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[Chicago Astronomer - Astro Joe]

Microsoft not ready to set release date for new operating system

Microsoft has already delayed the Vista shipping date several times, much to the chagrin of financial markets and computer industry associates that wanted the new software available for the Christmas shopping season.

The new Vista target dates were set at November for business customers and January for personal computer users.

"We're going to ship the product when it's ready," Kevin Johnson, co-president of Microsoft's Platforms and Services Division, said during a Thursday conference with analysts at the Redmond, Washington, company.

"We go milestone by milestone. Product quality is job one."

Johnson added that staying true to the release schedule depended on feedback from millions of users testing the software.

"We are incorporating that feedback," Johnson said. "At this point in time, there is no data or information that says we are not going to make the November business availability or the January consumer availability."

The blurring of the release dates came as Microsoft chief executive officer Steve Ballmer stressed to analysts that Microsoft favored long-term strategies even if it meant profits suffered in the short term.

"Microsoft's not a company that starts things and gives them up," Ballmer told analysts. The company has yet to turn a profit on its Xbox video gaming console, its first foray into the hardware business.

More here: www.physorg.com/news73356602.html

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I refuse to install XP on my system, considering one has to "ask" Microsoft if it's ok to do so. I doubt very much Vista will reside in my tower.

[Bryant]

What are you running if you're not running XP? 2000?

[Chicago Astronomer - Astro Joe]

Bryant,

I bounce between Win 2000, Me and 98SE.

Although ancient OS's by current standards, I am comfortable with them, easy to install after a reformat, (which I do often), and accepts hardware changes without complaint. I don't use Internet Explorer for my browsing, but use Opera instead.

I got a Linix OS here on the shelf, but haven't tinkered around with it yet. Same with Win XP unopened box next to it. And I'm not a Mac person either.

I'm surprised that any of it works at all.

[Maddad]

I bought a new computer two months ago. Wanted my tried and true 98SE on it, but it came with XP professional. I was going to delete windows and program files, and re-install 98 SE, but the guy who sold it to me strongly recommended against it. He's a friend of mine of many years, so I kept XP. Figured out how to make it work like 98 SE though, mostly, so I can usually ignore the downgrade.

[Chicago Astronomer - Astro Joe]

Is Windows Vista Ready? NO!!!

There's been a lot of speculation and opinion about Windows Vista lately. Many claim that Microsoft's next generation operating system isn't ready and can't be made ready in time for the software giant's self-imposed October 2006 Release to Manufacturing (RTM) deadline.

No. God, no. Today's Windows Vista builds are a study in frustration, and trust me, I use the darn thing day in and day out, and I've seen what happens when you subject yourself to it wholeheartedly. I think I've mentioned the phrase "I could hear the screams" on the SuperSite before. My wife said that to me one day, and she was referring to the sound of me barking some primeval curse at my desktop PC as it succumbed to Vista's stupid slowdowns, crashes, and hang ups for the umpteenth time. She, more than anyone, knows the frustration I've experienced because of Windows Vista. But even she doesn't know the details. They would bore her, frankly. She's normal like that.

Here are some examples. I'm navigating around in Explorer and suddenly realize I need to access a file on a network share. In XP, this is easy as My Network Places is also available from the Task Pane. In Windows Vista, there's no Task Pane, and there's no link to Network in the new Favorite Links pane (though you can, admittedly, add one if you want, or add links to any network shortcuts). So you open Network from the Start Menu and wait ... and wait... and wait... while the damn thing finds all your networked PCs and servers. In XP, this process is instantaneous.

Or take IE 7. Please. I use IE for one thing and one thing only: The magazine's Web portal requires IE to post articles, and because I post WinInfo articles every day, I need to use IE. Every day. In IE 7, the rich edit control that forms the basis of the third party ActiveX control we used to post article bodies not only doesn't work, it is actually deprecated in Vista so that it will never work, even if you manually install it. That means I will have to use an older version of IE, in a virtual machine, to post WinInfo articles for the foreseeable future. Stupid.

And then there's that wonderful "Recent Items" entry on the Start Menu. I can't tell how it decides to cache stuff, but I can tell that it does not--ever--list the actual documents I most recently use. It's infuriating.

And why does the screen have to "pop" so violently when it switches between Aero and Windows Standard ("Windows Stupid," as I've grown to call it) because I need to run an application that, for some reason, won't let Aero continue running? (That application, by the way, is Virtual PC, which is required because of the IE issue mentioned previously. Auuuuugghhhhhh! It's a re-entrant annoyance!)

Why did I just waste four years making nice album art for music folders and custom folder art for photos? Microsoft changed folders completely in Windows Vista, and all that work just got flushed down the virtual toilet. (Microsoft calls this toilet the "Recycle Bin " as opposed to Apple's toilet, which was called "Mac OS 9.")

Full critique here: www.winsupersite.com/showcase/winvista_ready.asp

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Nope...not me. I'm not going for the Vista!... #shootme#