Pass the salami
Well, I have hidden some updates. The one to which this message appears to relate is Internet Explorer 7. Failing to install this somehow compromises my safety. Well, for me this minor disadvantage is fully offset by the fact that I am able to continue to use certain peripherals which IE7 cripples.
Other, less foolhardy people than I may well accede to the request to unhide this and similar important updates and, in so doing, break parts of their system that didn’t really need fixing.
Mark that another thin slice of salami.
And, over at ZDNet, Ed Bott asks who’s choosing XP over Vista?
Ed comes to a conclusion which is at significant variance with my own experience.
Buyers, given the clear choice, are opting for Vista over XP by a ratio of more than 7 to 1.
Ed’s methodology is flawed, in that it focuses on a single make of PC via a single channel, but Ed has influence and articles like this, however flawed, are helpful to Microsoft.
I have lost count of the number of people who have come to me over the past year asking for help acquiring new computers with XP, not Vista. This is always because they have existing applications and peripherals, which they know or suspect will not work on Vista. I have helped every one of these people to acquire a new XP PC and all are very happy.
I know two people who bought Vista PCs in the past year without asking me for help.
One deleted the entire partition table of his HDD, created new partitions for ext3fs and swap, and installed Ubuntu. OK, this was more drastic than I think he intended, but he is very happy with the result.
The other soldiers on with Vista and can daily be heard cursing his new PC while attempting to regain lost functionality in peripheral hardware that worked fine under XP but is hobbled by Vista despite being only a couple of years old.
The reason that Vista may be succeeding (though to nothing like the extent that Ed thinks it is) is simply that Microsoft has made it extremely difficult for a consumer to buy any new system with any OS other than some flavour of Vista. Just walk into PC World and ask for an XP machine – see what sort of response you get.
Mark that another thin slice of salami.
Then there’s that action that Microsoft has been taking to get Office OpenXML recognised as an ISO standard.
Another slice.
And then there’s the irritating tendency of media outlets everywhere to hang on every word spoken by the Microsoft PR department, but ignore other major players (with the possible exception of Apple). The BBC is particularly culpable here.
Another slice.
Individually, few of these facets of Microsoft behaviour is particularly sinister – it is when they are taken together that we gain an insight into Microsoft’s strategy for world domination. It’s pretty simple really. They’re implementing it
One
Slice
At
A
Time.
See also:
Name that OS
1. Mark Dowling04/01/2008 17:07:05
Homepage: http://cork2toronto.blogspot.com
Vista Business + downgrade rights + sysprepped XP image = options open 
By Mr Bott's analysis - we run Vista... except we don't.
2. Wild Bill04/01/2008 20:15:15
Homepage: http://www.billbuchan.com
Yup. Vista Sucks big style.
In PC Worlds defense (something I hope you never hear me repeat) a relative recently bought one of their EI Systems range (ouch!) and was advised to put XP on it.
So. Even PC world - suffering the pain of Vista - is 'upgrading'. Granted that was one salesguy in one place..
---* Bill
3. Vitor Pereira04/01/2008 22:12:27
Homepage: http://www.vitor-pereira.com
I am (fortunately) yet to see a machine running Vista. And I am also yet to read about a happy vista user.
Unfortunately I have the feeling this won't matter. Like you said: One. Slice. At. A. Time.
4. Ed Brill05/01/2008 13:47:16
Homepage: http://www.edbrill.com
I had my first Vista experience with my sister-in-law's computer about six weeks ago. She was having trouble connecting to wifi and wanted help.
I wasn't quite honestly sure I was going to be able to do so, when I couldn't get to a command prompt and type "IPCONFIG". A basic diagnostic tool - hidden or gone, either way doesn't matter. All in the name of progress.
Oh, and her brand new computer was pretty damn slow. I would have XP'd it but it was pretty much too late. And that's why 30% of MS's software revenue comes from OEM distribution.
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