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Around 2 weeks ago Microsoft released Windows Vista to the public. The consent from the masses is divided, some hail it for the security features, some for the usability, but most (including me) just fail to understand what makes it so better than XP, and especially why an operating system need such highend hardware to run smoothly.

Also around 2 weeks ago, PC World released two articles called “15 Reasons to Switch” and “Wait! Don’t buy Vista“. I’ll list their 15 supposed reasons to switch and the 6 reasons to stay with XP here and give me own comments on them, because frankly, most of the info from the first article sounds like it came straight from Microsoft PR. So prepare for the view of a programmer, network admin and freelancing web-designer on these reasons pro & con Windows Vista:

15 Reasons to Switch - I don’t think so…

1. “It’s the Interface, Stupid”
   The new interface is probably the number 1 hardware monster in Vista. Flashy animated menus, a 3D taskswitcher, transparent windows, etc. Who needs this anyway? I haven’t seen too much users that still have the flashy Luna theme that came with XP - either they downloaded a smoother theme or used the old classic Windows theme. Flashy is not the same as userfriendly!
2. “Flip Over Windows Flip 3D”
   As I said on the first issue, who needs that 3D taskswitcher? Those users that want a really flashy OS are better served with Media Center Edition or other such OS’s and the ones that want to work (and/or game) efficiently on their machine will still have to endure the slowdown that the feature produces especially on machines older than a year.
3. “Live Thumbnails”
   Okay, I admit that feature is kind of nice, especially because the thumbnail is live and therefore will play a video if the program does it and so forth.
4. “Boost Performance With ReadyBoost”
   When the OS is performing lowgrade, you just put in another tool to boost the performance? Great idea… but wouldn’t it be better to have the system itself perform better in the first way?
5. “Cool Performance Tools”
   Well okay, nice to have. But I have tons of these already working on my harddrive, all of them freeware.
6. “Better Security”
   The only thing that really is better than XP, because comparable to Linux when you try to do something only an admin could do, you get a login dialog so that you will have admin rights only for this operation and can then continue to surf the web or whatever you did without the crucial admin rights.
7. “Find Anything Fast With Search”
   One word: Google Desktop Search. Okay that were three, but an URL sure has to count as a single word right? desktop.google.com
8. “Nifty Software Gadgets”
   Everthing that Vista wants to have as “new gadgets” was already available since aons on Linux systems, and even on windows machines as Freeware like Desktop Sidebar or many others.
9. “Better Wireless Networking”
   WLAN without a hassle when you try to connect to a network after using your laptop in another wireless network? I’ll believe it as soon as I see it.
10. “Map Your Network”
    Nothing else than another way to view the network neighborhood in essence.
11. “Better Graphics With Windows Photo Gallery”
    IrfanView for viewing, PhotoShop for editing. Nothing comes even close.
12. “Become a Director With Windows Movie Maker”
    Windows Movie Maker was already in XP. And it was crap. Okay some amateur (video) editors may have used the program to cut a few holiday videos, but nothing good has come of it. If you really want to edit video professionally, you want to use Pinnacle Studio, Adobe Premiere or the most highend, an Avid.
13. Better Notebook Support”
    Wow, I can turn on and off my wireless adapter from within Windows? I can do that now on XP as well with the laptop tools provided by the manufactor. And to top that, Windows XP uses a lot less hardware power and therefore battery life power so it will run longer than Vista.
14. “File Sharing and Syncing”
    I admit being able to sync different directories over the network without any installed tool is kinda nice.
15. “Protect Your Kids With Parental Controls”
    Yada Yada Yada, “Killergames”, “Erfurt”, “Columbine”, Yada Yada Yada. If you spend quality time and conversation with your child it won’t need to be locked out of the PC, and it surely won’t shoot random people just because it was able to do so on a screen. I’m not saying 5 year olds should play Doom 3, but reasonable parents should come up with something else than just locking them out without a reason.

And now, for something completely different!

Wait! Don’t buy Vista - That’s my kind of talk…

1. “Vista Is Incomplete”
   Indeed it is. Hotfixes and Servicepacks come out for every Windows. But there have to be drivers available at launch too. Surround sound, for instance, only works with certain Creative cards and not with most others, those only output stereo. nVidia and ATI graphic card drivers are still in beta, etc. Why switch from a perfectly fine running system to a proably broken system if I can’t even install all the drivers needed?
2. “Vista Is Expensive”
   Indeed it is. And Vista Ultimate is the only version I’d settle with.
3. “Vista Wants a New PC”
   If you PC is older than a year Vista probably won’t run as smoothly as you see in the presentation videos. 2(!) Gigabyte of RAM is heavily recommended for it, a number that was before reserved to gaming stations and CAD machines or the likes, is now needed by a simple operating systems?
4. “Vista Is Time-Consuming”
   Well once it is truly running it probably won’t be, but until then, good luck. Again the thought comes to mind, “never touch a running system” - why spend days of work installing and configuring a new system when the old one is perfectly fine?
5. “Windows XP Isn’t Obsolete”
   Everything I said here written in one italic sentence.
6. “Vista May be the Best Reason Yet to Buy a Mac”
   Well I didn’t expect that as a reason not to buy Vista! But there is truth behind the statement: If you have to get your employees used to Windows Vista, you might as well get them used to a mac, and in the meantime do away with virus problems and all the likes that bug Windows.

Read more about the Hidden Costs of a Windows Vista Upgrade.

Hooray, no spam here!

GMail message in Spam folder upon finding no entries in there

That message just flickered on my screen while I was cleaning up my GMail account, filtering and labeling everything I had bunched up in my inbox, so now it is neatly ordered. Anyway most “professional” programs just use the standard yes/no/cancel dialogs and all the stuff standard libraries give you. But I was always a digger for the unusual (error) messages, like the great game Civilization III, where the dialog to quit the game wasn’t prompted with yes/no but “Get me the hell out of here!” and “No I’d rather stay.” respectivily.
Another funny - while probably not intendet that way - message will be output by most BIOS’s when there is no keyboard connected to the PC:

Keyboard not found. Hit F1 to continue

Yeah right. I’ hit the imaginary F1 button on my imaginary keyboard that I connected to the imaginary USB port over there.
But as usual, the best stuff comes from linux/unix systems. If your user entry cannot be found in /etc/passwd on some systems, you might get

You don’t exist. Go away.

• Just what do you think you’re doing Dave?
• That’s something I cannot allow to happen.
• This mission is too important for me to allow you to jeopardize it.

If only there would be more Windows programs that would abandon the standard dialog boxes and use their own individual messages, life@windows would be much more fun…

Experience teaches that, of all the emotions, fear stands alone in its power to move us, or to capture us in its grip forever. In a world of terrors, there is nothing more fearsome that the unknown…especially when what is unknown is ourselves.

The Outer Limits

If you are going to be worried every time the universe doesn’t make sense, you are going to be worried every moment of every day for the rest of your natural life.

Citizen G’Kar