"[W]e're not going to have products that are much more successful than Vista has been."

--Steve Ballmer

Summary: Windows Vista not only brought more money after its launch but it also did not have Microsoft resort to so many big discounts (like with Vista 7)

POGSON has finally banned a Microsoft AstroTurfer from his blog and he also has some revealing new posts about Vista 7. His blog -- like Techrights -- deals a lot with the opposition's actions against software freedom and he too has realised that Microsoft is lying/embellishing (mischaracterising) so-called 'sales' of Vista 7 (Windows is never sold, it's being licensed).

Earlier this year we explained why family discounts (or family packs or whatever) of Vista 7 are signs of a failure to sell. Had Vista 7 sold well, those discounts would not be necessary. If one looks at the actual numbers (few journalists do), it becomes evident that Vista 7 has been a lot less profitable than Windows Vista (GNU/Linux too contributes to this) and to use Pogson's headline, if Vista 7 is so successful, why does Microsoft have to give it away?

Yep. They have brought back the buy one/get two free deal for the anniversary of “7″.

The 'sales' are not as good as Microsoft would have people believe and Pogson explains why Windows just isn't important anymore, noting in part in response to some Vista 7 rave that Vista 7 -- like predecessors -- is bound to slow down and get worse over time:

Suppose “7″ installs a trojan and invites a dozen of its friends to run on your machine. Do you have a core and a gigabyte for each and a NIC for each and an ISP for each so that no bottlenecks get plugged? Suppose your hard drive fragments so that every file is in a dozen parts and you malware scanner has to sift through all of them as well as the applications and OS…. If you install “7″ on an old PC with slow 40gB hard drive and 256 MB or RAM it will thrash like crazy. That will get worse as the disc fragments and more updates are done and more bloat added.

As a side note, be aware that critics of Vista 7 have always been attacked by trolls. We support Pogson's decision to ban the AstroTurfer, Bill Weisgerber aka "billwg" or "amicus_curious", who has been plaguing several pro-GNU/Linux forums for many years (some claim to have blown the whistle on him), insulting people in them.

For those who are proponents of software freedom, consider Pogson's blog a blog worth subscribing to because the troll problem is now resolved too. OpenBytes had similar issues with a vulgar troll who attacked the editor's family. The weaker Microsoft becomes, the more aggressive the trolls will be. Both trolls are just 2 among ~4 in total that we've ever banned in Techrights. Yes, they systematically target just Microsoft critics and GNU/Linux proponents, trashing their Web sites on purpose. ⬆