[olug] Microsoft Vista: Not 'People Ready'

[Eric Lusk]

Of course, so many people and businesses never look at
the long-term cost, not even a few months, or even
just weeks, into their purchase...
How many times have companies spent hundreds of
thousands of dollars recovering from the virus that
just deployed across their network because they had to
have the latest version of Windows?  And how many
individuals spend $80+ per hour to have their
computers formatted and reloaded because the pop-up
windows just won't go away?
I just had Win2K crash on my system.  No virus, no
spyware, it just decided to corrupt the partition it
was installed on.  The drive itself tests ok; I've
even got Linux installed on another partition on the
same drive.  Been running fine.
Then again, it's probably a good thing the masses are
used to mediocrity; it keeps most of us employed,
charging the high cost of maintenance for that
"inexpensive" PC that came with Windows installed...
It also gives the hackers something to spend their
time exploiting, and lets them leave the Mac and *nix
systems of the world alone.

--- Robert Alan Jacobs <r.a.jacobs at cox.net> wrote:

> Adam Lassek wrote:
> > I think it's increasingly obvious that Microsoft
> has simply outlived
> > their usefulness. These stuffed shirts at MS
> blather endlessly about
> > user friendliness--how long did you take to coin
> "People Ready"? Why
> > not shut up and spend that time actually DOING it?
> Meanwhile, Apple
> > continues to run circles around Microsoft in both
> simplicity, utility,
> > aesthetics, and, most importantly, turnaround
> time. Pretty much every
> > measerable way other than cost, which combined
> with incompatibility
> 
> Cost: money talks.  All of those other points are of
> secondary
> importance to most users.  Why? Because once you've
> been trained to do a
> task a certain way, *every other way is more
> difficult*....until you
> learn it.  Once you learn it, you may never want to
> go back to the "old"
> way...but convincing someone to even attempt to
> learn a new way to doing
> business can be very difficult.
> 
> I don't know if it is true, but I seem to remember
> an anecdote about
> Steve Jobs:  Steve has never been interested in
> users; he wants
> believers.  Believers are willing to pay the
> premium.
> 
> I've wanted an Apple for a long time; I just cannot
> afford to pay the
> premium and, while I think Apple is a cut above the
> rest, I'm not
> willing to pay the premium when I can buy a Dell
> that can do everything
> I need to do for anywhere from 1/3 to 1/2 cheaper
> than an Apple.  Add in
> the fact that I'll probably wipe that Dell and put
> Linux on it and there
> is even less reason to buy an Apple.
> 
> I know, I know.  With Apple, it just works (TM). 
> Believe me, I'd love
> to own one - but a Dell with Ubuntu Linux is not
> that much behind an
> Apple with Mac OS X; the worst part about it,
> however, is that because
> the cost to enter the Apple World has been set where
> it has been set,
> I'll probably never get to try it out first hand.
> 
> I'm not enough of a believer, I guess.
> 
> How many people buy copies of Microsoft software
> that do not come
> pre-loaded with a new computer?  I'm willing to bet
> very few (which
> makes the whole Vista schedule-slipping SNAFU even
> more of a problem for
> Microsoft).  Money talks.
> 
> I don't like it but Bill Gates is basically right: 
> relatively easy to
> use, cheap and "good enough" will almost always win
> out over more
> expensive options...except with a small crowd of
> people who "get it".
> Jobs wants those people who not only "get it" but
> are willing to pay for it.
> 
> > with most Windows software are the only two things
> left holding them
> > back.
> > 
> > Steve Jobs sure is making Gates, Ballmer and co.
> look pretty foolish.
> 
> Not sure if I agree with this statement.  He's
> making Microsoft look
> foolish to whom?  A few tech pundits?  A bunch of
> Linux geeks who are
> already predisposed to root for anyone who is not
> Microsoft? When the
> masses and corporations start defecting to Apple or
> Linux in large
> numbers, we can say that Jobs is making Microsoft
> look foolish but until
> that happens we are just rabid geeks howling in the
> wind. Corporate
> America will bluster, threaten and howl...until
> Microsoft gives them a
> discount...and then the business drones will go back
> to their desks,
> write up a statement on how much they saved the
> company in licensing
> costs, get their promotion and life will go on.
> 
> Ah, well.
> 
> -raj
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> 


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