I won’t bore you with all the details of a recent XP-vs-Vista benchmarking test except to say that it involved Office 2007 productivity tasks, XP with Service Pack 3 Beta, and Vista with Service Pack 1 Beta. XP whipped through the test in 35 seconds, while Vista took 80 seconds. Both tests were run on a Dell 2GHz Core 2 Duo with 1GB of RAM. I will tell you what Microsoft representatives had to say about the results of the test. → Read More
I use both OSX (Tiger, thank you) and Windows (XP, thank you) but that doesn’t mean I’m simply indecisive. There are some things each OS does better, and one of the things OSX has going for it is its for the most part excellent UI. If you don’t have the motivation or, more likely, the scrilla to switch over to a Mac, maybe these programs will help put a shine on Windows’ rougher interface. Check ‘em out below. → Read More
According to Forrester Research, Vista’s biggest obsticle to adoption isn’t Linux or even OS X, it’s Windows XP. And they’re right. Vista still isn’t ready for desktops. Or servers. Or, well, anything. It’s a bloated OS, there’s no doubt about it. Sure, it’s got a pretty face, but an OS needs to do more than look good, and there really isn’t anything Vista can do that XP can’t with some tweaking. The supremecy of XP isn’t just about Vista being new, though: there are still many, many specialized apps that won’t run on the newer OS. That, combined with the fact that most of the hardware people have already invested in won’t run it well enough to be useful works against its adoption. In short, it’s ahead of its time, and not in a good way. While we honestly think that Vista is a step in the right direction for Windows, we think Microsoft is missing the point. Windows needs to get slimmer and easier, and Vista, at least from an XP user’s standpoint, is not that. Windows XP is ‘biggest rival’ to Vista [VNU net] → Read More
Due to the fact that Windows Vista just straight up sucks, Microsoft released a statement yesterday stating that they will continue to sell Windows XP until the end of June 2008, adding five months to the previously planned phase out date. The decision comes after multiple complaints from both customers and PC manufacturers about how broken Vista was. Of course, Microsoft didn’t really see it like this and in an attempt to spin the story, said that the top 50 consumer applications now are compatible with Vista. Ok, possibly true, but it still took how many months until iTunes worked properly? Yeah, thought so. At least Microsoft admits that it has been “ambitious” with Windows Vista and is sorry that it shortened the time that XP would be available. Don’t want to deal with Vista? You have a little less than a year to either buy XP or buy a Mac. Or you could always use Linux, if you’re into that sort of thing. Microsoft says to extend XP sales for five months [Reuters] → Read More
