Microsoft fighting cognitive lock-in as users hold on to XP

[Daniel ~]

Written by Daniel
Monday, 18 August 2008

Microsoft fighting cognitive lock-in as users hold on to XP

By John Timmer | Published: August 18, 2008 - 11:50AM CT
ARS Technica

It's often said that the greatest competitive threat to a new Microsoft OS release is the collective weight of all the past iterations of Windows. [Comments...]

[Samuknow]

I just got a new rig at work and it was downgraded to XP Pro.

Some of our legacy software will not work at all on Vista. It is too costly to change everything. I still think the corporate world will force this issue for a long time.

[PorPorMe]

Originally Posted by Samuknow

I just got a new rig at work and it was downgraded to XP Pro.

Some of our legacy software will not work at all on Vista. It is too costly to change everything. I still think the corporate world will force this issue for a long time.

I don't see why the corp world would want Vista at all. What does it offer them? I don't know everything about Vista but I see more cons and not a single pro for the corps. It's always one problem after another, they may be just annoying but for the work environment, it's costing money. Some software doesn't work on Vista, again costing money. And to what gain? There isn't any. XP PRO is as good as it gets.

[Necorum]

Originally Posted by PorPorMe

I don't see why the corp world would want Vista at all. What does it offer them? I don't know everything about Vista but I see more cons and not a single pro for the corps. It's always one problem after another, they may be just annoying but for the work environment, it's costing money. Some software doesn't work on Vista, again costing money. And to what gain? There isn't any. XP PRO is as good as it gets.

But what about those DX10 enabled spread sheets

[Gizmo]

TBH, Windows 2000 was a big step forward from NT4 for corps, mainly from a management perspective.

WindowsXP really didn't bring an awful lot to the plate for corps, and adoption of XP was slow, but not overly painful. Eventually, the issue was forced as more and more software began to appear that required XP, or at least that was only supported on XP.

The same thing will eventually happen with Vista.

[Daniel ~]

You guys really need to see Fedora run Quake 4. It changes just so many things!..":O}

[PorPorMe]

Linux does have a lot to offer and it gets better all the time but the learning curve is a b@$%! I want to get back to it and will after a while. It's on one of my project lists.
My problem is I'm not a detail man.
"Instructuctions, Lucy? Who needs the the instructions!!!?"
I get the job done, now. Sometimes that has served me well-sometimes it doesn't. For Linux, life is in the details!

[Gizmo]

The same was true of Windows when it first came out. The only reason Windows is 'easy to use' is because virtually everyone has experience using Windows, and if they don't know how to do something, they have a buddy who can probably help them out.

[PorPorMe]

Yes. If you were to take me right from D.O.S. and directly into XP, I'd be in the same position. Windows we got to learn in transition. Step by step as it progressed. I fell in love with mathmatics in college when I grasped that concept. 1 + 1 = 2 opens many doors of thinking. Sounds simple. Sometimes it's not.

[booman]

I'm all for Linux but some companies (my work) uses certain programs that won't function properly in Linux. So I'm kinda stuck, but I play with Linux on the side because I like trying to get games and dedicated servers running in Fedora 8. I'm trying to get DosBox running but it requires a buch of other stuff to install, EX:

Dos Box Requirements:
SDL 1.3.x with 1.2.11
SDL-sound
SDL-net
libpng
libzib

PHYSFS libglide2Requirements:
SDL 1.3.x with 1.2.11
SDL-sound
SDL-net
libpng
libzib
PHYSFS libglide2

How the heck to I know if I have all this stuff, and if I don't how to I install it? I've found instructions online on how to install some of the rpm's but there are soooooooooooooo many steps and commands.
As opposed to Windows - double click, next, finish, done.

I've spent at least 4 hours trying to get a wireless card installed after going through the instructions about 4 times, but it finally installed. Didn't work, but installed.
I did the same for upgrading Nvidia drivers for a new Video Card.

[Gizmo]

I might be able to help with your wireless; maybe. I've been mucking about with several wireless cards on my Fedora setup.

[Daniel ~]

PM dsio or Cliff, either can set up with Nvidia drivers that update when Fedora does automatically. I'd try but the truth is m journey there was a bit round about and so my notes reflect this and...I've only doe it once with help from dsio. Please work on this in the forums as I would love to be able to run though this again!