Bonum Certa Men Certa

Vista 7 Just as Bad as Vista, But Microsoft Removes Choice

Vista 7



Summary: More doubts about Vista 7, which lacks new features; consumer choice is further removed

THE previous post contended that Microsoft was renaming Vista in order to dodge its poor reputation. Here is a confirmatory item found today in Google News:

Windows 7 will be released soon, and although there is actually lots of positive buzz about their latest product (in comparison to a lot of negative buzz about Vista), there simply aren't that many new features in 7. I maintain the suspicion that the whole Windows Mojave experiment was just a ploy by Microsoft to see if they could get away with repackaging and renaming Vista with only a few minor improvements. No more improvement than I would expect with each subsequent release of Ubuntu. The difference is that Ubuntu takes six months to put out a new release, and Microsoft takes at least two years.


We took a lot at news headlines from Google News, spanning a period of one week (16/08/09-22/08/09 inclusive). With duplicates removed we have roughly 400 headlines left. The number of headlines matching "Vista" in the past week: 0. Compare that with 13 for "Windows 7". Nothing but 'fluff' there by the way. None of those articles about "Windows 7" actually presents anything new, so it's all about buzz and PR. As for "Vista", it's history; never mind the fact that only Vista is available as the version of Windows today, whereas "Windows 7" is something marketers talk about.

“None of those articles about "Windows 7" actually presents anything new, so it's all about buzz and PR.”Based on our experience viewing articles, many journalists who write about "Windows 7" never even tried it; they rely on word of mouth and coverage that Microsoft bribed for. A lot of other coverage comes from MSDN subscribers and other Windows enthusiasts whose PCs are very modern (and probably came with Vista preinstalled, which makes them compatible with Vista 7).

Based on experiences of our readers, Vista 7 suffers from hardware incompatibilities, just like its predecessor. As this new cartoon reminds us, serious Windows bugs simply refuse to die. As long as Microsoft gets to saddle each PC with Vista 7 (possible violation of the law), why even bother improving the product?

Added at the bottom are a bunch of links which show how Microsoft blocked competition on sub-notebooks. Terry Porter from Australia writes today:

I checked the shelves in the local superstore the other day, and it's now all Microsoft Windows, no more choice, no more Netbooks with Linux.

The cheapest is now at least $100 more [note: this is Australian dollars] than the Linux units that once adorned their shelves.

Once a hive of buyer interest (when low cost Linux units were available) the area is now a buyer dead zone.

Yes, the Linux units sold just fine, the under $500 price tag did the trick.

My partner uses her unit (bought there) daily, to keep in touch with me while she is traveling. Her Acer Aspire One A110 (Linux) is unmodified except for enabling 'advanced mode', and uses a off the shelf broadband wireless modem, which worked perfectly from the start with 'Mobile Manager', standard on that model.

She paid $400 for that unit, brand new.

Windows, its all about (the removal of) choice.


According to this potentially-new revelation, Microsoft may charge $150 for Windows XP at the OEM channel. Is this possible?

I expected to have to dig around to find the comparison between two comparable systems, one with MSWindows and one with GNU/Linux. Boy was I wrong. Dell put the cost of MSWindows front-center with a button titled “Personalize with WindowsXP for an Additional $150. Good for Dell!


If Microsoft is able to remove choice, then it can charge as much as it wishes. How is this beneficial to consumers?

More information:



Comments

Recent Techrights' Posts

Nonfree Software in My Bank, by Richard Stallman
Updated 8 hours ago
Richard Stallman is Usually Right Because He Thinks "Outside the Box"
he is able to observe society (mores and norms) as somewhat of an outsider
 
This Monday WebProNews Absolutely Flooded the Web With Fake (LLM Slop) 'Articles' About "Linux", Google News Promoted Them as Legitimate
All of the following are fake articles attributed to pseudonyms or authors that don't exist; the images are also slop. Why does Google promote these?
Linuxiac is Not a Slopfarm, But at Least Some of Its Articles Are Machine-Generated Fakes
what we said about it was correct
Expect More Microsoft Layoffs
"Are more job cuts coming?"
Microsoft Behaving Like It's Running Out of Money to Pay Salaries
Does that seem like the behaviour expected from a company which claims it is "worth" trillions?
LWN Downtime Due to Linode, Not LLM Bots
"I’ve received an email letting me know that there is a potential for data loss."
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Monday, July 28, 2025
IRC logs for Monday, July 28, 2025
Links 28/07/2025: Science, Health, and Conflicts
Links for the day
Gemini Links 28/07/2025: Healthy Self-Image With Autism and a "New Life"
Links for the day
Links 28/07/2025: COVID-19 Sped up Brain Aging, "Circumvention is More Popular Than Compliance"
Links for the day
LWN Has Been Down for a Long Time, Another Casualty of LLM Bots?
Time will tell. How much time though?
Slopfarms Versus 'Linux' (and Against People Who Write Real Articles About GNU/Linux)
LLM slop in slopfarms by Brian Fagioli and Redazione RHC
Gemini Links 28/07/2025: Bila Yarrudhanggalangdhuray and Running pkgsrc in a FreeBSD Jail
Links for the day
Microsoft Turns News Sites Into Spamfarms
Is the site The Register MS the next IDG?
The Register MS/The Register US
On Saturday I contacted them for a comment (before issuing criticism)
Hacking revelations at Vatican Jubilee of Digital Missionaries
Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Sunday, July 27, 2025
IRC logs for Sunday, July 27, 2025
The Week to Come
Planning ahead
LLM Slop Has Only Been a Boon for Misinformation Online
The very same companies that were supposed to maintain quality (again, not limited to Google with PageRank) are now actively participating in generating and spreading slop
When They Tell You It's Free, Does That Mean No Charges (If So, Who's Paying and Why)?
there's "no free lunch"
We're Going to Focus Less on the Molotov Cocktail-Throwing Microsofters and More on Patents
We can get back to focusing on what we wanted to focus on all along
Just Trying to Keep Web Sites Honest (Journalistic Integrity)
the latest articles in LinuxIac are real
Links 27/07/2025: Political Affairs, Data Breaches, Attacks on Freedom of the Press
Links for the day
Gemini Links 27/07/2025: Hot in Japan and Terminal Escape Codes
Links for the day
Links 27/07/2025: More Microsoft Layoffs Coming, Science and Hardware News
Links for the day
Links 27/07/2025: FSF Hackathon and "Hulk Hogan Was a Very Bad Man"
Links for the day
Gemini Links 27/07/2025: DAW Mixer Chains and Simple Software
Links for the day
The Register MS is Inventing or Giving Air Time to New Conspiracy Theories so as to Distort the Narrative As High-Profile Agencies Fall Prey to Microsoft Holes
But the problem is holes, i.e. Microsoft making bad products; the problem is Microsoft
Most Editors at The Register Are American, Including the Editor in Chief, a Decade-Long Microsoft Stenographer (Writing Prose to Sell Microsoft)
It's not easy to tell where the site is based (we tried) because it's hiding behind ClownFlare and CrimeFlare hasn't been well lately
Pushers of systemd Rewrite History (Richard Stallman Said UNIX "Was Portable and Seemed Fairly Clean")
Unlike systemd
"New Techrights" Soon Turns 2 (A Few Days Before the FSF Turns 40)
We have a lot more to say about LLM bots
When Silence Says So Much
Garrett, a 'secure' boot pusher, will need to defend himself in the UK High Court
The Register in Trouble
There is not much that can be done at this point
Trajectory of The Register: From News Site/s Into "B2B"... and Into Microsoft Salespeople
Something isn't right at The Register
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Saturday, July 26, 2025
IRC logs for Saturday, July 26, 2025
Misinformation in Social Control Media
Social control media passes around all sorts of tropes
Slopwatch: Fake Linux 'Articles' and Slopfarms With "Linux" in Their Names/Domains
throwing bots at "Linux" to make some fake articles