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Boycott Windows Vista

12 October 2007

AMSTERDAM – The Consumers’ Association (Consumentenbond) has called on consumers when purchasing a new computer to explicitly ask for the operating system Windows XP. New PCs come standard with Windows XP’s successor Windows Vista but there are many complaints about this system.

The organisation has also called on shops to provide free Windows XP packages to clients who are having problems with Vista.

The Consumers’ Association took this decision on Thursday after a meeting with Microsoft to discuss the problems with Vista.

After a survey conducted by the Consumers’ Association showed that the performance of Microsoft’s latest operating system was very poor, the Association set up a registration centre for complaints about Vista. In less than five weeks 5,000 users filed complaints about the functioning of the system. "The product has many teething problems, it is just not ready," a spokesperson for the association said. Printers and other hardware reportedly failed in combination with Vista, computers crash regularly and the peripherals are very slow.

The association had a meeting about the complaints with Microsoft Nederland on Thursday and suggested that Microsoft offer Windows XP as an alternative to clients who are having problems with Vista, but Microsoft refused. "Although they do offer Windows XP to their business clients when they are having problems," the spokesperson for the association said.

Microsoft was not available for comment on Thursday night.

http://www.expatica.com/actual/article. ... y_id=44868

No problem for me, I'm Mac man.

I'm about to buy a mini mac .... sick of PCs, they are the worst of the worst frankly, when you sit 'em next to a Mac.

Vista is a heap of shite, terrible problems they aren't patching fast enough... typical microsnot bullshit.

people always slate a new MS operating system when it comes out, im running vista on a machine ive had for almost a year and its running fine, it boots faster than it did under XP SP2 and hasnt crashed at all, and I work in computing so have certainly put the computer through its paces.

I really think MS gets far to much flack, it does what most office / home users want it to do easily, and those people that want more functionality can get a linux distro for free anyway...

aaron wrote:people always slate a new MS operating system when it comes out, im running vista on a machine ive had for almost a year and its running fine, it boots faster than it did under XP SP2 and hasnt crashed at all, and I work in computing so have certainly put the computer through its paces.

I really think MS gets far to much flack, it does what most office / home users want it to do easily, and those people that want more functionality can get a linux distro for free anyway...

Most home/office users?

Ok... describe your average home user? You can't. Each person uses their pc for different things, for instance I run a streaming audio server and half my DJs couldn't connect through problems with Vista and soundcards which STILL haven't been patched and we're months down the line.

Microsoft DESERVEDLY take flack, if you think it's ok for a company to hold a monopoly and regularly provide programs which will burn up your pc's resources quicker than a snowball fight in hell then yer logic's a bit off... if you're in computing, you should know how bollocks Vista is dude. Switching to Linux is simply not an option for many people so that's a bogus alternative. We don't use VOS for anything other than what normal people would if they require to broadcast/record/manipulate audio, all something that *should* be normal, ie running programs that access the soundcard.

Our tech guy in Holland, chappy talks in 0s and 1s frankly and when we approached him with the soundcard issue (he runs our streaming server in NL and we remotely access from various points around the country/world depending on where the broadcast point/DJ is) his MO was "install XP" ... says it all really.

If Vista is *just* for home users who don't have a clue then that's even worse, meaning that people who wish to use slightly more advanced function have to start messing around with Linux... one of the great things about the radio we run is that any idiot with a PC can broadcast, you don't need to be technically minded, our guys coded a program that requires one click broadcast and one click stop, provides video (don't even start me on Vista's capacity for streaming video) etc ... now half our guys don't know what the f*ck is happening because their soundcard isn't compatible with Vista, even the patches they brought out were dud...

Sorry, but no amount of convincing will change my mind on that - especially when Microsoft as good as force PC users into using their OS as the general public don't know any better and microsoft are abusing their commercial position.

What exactly is it you do in the computing field dude?

I'm forced to use a PC at work due to the fact AutoCAD does not run on MAC, but our office IT has already boycotted Vista. ACAD Land Developement is a very memory/power consuming force and we simply can't chance that to Vista and it's supposed patches. Just not worth it. My home use is pretty basic; music and video file manipulation and storage, and the storage and transfer of photos. My wife works from home as a web developer and designer, so a PC just ain't gonna cut it for her. A MAC seems pretty costly up front, but I think it's far worth it in the long run. Just stay away from the iMACs with the dome, they collect dust and the fan clogs up.

for people who want to use their computer to listen to music, surf the web and run microsoft office apps to do their work vista is absolutley fine. For more complex things like your doing then there is going to be teething problems as with any new OS, remember when 95 came out? everybody complained, programs crashed etc.

While MS do abuse their position and charge too much for their software, there is major simplicity with it. Programs are really easy to install and run, exploring your hard drive is as simple as clicking a button. I know so many people who want no more from their computer than to run office and a really easy to use GUI, maybe play some games. These people know their computers but are happy with MS Os's as they perform everything they want done.

I really like the new styles of windows in vista, and the simplified start menu. Ive seriously had no problems with running vista and my only concern would be that it uses a LOT of ram, im no gamer though so it dosent bother me. In the next year or so I think it will become a lot more stable for other uses, these things take time unfortuntaly, and MS isnt alone in releasing buggy software.

Im in between jobs at the moment but program in java and dabble in web development and a few other languages. People I know are split, they either hate vista or like it but hey everyone to their own.

http://www.apple.com/macmini/

You will absolutely not be disappointed, this baby is rapid and as solid as a rock. Will look fantastic sitting under a 42" HD LCD telly as am monitor in my living room

Beast of a machine! Worth every penny imo!

aaron wrote:for people who want to use their computer to listen to music, surf the web and run microsoft office apps to do their work vista is absolutley fine. For more complex things like your doing then there is going to be teething problems as with any new OS, remember when 95 came out? everybody complained, programs crashed etc.

While MS do abuse their position and charge too much for their software, there is major simplicity with it. Programs are really easy to install and run, exploring your hard drive is as simple as clicking a button. I know so many people who want no more from their computer than to run office and a really easy to use GUI, maybe play some games. These people know their computers but are happy with MS Os's as they perform everything they want done.

I really like the new styles of windows in vista, and the simplified start menu. Ive seriously had no problems with running vista and my only concern would be that it uses a LOT of ram, im no gamer though so it dosent bother me. In the next year or so I think it will become a lot more stable for other uses, these things take time unfortuntaly, and MS isnt alone in releasing buggy software.

Im in between jobs at the moment but program in java and dabble in web development and a few other languages. People I know are split, they either hate vista or like it but hey everyone to their own.

I'm not doin anything advanced dude - far from it in fact, something that by other methods everybody will at some point require, only trying to get a program to access the soundcard, a very, very simple process that frankly a BBC micro given enough tweaking could do

MAC OS is just as simple to use as Windows, but people are so overly exposed to windows that people fear Macs, that's my problem with Microsoft, when you mention other people releasing buggy software, that's all fine and well because they aren't forcing people into using their particular application, MS are, BIG time, even though I deem it to be completely wrong in this day of age, if they MUST behave in such a fashion it's the least they could do to get the damn thing right before they release it and make sure their patches WORK ... dunno who's coding stuff for MS these days but they're making a complete arse of it!

Horses for courses, of course(s) but Microshaft are highly questionable in their business practice and their coding and the sooner the average user realises that the better. Let's face it, the general public put microsnot where they are today by lapping up their programs like a dog eating chips. Windoze... stolen from MAC OS circa the glorious '80s Nice work if you can get it....

Another problem-free Mac lover here - DO believe the hype

Neldo - FYI: Just saw this - Mac mini nears End-of-Life

http://tinyurl.com/2fgd3x

i'm not really up to date on the technostuff....i've got a question...can you play games like Bioshock or the latest games or whatever on a Mac?

One of the main complaints I hear about MACs is the gaming situation; not many games. I'm not a gamer, so it doesn't bother me, but it would be worth looking into if you are.

Tall Guy wrote:Another problem-free Mac lover here - DO believe the hype

Neldo - FYI: Just saw this - Mac mini nears End-of-Life

http://tinyurl.com/2fgd3x

Strange one that, considering there's an update due next month .... weird, they say EOL, but really when you look at the spec for the new one, it's hardly gonna be defunct machinery for a good while to come... it's plenty under the hood to last a good while!

Yeah for sure, have you checked out the new iMacs though? very tasty, but the mini and a good screen will do very nicely. I've got a Samsung 22" screen connected to a laptop.

My mate and I have the same LG 42" HD LCD ... belter of telly, he has a miniMac and on that screen it looks tip top, sharp as a tack!