PC Fashion Plate

Redmond also wants PCs to be cool. The Vista Aero interface is definitely slick, and Microsoft wants hot-looking machines to go along with its hot software. So who better to design these things than today's top fashion designers?

Microsoft last week schlepped out to Las Vegas to attend PROJECT, an international fashion tradeshow. The hope is to get designers working on sharp, new designs based around technologies such as tablet PCs, as well as bringing more art to mundane items like screensavers.

Posted by Doug Barney on 09/03/2008 at 1:16 PM0 comments

Defending Mojave

Some critics bashed the whole thing as a set up, arguing that Vista was running on super high-end hardware to make it look good. Microsoft is fighting back, pointing out that Mojave/Vista is running on year-old HP laptops with just a couple gigs of RAM.

To me, that isn't the issue at all. As Mojave rightly points out, Vista looks and feels just fine (though many of you think the interface changed just for the sake of change). The issue is all about compatibility, performance and stability. If you've been reading the Redmond Report Mailbag, you've heard plenty on this. If these issues can be solved, Vista will be OK. If not, XP will suffice.

Posted by Doug Barney on 09/03/2008 at 1:15 PM0 comments

Google Browser Nearing Reality

Google must have been reading Redmond magazine. I wrote a column for Redmond, "The Barney Browser," in June 2008. My idea was for Google to build a browser and focus on intelligently storing searches, along with archiving the overall process of exploration. I wrote: "The Google Barney Browser integrates searching with a file system so the intelligence that comes from searches can be organized, used, shared and built upon. Perhaps these strings of pages can be cached so if the site goes down, the information isn't lost."

But from what we know, Google is instead focusing on video and improving the performance and safety of Web apps. I guess Google didn't read my column after all.

A beta of the browser is supposed to be available today. What would you like to see in a Google browser? Features welcome at [email protected]. And if you take this baby out for a spin, shoot me your impressions.

Posted by Doug Barney on 09/02/2008 at 1:15 PM0 comments

Mailbag: Vista This, Vista That

I read your article in Redmond Report and just wanted to respond. The main driver for our organization wanting to continue to run XP is the stability of the OS, minimal issues, and the cost in time and money to replace old hardware. Today, these older desktop machines run acceptably well with XP, but they would not meet the hardware requirements for the new OS.

Secondly, we have monitored the issues surrounding Vista and believe we would be significantly adding to our work load if we migrated. Most organizations have more work on their to-do list than they have resources to accomplish them, leaving only the most critical and cost-effective projects to be funded. The value is not high enough to make the move at a corporate level.
-Jonathan

Even with all the problems we had with the XP SP3 upgrade, I still like XP a lot more than Vista!
-Tony

I tell all of my customers and clients not to buy anything with Vista on it. If you really need a new system, look online for machines that still ship with XP. Often, these are refurbished machines, so the end user has a tough choice to make: get an antiquated machine with XP or I can de-Vistafy your machine for you. And people are buying it; there is an actual demand for this service. What choice does the user have? Try to work with Vista and pray that any software they buy that isn't explicitly rated for Vista has a 50/50 chance of working, and you all know the penalty for returning opened software.

This Vista debacle is beyond belief. Learning Linux, any distro, is easier than dealing with Vista. The tech support time is so high that it is prohibitive. The only people who have made money on Vista is Microsoft, and while I have nothing against capitalism, this is out and out theft. Vista does not work, and NO amount of patching by Microsoft will ever get it to work with the ease and finesse of XP Pro. This has to be illegal, but who can afford to sue Microsoft?
-Ari

I work for a school district and we have no plans to move to Vista.
-Anonymous

The poor economy has less to do with our reluctance to go to Vista here at the City of Eugene, than the fact that there is no perceived advantage to go to Vista, even with some increase in security. The UAC, with all its prompting, is seen by management as too burdensome for the users. There is great reluctance on the part of upper management to force this on our users. The move to Vista would be costly in having to upgrade many workstations to 1GB or more of memory. Then the departments would see an annoying UAC and no bang for their buck after buying more memory.

The culture here is "everybody a local admin." With IT already seen as a cost center, we really don't want to make the departments pay more money in hardware costs for an annoying OS. There have been suggestions in upper management that if we went to Vista, we are to rip the UAC out of our install set. No increase in security with a hardware cost to the users translates into no Vista for us.
-Robert

After many hours of saving and retrieving ghost images from my XP machine, I decided to upgrade to Vista. What a big mistake! I have now decided to downgrade back to XP, because I cannot connect to the Vista machine using NET USE after many hours of trying, and I am sick and tired of searching for solutions. It shouldn't be that hard for an experienced IT pro. Computers are supposed to make life easier, and upgrades are supposed to do just that -- upgrade. Vista is not ready for prime time.
-Richard

I'm waiting for Vista SP2, hoping that will finally restore the Fax Wizard that even XP Home had, and that MS, in its infinite wisdom, opted to leave out of Vista Home Premium. But I'm not holding my breath waiting, and my hopes aren't high. I'm more likely to go the dual-boot route with Ubuntu, where a fax printer is just another package that's part of the distribution.

Beats me how Microsoft can think it's encouraging customer loyalty when it refuses to allow customers to buy the MS products they want.
-Fred

In the spirit of constructive criticism, Doug asked readers what they would do to improve Vista. Here are some of your suggestions:

Abandon the current Vista. Start all over with the XP code base. Rid yourself of the arrogance of imposing automatic updates (on any and all OS components). Rid yourself of the arrogance of imposing "proprietary rights enforcement" and any other nanny-ware on your potential customers. Rid yourself of the arrogance of filtering/sanctioning/certifying what third-party software can run on the new OS platform (no one ever asked Mr. Bill to interfere in this manner). Stop making changes to the interface just for the sake of change. Drop the pretense that the new OS is any more secure than XP (XP SP2 is perfectly secure if you simply don't use Internet Exploder and if you avoid ActiveX).

Ask the user (for a change) what, if anything, the user would like to be different in the new OS before developing change requirements. Undertake some legally binding commitment to the user community (possibly through a performance bond) in which you can promise and try to convince users that this new OS does not contain a built-in rootkit or any other clandestine/stealth functionality that can run or act without the user's cognizance. Have some motivation in developing this OS product other than the planned, periodic obsolescence of your former product just in order to generate revenue. Stop thinking of your customers as "Mom and Pop Stupid" who simply want to store recipes and family photos. Recall that the P in PC stands for "Personal" and not for "Proprietary."
-Anonymous

Add several "Classic" options to allow Vista to run older stuff in the same locations as in XP. Make a wickedly fast desktop search for documents and e-mail. Make a far smaller menu of Vista options (Not Pro, Ultimate, and on and on). Add a "speed accelerator" option.
-Dave

Remove the @!%$ DRM from Vista. I should not have to bear the burden of this additional overhead if I am not using it. It should be an add-on pack if someone wants premium content.
-Lee

First, simplify and fix access security. I used to be a pro with VAX/VMS ACL rules and organization, so I'm somewhat familiar with the concept. If you have ever tried to change ownership or access rights on a file structure under Vista, I find it an unworkable nightmare.

Second, if you are joining a new Vista machine to your home network, this takes a lot of hunting and digging. It is so simple under XP to specify the local group name, turn on sharing for specific folders, and be done. I about never found the place to change/specify the local group name (like MSHOME) under Vista.
-Wayne

I would work on the hibernation/standby issue. Vista aften crashes after you shut the lid on your laptop. XP rarely has issues with hibernation/standby.

Slow startup is more like 2000 Professional also, so without standby you get to wait for up to 10 minutes for the system to turn on and load your profile. Then you get to wait until it checks every connection before it is responsive. I often have wireless turned off; takes a long time for Vista to realize the radio is off and allow me to work.
-Cindy

I'm from Switzerland and I work in the same building as the Swiss Supercomputing Center, where they have the CRAY system. I think Microsoft should go there and check it out. No matter how powerful the CRAY supercomputer is, the operating system is very light. All the supercomputing power is used for computation.

Now, Microsoft should learn something from this. If you have a powerful PC, it doesn't make sense that all resources are sucked up by just booting the system.
-Dave

Simply, Windows XP SP3.
-Mark

We already have fixed Vista. It's called Linux.
-Anonymous

One word: LEOPARD!
-John

My fix for Vista? Buy a Mac. It just works.
-Bob

But despite all the bad press, there are plenty of people who do like Vista. A few of them share their thoughts:

Vista ain't broke. Don't waste time "fixing" it.
-Anonymous

I have been a staunch Vista basher for a few months now. Then I realized that I had not actually run anything other than the beta on some test boxes. Thinking back to the days of the intro of Windows 2000 and Windows XP (yeah, I am getting really old), I realized I hated all of them when they came out. After forcing myself to take the plunge and just immerse my computing into the new OS (yes, I also upgraded to Server 2008), I soon found myself wondering how I ever got by on the previous stuff.

Well, I am about one month into the total immersion and, to tell the truth, the experience is no more frustrating than what I have experienced in the past. Sure, the drivers thing is a big pain, but I have found in the past that the sooner you figure it out and start becoming an expert instead of a whiner, the higher your stock rises in the company when everyone else finally gets on board. I almost hate to say this now, but I can't stand using XP anymore.
-Mike

As an early adopter of Vista and an IT manager of a medical device incubator with 50-plus computers and laptops, we have completely moved to Vista, except for a few engineers that have specific needs and have to run XP. I can tell you confidently that since SP1, Vista has become even more stable and is more secure the XP. The performance in some cases even surpasses XP. Although the hardware requirements for Vista are definitely higher than XP, computers have become so cheap that it does not really matter. I can also tell you that we run Vista on a couple of our older Pentium 4 machines and they run just as well as XP (of course, some of the eye candy is not enabled). Most of our machines run 2GB of RAM, and again hardware is so cheap the cost is negligible.

My only point of writing this is that I am really tired of so-called professionals such as yourself doing a disservice to Vista just because it is popular to do so. If you really used Vista, you would know that it is now very stable, compatible with most of today's software and hardware, 1,000 percent more secure than XP (not one malware or virus infection on any of our computers; cannot say the same when we used XP), and runs just as fast as XP on similar hardware (x64 Vista kills XP in speed and performance). Many companies are slow in adopting Vista for the same reason they were slow in adopting XP: Migration is expensive, time-consuming and eats up a lot of manpower.
-Asif

There's a lot of Vista-bashing (or Microsoft-bashing in general) in the press and on blogs, which makes this Computerworld article refreshing as it reminds us that XP -- the OS people are stampeding to "downgrade" to -- was just as criticized, echoing many of the same gripes, at the same point in its lifecycle. In fact, Vista's much-criticized low adoption rate is slightly less pathetic than XP's was.

Which is to say Microsoft will continue to listen to customer complaints and release patches/service packs until Vista, like XP, is solid and hits critical mass.
-Anonymous

We LOVE Vista. We have been running it since its release and we are very happy with it. I use Vista on all of my company's PCs, as well as on my personal gaming PC. We have not had any problems with Vista, and we have been installing it mainstream for our clients, too, since that period (32- and 64-bit versions).

I really wish everyone would stop knocking Vista! Before Vista, everyone hated XP; we were told how unreliable that was, and that it had so many security flaws. Now, XP is the solution to everything, and we constantly have to hear how Vista is the devil. I suppose I can only look forward to Windows 7, so that we can hear how crappy it is and how wonderful Vista has suddenly become. Vista is not Windows ME, and I wish people would stop flaming it as if it is.
-Deric

You state in your Aug. 28 newsletter that you have never heard anyone say they love Vista. Yet in the same newsletter you quote a letter from "Scott" who says both he and his wife love Vista. You also blame your daughter's failing Toshiba laptop on Microsoft. I don't get it.

I am guessing that you are just trying to be sensational to elicit a response, which you did from me. I read your magazine and newsletters to get unbiased information. Can you say this information is unbiased? I will certainly hold your newsletters in lower regard going forward.
-Chris

Check in tomorrow for more reader letters on Mac, IE 8 and more! Meanwhile, share your own thoughts by leaving a comment below or sending an e-mail to [email protected].

Posted by Doug Barney on 09/02/2008 at 1:16 PM0 comments

A Patch for an IE Patch

Posted by Doug Barney on 09/02/2008 at 1:15 PM0 comments

Patch That Web!

The Web is a wilder, woollier and perhaps more dangerous world. Researchers and vendors such as Cenzic have been pointing out how unpatched many Web servers and apps are. In fact, Cenzic claims that seven out of 10 sites aren't safe.

While a security company has an incentive to show flaws, this information should make all of us pause. And after we pause, we should get to patchin'.

Posted by Doug Barney on 09/02/2008 at 1:16 PM0 comments

Could IE 8 Be Great?

Microsoft is trying to entice people like me back into the fold with IE 8, now in its second beta. The new browser steals one cool feature of Firefox: When your browser dies, it will restore your old session, including all the tabs.

For admins, there are new tools to make it easier to deploy, especially if you're rolling out Vista images.

Are there compelling reasons to use IE over Firefox? If so, what are they? Answers readily accepted at [email protected].

Posted by Doug Barney on 08/28/2008 at 1:15 PM0 comments

Consumers Voting with Their Downgrades

So why would over a third of new PC customers go through the trouble and expense of downgrading to XP? Because XP works!

There are many people that like Vista -- even some that really like it (though I have yet to hear the word "love" used). But for way too many, Vista is slow, unpredictable and incompatible. Microsoft needs a Manhattan Project to fix or replace Vista tout de suite. After all, as Bill Gates used to say, "It's only software."

How would you fix Vista? Send your best to [email protected]. Hopefully, Microsoft will be reading.

Posted by Doug Barney on 08/28/2008 at 1:15 PM0 comments

Mailbag: Mac Servers and Virtualization

We don't use Mac servers, and I don't know anyone that uses Mac servers in an enterprise environment. And using them to drive VM Vista or XP desktops is even more out there. I'm sure there are a few people out there, but I very much doubt that it is close to 23 percent, or even 3 percent. They may be counting non-Windows as a whole as Mac servers (Unix, Linux, BSD, Mac).
-Dustin

I have not seen a single Mac server in an enterprise IT computer room. Who are these virtual people?
-Anonymous

Well, we sort of use Mac servers. Being that we are a large university, there is not much control over what the faculty or even tech workers for individual departments do. I'm guessing that there are about 10 or so, but none in the datacenter. I don't know of any that are being used to run virtual Windows machines.
-Charlie

Yes, I use Macs for Hyper-V. I run Win 2003 images on a Dell with Win 2008. However, I have some Win XP and Win NT images that were virtualized on MS VS 2005. When I migrated them over to the Hyper-V on Win 2008, I discovered that Hyper-V only supports Vista, Win 2003, and Win 2008 and above. I also saw that Hyper-V will only support two cores per image on Win 2003 images, and I can only assign cores in multiples of two.

On my Mac Pro, I run Parallels Hyper-V server for Mac. It runs my Win XP images just fine. Also, I can assign up to eight cores to any image including Win 2003 and in multiples of 1. I have a Win 2003 Enterprise image as a TS assigned with three cores, not possible with Hyper-V. Performance seems to by equitable between images running on the Mac and the Dell. However, I have not been able to add Win 2003 images running on Mac to a server farm that has images running on the Dell.
-Stephen

Is it always true that downgrading to XP costs more than it does to just keep Vista? A few readers don't think so:

I don't know if I agree with that statement. If businesses have to upgrade a large amount of their desktop apps due to Vista incompatibility, the costs can add up quickly. In an economic downturn, businesses aren't willing to pay to upgrade their expensive, slightly aged, mission-critical desktop apps (that still get the job done) just to be able to run a not-so-stellar OS.
-Chris

This is so not true if you are a large corp. Large corps spend tens of millions on testing their in-house apps with new OSes, so why would they want to spend all of that additional money to test their apps with Vista if XP is working for them?
-Nicholaus

On the topic of Vista, Scott shares his thoughts on where the OS is falling short:

Just wanted to give my two cents on Vista: I just bought my wife a new computer with Vista installed and we both love it! I think a majority of the problems Vista is experiencing is due to familiarity; people like what they know and don't embrace change just for the sake of change. I'm guilty of that at times, too.

I think it's also due to hubris (and a little ignorance) on the part of Microsoft and its OEM partners. Vista does require some good hardware to run and selling Vista Ready vs. Vista Capable PCs was a mistake when all it was going to do was confuse customers. Vista on a Celeron with 1GB RAM and a 128MB video card -- c'mon, they should know better; a dual core 2GHz CPU with 2GB RAM and a 256MB video card should be MINIMUM specs for installing Vista (that and good drivers). After all, you want your customers to enjoy their experience, not ponder why it's so slow and unresponsive compared to their XP machine.
-Scott

Speaking of Vista's appeal (or lack thereof), Jeremy has one suggestion to fix it:

Someone in recent Mailbag section mentioned the nerdy Mac guy from the Apple spots. Does he have a non-compete clause or could Microsoft throw an obscene amount of money at him to switch? Maybe have PC guy kidnap him from a brainwashing cult to realize Vista is good.
-Jeremy

And finally, Dean shares his thoughts on the recent passing of longtime InfoWorld writer Ed Foster:

I have been a fan and avid reader of Ed's work for many years. It was a real shock to get the e-mail from Jeff Foster saying that his father had passed away. Ed was a very vocal advocate for those that did not have the media platform to bring issues to a wide audience. He was not shy about taking on the "big guys," whether it be for one person or a whole class of people, and that won him the admiration of us all. We all lost a friend and leader at his passing.
-Dean

Tell us what you think! Leave a comment below or send an e-mail to [email protected].

Posted by Doug Barney on 08/28/2008 at 1:15 PM0 comments

Microsoft Lost Another One

Her first machine was a PC laptop -- I never even thought to suggest a Mac. After that one started to die, I suggested a Mac; it would save me some headaches and her some heartache. Nothing doing. Another laptop, a Toshiba I think, was acquired. The screen on this baby died, and once again I pitched Apple, pointing to her brothers' experience. Nope -- this time, an HP fit the bill. Now it's two years later, and the HP is getting slower and less trustworthy. Another PC? No, sir. This time Lauren demanded a Mac.

I blame Microsoft. Some of her college classmates are using Vista, and there's less than total happiness. And getting a new machine to run an old OS, XP, just doesn't make sense.

She got her new MacBook to arrive today. But don't cry for Microsoft. We'll still have to shell out more than a hundred bucks for Mac Office.

Posted by Doug Barney on 08/28/2008 at 1:15 PM0 comments

IT Lost an Advocate

You may ask what that means to you. Well, that boss was Ed Foster, creator of InfoWorld's Gripe Line, a column that took vendors to task for rampant rip-offs, poor products and shoddy support.

Foster wrote this column for years, crafting countless words and putting vendors on notice. Ed left us late last month.

Were you a Foster fan? Is there anyone else that is filling this large void? Thoughts welcome at [email protected].

Posted by Doug Barney on 08/27/2008 at 1:15 PM0 comments

Mailbag: Red Hat Security

I think that Red Hat getting hacked was a good thing. I am a die-hard Linux user, but I do not go with the crowd that thinks that if you are using any non-Microsoft OS, then you are safe from bad ware. Humans make mistakes; the software that we create will have bugs, and bugs lead to holes, and holes are how the bad boys get in. The sooner everyone starts thinking about security, the better.

I have to admit that I do feel safer using Linux and Firefox while I am surfing the Web, just as the people in the Twin Towers felt safe on Sept. 11, 2001, just before the planes hit.
-Raymond

I have countered for years that Mac and open source operating systems are not targets -- not because they are so secure, but because there were so few of them. The more that are out there, the more they will be hacked. The hackers want quantity. It only makes sense that they will concentrate their efforts where they will get the most results for the least amount of work.
-Bernie

It is Microsoft's licensing that really burns me up, not so much whether it has a better product than others. I'm not sure why those who clamor around Microsoft don't get that. While there have been some who have made silly claims about open source and its security, at least a company that uses FOSS or OSS can hire someone (if they don't possess in-house talent) to review code to ensure that everything is up to snuff. I have a few clients who have done just that with Internet-facing Linux systems -- and it is one thing you cannot do with closed source, no matter who it is. And that is the difference and is why I will always look for an open source alternative for anything I use and recommend.
-Anonymous

And Doug's dad gets the final word on professors teaching students how to hack:

Interesting comments on the hackers. Although I consider hackers and scammers the enemy, you do have to understand the enemy if you want to have a chance to defeat him. However, one area which seemed to be ignored was the use of information gained by hacking. Helping riders get free lifetime transportation on the T is certainly not an appropriate use. When we discovered weaknesses in military installation security, we went to the responsible organization so they could correct them.
-Dad

Check in tomorrow for more reader letters! And if you want to share some of your own comments, fill out the form below or send an e-mail to [email protected].

Posted by Doug Barney on 08/27/2008 at 1:15 PM0 comments