Interesting read Trip. I can't say i am surprised by the results though.

This slightly off topic but why do MS roll OSs out before they have been at least tested well.

They must obviousley test their software maybe they should increase the level of time spent on testing.

Somethings better to be late in coming out but working well than something coming out early and needing numerous patches and service packs to fix the problems.

By the time vista for the home pc is working correctly you will need a top spec machine just to run it.

You already need a top spec PC if you want to enjoy all the new features.

Microsoft have always released their OSs before they are ready. I guess there comes a time when they need to start seeing some income from the years of investment during development.

Yeah pretty much, they do need money, and the thing is most of the consumers use windows anyways, so sooner or later people are going switch to the new OS's

Big deal... just Remote Desktop into a server and run the tools from there. Whiners!

I am not being funny but surely Bill can afford not to make his next 10 million for a while.

They could give me a job testing I will work on testing 7 days a week for a normal wage untill I have identified as many issues as possible and suggested as many fixes as I can.

Like I sent a letter to Peter Moore about the xbox problems which MS seem to be now admitting (over heating, 3 red lights) happen.

I had 4 of them 4th I sold with the same issue, my xbox360 was on a flat surface, dust free, every six months 3 red lights dead xbox, I wrote and said its obviously a cooling issue, there are not enough air vents, the fan aint big enough and chipset is too big, how a bout a smaller one to spped up cooling.

Apparently this is happening, the xbox 360 elite comes out soon this is just the same as one thats available now but has a 120GB hard disk and a quieter CDROM drive but theres one coming out with a smaller chipset

It's not necessarily a cooling issue, or if it is, it's not just a cooling issue... some state that it might also be related to a faulty power adapter. If you send a faulty XBox in to Microsoft for exchange, be SURE to use the power adapter that comes with the new XBox... don't just use the old one that was connected to your old XBox...

I did do all that, I got that annoyed that I had a 4th one relaced by MS that I just sold it.

But if the smaller chipset one thats reportedly coming out then I will possibly get it.

My friend has had 3 his 1st one got so hot you couldnt touch it (on the back where graphics chip is)

3 red light means faulty hardware and although it has reportedly been a number of different issues the graphic chip has been the main one as it burns out.

All these issues can be explained by marketing, with a console they really want to be first to market, so these issues are gonna crop up as they don't wanna sit around testing for months while the competition takes market share.

As for windows, make it look pretty and the end user will go out and buy it for a vastly inflated fee, the business and OEM versions will likely be bought anyway sooner or later, companies must comply to get support, new computers are largely preinstalled...

There's a very good article in this month's PC pro titled 'Who's killing Windows'.

It's basically rubbished all of MS's claims about how Vista is their most popular release to date. It goes on to point out that more PCs are being sold these days, and the fact that Vista is pre-installed on them doesn't count as a marketing triumph.

It goes on to say that Dell have started giving XP as an option on new machines again following customer feedback. And shipping Linux on their servers...

Supposedly, that's just until the start of next year... but I hope that policy is extended... there's quite a few companies that still require XP.

One good example that XP is still required for most organisations due to software compatibility is Dells Vostro range, currently Vista only, but I have been advised that they will soon be offering it with XP too

I think most places will want to still use XP so I think MS should stay with improving it, i.e service pack 3 whenever thats supposed to be out.

Also after not owning a PC for 10 years I have noticed that I would rather still have an operating system such as DOS with a windows GUI on top.

I used 95 when I was at Uni and didnt think much of it, I never used 98 or ME as that time I was using Unix on Sun Solaris

Command line operating systems still seem to work the best apart from with XP in my opinion.

Problem is, MS don't actually have to make Vista 'better' than XP, they just have to use their corporate muscle to get it pre-installed on new systems then start to withdraw support for XP.

It will be interesting to see if the public and other corporations will be able to influence the outcome by voting with their feet, as it where...