[Nottingham] Virus warnings as Microsoft launches Vista

[Martin]

Martin wrote:
> Folks,
> 
> FYI:
> 
> Virus warnings as Microsoft launches Vista
> http://business.guardian.co.uk/print/0,,329700076-108725,00.html

Over a brew, just had a quick glance over a "main points" slideshow for
the all New Windows Vista, and:
http://tomshardware.co.uk/picturegalleries/gallery-200701291.html

Well...

The only eye-catching there were:
3D-chess;
IPv6 support;
The display theme looks very tired;
And still the mal-ware (potential virus) hangups "IN-YER-FACE-DIALOGS".

The Beryl demo showing off *multiple* window *managers* on Linux
including the 3D stuff by Michael last night at the Beeston Beers on his
humble laptop looked far more impressive!

In a related link:

Windows XP vs. Vista: The Benchmark Rundown
http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/2007/01/30/xp-vs-vista-uk/

The biggest hype there is for:

"Windows Vista Performance Enhancements
With SuperFetch and ReadyBoost, Windows Vista introduces two features to
make use of today's technology in order to improve the user experience.
This means that more application data should be actively cached into all
available memory (SuperFetch), whether that is physical RAM or a USB
Flash memory device (ReadyBoost). Microsoft's goal was to create
balanced performance by removing delays in everyday work."

...Eh? Isn't that just donkeys years old simple filesystem caching?!

Oh, and OpenGL is NOT supported! Oh #2, Windows Vista is still slower or
at least no faster than Windows XP despite the "SuperFetch and ReadyBoost".

"We are sure that mainstream users will appreciate the improved
usability of Windows Vista, and the average office/multimedia user will
likely never notice the lack of OpenGL"

And in summary:

"...[applications] suffered heavily from the lack of support for the
OpenGL graphics library under Windows Vista. This is something we
expected, and we clearly advise against replacing Windows XP with
Windows Vista if you need to run professional graphics applications.
Both ATI and Nvidia will offer OpenGL support in upcoming driver
releases, but it remains to be seen if and how other graphics vendors or
Microsoft may offer it."


Another giggle is:

25 minutes to boot - Geek Squad warns of Vista first bootup times
http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/2007/01/31/best_buy_geeksquad_vistaproblems/

First glance, I thought that was an "April 1st" spoof, but no it is all
serious stuff!


OK, so it looks like a little bit of a challenge even for the Microsoft
Marketing Machine. But then again, the 'average Joe' in the street is
computer illiterate enough to just blindly take whatever is given. 'It
costs money so it must be good!'

:-(
Martin


-- 
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Martin Lomas
martin at ml1.co.uk
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