290 million OEM? then sure, yes, Mr. Ballmer is probably right. How many off the shelf Vista upgrades (downgrades) will they sell compared to off the shelf upgrades of OS X?

Whatever . . .

hahahaha, yeah right...Vista was released way too soon so they can make more $$$

I hope they upgrade this horrific piece of software for free.

I know a lot of people are moving to oen source because of VISTA.. :0) Thank you ms

Vista is a very poor OS, XP was great. I hope Windows 7 will be compatible with most hardware and exisiting software. If not, expect another round of disillusioned consumers.

They say they are going to work on compatabilty issues then tell us new features will require special displays. Hmm...

Sounds like "Both sides of the mouth" speak to me.

If Vista wasn't a istake how come so many people are trying to
firgur out how to remove it ald install XP? Do a search for "remove vista, install XP" It will be a suprise.
Gene

True, Microsoft may expect to sell 290 million vs Mac's 10 million. But how many of those 290 million people will be pulling their hair out trying to get their PC's working correctly? In the long run, it's likely Microsoft may only end up with around 10 million somewhat happy customers anyway and most will be corporate users who have no choice.

Windows ME wasn't a mistake either. They seem very quick to want to release the next OS. Maybe Vista was a POS(piece of S***).

At my school they sell a downgrade from Vista to XP for $100 and vista cost about $90. What does it tell you that the downgrade is more valuable than Vista itself? I bought my wife a computer in September 2007 for her birthday and it came with Vista. She is so disappointed. The beast is the slowest thing we have ever seen. Even right out of the box, getting on the internet, starting word, opening outlook, all take incredibly long times. What is wrong with this OS?

Are you seriously trying to compare the two?

PC is hands down the winner for number of users. Only artists and the unemployed (kind of redundant, I know) use Macs.

Quote

Mr. Gates reitereated his belief that voice recognition will be the PC's UI in the long run.

A singurly stupid statement but not surprising given Gate's history of wildly off the mark technology predictions.
will businesses adopt voice inputs? Think cubeland with a few hundred users trying to command their computer to open or delete.
Will schools or libraries adopt voice inputs? They already try to keep the kids from talking.
I've worked with voice input systems and found them to be cumbersome and slow. Users I've supported have, for medical reasons, adopted voice input systems, they all stopped using them after a few months as they were cumbersome and slow. These were high end systems too that had very good ratings (Dragon Systems was one of the companies).
While I can see some fields adopting voice input systems for particular niche parkets, I don't see it taking over the UI like Gates seems to think.

IMO Voice entry is the tablet computing iof the next decade. Fine for a few particular situations but not for the masses.

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Guest wrote:
Are you seriously trying to compare the two?

PC is hands down the winner for number of users. Only artists and the unemployed (kind of redundant, I know) use Macs.

Geez... that's not even very clever flame baiting.

Yes Vista is a failure...anyone that thinks differently must also think that Windows ME was a success!!!

Microsoft has quite a few failures. In pushing Vista they walked away from XP. the XP patch has serious flaws and some great improvements. If Microsoft made a plane they would kill everone onboard in a flight accident, then figure out how to correct it.

Vista is a RAM hog with Fluff. Microsofts defense is onla few systems sold with XP this year. Thats because they force manufacturers to change to get a bundled discount.

The only Issue I have with XP is no dos or other underplatform to access for disaster recovery in the land of bundled installs without providing the OS you paid for on disk.

mac /vista /windows 7 must be kidding linux only !!!!!

I wouldn't say Vista is a failure in terms of forced marketing for Microsoft. Lots of gamers are switching to Vista for DirectX10 gaming reasons and mostly dual boot to XP x64 or 2003 x64 for all other computing needs.(XP x64 for memory limitation reasons from XP x86.) Of course the OS itself IS horrible failure. Anyone remember "Windows Millenium" I personally consider Vista as just that with "DirectX10" to force gamers to switch. Also on the subject of "Special Display" future of computing is definitely in the multitouch screen and MS has been working on that with Jeff Han for past 2 years. So I don't see anything to mock about that. Watch here http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zwGAKUForhM
and this is MS site
http://www.microsoft.com/surface/index.html

I think they pushed vista, so it would make windows 7 look even better, even if it came out like crap! I'm sick of having to deal with whatever microsoft considers "not a failure", just cause it's not a "failure" does not make it a success either. I never heard of CEO's being happy with Mediocrity!

You know there are folks out there who have no issues whatsoever with Vista and actually do think that Apple is a crutch for folks who don't use productivity software (read: Office). And don't give us any of that open source crap. You people just need something to comlplain about and since MS sells the mostly widely used OS in the world, they are the target.
Then again I guess if one can afford to pay 2-4 times the money for Crapple system then they have the right to complain about anything....

"Finally, when Mr. Mossberg pointed out that Apple has been much better at gettng its OS releases out, Mr. Ballmer countered that Microsoft expects to sell 290 million units [presumably Vista licences] compared to his estimation of Apple's 10 million in 2008."

and you would think that with that kind of customer base that Microsoft would be much much better than Apple. Just another hint on how clueless Ballmer really is.

Windows is great, it created a platform that linux could be developed on.

If it's not a mistake?

This is the inherent business model of MS, the whole process of continual disruption, incompatibility, disappointing users...Anyhow this days there are quite a number of alternatives and loyal MS people are easily giving up and moving to something else. Their business model is becoming in-effective and we will see in the future that OS business will become less relevant than the new emerging techonologies such as cloud computing, development of small smart devices...

Attn Computer manufacturers! Vista is the reason I have not purchased any new computers since you started shipping your products with Vista.

Yes, I know you can dump Vista and install XP but why should I pay for your mistakes?

Then Micros**t should be 29 times better at doing new releases. Is that the case?

If you wont to play a game it`s better to use console (PS3, WII or XBOX - no diffrence).

For me my work is realy quite enough and I don`t wont to waste time waiting for WindowsOS working. (Oh no... Explorer is nor 'responding' ... again).

Mac is better for Anyone who wants to work not spend time waiting for a OS to work.

Actualy Windows is working better on MacOS background (Parallels

Mr. Bill has had over 20 years to roll out an operating system that works reliably. So far, he hasn't done it. I didn't think it was possible to sink lower than XP. By golly, it's been done. Vista is the most problem infested OpSys I've seen in over 40 years of computing. Windows 7 is going to be different? I doubt it. Mathematical induction predicts worse performance.

no company admits there software is a failure.so does microsoft after making a crap software called vista

XP was great? It would take a vistaster to make XP look great. Oh yeah, that's what we got. LOL.

From Business week;

Quote

What is going to give Windows 7, which Microsoft insists will be out in early 2010, its wow?

At the D: All Things Digital Conference last night, Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer gave a brief glimpse at the the user interface of Windows 7. The demo mostly showed off a multitouch interface that allows users to use their hands to manipulate objects on the screen, as is done on th eApple iPhone and Microsoft’s own Surface. It also gave a glimpse, perhaps unintentional, of a reworked Windows taskbar that bears more than a passing resemblence to the Dock in Apple OS X.

Both are excellent ideas, but they raise a huge question: What’s the dramatic new feature in Windows 7 that doesn’t look, fairly or not, like it was copied from Apple?

Link at http://www.businessweek.com/the_thread/techbeat/archives/2008/05/windows_7_does.html

The last bit is what gets me.

Quote

Anonymous wrote:
You know there are folks out there who have no issues whatsoever with Vista and actually do think that Apple is a crutch for folks who don't use productivity software (read: Office). And don't give us any of that open source crap. You people just need something to comlplain about and since MS sells the mostly widely used OS in the world, they are the target.
Then again I guess if one can afford to pay 2-4 times the money for Crapple system then they have the right to complain about anything....

Ahh, I see the mental 10 year olds are out trolling in force.

Oh, wait. That's an insult to 10 year olds.

Last I knew, Microsoft sold an OS, which was then forced upon nearly every PC made. Apple might sell 10 million computers (no idea), but I know MS sells exactly zero (0) (excluding XBox). Big difference. But don't tell Steve B. that, least he throw a chair at you.

I still find it funny that "would have done it differently" != mistake. Yeah, I tell that to my boss all the time too!

Since voice input technology has been available on desktop computers for some time (easily more than 10 years), I find it difficult to imagine (1) how it can be reasonably portrayed as a futuristic technological advance and (2) how it would ever catch on, even with greater speed and accuracy. Surely most people want to minimize noise in their work environments and not go home hoarse from talking to their computers all day.

Quote

Guest wrote:
You know there are folks out there who have no issues whatsoever with Vista and actually do think that Apple is a crutch for folks who don't use productivity software (read: Office).

Yes it is shame that MicroSoft doesn't sell a version of Office for the Mac.

/snark

More people watch Fox than PBS. Does that make it "better"? My Mac has OS X & XP. Does your PC run Safari?

Quote

Anonymous wrote:
Apple is a crutch for folks who don't use productivity software (read: Office).

Office is productivity software?

All i know is that I have latest hardware, latest updates but the crap known as vista always gives me a trouble.. the latest trouble being i am never able to come back after a suspend .. I suspend my computer and when i open again .. i see the login screen, and nothing works .. no keyboard no mouse .. it hangs thats it !!!

Anyways dont know about apple, they arent that open too either .. if only OSX could have run on PC then things would have been different .. i dont know why that arrogance , they should open up !!

Anyways now i have been on Linux (ubuntu) , and i dont plan to go back to windows (atleast in home .. its been more than 1 month of happy linuxing). Office is a different issue .. i have xp and i have to use it .. though i dont have a lot of complaints with XP.

You can hope for extant PC system compatability for Win7, but clearly in the video demo was the statement that you will need new hardware. I hope MS think carefully as they will be the source of massive environmental waste with Win7 if they don;t figure out how to reuse existing HW!

Why is it that people think Apple's decision to not release OSX to run on generic PCs is "arrogance"? It is arrogant because they are not doing something that you want them to do?

I want Bill Gates to give me $1B. How arrogant of him to not do it.

Not releasing OSX to run on generic hardware is a business decision, pure and simple. Just because you don't like it doesn't make it arrogant.

You folks really need to look up the definition of arrogance.

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Guest wrote:
Are you seriously trying to compare the two?

PC is hands down the winner for number of users. Only artists and the unemployed (kind of redundant, I know) use Macs.

But wait, I thought all you PC drones believe in the "Macs are SO expensive" myth? So, how can unemployed people afford them??

Idiot.

recent comparisons report that apple laptops are actually slightly cheaper than PC counterparts, given EQUAL COMPONENTS. desktop apple systems are slightly more expensive (again, equal components). what you're suggesting is that you don't like apple's choice of hardware components, but at 11% of the current computer sales, many are starting to disagree with you. simplicity is really more important than flexibility, not just for artists, but for parents, those who don't want to spend all day learning trivial details of running a computer, and those without support staffs.

when it comes to software, 99% of the hundred's of programs i've downloaded for WinXP are junk. given the time to sort thru the good vs. bad, i'd rather get quality than waste my time.

windows is the broken-down car at the side of the road, with the guy under the hood saying "no, i want the torq screwdriver" as the mac guy arrives at his destination. i'd rather arrive than twiddle.