Arguably one of the biggest problems that stunted Windows Vista’s uptake for months after its release was third-party drivers. Many hardware companies simply did not bother producing proper drivers for Vista and this didn’t sit well with end-users. Nvidia drivers were blamed for causing the largest percentage of crashes for Vista (more even than Microsoft’s own bugs).
Last week, Microsoft gave a teeny, tiny bit of information about the successor to Windows Vista, currently named Windows 7. There wasn’t a lot of real meaty data in its disclosures, but it said enough to reset any expectations you might have that Windows 7 would be a radical departure from Windows Vista.
Consumers buying personal computers in the coming months will likely end up with Microsoft’s reputation-bruised Windows Vista operating system instead of the older XP system, whether they like it or not. As of June 30, Microsoft will no longer ship Windows XP to retailers and to hardware companies that make PCs, forcing an eventual switch to Vista. “Does that mean (XP) will instantly disappear off the shelves or off PCs? No,” said Microsoft Corp. Canada’s Elliot Katz.
In an unusual move, Microsoft Corp. on Friday warned Windows users to swear off Apple Inc.’s Safari Web browser until a patch is available that plugs holes that could let attackers to compromise computers. One security researcher noted that Microsoft’s public warning — and Apple’s silence on the subject — are typical for the two rivals and illustrate their different approaches to security.
Microsoft will require hardware makers to test their device drivers on Windows 7 to receive certification for Windows Vista, according to documents posted on the company’s site. In a long explanation (download PDF)of the Windows Logo Program, Microsoft spelled out the new requirement. “Beginning with the release of the first beta of the next operating system, all Windows Vista client and Windows Server 2008 submissions must include a complete [set of] test logs for the new beta OS,” the company said in the document.
In spite of all the bad press Windows Vista has had to endure, Microsoft chief operating officer Kevin Turner stands firm on his belief that the operating system is surging ahead and doing better than its predecessor. Prior to his current stint as head of operations at Redmond, 42-year-old Turner spent 19 years in retail chain Wal-Mart, where he held various senior positions including chief information officer and chief executive of Wal-Mart subsidiary Sam’s Warehouse.
In case you hadn’t noticed, the massive weight of interest has now almost completely shifted from Microsoft Windows Vista to the largely vaporware Windows 7. This is testament to how royally screwed up Microsoft’s Vista go-to-market plan has become. On the one hand, it insists that Vista is a huge success, with tons of sold licenses and happy customers. On the other, the company recently offered Windows XP Home as a low-cost PC OS. Clearly, there’s a disconnect. Now, even more damaging to Vista, Bill Gates and Steve Ballmer just used an important tech conference to preview major innovations on Windows 7.
Lots and lots of material clogging up the internet pipes today about Windows 7. It follows the first public demo of the technology yesterday at the All Things Digital conference in San Diego. You can read Maggie Shiels’ piece here. Putting aside issues about the touch technology itself for one moment, the biggest question about this public demo of Windows 7 is: what harm will its promise do to sales of Vista? I just received an interesting note about Windows 7 from the Microsoft PR team. In it, it states: “Microsoft absolutely recommends customers deploy Windows Vista today.”
VARs shouldn’t start singing the Windows Vista blues just yet. While Vista hasn’t exactly revolutionized operating systems or changed the world with software, it also hasn’t plummeted into a bottomless adoption gap as some analysts claimed it would. And if solution providers give Vista another chance, they just might find themselves singing a different tune.
It’s like politics. You start out by focusing on your ideas, how you want to improve things, maybe change the world a bit. But as the campaign slogs on, or as the legislation stalls, or the opinion polls begin to dip, you lash out. First at the media - for their “unfair, biased coverage” - then at your opponent. Until finally your “talking points” become little more than a laundry list of the “other guy’s” faults and why you think he/she is “unsuitable” for public office.
Almost a year and a half since its launch, Windows Vista may be ready to penetrate big business and win the hearts and minds of CIOs, according to some watchers. Microsoft accepts that Vista has only penetrated about five per cent of large business accounts (and even that figure might be optimistic, according to some analysts) but a combination of hardware readiness, enhancements to Vista itself and application compatibility reasons could see the heavily criticized OS finally crack large accounts.
During the third day of the “PWN TO OWN” event, a contest of hackers determined to break systems at CanSecWest, Windows Vista was compromised from a Flash flaw.The contest, which saw a MacBook Air get hacked on Thursday, relaxed the rules even further. On the first day of the contest, only the operating system could be targeted, but on the second day that was expanded to include standard applications. An undisclosed Safari flaw led to the MacBook Air’s downfall through the OS X operating system.
Speaking at a round-table in London on Wednesday, John Curran, director of the Windows group for Microsoft in the UK, said: “First and foremost, businesses like Vista for security”. The operating system (OS) “has, since its launch, been the safest operating system on the market with the fewest vulnerabilities of any OS available,” he added.
One of the Microsoft critical updates for next Tuesday affects every version of the Windows operating system, including Windows XP, Windows Server 2008 and Service Pack 1 for Windows Vista. “That one has to be a pretty bad bug to be critical across the board like that,” said Andrew Storms, director of security operations at nCircle Network Security Inc. “I would have expected a drop in criticality for Vista SP1, and most certainly in Server 2008. Something should have mitigated the vulnerability.”
IT directors have estimated that they could save hundreds of thousands of pounds through energy saving by using the green features in Windows Vista. Adrian Davey, head of IT at Tube Lines, said, “Our planned upgrade onto Windows Vista had to be economically efficient. With 2,500 seats, we estimate we would save £40 to £50 in terms of power savings.” Over the life of PCs, Davey said this would equate to savings worth half a million pounds.
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