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It's Microsoft Tax time again.
Vista is nearly here. It's got new wizzy bits and er, new wizzy bits and er, transparent toolbars (?) and they've redesigned the interface for Office in a special attempt to disorientate you. Here it comes, can you hear the sighs and moans of cash strapped schools and public bodies? The despairing IT Managers contemplating replacing all the computers in order to make sure Windows-Bloaty 2006 (sorry, I mean Vista) will run on their machines? It's always a special time of year when a new version of Windows "here's another piece of crap to make me even richer" is released and I'm sure it won't be long till we hear the outraged shrieks of horror from an industry stung once again as hopeless security policies make themselves known and as the little idio(t)syncrasies appear.
[ED- I disagree about the benefits. We will get all the benefits we got last time. Best , most secure windows ever. The XP Press releases will be recycled -bstadil ] |
It's nearly time folks, are you excited? That's right, the "new" version of Windows is almost upon us and down at Redmond the coffers are being readied. Microsoft are getting ready to collect another pile of money from your children, your governments, your hospitals and your paycheck.
Comments (7)
Well... It may very well BE "The most secure Winblows ever"
But that doesn't mean hackers wouldn't find ways to compromise the improved security. There's bound to be quite a few holes in such a huge and tightly integrated product as Windows.
If at first you don't succeed...
=> Windows XP: "The most secure Windows ever"
Try again... => Windows Vista: "The most secure Windows ever"
Vista will be based on Win2k3 code (Which is STILL WinNT code)...Right? If its any consolation, they will include MS Anti-spyware in Vista...
What does that mean? It means they're still producing band-aid solutions to security problems, and Vista is very likely to join its predecessors, suffering malware infection once it connects to an untrusted network (ie: Internet). I wouldn't be surprised if another "WMF-like" issue appeared.
To me, Vista is the "We can't innovate for crap, so we'll grab everyone else's ideas, and put the girl in a new dress" release of Windows.
Tried out the Beta yet? No? Thanks to my uncle's MSDN subscription! I have.
Well, I can tell you, the GUI is basically Apple's OS X, the browser (IE7), is basically Firefox. Oh look, they use Unix concepts of Root and Normal user accounts! Nothing new, just more unnecessary garbage for the Windows user to handle. (they've actually bothered to improve some security in this version of Windows).
I found it unsatisfying and dull, once you get past looking at her pretty dress. It doesn't offer me anything new that Win2k (I was using). If you turn off the fruity 3D GUI crap, its like Win2k all over again. (Great saving of system resources btw).
So for the last few months since Vista's beta releases, I've been testing/trialing open-source solutions on the side. I've tried over 25 distros to determine if its good enough for me and my family to migrate to. Win2k have sort of (read barely surviving constant attacks) served us, but its time to move to a place where security isn't treated like a public relations issue, and response to security issues are met in a timely fashion.
Since they have PIII-era hardware, support was a non-issue.
I have re-organised my home network from MS solutions to OpenBSD for firewall and FreeBSD for file/scan/print server. (They took me the longest to get used to, I do wanna thank those who contributed to their respective Handbooks!)
And for desktops, I went with various distros (still trialing)...So far, Xandros Open Community Edition with the "Linux Made Easy" book from No Starch Press, and OpenSUSE 10.0 have been my family's favourites...Its mainly because of documentation they offer.
I would've loved to go with Slackware or Debian, but I don't think my family will be able to handle being thrown into the deep end of the pool!
You could say I went a bit extreme from Windows to BSD/Linux... But these days, extreme annoyances calls for extreme solutions.
Besides, I prefer to avoid the Microsoft Tax from now on. :) (It was hard work, but well worth it in my "few months" experience)
Try again... => Windows Vista: "The most secure Windows ever"
Vista will be based on Win2k3 code (Which is STILL WinNT code)...Right? If its any consolation, they will include MS Anti-spyware in Vista...
What does that mean? It means they're still producing band-aid solutions to security problems, and Vista is very likely to join its predecessors, suffering malware infection once it connects to an untrusted network (ie: Internet). I wouldn't be surprised if another "WMF-like" issue appeared.
To me, Vista is the "We can't innovate for crap, so we'll grab everyone else's ideas, and put the girl in a new dress" release of Windows.
Tried out the Beta yet? No? Thanks to my uncle's MSDN subscription! I have.
Well, I can tell you, the GUI is basically Apple's OS X, the browser (IE7), is basically Firefox. Oh look, they use Unix concepts of Root and Normal user accounts! Nothing new, just more unnecessary garbage for the Windows user to handle. (they've actually bothered to improve some security in this version of Windows).
I found it unsatisfying and dull, once you get past looking at her pretty dress. It doesn't offer me anything new that Win2k (I was using). If you turn off the fruity 3D GUI crap, its like Win2k all over again. (Great saving of system resources btw).
So for the last few months since Vista's beta releases, I've been testing/trialing open-source solutions on the side. I've tried over 25 distros to determine if its good enough for me and my family to migrate to. Win2k have sort of (read barely surviving constant attacks) served us, but its time to move to a place where security isn't treated like a public relations issue, and response to security issues are met in a timely fashion.
Since they have PIII-era hardware, support was a non-issue.
I have re-organised my home network from MS solutions to OpenBSD for firewall and FreeBSD for file/scan/print server. (They took me the longest to get used to, I do wanna thank those who contributed to their respective Handbooks!)
And for desktops, I went with various distros (still trialing)...So far, Xandros Open Community Edition with the "Linux Made Easy" book from No Starch Press, and OpenSUSE 10.0 have been my family's favourites...Its mainly because of documentation they offer.
I would've loved to go with Slackware or Debian, but I don't think my family will be able to handle being thrown into the deep end of the pool!
You could say I went a bit extreme from Windows to BSD/Linux... But these days, extreme annoyances calls for extreme solutions.
Besides, I prefer to avoid the Microsoft Tax from now on. :) (It was hard work, but well worth it in my "few months" experience)
Quoting:If at first you don't succeed... => Windows XP: "The most secure Windows ever"
Try again... => Windows Vista: "The most secure Windows ever"
Well it's true every version of windows has steadily gotten more secure. of course that's not saying much for the earlier version and even less about future releases.
Oh and Vista beta already has a couple of viruses out for it.
MSFT won 't throw out bad code no matter how many times they have to glue it back together.
I would've loved to go with Slackware or Debian, but I don't think my family will be able to handle being thrown into the deep end of the pool!
Try Ubuntu. http://www.ubuntulinux.com This is an amazing Debian based Distro and it has a really helpful community. http://www.ubuntuforums.org
Try Ubuntu. http://www.ubuntulinux.com This is an amazing Debian based Distro and it has a really helpful community. http://www.ubuntuforums.org
This deep end of the pool conversation is finished. Anyone continuing to use it doesn't belong in the world of technology publishing. Considering how long the flat earth society existed, I suppose we'll have to put up with crazy, lazy and lacking people writing articles about the worst operating system to ever sell a copy to anyone - BIG DOS! Yawn.
Look on the bright side: the side of the road.
I'm looking forward to all those marvelously up-to-date boxen that will be left out at the side of the road on Trash Day when it comes out, by all those people still suckered-in by MS (Vista wants a half a gig of DRAM just to run right??). All they need is a quick vacuuming inside and out to get the dust off the chips and fans, and then an install of {insert favorite distro here}, and then they run as if they were never polluted. Think of it as a kind of minor Reverse-Darwin Award for yourself.
One more good thing about Vista's requirement it that notebook graphics will finally become decent.
Everything else on a cheap notebook is fine now or upgradable except the graphics. Vista will require decent 3d acceleration so no notebook will be able to get by with crummy Intel chip-set integrated Graphics
Everything else on a cheap notebook is fine now or upgradable except the graphics. Vista will require decent 3d acceleration so no notebook will be able to get by with crummy Intel chip-set integrated Graphics
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