As you can see in Galen Gruman’s opinion essay in InfoWorld, “Why XP must be saved,” there’s certainly a movement afoot to stop Microsoft from discontinuing the product.
Currently, Microsoft says that it will stop selling Windows XP at the end of June. Windows Vista has been out for a year now.
I haven’t done a serious evaluation of Windows Vista, although I have installed a version of it onto an old laptop (sadly, one which doesn’t support the GUI richness that the software offers). I use it primarily for those rare instances when I need to use Office 2007 to convert a file, view a Web page with “real” Internet Explorer, or test something.
However, while I can honestly say that I know people who espouse that Windows Vista is better than Windows XP, most of them work for Microsoft. The number of “civilians” who have told me that they are using Windows Vista is very small — and only a handful have said that they actually prefer it, mainly because of the UI effects.
At our company, we have decided to stay on Windows XP for as long as we can. New Windows computers purchased, with the exception of two for our .NET developers who wished to work on the new platform, are still purchased with Windows XP. Frankly, we don’t see a single business benefit to adopting Windows Vista for our users. That means, there’s no ROI. Our IT staff dislikes the idea (and cost) of migrating existing machines to the new operating system. Given that, it makes good sense for us stay on a single platform, as much as possible.
Yet, while I hope that I can keep buying Windows XP for my new hardware, I’m torn by the “Save XP” petitions promoted by Galen and others. Yes, I’m going to sign on. However, the real answer isn’t to insist that Microsoft indefinitely maintain two different desktop operating systems. That’s just not realistic.
It’s also not realistic to expect Microsoft to give up on Windows Vista and keep selling Windows XP until the successor to Windows Vista (aka Windows Seven) ships many years from now. At some point, Windows XP’s clock is going to run out.
Instead, I’d rather see Galen — and other vocal Windows Vista critics, like Steven Vaughan-Nichols — come up with a concrete list of things that they want Microsoft to do to fix the software. What would make a new version of Windows suitable for business, and arguably worth migration from Windows XP?
I’m sorry, but a vague “We don’t like Windows Vista,” or “It was a big mistake,” or “It’s a huge waste of money,” or “We don’t like change,” isn’t enough.
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I think this is a question worth asking. Although this links to an article in French, you’ll probably get the idea: Bill Gates is visiting my beautiful city, Paris, just like many other well-known figures the U.S have brought to the world, such as Britney Spears, Georges W. Bush and Mr Potato. The major difference with them is that Bill Gates did not have to avoid mobs of curious people or fans (although I think Mr Potato managed to spend some time pretty much anonymously ). Bill Gates took the opportunity to enslave sign an agreement with the mayor of Paris that will provide educational and social services of the city with “free” PCs running Windows Vista (oh, Joy!).
So this world benefactor (I know, I know, he’s done a lot to fight AIDS. But wait, there’s more to it) that everybody loves had to set up a press conference with no journalists around, while bodyguards and roads were emptied for his cars to circulate. Here’s a man who’s loved by everybody, that comes to Paris for an initiative to help bridging the digital divide, and who has to hide from people.
Call me envious, jealous, or simply evil, but it’s been a long time I don’t buy into Mr Gate’s social initiatives. I call them enlightened self-interest, especially when it’s about offering computers running Vista to the poor the very same day the French gendarmerie is announcing the migration of 70,000 desktops to Ubuntu Linux. Yes, you read that right. If there’s any news this week coming from France, this is it.
Now, I respect what Mr Gates’s other initiatives worldwide, I truly do, because no good deed should be unappreciated. But this kind of political agreements trapping one and benefiting the other outlines how powerless behemoths like Microsoft arein front of Free Software. As time will go by, we will see more announcements related to migrations to the Linux desktop, and Microsoft should better realize this instead of vampirizing whole governments. No monopoly lasts for ever, just like no system is perfect. In fact, flawless systems only exist in the mind of their authors.
Let’s take an example: The City of Paris can boast one of the very best public cleaning services in the world (it truly has such one) .Yet everybody who ever walked in the streets of Paris has noticed how much dog’s poo lies on the sidewalks. Our public cleaning service is not perfect, and many citizens are just careless, although our cleaning service is improving every year.
That’s just the same with Free Software: Its adoption will continue to grow, but you will always learn about those dubious and grandiose announcements related to Microsoft. If you pay too much attention to those, you will miss the bigger picture, just like paying attention to the annoyances on the street of Paris will make you miss how much this city is beautiful.
Tags: Linux, softwarePer motivi a me del tutto sconosciuti il database di ..digital||divide.. alcune settimane fa ha cessato di funzionare.
Ogni tentativo di rianimazione è stato inutile… e i backup automatici di DreamHost non potevano essere ripristinati, visto che il database era morto…
Per fortuna ho uno script che ogni notte mi fa il backup di tutti i miei db, li gzippa e me li manda via email ad un account gmail… così ho avuto qualcosa da cui ripartire.
“E ci voleva tutto ’sto tempo per tornare online?”, direte voi (ditelo!). In effetti bastava qualche minuto… ma bisognava trovare il tempo di farlo…
Comunque sia, eccomi qua
As many of you are aware, Alex Brown will be the "Convenor" of the OOXML Ballot Resolution Meeting (BRM) that will run from February 25 through 29 in Geneva, Switzerland. Alex has a variety of unenviable tasks, including:
Trying to interpret various standing Directives and other ISO/IEC JTC1 rules and practices that were created for what might be described as kinder, gentler times (not to mention for shorter specifications).
Figuring out how to process c. 1,000 comments (after elimination of duplicates) during a 35 hour meeting week, without the currently contemplated possibility of an extension.
Herding 120 cats, some of which will have strong opinions on individual points, others of which will have alternating suggestions on how to resolve a given point, and many of whom may be j…
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I’m sitting here in New York, using my 250GB external Western Digital Passport external hard drive, and a few moments ago, I received a press release touting the company’s newest product: “WD My Passport Essential.”
You may recall that I bought a 250GB Passport in early December, after giving up on waiting for the delayed 320GB internal drive. Both the 320GB internal and external drives are now shipping.
So, I’m wondering, “What’s the difference between a WD Passport and a WD My Passport Essential”? According to the release,
“Redesigned to complement WD’s popular My Book family of external drives, the drives introduce a sleek new form that feels good in your hand and fits neatly in a pocket or purse. Available now at select retailers and at WD’s online store (http://www.shopwd.com), the new My Passport Essential USB Drives feature a beautiful glossy black finish and put almost a third of a terabyte of digital storage in the palm of your hand.“
First off, the WD Passport that I have already has a glossy black finish. So, what else is different? Let’s check the specs for the 320GB versions of both.
WD Passport WDXMS3200 (the old one)
Performance Specifications
Serial Bus Transfer Rate (USB 2.0) 480 Mbits/s (Max)
Physical Specifications
Capacity 320 GB
Interface USB 2.0
Physical Dimensions
English
Height 0.590 Inches (Max) • Length 5.110 Inches (Max) • Width 3.14 Inches • Weight 0.23 Pounds
Metric
Height 15 mm (Max) • Length 129.78 mm (Max) • Width 79.78 mm • Weight 0.1048 kg
WD My Passport Essential WDME3200 (the new one)
Performance Specifications
Serial Bus Transfer Rate (USB 2.0) 480 Mbits/s (Max)
Physical Specifications
Capacity 320 GB
Interface USB 2.0
Physical Dimensions
English
Height 0.590 Inches • Length 4.967 Inches • Width 3.130 Inches • Weight 0.231 Pounds
Metric
Height 15 mm • Length 126.15 mm • Width 79.5 mm • Weight 0.1048 kg
So, it’s the same hard drive, same interface specs, same bundled software, same shiny black plastic for the case, same thickness, and same weight. However, the case is now 3.6mm shorter and 0.3mm narrower. That, I suppose, is what makes it “essential.” Oooh. Aaaah.
Remember the old days of carrying power supplies for cell phones, music players and other portable electronics?
I am delighted that every portable device I travel with can be charged via USB port. I don’t carry any AC power supplies any more, beyond the briquette for my Apple MacBook Pro.
What travels with me? On my current trip, I have a Garmin StreetPilot c550, a BlackBerry and an Apple iPod Touch. I don’t schlep AC power supplies for any of them.
All three of those devices can charge from a USB 2.0 port. (They can also charge from a powered USB hub, which is handy if you’re not carrying your notebook.) I just keep a couple of mini-USB cables in my briefcase, along with a special iPod cable. It’s a wonderful thing.
My case is also lighter since I don’t carry any computer connectivity cables. It’s WiFi for me, my friend, nearly all the time. (My MacBook Pro doesn’t even have a modem — and I’ve never missed it.) In the rare instance where a hotel has cabled Ethernet instead of WiFi, there’s always a Cat-5 cable available in the room, or worst case, at the front desk.
Check your briefcase and travel gear. Are you still carrying bricks and cables that you don’t need? Lighten the load!
