Print - WinInfo Short Takes: Week of January 21, 2008

An often irreverent look at some of the week's other news, including a weekend in Paris, Mickey Mouse jokes, the untimely death of XP, a Plus Pack that isn't, a red Zune, a Microsoft resignation, an AMD problem, 2007 PC sales, and so much more...

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I can't remember: Did I mention that CES is a joke? Oh, wait that was last week.

This week, I'm in Paris with Steph celebrating her 40th birthday. We kind of messed around with going somewhere crazy for a little while but ended up doing the safe thing, as we love Paris. On the other hand, we'll be home-swapping in Ireland this summer instead of Paris, so we figured we'd try to get back to France at least once this year.

Because of my trip Leo and I were unable to schedule a time to record the Windows Weekly podcast this week, but we'll be back with a new episode next week.
http://www.winsupersite.com/paul/podcast.asp

Short Takes

And You Thought Microsoft's Software was already Mickey Mouse
When somebody uses duct tape to repair their car engine, we say that it's been "Mickey Moused," an homage of sorts to Disney's rodent mascot. This week, Microsoft pulled its own Mickey Mouse (if I can further abuse the term), hiring a former Disney executive as its CIO. Tony Scott, previously Disney's CIO, will take the same job at Microsoft beginning next month. He replaced another Mr. Scott, Stuart Scott, who departed in November. Great Scott.

No, Windows XP Does Not Need to be "Saved"
Arguably, we need to be saved from XP. Or at least from the hermitic Luddites that don't want computing to advance past 2001: In a bald PR move, InfoWorld has launched a "Save XP" campaign, aimed ostensibly at convincing Microsoft not to retire its aging previous Windows version this year as planned. So far 30,000 people (read: Gleeful Mac and Linux users) have signed the petition, and while I'm sure at least some of them mean well, the rest need to get a life. Vista is vastly superior to XP and most of its so-called problems are really the fault of lazy third part developers who didn't get their applications and hardware compatible in a timely manner. Keeping XP rolling long would just make this problem even worse.

When is a Plus Pack Really a Minus?
And speaking of Vista, Microsoft promised that it was doing away with its Plus Pack add-ons beginning with Vista to focus instead on Ultimate Extras, the additional features available only to users of the high-end Vista Ultimate edition. Well, they've sort of reversed course. First, Ultimate Extras didn't turn out to be much of an incentive for users to buy the high-end Ultimate edition of Vista, and Microsoft has since scaled back the program dramatically. Second, this week an advertisement for what appears to be a Vista Plus Pack appeared in an online ad for a Canadian reseller, with an expected release date of mid-February. Excited news reports appeared, heralding the improved UI and Tablet PC features it would bring. Well, sorry to deflate your bubble: The "Vista Plus Pack" is really just a low-end package with four casual games for Windows users and nothing more. And it's probably not shipping in February either. Ah well.

Microsoft Debuts Red Zune 80 for Valentine's Day
With an eye on Valentine's Day, Microsoft this week began offering its Zune 80 portable digital media player in a new red color with 20 new Zune Originals etching options that feature designs inspired by themes of love and sharing. Microsoft says the new color is a response to "consumer excitement" for the Zune 80, though it's unclear exactly how excited consumers are about the device as Microsoft has never released any sales figures. After an initial bout of excitement over the gen-2 Zune devices, I've come to the conclusion that while they're very, very good, they just don't offer the same range of content and features found on Apple's iPods and are thus still inherently less interesting. The red Zune looks nice though.

Rob Short Resigns from Microsoft
Microsoft corporate vice president Rob Short has resigned from Microsoft, the second senior executive to announce his departure from the software giant in as many weeks. (The other was Jeff Raikes.) Short was a member of the Core Operating System team, which works on the kernel and other low-level features in Microsoft's Windows systems. Short has never made much news for some reason, but he was with the company for over 20 years and was part of the original NT team from Digital. He took a long-term leave of absence from Microsoft in 2007 and then declined to return when his time away was set to expire. I know the feeling, Rob.

AMD Posts Massive Loss, All Related to ATI Purchase
Microprocessor maker AMD posted a massive net loss in the fourth quarter of 2007, virtually all of which were related to $1.86 billion in charges related to its purchase of video card maker ATI. Factor out that purchase, and AMD almost broke even from an operation standpoint, so the company was able to at least claim some progress. (Well, it lost $9 million in the quarter, compared to a $576 million loss in the same quarter a year ago. I guess that's progress.) AMD has other issues to deal with, of course. Aside from being a perennial also-ran in the CPU wars, the company has had difficulties shipping its quad-core microprocessors, which provide four processor cores on a single chip package. In December, AMD had to admit to a design flaw in the chips which will delay their wide scale release until sometime in the first half of 2008.

PC Makers Ship About 270 Million PCs in 2007
And finally, PC makers sold approximately 270 million PCs in 2007, growing sales about 13.5 percent year over year, according to figures from IDC and Gartner. Thanks to a weakening US economy however, sales there were only up 9 percent. Dell was the world's number one PC maker, followed by HP, Acer, Lenovo, and Toshiba, but Dell's shipments actually fell, year over year, in the US. Meanwhile, while Apple didn't place in the top five worldwide, a 30 percent year over year increase in sales in the US vaulted the company to the number three position there for the fourth quarter, behind HP and Dell. I'd again like to highlight that Microsoft only selling 100 Vista licenses through the end of a year in which 270 million PCs were sold is a big and obvious problem.

Almost miss the days when a resignation from Microsoft got us 12 messages from bonch and friends about the rats fleeing the ship. (Almost being the key word there.) I'm rather bored with InfoWorld and others using Vista as their punching bag. We get it - you don't like it. If that's the only way you can sell magazines and get attention, maybe you've outlived your purpose.

Come on, Paul...Quit beating around the bush! Tell us....How do you REALLY feel about CES?!

Agreed: CES is a joke. Agreed: XP is not better than Vista. CES is a waste of time and energy. But then again, most tech industry dog-and-pony shows are a joke. This includes Macworld (IMO). Everyone drinks the marketing Kool-Aid and wakes up a week later wondering what the big deal was. And we all wake up a year later and wonder what happened to all the great products that were promised. jeresy72 is absolutely right. What is up with the ubiquitous Vista-bashing? I agree that Vista is not a must-upgrade proposition for users or businesses, but it's not a must-avoid, either. I know one business that is upping Win2000 Pro to XP. (!!!??) All that does is ensure the need to upgrade sooner rather than later.

Jersey, I don't miss the Bonch/Vandil/Vandil2 days at all! This would be the moment that he has a cow that Apple is enabling EFI and we are stuck with the completely usable BIOS.

Jersey, I don't miss the Bonch/Preseton/Vandil/Vandil2 days at all! This would be the moment that he has a cow that Apple is enabling EFI and we are stuck with the completely usable BIOS.

"This would be the moment that he has a cow that Apple is enabling EFI and we are stuck with the completely usable BIOS." considering that 64-bit Windows works perfectly fine with MBR disks, there is really little reason to move to EFI, if just for the sake of saying that you're using GPT disks. one question i've always wondered though, is if Intel Mac's use an EFI with legacy BIOS so that you don't have to use Boot Camp to install Windows. i mean, can you nuke your entire Mac hard drive to ONLY install Windows natively? i might point out that Windows Vista SP1 was supposed to support UEFI for motherboards that support it. i wonder if people have tried using diskpart to convert disks to GPT format to see if that works with the current SP1 RC1 (as a slipstreamed SP DVD).... XP

After finally having a laptop with Vista on it, I won't let XP get near my portable chippery.

"I'd again like to highlight that Microsoft only selling 100 Vista licenses through the end of a year in which 270 million PCs were sold is a big and obvious problem." A hundred? I'd say that's substantially more than a huge problem! ;-)

When you have a quality product like XP, along with alot of reviewers hounding a product... then the adoption rate is going to be slowed. People are passing Me II around alot, but the fact of the matter is, Windows Millenium wasn't a better product than Windows 98. Vista is better than XP, period. Unfortunately, in providing many more services, higher end PCs are required, and the 400USD gateway or eMachines isn't going to cut it. Blaming this on Vista is childish. I dare Apple to allow OSX to run on a 400USD (and don't you dare call the iPhone a computer, if OSX on iPhone is identical, then there is no difference between XP/Vista and winCE so you shouldn't be complaining) computer, it will choke and suffer just like anything else. These budget PCs need an operating system that is lightweight relative to the budget offerings (1GB RAM, 1.8GHz C2D) and current budget offerings are the OMGZ 1337 PCs circa 2000-2001, what XP was engineered with in mind. Take a current 1500USD computer and run Vista on it for a solid month. Barring a 'gotta-have-it' rare application, you won't go back.

"Windows Millenium wasn't a better product than Windows 98" try comparing the two after using 1394 hard drives on Windows 98SE and you'll understand how wrong you are.... XP

"After an initial bout of excitement over the gen-2 Zune devices, I've come to the conclusion that while they're very, very good, they just don't offer the same range of content and features found on Apple's iPods and are thus still inherently less interesting" RunTimeError commented on this, and I don't think the statement is true. Excluding the iPod Touch, what is it that the iPod does that the Zune doesn't? Granted, through iTunes Apple offers videos, but that's seperate from the hardware.

@ jersey72 "RunTimeError commented on this, and I don't think the statement is true." I was actually commenting on Paul's lip-flop on the subject itself, not which player is better.

I found your vitriol concerning CES a bit too much. Why would anyone take something such as the CES so personally. You embarrassed yourself and Leo on your last radio broadcast. I am a great fan of YOURS, so I am very surprised that you let loose a cannon. I am still a great fan, so I hope that you contain personal feelings and deliver the best of yourself to us.

"400USD gateway or eMachines isn't going to cut it" good thing neither company exists anymore. XP

"good thing neither company exists anymore" Gateway (who bought eMachines) lives on as a subsidiary of Acer; the e-machines brand is still in use by Acer. Both compare favorably to the "Wae's Bargain Hut" brand.

"Both compare favorably to the "Wae's Bargain Hut" brand." ....ya, cuz you know, they really could stand on their own [sic]. meanwhile, i'm still converting people that were previously Mac users. that says a lot. btw: i'm currently supporting 3 Mac users the best i can, since the closest Mac dealer is over 40 miles away (and hence the only actual source of "support" - if you can call it that). one already tried upgrading to Leopard and nearly lost the entire contents of their hard drive. only after paying $600 for data recovery did they realize it's a piece of crap. one won't upgrade because they don't want to pay for it since they think "Apple is crooked for trying to charge for bug fixes", and the last person won't because their "Made for Mac" printer isn't supported on Leopard. so not one of them is upgrading, and not a single one is buying another Mac. oh, and losta, if i didn't say it before: GO F|_|CK YOURSELF, TROLL! (but you said it first!) XP