Bad Windows

Steve Ballmer is many things: Microsoft CEO, 43rd richest person on the planet, monkey dancing video star. Wikipedia says that he has "been known to be very passionate in expressing his enthusiasm." We have 10 reasons to suggest (tongue in cheek) he should be in a rubber room eating soft fruit…

There is no doubting that Steve Ballmer has come a long way since managing the Harvard University football team. There is no doubting that Steve Ballmer has done good, to the tune of around USD $15 billion in the bank.

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Microsoft (NSDQ: MSFT)'s new Windows ad, featuring Jerry Seinfeld, is outdated and not very funny — but it's highly revealing of all that's wrong out there in Redmond.

The background: Windows is losing market share to Apple's Mac OS and even Linux. And Vista, the latest version, has been a big fat dud. Businesses have shunned it outright, and many consumers find it unintuitive and difficult to use.

So, Microsoft hired "award winning" agency Crispin, Porter + Bogusky — at a reported cost of $300 million — to give Vista, and the Windows franchise in general, an image makeover. The Seinfeld ad debuted Thursday and it's the first piece of an integrated marketing campaign covering TV, the Web, and point-of-sale outlets.

It's not going to work.

Read more at InformationWeek

Windows Vista has been out for almost two years now but it still suffers from stability and compatibility issues, let alone an insatiable desire for beefier hardware. You don't have to live with it; here are five reasons why Linux makes a better choice for your computer.
One of the many differences between a computer and an appliance is that your computer’s system software can be easily updated. New features can be added. By contrast a whitegoods maker can’t easily add new features to their microwaves or washing machines once they’ve been constructed and sold. This is a realistic thing: even the simplest appliance can have programming flaws, or gain from improved logic or more user options.

Most readers will no doubt have upgraded the operating system on their own computer at some point, whether from Windows ’95 to Windows ’98 or Windows XP to Windows Vista or some other step.
Yet, an operating systems upgrade doesn’t necessarily have to wend its way through the range offered by one vendor. After all, just as you can replace the software that drives your computer in the first place so too you can replace it with anything that targets the same hardware.

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What evidence exists to show that Vista is driving people to GNU/Linux? Let's take the individual who wants to buy a new computer. He or she buys a machine with Windows – that is the norm. And these days, you can ask for XP instead of Vista if you wish – as many businesses do.

Even if you did not want Windows on that PC, there is no way that the average retailer would have the skill or the patience to install GNU/Linux on it – and continue to support it for the normal one-year period. You would have to do the installation yourself – and how many brave souls are willing to undertake that?

Let's get this straight – if we are saying that GNU/Linux is being picked in preference to Vista, then we need some statistics showing that a sizeable number of people are asking their retailers to install the free operating systems on their new PCs in preference to Vista. In the absence of any numbers – and I doubt whether you'll ever get them – such claims remain just anecdotal claims.

Read more at iTWire