On Sun, 01 Jun 2008 16:42:52 GMT, "Canuck57"
<dave-no_spam@unixhome.net> wrote:

>Point still remains, XP is seasoned, stable and Microsoft wants to
>discontinue its most accepted product? Marketing should be shot. That is
>like Coke saying no more Coke Classic. They tried that, once.

>What they should do is have an XP SP4 with a load of new drivers in it to
>keep it current and stable. Let user downgrade, Vistax64->XP64 included.
>This is after all what the market is telling Microsoft.

Microsoft doesn't care about stability or the fact that each new OS
requires more and more HP to run effectively. Otherwise there would be
an SP4 and/or there would be official upgrade releases that added new
features. Instead, we get a bug ridden, driver lacking, software
incompatible, new OS every few years. Face it: they care only about
selling you a new OS.

But, the problem for them is that there are really not that many new
features to add to an OS. Look at a comparison of 2000, to XP, to
Vista. What have they really added in terms of user features? VPN? I'm
at a loss to find anything else that's more than a refinement on the
user side. On the system side, they've simply gobbled more HP to
deliver the same set of user features (that's not a feature, it's a
major flaw).

I long for a return to the old days, when OS vendors built an
operating system then continually refined it in each release to make
it better. Wholesale replacement was not an option because customers
demanded stability and reduced life cycle costs. Over time, we ended
up with some incredibly stable, bug free, solid, dependable OS's. You
can't do that if you keep replacing your code wholesale.

>XP can compete with Linux and do well, but Vista....nada. Vista is like the
>Titanic after the water was leaking in. Vista drives people to Apple and
>Linux. It will be slow at first, but will pick up as word spreads. See Eee
>PC sales....suppliers can't keep the Linux varieties in stock.

Not to worry. Windows 7 will fix everything! (Note sarcasm, see above,
note repeat cycle).