mkjones

I really wanted to download Firefox 3 yesterday. I waited all day for the update to appear on the website but nothing came so I logged off for the day, went to the pool and then relaxed with Euro 2008 for the evening.

Today I noticed that I had this email:

Check the time, go on, it says 6:35 PM last night. Now, I wasn’t online at this time. I was neck deep in chlorine infested water trying to work out why the pool was so busy for a Tuesday night.

Anyway, my point is they failed. I wanted to be part of the Firefox 3 download day thing but they messed up by sending the notification email at a truly stupid time when clearly between 9-5 would have been the sensible choice.

What they should have done is mailed me 2 days ago with a link to the site of a UK based (fast) download and the time at which they were planning to allow downloads to start. THEN I could have scheduled my time to at least check my email before I let the day end.

Hell, they could have even opened up a torrent file on the site so I could set it going and left it to download the file when they started seeding.

Unfortunately I won’t be upgrading to FF3 today. Or tomorrow actually. Not because of this scheduling mishap but because it seems that a few key add-ons which I use daily are not yet compatible.

Not that I won’t download it. In fact, if I download it from work AND then from home, does that count as 2?

More on the trail of the missing Vista marketing. It turns out Microsoft ARE advertising Vista. I’ve heard a couple of Ads on the radio (TalkSport) over the past week and today I got a TechNet email titled: “Why should you upgrade to Windows Vista?”

The email started with an apology:

“one of the implications of the increased focus on security was that compatibility with Windows Vista was not where we wanted it to be at launch. Over the past eighteen months, Microsoft and our partners have made tremendous progress in compatibility, performance, and battery life.”

It then went on to list a few “key facts”:

• Windows Vista now supports more than 77,000 printers, cameras, speakers and other devices.
• More than 2,700 software programs are “Certified for” or “Works with” Windows Vista; 97 of the top 100 consumer applications are compatible.
• 62% of small businesses said Windows Vista saves them time, and 70% said it makes them more productive, according to an independent survey.
• More than 140 million copies of Windows Vista have been sold, making it the fastest selling operating system in Microsoft history. Even Macs run it.
• 71 percent of Windows Vista customers like it better than their last operating system.
• People familiar with Windows Vista are two to three times more likely to have a favorable impression of it.
• Every 10 PCs that switch to Windows Vista is the equivalent of taking an automobile off the road, in terms of greenhouse gases.

I had to laugh a little at the “Even Macs run it” fact. Like they threw that in at the last minute and some Mac user out there is going to jump ship based on this email.

Not sure about the “71 percent” thing? Almost every Vista switcher I have spoken with agree that it is ‘better’ in some ways than XP but not enough to rave about. I can imagine they asked a lot of new, maybe non-techy users that one.

Overall however I’m impressed. Not by the facts in the message but by the fact that I have received at least some sort of clue from Microsoft convinces me they DO care about Vista and aren’t already digging its grave.

The one thing where the message didn’t explain however was the key differences between the 5 different versions. Something that has surely been putting users off since launch.

Since my post yesterday I have turned into a ‘Windows 7 PI’. Hunting down decent articles online to try and decipher the intelligence within.

In another article over at ars Peter Bright details what he saw from the W7 demo:

What was shown at D6 was rather less than hoped. The big feature—in fact, the sole feature—demonstrated was multitouch, the same technology as found in Microsoft’s multi-thousand-dollar Surface table and Apple’s iPhone. The demonstrated software was more or less the same demos we saw with Surface—photo scaling, finger painting, splashing about in water—along with a Virtual Earth/Google Earth-style mapping program. And that’s the extent of it.

So why did Microsoft bother? Its clear they want to let the world know that W7 is coming. A move which TOTALLY undermines Vista.

Sorry….

Its as if that inside Microsoft they know they messed up with Vista and they want to make it right before they loose everyone to other platforms. So by dangling the W7 worm out in the tech community they probably believe they are doing the right thing.

But they aren’t right. If the 2 Steve’s just came out and said “OK, Vista wasn’t what we hoped.” and apologized to all the techies and developers and then proceeded to open the floor to feedback and comments as to how to move forward then THAT would be the right thing to do.

Hello Seattle, I’m Listening

Given time I think this is what will happen. I still have an optimistic view that the next version of Windows will be what Vista should have been and that Microsoft will hear the backlash loud and clear.

There is one thing I like about the whole Windows 7 thing and that’s the name.

I was never a huge fan of ‘Vista’ as a name. Or of giving a real name to a Windows OS at all. I was always happy with numbers or years such as ‘3.11′ or ‘95′ and ‘2000′.

XP wasn’t so bad (Windows 2001 would have been really lame) but Vista should have been labelled ‘Windows 2007′ or something.

‘Windows 7′ is a cool name. Its short and sweet. Its simple and elegant. It doesn’t try and say anything about the OS like ‘Vista’ does and its not a weird acronym/pseudonym like NT or XP (New Technology and eXPerience).

I just hope that Windows 7 IS the final name of their next OS and it doesn’t end up getting a ridiculous monitor 6 months before release.

I’m sick of hearing about Windows 7.

I have only been using Vista for a year and already Microsoft have given up on it. This is evident though the lack of any serious marketing.

Is Steve Ballmer really ready to turn a $10 billion investment into a replay of Windows ME? I can’t believe he is but all the evidence points to this. I just hope he can fix the Vista mess before Microsoft start building a new OS.

Year One

After a year using Vista I can say that it IS a better OS than XP. But, only very marginally.

So small is the difference in fact I have quite happily left Windows XP on my work PC and have absolutely no need to upgrade. I require NONE of the new features in my work environment and if Vista was taken away from me tomorrow I would happily go back to using XP.

Vista isn’t any more stable or any leaner than XP. 2 things I hoped it would be. Its just as bloated and controlling as XP ever was.

In fact Vista, in terms of usability, is probably LESS usable than XP for new computer users. I managed to get to grips with the new annoyances (mostly security hand-holding) early on and customise Vista to work just how I wanted it to but I have over 10 years computer experience. I guarantee new computer users would be perplexed and even scared by some of the crap Vista churns out.

Not that I’m having a terrible time or anything. Quite the opposite. My new Vista-Ultimate-powered (self built) PC works great. It has only crashed out on me maybe 4-6 times over the year and runs smoothly during any task I have thrown at it.

So I’m, not bitching. I like Vista. I just don’t think Microsoft do.

7 Stone

The idea Windows 7 has been floating around ever since Vista was launched. Everyone sort of knew that Vista wouldn’t be the BIG upgrade Microsoft had promised so hoped the next version would be such a beast.

But, it turns out Windows 7 will be more of the same. Its code base is still in the same old Microsoft style. It doesn’t look like they are being revolutionary, it just looks like they want to get a new version out ASAP.

Take this quote from Mr Ballmer as evidence of this:

About the five-year gap between XP and Vista, Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer told a group of Microsoft MVP’s (Most Valuable Professionals), “We can’t ever let that happen again.” But whether the Incredible Hulk can successfully morph into the Silver Surfer is an open question.

I can see why they are looking at it this way. 5 years is a long time. And Microsoft didn’t evolve their new OS, they just made it work.

Right now, if it took another 5 years for Windows 7 to materialise Microsoft would suffer.

What NeXT

So my advise to Microsoft is this. Learn a lesson from Vista but don’t forget about it. Give it some support, some advertising. Quit PUSHING it onto OEM providers and businesses, let them see the benefits and decide for themselves.

This will probably buy Vista another 2-3 years as the main Microsoft OS, slowly replacing XP as it goes.

And, while this is happening, start over.

Do it! Drop the NT/XP/Vista/Longcrap/Whatever code base and start again.

Take a CHUNK of advice from Apple. Develop a new, spanky, light, modern and sexy OS from the ground up.

Erase the mistakes of the past. Bundle Virtual application support into the OS so old XP/Vista software can run in the new environment and slowly convert the Windows development world to a new, modern and clean standard.

Then, make it cheap. Like £50 ($100) and only have a SINGLE version! No Ultimate, Business, Premium, or Neanderthal version! Just plain old ‘Windows 7′.

I think this is the only way Windows 7 can succeeded. SURE have the touch screen, net-mesh and mobile features thrown in as well but don’t overload it. Give the OS back to the users.

As for me. Any more Vista bashing from Microsoft top-flight and I will seriously consider moving over to Mac. And I never thought I would say THAT 5 years ago when XP was released.

A few weeks ago my installation of AVG Free started to get whiny about an upgrade to the latest version 8.

At first I thought this was some seedy ploy to force ‘free’ users to upgrade to the ‘paid’ version of AVG. However, it seems you could still choose to download and install their wonderful ‘free’ version of AVG 8. So, this is what I did.

Sadly, I was duped.

It now seems that AVG, ever the staple of transparency and generosity, just got rather underhanded.

As soon as version 8 was installed I had a new ‘AVG Taskbar’ thrown into Firefox, something I did not agree to. Also, AVG now seems to be embedded into my web searches (see above screenshot).

The bottom line is that this is spyware. I didn’t expect it, I didn’t ask for it and it was pushed into my desktop using frankly out-of-character tactics.

This is really very sad as I have been a fan of AVG for a number of years after having many pains with Norton over the years. In fact, I have on a number of occasions helped friends and family install AVG’s free applications as their sole source of internet security.

It seems a shame that all of this now has to change.

Via: TweakVista

I finally got the chance to download and install Microsoft DeepFish on my SPV C600 today.

It a very novel mobile web browser which renders pages in miniature and then allows you to ‘zoom’ in on certain areas. Very similar to the DS browser.

More info from the Microsoft site:

Deepfish is a lightweight client application that leverages a powerful server side technology for delivery of content such as web pages to a Windows Mobile device. Content is displayed in a familiar desktop format that requires no additional work by the content or site author.

Deepfish provides:

• A familiar look and feel of web pages on mobile as seen on desktop.
• Bandwidth optimized rendering for faster content delivery.
• Address bar web navigation.
• Intuitive zooming, panning and cue map for quick navigation and browsing.
• Support for simple link navigation and form submission.

(Keep reading)

I have been using Vista a little bit on my new PC over the past couple of days and first impressions have been pretty good.

The most striking change from XP is of course the way it looks. The whole thing bleeds elegance and gloss and instantly gains respect.

I have yet to get down to the real guts of the new system yet as most of the time I have simply been watching progress bars transfer files from my old PC. But already I feel more excited and enthusiastic when using my new computer.

Vista has, perhaps unfairly, had a lot of stick over the past few months and I believe a lot of this comes from simple fear of change. There is arguably no need for Vista. XP does the job for most users and will do for a long time, so why change? Why move away from the comfort zone? Why not wait until the inevitable bug-fix service pack is released?

All of these are very good arguments. But, I for one welcome the introduction of Vista and see it as a worthy replacement for XP and a strong advisory for more ‘modern’ OSs such as OSX and the ever popular Ubuntu.

2 articles came to my attention over the past few days. The first was this one, which sells the idea of using purely web-based applications over more traditional ones such as Word and Outlook. The second is this, which proves that an old, well designed computer (in this case an Apple Lisa) can still be used for modern day work.

Both have some very good points and could be used as an argument for:

• a) never buying a new computer
• b) never upgrading your OS

So, is this true? Well I believe, partly it is. Even if I have just ordered a brand new PC and Windows Vista.

These days however (the days of Web 2.0 and broadband) you do not need a Sooper-Ghzord-megga-RAMedd-up power PC to do most things.

This is because most of our day-to-day computer needs can be done online simply using browser power. You do not even need a hugely powerful PC to achieve this, or even a large scale OS. (Keep reading)

Get the nice, new, OFFICIAL Zune Desktop Theme for Windows XP HERE and Vista-ize your XP desktop.

Here is a screen shot without the theme:

(click to zoom)

And with:

(click to zoom)

Mmmmmm, sexy blackness.