Windows 7 a do or die effort for Microsoft

Maybe they'll realize that the tail lights they're seeing is FOSS going in directions that M$ would never follow. Like secure software, open formats, libraries that can be updated because you aren't chained by old binaries.

At best it will be Windows trying to slim down and look like it might be able to run on more hardware.

Quoting:At best it will be Windows trying to slim down and look like it might be able to run on more hardware.

You mean XPv2 then?

Because only Microsoft would have to re-issue an 8 year old OS (that they proclaimed they were no longer going to sell no matter what) so that a Microsoft Operating System would be able to 'fit' on brand new hardware otherwise known as 'netbooks'.

Its just plain sad.

The best thing they could do is backpedal on their "No more XP, except for netbooks or anything else Vista won't fit on" policy and let people buy, or "upgrade" to (I can't believe I am saying it) good ol' XP again.

I am in no way trying to compliment Microsoft, but XP is the best OS they ever put out. Like it or not, like MS or not, its true. After 8 years of fixes and updates, its not too bad...for Microsoft..;-)

I preferred Windows 2000, myself. There are a lot of Linux guys out there who jumped the MS ship when XP came out. 2000 was the last not-in-your-face OS they had. It wasn't great and it wasn't secure, but it didn't bark at you or claim it wasn't genuine...it just worked (as far as an MS OS can work).

> I preferred Windows 2000, myself.

Ditto. Product activation killed any appeal XP might have had for me.

Not only that but XP just has too many holes waiting in loose ends. Too many features that can still contain holes. Win98 was pretty good but the kernel sucked. Win2K is basically Win98 with an NT kernel. Much better.

... all the above relative to MS standards of course.

Right now I see Windows doing better and better in the netbook market. If they can hold the line on processor- and memory-sucking services in Windows 7, netbook hardware will be powerful enough to run the OS sooner than we all think.

The key for Linux (or any FOSS OS that wants to try, for that matter) is SELLING the whole idea of a managed distribution with a huge, safe, continually updated software repository.

If the average Windows user knew that just about every app you'd ever want to install could be done so without random downloads of dubious .exe files, I bet a whole lot of them would have no problem switching to Linux.

Once we work out: video (both watching and editing it), CODECs (again with the video, audio, too), the all-important iPod (and probably iPhone, too), then we'll be way closer.

If that Firefox/ogg video thing works and somehow catches on (and if there are good tools to create/edit ogg -- there very well could be, but I don't know about them), that's a huge step.

Quoting:If that Firefox/ogg video thing works and somehow catches on (and if there are good tools to create/edit ogg -- there very well could be, but I don't know about them), that's a huge step.

Yes. Maybe, just maybe, for the first time ever we'll see popular pages appearing that tell "I'm sorry, you need the latest version of Firefox (preferrably in Linux) to watch this movie" ;)

Silverlight is going to be a huge driver of Windows Server sales for rich media web applications. Creating dynamic media using Silverlight tools/.Net is almost trivially easy, and Silverlight enabled media loads almost instantly, unlike flash, and works just fine on Linux

Quoting:Right now I see Windows doing better and better in the netbook market.

Just wait for the ARM netbooks. That will be a Linux driver. ARM machines are quite a bit cheaper and last longer (in terms of power usage). Windows can't run on ARM :-)

>> Yes. Maybe, just maybe, for the first time ever we'll see popular pages appearing that tell "I'm sorry, you need the latest version of Firefox (preferrably in Linux) to watch this movie" ;)

I see the smiley and realize that you said that in jest. All the same I think its important to point out that such a message would be a bad thing. Web content should be built around open standards, not around browsers (or operating systems.)

Quoting:Emma Alvarado is mad as heck and she's not going to take it anymore. Alvarado purchased a PC from Lenovo on June 20, 2008, it came with Windows Vista Business and she to pay an additional $59.25 in order to "'downgrade' her operating system to Windows XP Professional."

Most people would have just complained about it and moved on. Not Alvarado. She decided she wasn't going to take it. Through the law firm of Arias, Ozzello, & Gignac, in Santa Barbara Calif., a law firm specializing in class action and consumer rights litigation, Alvarado is suing Microsoft, both on her own behalf and for other users who have been stuck with Vista and want XP. In short, she's started a class-action suit against Microsoft.

Linux users are long familiar with variations on this theme. Desktop Linux users usually have no use for Windows, but still have to pay for it on most PCs.

http://blogs.computerworld.com/vista_to_xp_charge_leads_to_l...

GO EMMA !!! GOOOO GOOOOOO !!!!!!!

This is especially interesting considering that I thought the Vista license allowed downgrades to XP......

> I thought the Vista license allowed downgrades to XP......

Only Vista Ultimate and Vista Business.

Well, the article does say her machine came with Business...

Still, having to pay for a bloated operating system (that you didn't ask for and didn't want,) only to pay extra to have a deprecated previous version of a bloated operating system that you DO (for whatever reason) want is screwed up anyhow.

I don't think what MS is doing here is illegal per se, but it's bound to raise the ire of their customers.....

Which, of course, is fine by me.