Microsoft: Longhorn Is Great, XP Is Lame
from the full-disclosure dept
Software vendors walk a fine line when pushing upgrades — tout the new version without slamming the old one. Microsoft threw that strategy aside in pumping Longhorn to the WinHEC faithful, as execs belittled Windows XP in the process. One VP said that XP hadn’t been thought through and at times “failed to deliver.” The surprising part is not that XP has major shortcomings — early on its enhancements were recognized as little more than improved stability and a bunch of bug fixes. Rather, the interesting part is Microsoft actually admitting to drawbacks at all, even several years late. But Longhorn, now there’s a real operating system!
Comments on “Microsoft: Longhorn Is Great, XP Is Lame”
GUI
It’s interesting to see just how scared Mac zealots are. Many of their comments I’ve seen about the WinHEC alpha build focused on how horrible and what a ripoff the GUI was.
The GUI, for lord’s sake! It’s in Alpha stage! The actual GUI isn’t due to be released until late summer when the beta is released.
Re: GUI
Its been in alpha stage for how long? 3 years? Lets face it. Longhorn will never come out. It will be absorbed into XP.
Re: Re: GUI
Its been in alpha stage for how long? 3 years? Lets face it. Longhorn will never come out.
Now there’s an informative comment.
Let’s see. Yes, they have been putting off Longhorn? Why? Because people keep complaining about XP. So, instead of saying, “Thanks for keeping XP safe,” you’re saying, “You suck for not forgetting about XP and focusing on what’s next.” Good job. Let’s slam them for supporting XP, while they’re trying to build a new product.
Re: GUI
Scared? Nope – And couldn’t care in the least. We already have more than what ‘Longhorn’ is promising to have 20 months from now…
Microsoft is the only company that can get away wi
violating Osborne’s rule: do not denigrate your current product until the new one has been sent to manufacturing.
That’s another illustration of what a monopoly is about.
Re: Microsoft is the only company that can get awa
obviously you failed your economics classes; or took none at all. Newbie.
Re: Re: Microsoft is the only company that can get awa
Economics classes don’t discuss marketing strategies, jerk. The Osborn was a pretty neat little computer for it’s time, but the marketing department spent all of it’s time and effort telling all potential customers how great the Osborn II was going to be so nobody wanted to buy the Osborn I. Back in the days when a PC cost $3-5000 buying one wasn’t a trivial decision. Unable to sell the existing stock of Osborn I systems and with the Osborn II just in the preliminary design phase, the company went bankrupt. That’s Marketing 101: don’t sell your own current products short unless your market is locked up. IOW, unless you have a monopoly. Newbie.
No Subject Given
But Longhorn, now there’s some real vaporware. Wake me in Q4 2006 when there is a product to talk about.
Not *that* bad...
Honestly, everyone loves to rip on XP, but I’ve never had any big problems with my XP Pro setup (dual-boot w/Fedora). Granted, XP’s got some significant problems out of the box, but once it’s properly configured I’ve found it to be a fine OS — reliable, secure, and (yes) stable.
Re: Not *that* bad...
XT works better than any prior Windows release, but it is still a poorly designed system based on 15 year old NT base code. Since LH is an extension of XP, it will be more of the same.
XP has so many problems because anyone has access to and can overwrite the core Windows files at will. While it supports multiple users, it’s not a real good multi-user system because of this problem.
For instance, user A can download/access things on the web that will affect user B’s or C’s experience (spyware, viruses, active-X controls, etc.) because there is no real restriction against writing into the Windows folders. Yes, you have WFP but this is easily bypassed by putting the new file into the dllcache folder or turning off WPA or canceling the confirmation window.
Then you have each users settings and registry copies stored under the documents and settings folder on the C: drive. So if you have to wipe the C: drive or do a complete fresh install of Windows, everyone loses their settings and application links. I have my settings on my D: drive but this requires a little registry hacking, which is beyond most people’s ability to do.
Windows really needs to be rewritten and redesigned form the ground up. I sure hope MS is working on this.