Microsoft admits Vista is Crap

chrisalviola · 04-23-2007, 09:45 AM

By Charlie Demerjian in Beijing: Saturday 21 April 2007, 12:20

WITH TWO OVERLAPPING events, Microsoft admitted what we have been saying all along, Vista, aka Windows Me Two (Me II), is a joke that no one wants.

It did two unprecedented things this week that frankly stunned us.

Dell announced that it would be offering XP again on home PCs. The second that Vista came out, Microsoft makes it very hard for you to sell anything other than Me II. It can't do this on the business side because it would be laughed out the door, but for the walking sheep class, well, you take what you are shovelled.

This is classic abusive monopoly behavior, Microsoft wrote the modern book on it. It pulled all the major OEMs in by twisting their arms with the usual methods, and they again all fell into line. Never before has anyone backpedalled on this, to do so would earn you the wrath of Microsoft.

But Dell just did. This means that Me II sales are at least as bad as we think, the software and driver situation is just as miserable, and Dell had no choice but to buck the trend. If anyone thinks this is an act of atonement for foisting such a steaming pile on us, think again, it doesn't care about the consumer.

What happened is the OEMs revolted in the background and forced Microsoft's hand. This is a big neon sign above Me II saying 'FAILURE'. Blink blink blink. OK, Me II won't fail, Microsoft has OEMs whipped and threatened into a corner, it will sell, but you can almost hear the defectors marching toward Linux. This is a watershed.

The other equally monumental Me II failure? Gates in China launching a $3 version of bundled Me II. Why is this not altruism? Well, it goes back to piracy and how it helped enforce the MS monopoly. If you can easily pirate Windows, Linux has no price advantage, they both cost zero.

With Me II, Microsoft made it very hard to pirate. It is do-able, you can use the BIOS hack and probably a host of others, but the point is, it raised the bar enough so lots of people have to buy it. Want to bet that in a country with $100 average monthly salary, people aren't going to shell out $299 for Me II Broken Edition?

What did MS do? It dropped the price about 100x or so. I can't say this is unprecedented, when it made Office 2003 hard to pirate it had to backpedal with the student edition for about $150. This time though, things are much more desperate.

If you fit Microsoft's somewhat convoluted definition of poor, it still wants to lock you in, you might get rich enough to afford the full-priced stuff someday. It is at a dangerous crossroads, if its software bumps up the price of a computer by 100 per cent, people might look to alternatives.

That means no Me II DRM infection lock in, no mass migration to the newer Office obfuscated and patented file formats, and worse yet, people might utter the W word. Yes, you guessed it, 'why'. People might ask why it is sticking with the MS lock in, and at that point, it is in deep trouble.

So, it did the unthinkable, and dropped the price. I won't bother to hunt down all the exec quotes saying how people can't afford clean water would be overjoyed to sell kidneys to upgrade to the new version of Office, but they are out there. This was a sacred cow, and it is now hamburger backed up against the wall.

These two actions by Microsoft are proof of what I suggested three years ago. Microsoft has lost its ability to twist arms, and now it is going to die. It can't compete on level ground, so is left with backpedalling and discounts of almost 100 times.

What we are seeing is an unprecedented shift of power. It is also an unprecedented admission of failure. And the funniest part about the moves made? They are the wrong things to do. Microsoft is in deep trouble. µ

http://www.theinquirer.net/default.aspx?article=39087

Bl00dFox · 04-23-2007, 09:54 AM

LOL

Better start selling your shares with microsoft - their latest attempts to capture the computing world have been PATHETIC!

zaroba · 04-23-2007, 12:28 PM

just sounds like a typical anti-microsoft person to me. theres a bunch of stuff that is just assumptions and crying over microsoft for no reason at all. 'oh my god, there so rich already and aren't willing to give away free stuff' type junk. its business, accept it.
if you wanna cry about something, cry over the RIAA or MPAA or US Oil companies doing price gouging and bribing so they can make record profits using katrina as an excuse, they made what, a record 3-5 billion in profits in 1 quarter when we all had to pay $3 to $5 for a gallon of gas??

Coalition · 04-23-2007, 12:52 PM

HA! The guy that wrote that article sounds like a linux lover to me, a typical fanboy.

PohTayToez · 04-23-2007, 01:36 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by chrisalviola

Dell announced that it would be offering XP again on home PCs. The second that Vista came out, Microsoft makes it very hard for you to sell anything other than Me II. It can't do this on the business side because it would be laughed out the door, but for the walking sheep class, well, you take what you are shovelled.

Thank god. I'm tired of helping people who are running Vista. I can't stand it.

"Hey! Let's put every single little thing in a different place just the frustrate the hell out of everyone who has been a loyal Windows user for years!"

ETSA · 04-23-2007, 01:48 PM

Vista is not that bad, most people on this forum don't realize that windows xp had similar criticism when it first came out. W/E people will whine.

04-23-2007, 09:45 AM	#1 (permalink)
chrisalviola Platinum Member Join Date: Jul 2006 Posts: 866	Microsoft admits Vista is Crap By Charlie Demerjian in Beijing: Saturday 21 April 2007, 12:20 WITH TWO OVERLAPPING events, Microsoft admitted what we have been saying all along, Vista, aka Windows Me Two (Me II), is a joke that no one wants. It did two unprecedented things this week that frankly stunned us. Dell announced that it would be offering XP again on home PCs. The second that Vista came out, Microsoft makes it very hard for you to sell anything other than Me II. It can't do this on the business side because it would be laughed out the door, but for the walking sheep class, well, you take what you are shovelled. This is classic abusive monopoly behavior, Microsoft wrote the modern book on it. It pulled all the major OEMs in by twisting their arms with the usual methods, and they again all fell into line. Never before has anyone backpedalled on this, to do so would earn you the wrath of Microsoft. But Dell just did. This means that Me II sales are at least as bad as we think, the software and driver situation is just as miserable, and Dell had no choice but to buck the trend. If anyone thinks this is an act of atonement for foisting such a steaming pile on us, think again, it doesn't care about the consumer. What happened is the OEMs revolted in the background and forced Microsoft's hand. This is a big neon sign above Me II saying 'FAILURE'. Blink blink blink. OK, Me II won't fail, Microsoft has OEMs whipped and threatened into a corner, it will sell, but you can almost hear the defectors marching toward Linux. This is a watershed. The other equally monumental Me II failure? Gates in China launching a $3 version of bundled Me II. Why is this not altruism? Well, it goes back to piracy and how it helped enforce the MS monopoly. If you can easily pirate Windows, Linux has no price advantage, they both cost zero. With Me II, Microsoft made it very hard to pirate. It is do-able, you can use the BIOS hack and probably a host of others, but the point is, it raised the bar enough so lots of people have to buy it. Want to bet that in a country with $100 average monthly salary, people aren't going to shell out $299 for Me II Broken Edition? What did MS do? It dropped the price about 100x or so. I can't say this is unprecedented, when it made Office 2003 hard to pirate it had to backpedal with the student edition for about $150. This time though, things are much more desperate. If you fit Microsoft's somewhat convoluted definition of poor, it still wants to lock you in, you might get rich enough to afford the full-priced stuff someday. It is at a dangerous crossroads, if its software bumps up the price of a computer by 100 per cent, people might look to alternatives. That means no Me II DRM infection lock in, no mass migration to the newer Office obfuscated and patented file formats, and worse yet, people might utter the W word. Yes, you guessed it, 'why'. People might ask why it is sticking with the MS lock in, and at that point, it is in deep trouble. So, it did the unthinkable, and dropped the price. I won't bother to hunt down all the exec quotes saying how people can't afford clean water would be overjoyed to sell kidneys to upgrade to the new version of Office, but they are out there. This was a sacred cow, and it is now hamburger backed up against the wall. These two actions by Microsoft are proof of what I suggested three years ago. Microsoft has lost its ability to twist arms, and now it is going to die. It can't compete on level ground, so is left with backpedalling and discounts of almost 100 times. What we are seeing is an unprecedented shift of power. It is also an unprecedented admission of failure. And the funniest part about the moves made? They are the wrong things to do. Microsoft is in deep trouble. µ http://www.theinquirer.net/default.aspx?article=39087 __________________ At the source of every error which is blamed on the computer, you will find at least two human errors, including the error of blaming it on the computer.

04-23-2007, 09:54 AM	#2 (permalink)
Bl00dFox Platinum Member Join Date: Nov 2006 Location: Sydney, Australia Age: 15 Posts: 566	LOL Better start selling your shares with microsoft - their latest attempts to capture the computing world have been PATHETIC! __________________ CPU: Core 2 Duo E6600 MOBO: Gigabyte 945P-S3 RAM: 2GB Kingston 667Mhz (4x512MB Dual Channel) GPU: Palit X1600XT PCI-E HDD: 160GB SATA Seagate Barracuda 7200.9 Storage HDD: 320GB Seagate Barracuda SATA 7200.10 OS: Windows Vista Ultimate 64-bit

04-23-2007, 12:28 PM	#3 (permalink)
zaroba Platinum Member Join Date: Jan 2007 Location: Hereford PA Age: 27 Posts: 602	just sounds like a typical anti-microsoft person to me. theres a bunch of stuff that is just assumptions and crying over microsoft for no reason at all. 'oh my god, there so rich already and aren't willing to give away free stuff' type junk. its business, accept it. if you wanna cry about something, cry over the RIAA or MPAA or US Oil companies doing price gouging and bribing so they can make record profits using katrina as an excuse, they made what, a record 3-5 billion in profits in 1 quarter when we all had to pay $3 to $5 for a gallon of gas?? __________________ The Universal - the internet's most unique and enjoyable game. Mobo: Asus P5N32-E \| CPU: Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600 @2.4GHz \| PSU: Coolmax 650watt Case: Lian-Li PC-V2100plusII \| OS: XP Professional - 64bit \| Monitors: Dual 19" Hanns-G 2ms LCDs HDs: 3x320gb, 3x500gb, 2x750GB \| Disc Drives: 16x DL dvd +/- rw Ram: 6 gb ddr2 \| GPU: 640MB GeForce 8800GTS Last edited by zaroba; 04-23-2007 at 12:40 PM.

04-23-2007, 12:52 PM	#4 (permalink)
Coalition Bronze Member Join Date: Jan 2007 Location: Hohenwald, TN Posts: 38	HA! The guy that wrote that article sounds like a linux lover to me, a typical fanboy. __________________ CPU: Intel Pentium D 805 Smithfield (2.66 ghz) RAM: 2 Gig DDR2-800 A-Data (4x512mb) Dual Channel Vcard: ATI Radeon X1900AIW 256 mb GDDR3 Mobo: Gigabyte S-series 965P-DS3 (lga: 775) HDD: Western Digital 250 Gb 7200 rpm, 16 mb cache, sata 3.0 gb/s Sound: Creative Audigy Value 2 PSU: Thermaltake purepower 600W fans: 3x 80mm Masscool, 1x 120mm Masscool OS: Windows Vista Ultimate Edition (32-bit)

04-23-2007, 01:48 PM	#6 (permalink)
ETSA Diamond Member Join Date: Jan 2006 Location: WA Age: 24 Posts: 2,225	Vista is not that bad, most people on this forum don't realize that windows xp had similar criticism when it first came out. W/E people will whine. __________________ DESKTOP Antec P180B(4 x 120mm Tricool fans) Antec 500W neoHE Gigabyte GA 965p DS3 E6400 /w Zalman cnps9500 led 92mm (OC'ed to 3.2Ghz) 4 GB Corsair xms2 DDR2 800 HD4850 512mb ddr3 /w Zalman VF1000 Soundblaster Audigy 4 LAPTOP Core 2 Duo T5750(2.00GHz)/4GB ddr2 667/250GB HD/8600M GT

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