Why are there so many people down on Vista? Especially media people? I am so tired of hearing Vista failure! Vista disaster! Vista sux!

I think every one of these people have a very short memory. I have been doing computer support for over 15 years, most of it supporting end users at the consumer level and enterprise level. My first enterprise/corporate task was to upgrade Windows 3.1 computers to Windows 95 for “Outlook” email. I have deployed Windows 2000 and Windows XP as major projects to help corporations standardize their hardware and software platforms. I know the ins-and-outs of the operating systems pretty well.

There are some basic truths to be had. It doesn’t matter how well an OS is designed, tested, and maintained, the user will find a way to break it. The user will always find something doesn’t work (OS compatibility) no matter how much time is spent making sure that compatibility issues are worked out. Lastly, you will not be able to satisfy everyone.

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Dell said they asked consumers for feedback regarding a Linux distribution, and Ubuntu was the overwhelming favorite (followed closely by OpenOffice). Ubunto 7.0.4 will soon be offered and supported (now even on Dell forums) on consumer models. This in addition to RedHat that has been offered for some time to enterprise customers.

Dell promised to listen better to it’s customers, and lunched it’s IdeaStorm website to solicit feedback. Offering a Linux operating system quickly dominated the requests, and many wondered whether Dell had the resources and desire to support Linux. Not to mention offend partners like Microsoft. It appears they are. Kudos to Dell.

Ideas in Action [Dell]

Windows XP will stop being available on new PCs from the end of January 2008.

Microsoft is keeping to a plan to stop selling the operating system even though surveys show a lukewarm response to Windows Vista among consumers.

A poll by US market research firm Harris Interactive found that only 10% of those questioned were planning to upgrade to Vista in the near future.

All versions of XP, including those made for media centre or tablet PCs, are affected by the decision.

View: Full Story @ BBCNews

Your data’s trapped on a dead computer. You lost your login password. You never wrote down the product key on a non-working Windows installation. Your Mac won’t start.

Don’t pay the extortionists at the computer repair shop 800 bucks to get your data back or start up your dead computer. Plenty of free tools can help you and are available for download right now. Today we’ve got our top 10 system recovery picks which span operating systems but all cost the same: exactly nothing.

View: Full Story @ LifeHacker

Complaining about Windows Vista is a national past time on Internet forums these days. Windows Vista “costs too much,” “has onerous product activation,” “requires too much hardware,” etc. These complaints are often followed up by a very simple boast: “I’m just going to switch to Linux (or Mac).”

But in today’s landscape, how viable is that statment? Is the threat to switch to Linux an empty one, or is it entirely possible? Linux on the desktop has been viable for years, especially for programming gurus who can solve their Linux problems by simply writing new software. It also seems to be viable for “Mom and Pop” end-users who just want a machine to write letters, send email, and browse the Web (although, admittedly, a guru will probably have to set it up for them).

But what about power users, such as the typical audience of HardOCP - those who know how to build their own computers, but not compile their own programs? Or people who may not know how to do something, but aren’t afraid of taking the time to figure it out? Is Linux truly an alternative? Can they do everything they did in Windows? The truth is, we didn’t know, but we very much wanted to find out.

View: Full Story @ hardocp.com

A genuine crack for Windows Vista has just been released by pirate group Pantheon, which allows a pirated, non-activated installation of Vista (Home Basic/Premium and Ultimate) to be properly activated and made fully-operational.

Unlike cracks which have been floating around since Vista RTM was released in late November, this crack doesn’t simply get around product activation with beta activation files or timestop cracks - it actually makes use of the activation process. It seems that Microsoft has allowed large OEMs like ASUS to ship their products with a pre-installed version of Vista that doesn’t require product activation – apparently because end users would find it too inconvenient.

This version of Vista uses System-Locked Pre-Installation 2.0 (SLP 2.0). It allows the “Royalty OEMs” to embed specific licensing information into the operating system which Vista can activate without having to go back to Microsoft for verification. The licensing components include the OEM’s hardware-embedded BIOS ACPI_SLIC (which has been signed by Microsoft), an XML certificate file which corresponds to this ACPI_SLIC and a specific OEM product key.

View: Full Story @ apcmag.com

Our first article about configuring AMD and Intel PCs within a budget of £200 / €350 made it clear that systems in this price range are suitable for everyday computing tasks. We equipped our Celeron and Sempron test systems with a fast and affordable 160-GB hard drive and one gigabyte of RAM, and the systems did a great job in Windows XP. But how do they perform with Windows Vista? And do you really know how your PC would perform with Vista?

Microsoft has created two certification logos to help customers choose the right components for their Windows Vista PC. There is “Vista Ready” and “Vista Premium Ready.” If all of your components carry one of the logos, you should be able to at least run Vista properly; if you purchase high-end products you should be ready for the Premium and Ultimate editions as well. However, many products, especially older ones, do not carry any logo to indicate Vista readiness. The reason for purchasing hardware usually isn’t a particular operating system, but an application or specific requirement such as more storage capacity, more RAM or a faster platform. We normally assume that the latest OS will work on hardware that we’re going to buy from retail.

But what do you do if you follow the Vista upgrade path to find out that the fancy new operating system doesn’t work well, or doesn’t even work on your rig at all? Since the update versions of Vista require a working Windows XP installation to execute (the DVDs aren’t bootable), you can at least be sure that your XP product key will still work when stepping back to use good ole’ Windows XP. But you will not be able to install your Vista Update on another machine. This is why we advise against purchasing update versions, although this installation path seems to be more convenient at first. The retail versions are more expensive, but you can keep using Windows XP on one machine while running Windows Vista on another.

Think of how you treat a brand-new car: You cherish and pamper it at first. You even give up your Sunday afternoons to wash and wax it by hand. Your heart skips a beat whenever you see that gleaming steel beast waiting for you in the parking lot. A newly installed version of Windows XP can inspire similar devotion. Not only do you thrill at its pristine condition but you patiently, and even eagerly downloaded all the latest patches from Windows Update so as to keep your OS shipshape.

But over time, most of us begin to take that new car—and that clean WinXP installation—for granted. As it accumulates miles and wear and tear, your erstwhile pride and joy becomes just another drain on your wallet—and your time. Hand-washing, you discover, just isn’t worth the effort anymore. In its place: a quickie car wash at the local gas station. If only there were a simple wash-and-rinse equivalent for WinXP.

Guess what? Such a thing does exist. It’s called slipstreaming—the mystical art of creating an up-to-the-minute Windows XP setup CD with all the latest patches preinstalled, so you won’t have to spend half your life on Microsoft’s Windows Update web site. As always, Maximum PC is here to show you how to do it. Heck, we’ll even help you add RAID or Serial ATA controller drivers to your CD so you won’t need a floppy drive (or the F6 key) to install Windows. (Note: Service Pack 2 wasn’t available when we went to press, but it should be by the time you read this. If SP2 isn’t available, the instructions in this story will still work with SP1.)

View: Full Story @ MaximumPC

After five weeks of sluggish PC sales, retailers received a big boost during the first week of Vista’s launch, according to a report released Thursday by Current Analysis.

PC unit sales soared 173 percent at U.S. retail stores during the week ended February 3, compared with PC sales in the previous week, according to the report. Current Analysis also noted that during Vista’s debut week PC unit sales rose 67 percent compared with the same period a year ago. Computers loaded with Microsoft’s new operating system, Vista, made their debut during a midnight celebration January 29, but initial reports found interest paled in comparison with launches of previous versions of Windows.

The report also found that demand was higher for PCs with the more expensive version of the new operating system.

View: Full Story @ News.com

If you choose to purchase an upgrade version of Windows Vista to upgrade XP, you will no longer be able to use that version of XP. Either on another system, or as a dual-boot option. The key will be invalidated, preventing activation.

View: Full Story @ TomCoyote.org