When a big building reaches its highest point, construction guys have a “topping off” ceremony. A small evergreen tree is placed on the highest point for good luck.

Considering M$ has already said the first service pack is in the works and will be released in the “2nd half” of the year, what’s there to celebrate? Cheering for the marketing group that they got a partially incomplete OS to market?

Bill Gates stated that this will be the last OS release for a while, opting instead for upgrades.

It’s bad enough that M$ is the 8000lb gorilla in the tech industry, but it’s turned into a gorilla without direction it seems.

We may need an evergreen for good luck, but it won’t be to signify the completion of the highest point in Vista.

I’ll wait for Vista.1

The release of Windows ME before XP drummed up a lot of enthusiasm for the upgrade to XP. ME was such a turd that any change had to be an improvement, and millions of unsuspecting shoppers bought those machines with a virus as an operating system and were hungry for an upgrade.

I, for one, will be getting Vista. I can see why most PC users would not upgrade though… XP works just fine. True, but because Microsoft is a money whore and I’m a gamer, I need DirectX 10 which will only be available on Vista (and no, I don’t support OpenGL simply because it does not have the power DirectX has… plus I find it easier to program DirectX games).
Linux is a pretty decent system, but like what has already been pointed out, there aren’t the massive amount of applications and games. In general, Linux also has an image that makes people think DOS. Most of my friends who know nothing about computers think Linux is exactly like DOS.

“it is interesting to find MANY new books relating to VISTA at Amazon.com. I’m sure that if DRM were the only thin “NEW” in Vista, these books would not exist. A little research on your part may cure your ignorance, no?“
I sure hope you realized what he said was an expression. He didn’t literally mean DRM was the only new thing. But there isn’t really anything too new about Vista. Besides, most of those books show you little nit-picky things that make very little difference.
On to DRM: it sucks. There are too many requirements that cost too much. Rights management has always been a hassle. For example: my dad, not very technologically “savvy” is very angry that my mom’s iTunes music (MP4a encoded with encryption) cannot be played on his Sony MP3 player. I’ve tried to explain it to him on numerous occasions, but it just ends up with him saying something along the lines of, “that’s just stupid!” DRM tends to hurt “casual” consumers more then hackers or pirates because they can and will find a way to get around it. It just takes time.
-B

i got mine today, but i also bought a new computer, i didn’t want to deal with drivers and software issues. But bottom line is i love it, and glad i made the purchase.

I find it encouraging to read a few rational sounding people in this thread. I’m a Mac guy. Have been since I bought a used one off a friend many moons ago. But I’m not the kind of Mac nut that goes around cursing Microsoft and bashing Windows all the time. Hell, I actually LIKE XP, which I’m on right now, since I’m still at work.
All of the different OS’s have their strengths, and it boils down to what you like to use and what you’re comfortable with. I’m not a huge PC gaming fan, so that’s why I don’t really find much on the PC that I can’t and WANT to do on my Mac.

Thx Gryffyx

If I had not spent a good chunk of time playing around on the Vista Betas and listening to every detail I could get together over the past few years I would be very interested in the news.

Most Microsoft loving super geeks have already used Vista. Some of us will hurry out to get it while people like me will continue to live within the bounds of our budgets and just buy it when the time is right.

Everyone talks about Windows Vista and how the midnight trek to the store was non-existent. It’s not because of the OS itself, features, design, or even cost. It’s just not exciting anymore in terms of a “new way” of doing things. Before Windows 95, there was 3.1. It was sad by todays’ standards, but for it’s time it was outstanding. Then Windows 95 came along and it was a completely new way of doing things. Organization was different, cleanliness was better, design was phenomenal compared to 3.1. Windows 95 opened up the operating system and what it could do to millions and millions of non-tech people around the world. We actually understood what the computer could actually do and learned how to use exciting new programs that increased our productivity. Additionally, it was a time when technology (and the Web) were still relatively “newborns” in the eyes of the general public. But 95 opened the doors to that public.

Now, we jump forward to 2007. Windows has gone through several iterations since Win95. The Internet has exploded, technology is no longer a “geek-thing,” and the ability to add functionality to your browser, desktop, PDA, cell phone, music player, etc is so simple and there’s so many options and alternatives. We’re living in time where M&P (Mom and Pop) stores have their business systems wired to the Net, all transactions are electronic, and have video surveillance throughout the store. The point is that technology is no longer a “geek-thing.”

With Windows 95, you had those long midnight lines because it was mostly the computer people who wanted the OS…then…quickly, M&P caught on. In 2007, Windows Vista is just another OS. Yes, it’s more polished…yes it’s faster (and maybe more secure)…but it’s just not exciting to M&P. They could care less. It’s not going to change the way we run our lives. Windows 95 changed our lives and opened our eyes to an environment that could increase our productivity on a daily basis. Vista isn’t changing our daily lives…it’ll just give us something prettier to see when we wake up in the morning, check our email, and head out to Starbucks.

That being said, I’ll probably get Vista. I’m sure I’ll like it. I’m sure it’ll make me happier with pretty colors. It might even increase my productivity…but not enough to change my life on a daily basis.

HTe problem with Linux is that people think it is hard to use. If a GUI could be used for everything, without resorting to the command line, then those who know nothing about computing are more likely to use it. Also, M$’s policy of not allowing OEM purchasers to install any toehr OS is almost certainly illegal, at least under EU law, so that problem might go away. THe issue of tech. support is minor, since no-one uses the M$ tech. support, and that just leaves the issue of too many distros. if there were just three or four basic distros, which were easy for new linux users to learn to use, without package bloat (so just FireFox, which most of those changing from Windows to Linux are likely to use already, for example, rather than five or six browsers), so that the OS can just be installed and used.

A big help would be for someone to rip off DirectX as a Free program which can be installed along with open GLbut which copies the DirectX calls and functions

I wanted to switch from windows to linux simply because I overheated my harddrive and lost my xp install cd. I chose Xandros because it claimed to be very easy for windows users and was mostly GUI. I find that it is mostly GUI and there’s a lot of support. It’s a good OS but I’m still getting used to it. It’s like no one has ever heard of it though.