Ballmer: We Wasted Too Many Years on Vista

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[citation][nom]TA152H[/nom]I have to support all three, and of the three Windows 2000 is the fastest and easiest to use.The problem is, they don't just tweak it to make it better. It's slower, buggier and takes up huge amount of resources now. Nobody buys a computer to run an OS, they buy it to run an application. Microsoft keeps creating bigger and slower operating systems, that don't show a marked improvement over the previous one (except for Windows 7, because Vista had so many problems). An Atom with 1 GB can run Win 2K very fast, how about Windows 7? What does Windows 7 do that you can't do in Win 2K, assuming drivers? What applications has this platform availed to us, that we couldn't use before? None. It just runs everything slower.[/citation]
In this case there is no point to even have win2000. Everything can be done on Linux. While new OSes keep adding features, the basics are all the same and all of this can be done on Linux which runs even faster. There is no point on building new OSes at all, or does it?
 
@TA152H

Dude, games run better on 7 than XP. I dual boot and ran bunches of benchmarks.

Sure it takes a little more RAM. Not enough to matter. And certainly not enough to override the stuff it does way better than XP. Networking stuff is a snap now, especially with wireless. (and generally windows 7 can find the wireless drivers you need)

Not only that, but if you're gonna be in the minimalist crowd, you need to move to linux. It's capabilities and features are certainly ahead of something like windows 2000. Even it's wireless stuff is approaching how easy to setup and use windows 7 is. (Typing this from ubuntu 10.04)

There is literally no point to something like windows 2000 anymore.
 
[citation][nom]False_Dmitry_II[/nom]@TA152H Dude, games run better on 7 than XP. I dual boot and ran bunches of benchmarks.Sure it takes a little more RAM. Not enough to matter. And certainly not enough to override the stuff it does way better than XP. Networking stuff is a snap now, especially with wireless. (and generally windows 7 can find the wireless drivers you need) Not only that, but if you're gonna be in the minimalist crowd, you need to move to linux. It's capabilities and features are certainly ahead of something like windows 2000. Even it's wireless stuff is approaching how easy to setup and use windows 7 is. (Typing this from ubuntu 10.04)There is literally no point to something like windows 2000 anymore.[/citation]

Well, that's kind of interesting since every site that benchmarked showed XP was faster than Vista, and Vista was slightly faster than Windows 7. But, XP is bloated too, I never warmed up to it.

Linux is a based on Unix, not NT, and is a different animal. I never liked Unix, and I don't like Linux. I'm not saying it's worthless or should be gotten rid of - some people like it. I've never liked Unix, and never will.

Windows 2000 is a minimalist OS? What doesn't it run? What's is missing? Aero? Wow, that's really important 😛 . It's just faster, and uses less resources, but can run the same apps. I have servers up for a year at a time without rebooting - it's a very reliable operating system. I don't think it makes for a worse experience.

If you like Linux, fine. I don't like it, but I am glad people that do have it around. But, with respect to Windows, which was based more on VMS, it's gotten too big and slow.

Again, lets get back to why we have an OS. It's to run applications efficiently. Windows 7 is slower than Windows 2000, by a lot, uses way more memory, but does not allow any applications Win 2K doesn't.

Wireless is hard to set up in Windows 2000????? Oh my. Networking is easy too. I'm not sure what was so hard in Win2K that Windows 7 fixed.

Keep in mind, I'm not saying applications like wizards needed to remain the same, which apparently is what you're referring to. But, I have a real problem where an OS needs 2 GB to run well, and runs so dreadfully slow, without any real benefit.

 
I only used vista on very few occasions -- never on my own pc, btw...but everyone's right...we wouldn't have windows 7 without visa, so I don't know how he views it as a 'waste'. And while I'm a mac user and love it, Windows 7 seems like a great OS (I just haven't spent enough time with it yet).
 
hah, innovation. microsoft are not creative in any way. vista was them showing to the world their creative side, and they completely effed it up. so they went backward just to get things working again. all they do is "steal" ideas from everyone else, then get you to pay for it.
 
[citation][nom]omnimodis78[/nom]Good luck running SSD with Windows2000 - oh and I'm sure you're having a blast with drivers for SLI, etc. How's your quad-core CPU working out for you? I'm sure it's blazing fast running Photoshop CS5 with the...err...Windows2000 and 512mb ram you are using? Give me a break![/citation]

I highly doubt that this guy even knows what Nvidia's SLI is or even what a SSD is. But in all fairness if youre on TOMs and still ranting about windows 2000, pls, its time to upgrade and update or else it will show that this site has no bearing on your decisions or even helps you in any way.... That was 10 years ago, today the computing world is different with more advance requirments.
 
Anyone here actually code software for both Win7, Vista, XP, and OSX?? Sure doesn't sound like it. However, I do.

With a few very minor exceptions, coding for Win7 and Vista is identical, the security model and base are virtually the same. You wanna believe Win7 is better than Vista, go for it. But the reality is they are the same with some UI changes to reduce the number of user prompts and the introduction of DX11.

Balmer is about business, he could care less about the home consumer.

But you might want to consider WHY Balmer didn't give his usual talk on return on investment and equity ... the reason is simple, Microsoft are lost ... clouding computing ... a litte late there Steve Balmer, Steve Jobs will have a new HUGE facility online by this summer to cover "cloud computing".

All Microsoft currently have is the business market, and that's turning out to be a smaller piece of the pie than the Home/Mobile market, which Apple now dominate.

Balmer needs to ask "where did all the software developers go?" ... answer, they found a better revenue source with Apple and mobile applications.

Sad part is Balmer still isn't understanding the big picture yet ... if Balmer is not replaced soon, Microsoft may never recover.
 
[citation][nom]TEAMSWITCHER[/nom]As far as I can tell Windows 7 is Vista. The overall color scheme is more bluish instead of blackish. There are a couple fewer UAC notifications, but still too many. There is a new window snapping feature, which is good for two or fewer windows. A new task bar that can show only one icon for all application windows, but you only get two size choices (small and large) And finally, games seem to crash a bit less often.That's it. That's my review of Windows 7. If you wan't to experience a truly better OS, then you have to get a Mac. Snow Leopard is years ahead of Windows Vista 2.0, oops I mean 7.[/citation]


Gads dude i can here the suction noices from your job on Steve jobs a 1000 miles away
 
No offense Steven Baldie, but cloud computing can suck it. I won't trust a third party to do my data calculations. This gives a company FAR too much power and control over corporations, and allows you to peer right into their company. The day cloud computing takes over is the day the company that controls the cloud starts to screw people over in a big way. That's a mega nu-uh from me.
 
No offense Stevie Balldman, but cloud computing can suck it. I won't trust a third party to do my data calculations. This gives a company FAR too much power and control over corporations and individuals - allowing the entity that runs and controls the cloud to peer right into companies, see and record personal data, and change data, etc. The insider info one could obtain through raw data to get a leg up on stock trading, the sabotage that could happen...

The day cloud computing takes over is the day the company that controls the cloud starts to screw people over in a big way. That's a mega nu-uh from me.
 
[citation][nom]omnimodis78[/nom]I disagree! Windows7 is what it is thanks to the time and money invested into Vista. I bypassed Vista by going from XP straight to 7 but I used Vista at work and I despised it (not due to the hate hype, but because it really is a bad OS), but now I totally dig 7 and that's thanks to the Vista growing pains.[/citation]

I think you mean consumer growing pains. We essentially did all the beta testing for Microsoft...
 
[citation][nom]omnimodis78[/nom]I disagree! Windows7 is what it is thanks to the time and money invested into Vista. I bypassed Vista by going from XP straight to 7 but I used Vista at work and I despised it (not due to the hate hype, but because it really is a bad OS), but now I totally dig 7 and that's thanks to the Vista growing pains.[/citation]
About the same here, just updated my gaming rig to 7-64bit several days ago and I am impressed on compatibility with old games. Baldur's Gate and Icewind Dale series, no problem and it seems less crash prone in Fallout 3 too than XP was. Don't like the start menu as much and the games don't seem to go into the Mygames folder even though I moved them into the start menu folder games. No biggy as long as they play and is stable.
 
MS is steering the wrong way again with the whole CLOUD bs. Perhaps 100 years from now when free super high speed wifi is literally being beamed to us from space or something will the Cloud dynamics work. Today high speed internet access is to expensive, unavailable to many and to unreliable to be trusted. Even then, human nature is not to trust things they can not quantify and hold.
 
I don't think Win7 is as revolutionary as people say it is, but it works. I can do the stuff I wanna do without thinking about the OS. No more do I have to wonder if I should or not update some driver. Do I have to download a patch? What is this error message? Whould I change a registry key? My computer feels slow, I think I should uninstall some stuff. Now it just seems "dirty", I guess I should wipe my HD and do a clean install.

Nah, I installed Win7 a year ago and just forgot about it.
 
All the operating systems have their place. Personally i use a combination of Linux, XP, & 7 (I do hate macs with a burning passion though).

I partially agree with TA152H, we could have easily just kept improving on something like 2000. Personally i am a minimalist, not so much that i want to use only a shell, but as far as the GUI goes give me the smallest amount possible, but thats not what the general public wants. They want flashy pretty colors (Crayon & Construction Paper). But to your point, TA152H, we don't NEED anything. We all survived before computers, and we all survived before the airplane, and the car, etc. We do all of this because it is human nature to change and improve, not because we need to.
 
[citation][nom]rantsky[/nom]He is totally right. I have no idea what they were doing for this long. I personally went straight from XP to 7. Win 7 is better at many things (also, is worse at some things), but it is definitely NOT 10 years of work better than XP. I cannot imagine any other company working for 10 years and getting only this far. Look what Apple did in 10 years, what Google did in 10 years, think where Intel was 10 years ago. This is NOT 10 years of work for a company the size of MS. Sorry.[/citation]


Google started in 1998, so really look at what they did in 12 years. Absolutely incredible.
 
[citation][nom]TA152H[/nom]Well, that's kind of interesting since every site that benchmarked showed XP was faster than Vista, and Vista was slightly faster than Windows 7. But, XP is bloated too, I never warmed up to it. Linux is a based on Unix, not NT, and is a different animal. I never liked Unix, and I don't like Linux. I'm not saying it's worthless or should be gotten rid of - some people like it. I've never liked Unix, and never will.Windows 2000 is a minimalist OS? What doesn't it run? What's is missing? Aero? Wow, that's really important 😛 . It's just faster, and uses less resources, but can run the same apps. I have servers up for a year at a time without rebooting - it's a very reliable operating system. I don't think it makes for a worse experience. If you like Linux, fine. I don't like it, but I am glad people that do have it around. But, with respect to Windows, which was based more on VMS, it's gotten too big and slow. Again, lets get back to why we have an OS. It's to run applications efficiently. Windows 7 is slower than Windows 2000, by a lot, uses way more memory, but does not allow any applications Win 2K doesn't. Wireless is hard to set up in Windows 2000????? Oh my. Networking is easy too. I'm not sure what was so hard in Win2K that Windows 7 fixed.Keep in mind, I'm not saying applications like wizards needed to remain the same, which apparently is what you're referring to. But, I have a real problem where an OS needs 2 GB to run well, and runs so dreadfully slow, without any real benefit.[citation][nom]johnb4467[/nom]I only used vista on very few occasions -- never on my own pc, btw...but everyone's right...we wouldn't have windows 7 without visa, so I don't know how he views it as a 'waste'. And while I'm a mac user and love it, Windows 7 seems like a great OS (I just haven't spent enough time with it [/citation]
yet).[/citation]

Maybe you should go out and get a job, that way you can stop crying about how much ram an OS uses. I mean, being that ram is so freaking cheap and all. You cry that Windows 7 hogs your memory, perhaps if you actually upgraded to a 64-bit processor and a 64-bit operating system, you could throw more than 4 GB of ram into your system and reap the benefits?

Of course Windows 7 runs like shit on shit hardware. If you had some relatively new hardware, you'd see Windows 7 runs like a dream. I dare say it's fast as fuck, and my system is only mediocre with an E8400 processor and 8 GB of gSkill Pi.

your OS is limited to 4 GB of ram, get out of the stone age, get some new hardware, go 64-bit Windows 7, then tell me again that Windows 7 sucks.
 
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