PC World Forums: A consumer's personal view of Microsoft and Windows 7 - PC World Forums

Apparently Microsoft doesn't seem to understand the economic situation and thinks everyone has billions of dollars like them. From what I can read about Windows 7 from what Microsoft has published it is Windows Vista that has been fixed. It has many if not all of the same features. And that is if what they say is true. Vista was screwed from the start by Microsoft trying to force it down people's throats. Computer retailers encouraged everone to buy a new computer with or upgrade to Vista Ultimate so we can enjoy all the features. Now Microsoft says no kudos for our suckers, oops, we mean our customers who bought Vista Ultimate. Discounts for Windows 7 upgrades from Vista are only available for Home Premium and Professional. And those discounts are only available for a limited time before the new Windows crash test shows its ugly head in stores. Oh the days gone by when products were sold at a discount while they were on the market because the products lived up to their manufacturer's advertisements and it was a way to get free advertising from satisfied customers who raved the products to their friends and families. When was that good ol' time by the way?

I have Windows Vista Home Premium on my notebook computer. It was custom made and the retail people wanted me to buy a copy of Vista Ultimate because it supports XP Service Pack 3 compatability. The other Vista versions support only XP Service Pack 2 compatability.

"Uh.... NO!"

I'm not paying an extra few hundred dollars for the ability to use a function that applications are not being made for anymore, for the most part. With Windows XP I had Home Edition. For me there was not any reason to pay more for stuff that didn't really do anything more. The only benefit I saw XP profesional having for me that XP Home didn't was Network administration capabilities. For others in different situations it might have had benefits. It was supposed to be more stabel as well. I didn't notice any problems or disadvantages with XP Home. Except for the ocassional crash test windows likes to throw at consumers to make sure we know our emergency procedures. There must be some government regulation somewhre for that, you know like firedrills and earthquake drills. Well I was able to hook up and have a home network with three XP Home Editions without any probelms with my family so....huh, go figure. Of course if I didn't have a router to "administrate" the network then maybe I would have needed Professional. But I was able to hook up two XP Home systems with a cross over ethernet cable. No problems. Professional was supposed to be more secure anyway. Whatever, tell that to the hackers and worms and virus that have brought any XP professional system down without a thrid party Virus scanner and Firewall and even with those security measures Windows was still vulnerable to attack but not as much.

For my uses with Vista I have never needed to Use anything above Vista Home Premium . Frankly all the others cost way too much for what they provide. Home Premium offers stuff I don't ever need either but it's part of the package. Like cable and directv. They have packages and charge you for stuff but in the packages are things a person might never use. Like a bunch of music channells. Some channells a person may want will be in a certain package and not in a lower price one but then they are paying too much for the stuff they want because they don't ever use everything they have. But they can't get rid of the stuff they don't want without getting rid of the package deal. Microsoft seems to like that idea of doing business and it is not customer friednly. It is income friendly though.

I was able to destroy the hopes and dreams of many retail stores who tried this however. They offer package deals on computers.

Darth Employee(Darth for short): "Valued customer if you buy this computer and monitor and printer you will save $700!"

Bane of Comission(Me): "Uh yeah, how about I buy just the computer and save $1300 because I don't need your other stuff in the package and I buy that monitor over there for $30 because you have a promotion on that monitor if I spend at least $199 in your store. I already have a printer. Home networks are great that way."

Darth: "Ok we'll give you $50 off the package deal if you don't get the printer. And by the way if you buy just the computer without the package it costs more than with the package."

Me: "I know. With the package the price tag says $200 for the computer but without it the price tag underneath says $300. And that printer is worth more than $50 and I don't need a drive through movie screen as my computer monitor. And I don't need an extended warranty because manufactuer warranties cover most things and longer than your extended ultra expensive warranties and don't tell me I need an extended warranty because if you sold stuff that breaks on its own you wouldn't be in business.

Darth: "But you need it and then we need to charge you more so you can have one of our technicians install a gamming graphics card in there so you can see very clearly what you type in your chosen word processor. And then we need to scan your new computer for viruses and spyware."

Me: "It's a new computer! Its supposed to come from the manufacturer. Why do you need to scan for spyware and crap?"

Darth: "Stuff happens."

Me: "Like what?"

Darth: "Software gets put on there you don't need."

Me: "Do terrorists intercept the computers you get from the manufacurer or distributers and put stuff on them and then neatly seal the box so they can steal my bank account information or have a good night rest knowing I'm going to get a virus that is going to mess up my alarm clock in my bedroom and make me late for work and thereby ruin the US economy.?!?"

Darth: "....................................."

Me: "Guess what comission boy that computer comes with a Windows key code on the side of the computer. After I power it up I can do a clean install and input that key code in and have a fresh operating system without any stuff that was added." (Which is perfectly legal by the way, if I were to use it for a
different computer then that is naughty. Most new computers come with
an OS dvd if the onboard restore bootup doesn't have the option of just reinstalling the OS.)

Darth: "We don't get comission."

Me: "Whatever. Next your going to tell me your my father. By the way I'm old enough to be yours."

Darth: "Well, it looks like you know what you're doing, I'm going to go help someone else. Let us know if you need anything." (code for: someday your going to get yours and when you do I'll be there buddy.)

Now for an end to this longer than needful review. Microsoft seems to be punishing consumers for daring to voice our opinions on their business practices and ill conceived OS programming. They were not happy that many business rejected it. Many businesses claimed that the Windows server 2000 already had everything they needed. They had never even upgraded to XP. Dell and other computer manufacurers capitalized on Microsoft's folly
by offering Windows XP on their custom built systems. When business
partners forsake the new and stay with the old everyone knows the new
thing is messed up. Microsoft then decided to cancel support for XP and older OS. It looks like Microsoft is throwing a tanrum and decided to take their ball home since we don't want to play there way. There are other operating systems out there. Many programs run on free operating systems. Open Office .org is a full office suite that can do everything Office can do and it is totaly free. Unless you go to a pirate site where they charge you for it and claim to be legit. It can even open and save in Microsoft application formats. I thought windows update was supposed to provide free updates to people with Vista. Why do we need to buy this thing that is advertising to fix what Vista was advertised to be? What happened to Vista being the operating system for the next ten years as it was hailed as being by Microsoft? I'm not going to play there game. Go ahead and come and get me Microsoft for not bowing to your regime.

p.s.

By the way Microsoft how is that massive billion dollar xbox 360 lawsuit comming? You know the one where a bunch of xbox 360's where shipped and still being shipped knowing the graphics card would heat up and the ring of death soon follows. It hansn't been fixed because that would mean you knew what you did was wrong. All because it would have delayed the ship date to take the time to place the graphics card properly. Anyone who knows how to use a screwdrive can fix that and you made a lot of money with that "mistake" because people sent them back in to you to get fixed. That lawsuit is still ongoing. Without that flaw there would be no need for a cooling fan on the back of the xbox 360. So basically for Microsoft Windows 7 is busines as usuall. It seems they break stuff on purpose so consumers can pay for it later.

Well... what do people think about this?

Please be civil there is no need to insult one another and fight amongst ourselves concerning this. Microsoft would love a divide and conqure approach. If anyone believes me to be crazy, a windbag, or whatever let us at least be civil about it. Yes it is long and I think myself to be educated. I did state this is my personal view and my reasons for having this view. I put this little statement at the end because some tech forums have extreamly "interesting" people who might just be angry and want to take it out on others. I haven't posted in this forum before so hopefully this one will be a free exchange of ideas concerning consumer procuts of our modern age.

By the way there is no "correct" answer for this question. And yes I have already spotted a gramatical error in my post. Gramactical errors are not what I wanted to talk about. So if you find one or more then learn from them by not doing them yourself. Or take it to English class and at least get an education while you tare it apart.
Message was edited by: darthhawk