Chris Lanier's Blog

Really? I mean... really?  That's the best "Get a Mac" ad yet?

I think it would have been funny if a)Leopard hadn't launched without so many issues and b) had been aired 9 months ago when XP really was better than Vista.  These days Vista kicks XP's *** all over the place and my last visit to an Apple store was filled with annoyed people complaining about Leopard. Now the ad is just a little bit sad.

The ad where Mac made the home movie that was the attractive lass compared to PC's cross-dressing slob movie was probably the funniest because that ones actually true, plus I have a British-style sense of humor, a man in a dress is always funny.

I guess I don't understand where all this anti-vista stuff is coming from... I've not had a problem with 4 or 5 Vista machines that I run...period, I mean on occasion I'll have to restart or something minor like that, but is that really what we're talking about here??

I agree with you about the "yes men" statment; however, I get really irritated with the Apple ads.

I went to the Chicago Apple store and asked what I could do with an Apple machine if I wanted to record TV, pictures and music and share it throughout the house.  Apple TV popped up but he seemed to get confused when I started talking about actually recording TV...He acted as though itunes was the only place I'd ever want to get content...weird.

I then asked him about Terminal Services like that in XP SPII (you CAN do it provided that LICENSE it correctly; read the ULA) He was totally lost.  

He did however boast that I can install productivity items like Microsoft Office...again, weird.

So at the end of day, I can do less with an apple and pay more...then i see these ads, which unashamedly bash Microsoft products and I get irritated.  Why?  Because Joe blow takes it face value, spends thousands and then realizes he's not getting anything additional but a sleek package, and the snootiness that goes along with Apple; It's almost like a cult.  Is that why I'm buying an apple??  Is that why these ads are popular?  The exclusivity?

I've said it before, apple is like Bose...  Talk to any audiophile and they'll tell you just how bad and overpriced Bose is, yet Joe Blow will spend 10x for it becuase...well...it's a bose...

Way to go Chris, now you've got me going...

Can we talk about the "it just works" slogan?  OSX had some "BSOD" issues straight out of the box!  I've worked on apples that are just a complete PITA to get stuff working.  

PC's have their issues for sure but it's not like Apples are the perfect son that they claim to be, I groan whenever I have to work on an apple because to me, it's much more of a pain...

anyway, I'm done now...no more mac ads though..k? ha

What's with all the FUD chris? It seems you've joined the army of uninformed online pundits in bashing Vista and praising XP as a better product, even though that view does not stand up to the facts. "get you laughed at even by those who support Microsoft technologies"... There's nothing funny about the ~4000 Vista install base here in our enterprise environment working beautifully. I support these systems and it's a fact that Vista is just better than XP in many ways.

I have to sympathize with chrisl on this one. Vista has been a huge letdown to me as both an enthusiast and as someone who services Windows PCs for a living:

1) Compatibility problems with mission critical applications. I recently had to roll back a customer's new laptop to XP because his speech-to-text software didn't work in Vista.

2) Serious problems with device drivers. For example, Nvidia's drivers do not allow custom resolutions under Vista, whereas the XP drivers do just fine.

3) Lack of integration with other Microsoft products like Zune. Chris has said pretty much all there is to say on this issue.

4) Lack of proper HD DVD support. Last year Microsoft made all these big promises about how HD DVD playback would be seamlessly integrated out of the box. Instead all we have is PowerDVD's crappy, buggy 3rd party player.

5) Cable card fiasco! This is one of the worst, and has the potential to kill do-it-yourself HTPC as we know it. There is no way I am going to spend $1500 (at least) for the same functionality as a $300 HD Tivo. The least Microsoft could do is give us that "Clear QAM Powertoy" I keep hearing about.

Microsoft had a real opportunity with Vista to give us some real value and a reason to upgrade. So far, I haven't seen it.

I can't agree more with Chris. The ad is effective because so many people are rolling back to XP. I am one of them. All of the boxes on my home LAN have been rolled back due to varying issues that are known to M$, but have yet to be fixed.

I also work for a Fortune 500 company that has banned it from our network. Users are not allowed to have it and contractors cannot attach it to the network. I realize that half of that is SysAdmin paranoia. But part of it is due to its stability problems.

Vista is a disaster. Just add up the failures. All of the truly new features (Monad, WinFS) were cut. There are serious problems with Vista for a large subset of users, ranging from application compatibility to serious bugs in the file system.

What did we get from MCV? Talk of MCML plug-ins that are still too difficult to develop because Orcas (VS 2008) still hasn't been released. Take that with all the other MCV failures mentioned previously and MCV today is essentially the same as MCE with a more polished UI. And even that is not 100% correct.

Take a step back and compare XP with Win 2K. You can say it is not a fair comparison as XP was only a point release. XP had its problems, but was not worse overall than 2K. If that comparison is not fair enough for you, then do the same with 2K and 98SE or NT 4.0 SP6A. In every case there were significant gains to be had. Maybe I am getting old and set in my ways. Or maybe XP/2k3 are just too good.

Couple all of that with the fact the Mac has gained serious ground on M$ in the OS space. I know quit a few Joe Blow users that have made the switch because of the now-affordable hardware, and not one of them regrets it.

What I do know is that I've been an M$ platform developer for 13 years. I couldn't be happier with VS 2k5 and the .Net platform. It stacks up all day against its only modern rival Java. SQL 2k5 ... fantastic. I also could not be happier. I never for an instant thought of leaving either environment.

Somehow I wish the thought and planning that went into M$'s enterprise products also went into Vista. At this point, I can't imagine using it until SP1 ... and I'd bet it will be SP2.

"All of the truly new features (Monad, WinFS) were cut"

True WinFS was cut; Monad however was just the codename for Powershell, which is freely downloadable for server 2003/2008, xp, and vista

"There are serious problems with Vista for a large subset of users, ranging from application compatibility to serious bugs in the file system."

Application compatibility - get the developer or said application to fix it. This is not something Microsoft is going to fix. It is not their software.

Serious File System bugs - There are no serious file system bugs. If you have anything to back this up, I would love to see it

Actually it's a networking bug, of which there is a fix for. file system bug implies something wrong with NTFS which is just not true.

Regardless of what it is called, I would hardly call it a "serious" bug. If you come across it, you just have to wait a little longer for the file to copy because it will be stuck on 'calculating time remaining' for a few seconds. Harldy a Vista deal breaker, especially considering there is a patch for it.

I run all these operating systems every day.

My OSX 10.4 iBook G4 is beautiful and 99% stable, I never turn it off, it's always within reach. A lot of websites don't work correctly, I run Safari 3, Firefox, Shiira and Internet Explorer. New functions aren't always available, and not always free. A lot of things I need for my job don't work (but this is largely due to the Windows oriented environment). Games for my kids are available, but less than with Windows.

My XP machines are hyper-flexible and 90% stable AND I can order prints and things from within the GUI without a .mac account (not cheap). Need new functionality?: it's out there, somewhere, for free. Games are everywhere. I can run software for my work on it.

My Vista HTPC has been a royal PAIN to get up and running, it's also the first OS that I was really an early adopter on, using exotic HTPC components that weren't really Vista-proof (no matter what the manufacturers claimed). Its stability is about 95%, visibly improving (there is software that monitors stability on board). It can now do things that an apple CAN NOT do, simultaneously and fast, and parts are cheap and abundant, expandability is unlimited. It networks with all my machines, although slowly to my Mac (it's a Mac issue).

I think the Mac adverts are often really funny, but pointless and horribly misleading.

Want cheap, flexible power? Buy a p.c. or hack your mac to run Windows.

Want beautiful, stable, somewhat limited functionality that will always get looks? Buy a mac with everything, bring a fat wallet.

I did both, probably the best solution.

Sorry I am late to defend myself

File system bug "evidence"

www.theregister.co.uk/.../vista_copying_bug

That link will get you everything you need to know. There is currently a hot fix, that only fixes the problem for a small number of users. M$ continues to acknowledge the problem.

It has nothing to do with networking. Local files are affected as well.

Monad is now available as a separate download yes. But that is not the point. The point is that it was cut from the initial release.

As far as application compatibility goes, if you are M$, you can firmly affix your thumb in your mouth and say "That's not my fault". But that does not fix the situation for Fortune 500. Fortune 500 does not use Vista and this is a big reason why.

Vista will succeed eventually. I think that is undeniable. But it has seriously undermined the faith of many M$ patriots that was instilled during the 2K/XP era.

And Leopard has no file problems of its own?

www.zdnet.com.au/.../0,130061733,339283574,00.htm

I love that it's characterized as the USER'S fault for wanting to move files instead of copying them and them deleting them after the copy.  I'm sorry, I thought that's why I paid $$$ for the latest and greatest OS, so I didn't have to worry about things like that.  If moving files is so risky, why even include it?  Can you imagine the reaction if this had happened on Windows?

Bottom line, Apple, in all of its products, has always been about the sizzle, not the steak.  And the commericials are exhibit A for that philosophy.