading to Vista. However, Rob Enderle, president of tech consulting firm the Enderle Group, warned that XP downgrade fees will ultimately be counterproductive. He said that there was a risk that Microsoft was trading off short-term revenue for long-term customer loyalty.
Engderle said that forcing customers to go someplace they don’t want to go by raising prices is a Christmas present for Apple and those that are positioning Linux on the desktop.
Nice. Merry Christmas to you, too, Microsoft. Supply and demand is one thing but this is quite another. On the one hand, Microsoft continuously throws out propaganda of how much users just love Vista yet, on the other hand, is trying to strongarm users that love XP more and want to use their previous stable and successful operating system (which, oh by the way, doesn’t drive the need to upgrade software and performs better on new software).
Well, maybe Microsoft can take some of this extra “Microsoft Sin Tax” money and actually put out some useful additions for the suckers who purchased Vista Ultimate Edition in good faith and *gasp* FIX Vista!