Windows 7 will be warmed-over Vista

Glad I bought a Mac

I've used Windows XP for the last 7 years. I've watched Microsoft bloat XP with security patch after security patch, only to release an abomination of an OS in Vista.

Rather than move to Vista I moved to the Mac. I was nervous about it, but I don't regret it now for one second. I have never loved a PC more than I love my new MacBook.

Mac OS X is a joy to use. My legacy XP apps run great in VMWare Fusion. (And it was easier to copy my old PC HD to my Mac for use in Fusion than it would have been to upgrade to Vista!) The Apple UI is slick, responsive, and truly helpful. Mac apps tend to be fast and responsive as well. I was able to replace more of my old XP apps with Mac apps than I imagined at first. Everything just works. Oh yeah...no malware and no crashes. Even though Mac OS X starts/shuts down faster than XP I never notice because I just sleep and wake, something that never worked right on any of my PCs.

Apple hardware is expensive, but the aluminum MacBook I bought is one tight machine. It's like driving a BMW instead of a Ford.

Why would I consider Vista or 7? Apple is promising that the next release of Mac OS X will be smaller, faster, AND have new features! For $29!!! What is Microsoft going to charge for Windows 7? Oh, I guess it depends on which version you want. I will be paying $0 because I don't want any of them.

Stick a fork in Windows. It's done.

Glad I bought a Mac

I've used Windows XP for the last 7 years. I've watched Microsoft bloat XP with security patch after security patch, only to release an abomination of an OS in Vista.

Rather than move to Vista I moved to the Mac. I was nervous about it, but I don't regret it now for one second. I have never loved a PC more than I love my new MacBook.

Mac OS X is a joy to use. My legacy XP apps run great in VMWare Fusion. (And it was easier to copy my old PC HD to my Mac for use in Fusion than it would have been to upgrade to Vista!) The Apple UI is slick, responsive, and truly helpful. Mac apps tend to be fast and responsive as well. I was able to replace more of my old XP apps with Mac apps than I imagined at first. Everything just works. Oh yeah...no malware and no crashes. Even though Mac OS X starts/shuts down faster than XP I never notice because I just sleep and wake, something that never worked right on any of my PCs.

Apple hardware is expensive, but the aluminum MacBook I bought is one tight machine. It's like driving a BMW instead of a Ford.

Why would I consider Vista or 7? Apple is promising that the next release of Mac OS X will be smaller, faster, AND have new features! For $29!!! What is Microsoft going to charge for Windows 7? Oh, I guess it depends on which version you want. I will be paying $0 because I don't want any of them.

Stick a fork in Windows. It's done.

Windows 7, Why?

If someone would enlighten me as to why microsoft would choose the name "Windows 7" Did they run out of names and ideas? Or is windows 7 the actual 7th windows released by microsoft. Lets count, 1-windows95, 2-windows98, 3-windowsME, 4-windows2000, 5-windowsXP, 6-windowsVista, 7-windows7? What about windows 1.0 - 3.0 , windows CE, not to mention 4 or 5 versions of each of the above O.S. Microsoft is confused. Hopefully they will change the windows 7 name and not let it get a bad rep at launch.

luckyincome.blogspot.com

Incremental upgrades.

The history of operating systems is based on the constant revision and perfection of existing operating systems. Allow me to give several examples.

There are many Apple fans here that are screaming Vista at Windows 7. In what way, then, is Leopard a massive leap from Tiger? Tiger a leap from Panther?

The explanation for these incremental releases is simple: Apple has a stable codebase with the OSX core, and now they are constantly seeking, in small ways, to make it ever so slightly better.

The features introduced in Leopard over Tiger are nothing compared to the features being introduced in Windows 7. The Superbar is a massive paradigm shift in windows computing, take it or leave it. Vista now has a stable, reliable core codebase. Their priority now SHOULD be improving what they have, removing what they dont need, making better what they can make better, faster what they can make faster, and easier what they can make easier.

Might I add another point for the consideration of Linux users. I have has Ubuntu as my secondary OS for quite a while, and many KDE based distros before that. And every time a new release of these desktop environments or distros was released, they garnered much praise over older versions. Until things went horribly wrong with KDE 4. KDE 4 IS a massive shift over the previous 3.5 series. But that is not appealing to the users, when instead the users said that they should have instead focused on IMPROVING their current line of KDE - not starting from scratch.

It is even more evident with GNOME. For years, GNOME has not released a major rework of their desktop environment. Instead, they have made it sleeker, faster, and prettier over time.

So what, may I ask, is the problem with Microsoft doing the same thing?

warmed-over "Warmed-over...

"Anyone nit-picking enough to write a letter of correction to an editor doubtless deserves the error that provoked it".
- Alvin Toffler

"Warmed-over", not "warmed over"

The lack of the hyphen in the adjective "warmed-over" completely changes the meaning of the sentence. It reads as if Vista is a fire, over which Windows 7 is being warmed.

Warmed Over Vista

What am I going to do? Simple - stick with XP Pro SP3, that's what.

I've used Vista ... it's "OK" but there's nothing there that compels me to upgrade my existing systems to it. Nothing. By that I mean NADA. Get my drift?

I'm not anti-Microsoft, not at all. However as a software developer of over 30-years I've gotten to the point where I simply do not upgrade just because you "can". XP Pro works too darn well. I mean absolutely EVERYTHING I have works with it and in a practically flawless manner. Someone is going to have to talk awful hard and long before they're going to sell me on something to fix problems I DO NOT HAVE. Even the latest software development tools run fine on XP/Pro. All my cameras, printers, hard drives - you name it; they all just WORK. What's to upgrade?

OK, if I buy a new machine and it comes pre-loaded with Vista then I might consider it - but I just don't see that for the next few years at-least.

My 2-cents.

-Max

[a highly-edited version of

[a highly-edited version of a response to a similar article in another magazine. --anonymous]

So, basically, what Microsoft is doing with W7 is the same-old-same-old: (a) Announce waaayyy ahead of time to keep its brain-dead customer base (has it ever occurred to them to try and GET new customers?); (b) Build on the previous offering, which is not much good, and far too bloated: (want to take a guess as to whether or not MS can keep W7's increased--of course--demands for hardware resources down to Vista's 40%?); (c) 'Leak' information at strategically timed intervals to keep the MicroSITHs (that's 'MicroSoft In The Heads, for all you Redmond sharpies) on a leash; (d) Be Late Yet Again; and (e) Dump. Send a whole lot of promised features into the dumper in order to not be TOO Late Yet Again.

The only new Big Lie that MS has pulled out of their bag of tricks is their "promise" to keep customers and developers in the loop in the development process. Implicit in this is that YOU will have a say in the development of their brand-new Vista, uh..Windows 7. Right.

You can be certain that Balmer's previous statement that MS would never again take as long to develop an OS as it took for Vista, is now an edict (it has already been 'leaked' that 'a version' of W7 would be available to be 'looked at' by the end of 2009). This, plus the ANNOUNCED fact--which in itself is incredible--that there will be a manager for every four Windows7 developers ensures that W7 will achieve a level of mediocrity never before seen in a software product (MS offerings excluded).

Is BalmerGates so stupid as to believe that this is to be considered a POSITIVE, and that the customer should feel guaranteed a superlative product at the end of way too short a development cycle?

Just as a sidelight: there are now more people working in the US Department of Agriculture (managing US programs for farms and farmers) than there are farmers. Obviously, one can always manage one's way out of any problem.

To recap: Microsoft is going to produce, from scratch, a new operating system which is absolutely, positively guaranteed to cure all your Microsoft Operating System (an oxymoron if there ever was one) woes. For sure. Really. This time. They promise. No fooling. No more taking your money and giving you mediocrity in return.
And they're going to do this and have the first demo available by December 31, 2009: 16 looong months away.
AND, they're going to do all this with 2000 people writing the code (Gee, I guess nine women coders at Microsoft really could have a baby in one month), and with 500 manager-types continually looking over the coders' shoulders ("Floggings Will Continue Until Morale Improves").
AAAND, all this while taking into account what you have to say vis-a-vis their Magnanimous New Program to keep us, er, you users in the loop.

Yessirree, you'll have a totally new operating system from Microsoft in just sixteen months. I can hear now all you MicroSITHs' pulses racing.

Isn't Microsoft wonderful?

If it weren't for the entertainment value it provides, Microsoft would be irrelevant.

Another thoroughly enjoyable smoke-and-mirrors job by Microsoft.

Suggested for everyone: a reading of the book 'The Mythical Man-Month: Essays on Software Engineering' by Frederick Brooks, if one really wants an explanation of Microsoft's past, present, and future fiascos. This man was in charge of the ultimate creation of IBM's OS-360, and explains in a very clear and entertaining manner why Microsoft cannot do what it's telling you it can do. Balmer and Gates, you and the rest of your totally non-technical band of yes-men--managers and coders alike--are excused:
To paraphrase Winston Churchill, your hubris defends this book well against its being read by you people.