XP - The death of Microsoft? 8

[Sensibilium]

So, it appears that Microsoft no longer trusts it's customers. How can they believe that Product Activation is a good thing for protecting consumers from the evils of piracy?

Personally, I think this will be make or break for MS, will everyone be shelling out for their software, and then be forced to activate it over the internet? For a start, are all consumers of Windows and Office really connected to the internet? I think not.

What does the future for the company I work for hold?
Well, we will be only going as far as Windows 2000 and Office 2000. If MS don't realise their mistake then we will continue to use this system until something better comes along.

Linux anyone? Ahdkaw
"What would you expect from a bunch of monkeys?"

http://www.sensibilium.com

 

[Kubilus1]

Well, it looks like XP WON'T be the death of MS afterall.

 

[Kubilus1]

I would try to make friends with someone who has experience installing an operating system, get them show you how.

(I haven't installed XP, but I have a multitude of others. MS operating systems aren't always the most fun to install.)

Installing an OS is a good thing to know how to do. Remember all of us in here were nontechies at one point. (Admit it guys.)

 

[Guest_imported]

lol @ Kubilus..yes that would be a good idea to get a techy pal huh...so is you friend book full? *:->* i can install to upgrade just not to downgrade. i could have taken it to a computer place but i really thought i could handle it. my head aches from trying to get this comp to work right. i tell you...be a techy is a gift, that i'm not patient enough to posses. Its very frustrating when your techy skills are trial and error lol
*looks around to see if anyone else admits they are were once nontechys *grins* thanks for the advise Kubilus.
Be Well A/all ~justAnewbie​

 

[gunthnp]

now how many people are runing xp(even on test machine) did you use wpa gunthnp
Have you ever woken up and realized you where not alive.

 

[techx]

The one thing people have not mentioned are the holes in Microsoft website. Most hackers love to push Bill to the next level, and see how he responds. I am usually pretty careful in downloading anything from his website, because ocassionally you will download a virus as well as the update(This from personal experience while updating Windows ME). I am very particular in my computers, and keep them pretty clean. I even use a firewall to protect myself from outside hackers. XP will not protect Bill from piracy. I am sure hackers will see this as the next challenge, and sonner or later the hole will be exposed. I have given up on Microsoft, and now refuse to buy any of their products. As a programmer I beleive in the qaulity of my applications, and yet Microsoft seems to find a way to put out shotty products with the publics endorsement. If I put out an application like that I would be fired from my job! Well heres to the Linux/Unix revolution!

 

[idontunderstand]

well,
i'm look at this from another point of view:
i've more than 1,000 costomers that work with my software,
cause its should run like a rock (non-stop working) - its
work in dos.
when i try xp and see its not easy (go to dos),
i stay (in dos).

my friend make joke of me that i'm still work with dos, but - if they see my bank account - they will stop.

i notice 2 nice os and i'm waiting, maybe you should
follow:
freedos and lindows.

have a good day!
eliezer.

 

[Guest_imported]

Microsoft's product activation has more to with declining revenue growth, rather than wanting your personal information.

PC sales have been declining over the last 2 years for both home and business users. And businesses are not upgrading PC’s at the same rate as the previous 5 years. In the past Microsoft didn’t worry about piracy because it made most of your money with Microsoft Office. Now the existing versions Office do everything that you could possible think of. So people stop buying the upgrades. I know several fortune 500 companies that still use Office 97 for many of their employees

So with these facts in mind, think about what you would do if you sold operating systems and office productivity software. The businesses that can afford the products have purchased them already and are not interested in upgrading. The average home user could care less about the new version because AOL works fine with the version they have and they use “Microsoft works” for the kid’s homework and Christmas cards. This just leaves the Pirates as the last area of revenue growth.

Bill Gates may have a personal fortune but most of the people that work for Microsoft do not. And they have families to feed.

Think about it.

PS: Marxism sounds great but no one ever seems to get past the second stage.

 

[gwinn7]

My understanding is that when revenues are on the decline, companies generally provide customer incentives, making their product easier to purchase, and use, rather than more difficult.

What MS is doing seems to be the exact opposite. Raising prices, placing more requirements on the customer, and invading privacy certainly does not encourage consumers to purchase their products or convince companies to upgrade. I wonder how many of those Fortune 500 companies would consider upgrading from Office 97 if Microsoft realistically factored in how much benefit it would be to upgrade and how much these companies would pay/sacrifice for it.

Microsoft seems to also have failed to recognize that the computer software industry has been changing in ways it had not expected, or frankly, wanted. For example, open-source is growing in demand and Microsoft is becoming aware of this. Lets also not forget Microsoft had to play catch-up, and they did quickly, in involving themselves with the Internet. Its probably obvious to say that the market will continue to surprise Microsoft. With this and the points mentioned in the prior paragraph, will not help Microsoft's end goals. The goal should be to provide for the needs/wants of the consumer. Microsoft seems to have other ideas of what this means.

When companies like MS, not unlike most monopolistic-like companies, attempt to control the consumer, it only opens the door for other software companies to step up, like Linux. So, my fellow colleagues, lets step up.

Look, personally, I love a lot of what Microsoft has done. They have produced a lot of good stuff, provided standards, and gave the software and hardware industries direction and some stability; not to mention its a lot of fun to work there (withholding how they have treated contractors). Lets face it, a lot of COOLNESS. I would like to see Microsoft be more onboard with consumers than on their OWNboard. Hopefully, MS will get back to basics before its too late.

PS. Lets hope we never ever see the Marxism reach ANY stage. Marxism is a BAD idea.

Gary
gwinn7

 

[Kubilus1]

I agree for the most part. However a lot of companies use Microsoft products very pervasively, switching may not be an option. Even with the new licensing and cost issues, for many companies, it still may not be practicle to consider changing systems in midstream.

Administration of a Microsoft based network as opposed to a linux based network is a different thing entirely. Many companies already have in house IT departments that are MS experts, but know little about other systems. The cost of hiring a new IT department or re-training the current one may be enough to prevent a switch.

Also you have to take into account MS office. Though some rival office suites that work across many systems have come a long way (StarOffice and Gobe Productive for example) and are great for home use, they can leave something to be desired in a business environment. Outlook, despite all it's problems, is a very useful tool to keep in contact with co-workers. (though I understand there is work done for a linux based tool like this). Also, many companies use Microsoft Access to easily build their databases. There simply isn't an alternative that matches the ease of use and flexibility of Access.

Furthermore, just the risk involved in switching systems (real or just in the imagination of managers) for data loss, down time, or disaster (companies using their computers to control chemical processes for instance) may be too great, despite the potential cost savings.

I should mention that I am not a Microsoft advocate (I never plan to put XP on any computer I own) and am always in search for the perfect replacement OS for windows (it doesn't exist yet, but there is a lot of potential on the horizon.) These views are just what I feel are on the minds of many people from a business standpoint.

Matt

 

[Guest_imported]

Microsoft insisting on activation to prevent theft?
Hey! No problem . . . that's fair. If I buy the product they have a right to prevent theft . . . BUT I HAVE RIGHTS TOO! If they sell a product . . . it ought to work. When it does'nt I should'nt have to buy an upgrade to get the version fixed. Microsoft Technician: "Yes Sir, we know about that behaviour which we are correcting in our Beta release . . . I can send a pre-release Beta of that for only . . ."

If Microsoft's products do not work, I should be able to return it for a full refund . . . Notwithstanding that as a consumer Microsoft should re-imburse me for mis, mal, and nonfunctioning of the product. If Microsoft wants full and fair compensation for their product . . . I am willing to pay and abide by their rules . . . as long as they are required to abide by the same fair rules for the performance of their product.

 

[Kubilus1]

Heck yeah, darn straight!

 

[gwinn7]

Microsoft believes you have rights...

The right to be inconvenienced
The right to give up your personal information
The right to pay more for faulty products and fixes to them
The right to be monitored

One question is, is it smart to financially feed a company that believes it can and should control its consumers? Forgive me for being a little idealistic here, but I come from a place where the customer is the boss.

If you want to support that, by all means, obviously its your choice, but its consequences are frightening.

"Bow down to the one your serve.. you are going to get what you deserve" -- Some rock song

Gary
gwinn7
"I'd rather die than give you control!" -- same rock song

 

[ashenfie]

Hi,
You miss the point guys. XP is making it harder to rip off software thats good. Why I hear you ask, it's simple. MS has no competing software because MS is the standard and it does most things I want OK.

Problem is thats it's not getting much better just changes for no really good reason. Thats because no one is pushing MS along, to make it better!

I can't write a better Office solution because no one would buy it. They would simply rip a copy, if they did want to pay and get the standard for nothing.

Take that option away and they might purchase a cheaper solution. This in turn would make it poss. to develope that solution, hence MS would have to compete.

It has to be a freeware solution thu I hear yo cry else MS will buy them out or make them go bust!!! You have a point there and i'm not sure to prevent that from happening?


QED better software for all!!!

 

[Kubilus1]

Adequacy is sufficient--this has always been Microsoft's attitude for software. Innovation and good ideas don't sell. Give the user just enough for their purpose and market, market, market.

 

[haxx77]

Micorosft will be around for at least several hundred years. Even though MS products crash all the time they are 15-20 years ahead of any open source project in terms of features and user friendlyness.

When you can give your mom a Redhat 13.0 CD and she can install it on any computer in the world with no help other than on screen prompts. When she can scan, print, email and chat all within an hour. That is when micosoft will have problems.

Did you know that Micorsoft has a CASH STASH of 30 BILLION dollars just sitting around for no real reason other than Bill wants to be able to pay every microsoft employee world wide for 1 to 2 years even if the company has ZERO revenue.

 

[wushutwist]

Let me see you install Windows 2K or XP on a machine that is 2 years old. Talk to me next week after you track down all the necessary drivers.

Irks me when people say Windows is easy to install and Linux isn't. Yes, new machines are easy to install Windows on, older are not as nice. Contrast this with the ease of installing Mandrake. Have you even installed Linux? Doesn't sound like it. Give me a older laptop and I will have it up and running Linux long before you could ever get a flavor of Windows installed (even before all the driver issues). So stop playing the ease of install argument, it is old and flawed.

Having said that, I still don't try Microsoft is going away but get your facts straight.

 

[Kubilus1]

Well BeOS was years ahead of Windows when it came out, and still keeps up with except for a lack of drivers and apps. It's still more stable and user friendly.

Windows 95 was just a rip-off of OS/2 that came out years before.

I'm with you wushutwist, windows is not fun to install. The installer for every new version of windows seems to be worse than the previous. All the patching really irks me. It took me about 15 tries and 4 hours to get winXP to 'auto'update from microsoft's website. I could have downloaded three ISO's from MandrakeSoft, burnt them and had a system running in half the time.

 

[haxx77]

I don’t use XP or 2000 pro for workstations I still use 98. I can set it up on any computer from a 486 on with a simple script. And my mom can set it up by putting the CD in the drive and following the rpompts.

I hate Microsoft as much as you guys. I prefer Unix servers.

I just hate to see the blind ignorance of your posts. Office 2002 has about a zillion features. Windows 98 can be installed by a kid. You can't beat that.

Just be logical about it. Microsoft is guilty of many things. But their products aside from being unsecure and unstable are easy to use. And they have so many features that nobody knows them all.

Your are probably on a windows machine now as you prepare to bash them again.

 

[haxx77]

I want open source to be the world standard also. But in order to beat microsoft's zillion dollar R & D, people like you and me need to be highly active in redhat and star office's open source projects.

There is no other way.


You wasted valuable time by posting a microsoft bashing comment.

 

[garwain]

---Quote---
(Dont suggest LINUX). There really is not ANY other OS out there that is as easy to use out of the box as Windows. Sure LINUX is strong and has its points, BUT it is not easy to use or learn for those who dont know a whole lot about computers.
---End Quote ---

I as well would have to disagree. I know I'm a professional, but even my 93 year old grandmother could get anything from a 486 to a $4000 state of the art machine to connect to the net from a redhat 7.1 (haven't tried 7.2 yet) cd. I have just set up a dual processor server with redhat 7.1 without a single problem that required anything more complicated than deciding what IP to assign it...

As for a home system on a dialup connection let's see, tell it desktop install and let it build the partitions walk away for 3/4 of an hour for a slow machine and then come back and give a root password, create a regular account by entering a name and password, let it autoprobe for video drivers, let it reboot into graphic mode and automatically load xwindows. Open the internet configuration tool in gnome or KDE, type in the ISP's phone number with your internet username and password and then set up your mail account in netscape following the instructions given by your ISP... This seems just as easy as setting up win2k.

Now you want change computers FORGET RE-INSTALLING! just put the same HDD into the new computer... boot... confirm that it is to make the recommended hardware changes... type in your password.

As for the install instructions I may have forgotten one or two steps that are WELL DOCUMENTS in the instructions that appear as you install, but they are still so simple that a person capible of reading can do it.

Regarding the transfer of HDD, I use removable HDD racks to dual boot, and out of 3 systems with big hardware differences I can swap the Linux Redhat 7.1 system between any one of them, while I can only interchange win2k between 2 of them and have to install a lot of the drivers MANUALLY!