“The countdown for the release of Windows Vista keeps ticking, and the expectations—from outward appearances—seem to be growing. The signs are that Microsoft and Vista very early adopters expect some kind of community groundswell to take place around the launch and maybe even before. But based on reader reaction, the event planners should be able to take the day off,” David Morgenstern writes for eWeek.
Morgenstern writes, “Microsoft said it expects that 10 times more seats of Vista will be deployed at launch than were with earlier flavors, with deployment within the first year being twice as quick as that for any other version.”
Morgenstern asks, “But will there be some groundswell of consumer support for Vista? Will folks be lining up the night before, standing in the cold to be the first on their block with Redmond’s next-generation operating system?
“Does Microsoft somehow believe that it can pull the same reaction out of its installed base for an OS update as Apple does with its customers? There is little doubt that Mac OS X users will be lining up outside Apple stores next year when Tiger [sic] ships,” Morgenstern writes. “Based on customer expectations in my mailbox, no way. Microsoft expectations for an immediate win in the numbers game may be heading for disappointment.”
“For some readers Vista is just too much trouble, especially in business. The ROI in the upgrade is difficult for some customers to see at this time,” Morgenstern reports. “For example, here’s what one IT manager at a “small telecom company” said about the Vista transition: ‘I have just completed upgrading our small office from Win95/Win98 to WinXP, solely because ‘The Boss’ wanted to be able to play videos and connect to an MP3 service. Windows XP buys us nothing that is important to our basic business, and was, to my mind, a waste of time and money. We definitely are not going to move to ‘Vista’ or ‘Longhorn’ or whatever idiotic name Bill Gates comes up with next.'”
Full article here.
[Thanks to MacDailyNews Reader “Karwa” for the heads up.]
MacDailyNews Note: Morgenstern means Leopard, not Tiger. Mac OS X Tiger shipped on April 29, 2005 and itself bests Microsoft Windows XP SP3, er… Vista with considerable ease. Leopard will obliterate Microsoft’s latest mess.
Related MacDailyNews article:
CNET: Microsoft’s Windows Vista still not ready for prime time – October 12, 2006
Thurrott: ‘You don’t need Windows Vista’ – October 11, 2006
Microsoft’s Windows Vista spyware may prompt users to upgrade to Apple Mac – October 09, 2006
Windows Vista gaming will be 10-15 percent slower than XP – October 09, 2006
Analyst: Microsoft’s new activation scheme will give users another reason not to upgrade to Vista – October 05, 2006
IT Managers: Do you need Windows Vista or should you ‘Get a Mac?” – September 11, 2006
Infoworld: Microsoft’s WIndows Vista not so revolutionary after all – September 11, 2006
Pirillo: Windows Vista RC1 disappointing, schizophrenic, disordered, inconsistent, and sad – September 07, 2006
Key Microsoft exec exits as clock ticks down on oft-delayed, much pared-down Windows Vista release – September 06, 2006
$399 for Windows Vista Ultimate?! (Hint: Get a Mac) – August 29, 2006
Development approaches of Mac OS X Leopard vs. Windows Vista yield very different results – August 15, 2006
Analyst: Apple’s new Mac OS X Leopard sets new bar, leaves Microsoft’s Vista in the dust – August 08, 2006
Symantec researcher: At this time, there are no file-infecting viruses that can infect Mac OS X – July 13, 2006
Sophos: Apple Mac OS X’s security record unscathed; Windows Vista malware just a matter of time – July 07, 2006
Computerworld: Microsoft Windows Vista a distant second-best to Apple Mac OS X – June 02, 2006
Computerworld: Apple’s Mac OS X Leopard’s ‘Time Machine’ is truly remarkable – October 05, 2006
InfoWorld’s Yager: Apple will take computing to the next level with Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard – September 06, 2006
Apple’s Mac OS X Leopard is 64-bit done right, unlike Microsoft’s Windows Vista kludge – August 14, 2006
Mac OS X Leopard sneak peek highlights – August 09, 2006
Analyst: Apple’s new Mac OS X Leopard sets new bar, leaves Microsoft’s Vista in the dust – August 08, 2006
Inside Apple Mac OS X Leopard’s ‘Spaces’ – August 07, 2006
Take a ride in Apple Mac OS X Leopard’s ‘Time Machine’ – August 07, 2006
Apple previews Mac OS X Leopard featuring Time Machine, Spaces, enhanced Mail & iChat, and more – August 07, 2006
Apple previews Mac OS X Server Leopard; to ship in spring 2007 – August 07, 2006
Hey Apple,
It’s okay now to unveil the “Top Secret” Leopard stuff now. Vista is launching soon.
Awesome take, MDN. Short, to the point, and right on!
OOOOOOOOOOh just opened my new macbook, black and shiny, uber cool, the best cash I’ve spent this year, this is a fiskin’ awesome machine. Nothing in the comuterworld comes close to this little baby.
Vista is going to compete with this, with what exactly?
The hardware is perfect, OSX is perfect, the price is perfect and you can drop microshite on it.
For my kids photobooth is worth the price alone.
Who would buy anything else, except an iMac for the same price.
Apple needs to advertise the mac and not the pod, except the new shuffle which will sell by the squillion.
Just my simple 2p
ok should have been computerworld, sorry comuters
“…here’s what one IT manager at a “small telecom company” said about the Vista transition: ‘I have just completed upgrading our small office from Win95/Win98 to WinXP,…”
Now that’s just sad.
Windows 95 and Windows 98 were sad, pathetic jokes that weren’t even real operating systems. XP was barely functional. Now Vista brings Windows to the level of pleasant to use and semi-cool (I’ve checked out RC1 and I actually do like it quite a lot). Leopard of course will beat the pants off of it though.
This small telecom IT guy sounds like he should be in a different line of work. What about such things as usability, security, stability, and application platform possibilities? I wouldn’t be surprised if he thought GUIs are kind of silly and we should still be using DOS command line software.
*Sigh….*
Windows Vista is dead. Headed for oblivion.
Good riddance.
Welcome to Apple Mac OSX World…..!!!
@ Occam’s Razor Great post.
You said it just perfectly…well done!
Holy crap. Page 3 of the slide shows that the user “Stan” should make a “password reset floppy disk”. Are you kidding me?
Add in all the ridiculous licensing restrictions that Vista has revealed and WHY the hell would anyone want to upgrade anything to it ?
You can reinstall ONCE ? Get real.
You can transfer it ONCE ? If I swap a motherboard that’s one and if I do that again I have to buy a new license. Bullshit.
I’m pretty sure we’ll see people challenging these oppressive license restrictions as the draconian measures they are
Apple should air ads which tell the world that Vista can only be downloaded once.
SB-re-installed once.
I think we should give Microsoft a big round of applause for re-confirming with every move they make just how pitifully inept they really are. Steve Ballmer should apply for a job as a clown in the circus.
I’m afraid that the average Joe out there will think Vista looks “cool” because they have never seen or used OS X. Apple really needs to advertise OS X’s features and look so that folks won’t complain that Apple is copying off Microsucks. Watch – it will happen.
dbcoyle: Not only do they recommend that Stan create a password reset floppy disk (yep, floppy disk), but this is what the Create Password help screen says:
“You are creating a password for stan.
If you do this, stan will lose all EFS-encrypted files, personal certificates and stored passworded sites or network resources”
How about that? Poor ole Stan will lose some of his sh_t just to add a password for himself.
Microsoft is just showing him what “user-friendly” is all about.
Occam’s Razor: I have had my MacBook for 5 weeks and I love it too, but it isn’t perfect. For example, Safari freezes more often than not when I try to load this page. And if I close the lid too soon after choosing to shutdown, it goes to sleep instead.
Dang it, Occam, now I’m jealous… I’m still scaping together the cash for one of those. My G4 Ti-book has been rode hard and put up wet. It’s been dropped on both hinges, scratched, dented, and even peed on by Stinky the Cat (who narrowly escaped lethal injection). Thing is, it keeps right on humming along.
I think i’ll heat the house with it for one more winter, then give it one of those manly celtic burials where you set the wooden pyre on fire and all. I’ll probably use the barbeque though.
Cubert – you’re probably right – but I think that the ability to resist lunging at the gaudy colors in aero like a trout at a shiny fly is a good litmus test for potential mac users. No sense having Earl and Eunice clogging up the support lines over at Apple when they could be out patching Vista and relaying bad jokes on AOL.
I run XP on 4 out of 5 computers (1 x OSX). I have zero plans to upgrade to Vista at any time based on harsh licensing terms and problems with the software: bloated, buggy and not much new.
If MS doesn’t come out with something compelling within the next three years then I’ll slowly move back to Apple as XP and my hardware become obsolete.
Are you listening Microsoft?
I should have added that it’s too expensive as well and seven versions!???! Jeez!
Micro$oft is not the answer!
Micro$oft is the question and the aswer is NO!
The seven flavors of Vista:
1. Feces
2. Dung
3. Crap
4. Manure
5. Excrement
6. Stool
7. Turd
All tested and finally approved for commercial release. What would you expect from an operating system that has out lived its usefulness?
Are there any gamers here????? Just wondering cause i am pretty sure that the winodows vista will be much more gamer friendly then apple lol whcih kinda offers 5 games to play of which 3 of them are sudoko lol
gamers;
Are you for real?
“What if Microsoft held a Windows Vista party and nobody came?”
Of course, no one is going to cum. I mean, it’s not like Microsoft or Windows Vista is exciting or anything. I mean what sort of party are we talking about? Because I am not into those kinky ones.