Stephen Fry on Vista

[Jonti]

Waynes Old Computer Gets Vista

Stephen Fry's experiences are hardly unique.

Check this eWeek.com story Waynes Old Computer Gets Vista. Well, he says "old" but it's a dual-Xeon HP xw8000 workstation with a gigabyte of memory and fast hard disks.

Installing windows is a bitch compared to installing something like Ubuntu, but even by windows standards over a week is a bit excessive, and even then he had not finished ...

Promises of help arrive from Microsoft and from Symantec. Actual help, however, does not. At least NAV will run for 72 more days, and it tells me Im virus-free. Time to set my Chinese speaking, virus-free, workstation aside and let the news editor know that Im alive and will be writing today.

Will the Vista problems be solved? Probably not before next week. On the other hand, the games on the machine all work fine, so the teenager in the family is delighted.

More next week as I continue to try upgrading to Vista. I still havent tried the rest of the applications, so Im sure there's more lying in wait to tell you about.

MS can do a lot better than this. But not while they are more interested in screwing over the competition, or sucking up to Hollywood and the RIAA, than in making good products that do what the end user wants. Folks need transparency, they need file compatibility, they need good, unobtrusive security, and they need their kit to play nice with other systems. They don't need to be forced into disruptive upgrades every few years.

MS thinks it needs to deny these things to you -- they're wrong, as Canonical's burgeoning success with Ubuntu shows. There are small signs factions within MS realise this. We'll see if they prevail.

Meanwhile, it's smart to hedge your bets, and prepare to escape from the MS maw by shifting to non-ms applications that can run under apple and linux as well as ms. Do this, and when push comes to shove and ms discontinues support for your system you more easily can hop off their treadmill and take control over your own computing resources.

 

[ExtraRefined]

http://www.eweek.com/c/a/Windows/Waynes-Old-Computer-Gets-Vista/

... published 2 years ago.

 

[ChrisFilter]

Did anyone read Jonti's post?

 

[ATOMIC SUPLEX]

Great! Let's have another MacZ Rulez/PC sux thread!

Yes lets, those PC rules/ Mac sucks threads really get my goat.

 

[Crispy]

Yes lets, those PC rules/ Mac sucks threads really get my goat.

Of course on linux you have to sudo apt -get goat -f and then recompile the relevant extensions.

 

[snadge]

... published 2 years ago.

And vista is still shite 2 years on.

 

[ChrisFilter]

And vista is still shite 2 years on.

It's not, though. It's a perfectly good OS that does everything I need it to and very well, with a minimum of fuss.

 

[editor]

It's not, though. It's a perfectly good OS that does everything I need it to and very well, with a minimum of fuss.

It's not for me but as you say, it's a perfectly good OS for tens of millions of people that does the job well.

 

[Jonti]

... published 2 years ago.

Yep, two years later, and Stephen Fry reports it's still a bitch.

MS can do much better. What's their problem?

I suggest that it comes down to not putting the end-user first; but what's your theory?

 

[ChrisFilter]

Yep, two year's later, and Stephen Fry reports it's still a bitch.

MS can do much better. What's their problem?

I suggest it's that it comes down to not putting the end-user first; but what's your theory?

That every OS has major faults, but Microsoft's are examined in much greater detail by a wider number of people.

 

[editor]

Yep, two year's later, and Stephen Fry reports it's still a bitch.

Why isn't he getting into an equal froth about his precious iPhone's inability to do rock-bottom basic phone tasks like copy and paste and MMS nearly two years after launch?

Oh, I know why. It's made by Apple!

 

[boskysquelch]

Why isn't he getting into an equal froth about his precious iPhone's inability to do rock-bottom basic phone tasks like copy and paste and MMS nearly two years after launch?

Oh, I know why. It's made by Apple!

why don't you use Vista?

Oh, I know why. You can't!

 

[Crispy]

Stephen Fry on the iphone
http://www.stephenfry.com/blog/2007/09/16/device-and-disires/#comments

Server side apps only. No, no, no, no, no. This is NOT good. It’s one thing to want to keep the proprietary system closed, but to present a device sealed in digital Araldite is a Bad Idea. An Ubuntu flavoured Linux for mobiles is in the works, and you don’t get more open source than that.

Text entry. I’m sorry Steve, but physical keyboards are okay. They’re fine.... I challenge anyone to type an email as fast on an iPhone than I can on a BB or Treo. I assure you it can’t be done.

Bluetooth? It might as well not be there.

D’loadable ringtones? C’mon.

Mail attachments? See and touch but can’t download? No, no, no!

Fairly frothy, I'd say.

 

[Jonti]

Why isn't he getting into an equal froth about his precious iPhone's inability to do rock-bottom basic phone tasks like copy and paste and MMS nearly two years after launch?

Oh, I know why. It's made by Apple!

Well, you don't know that. The contrary seems to be the case, judging by Crispy's post. Heck, the guy can afford to try out (and does!) a wide range of gadgets and operating systems.

A less prejudicial question might be to ask why the iPhone is so popular (even among people who don't use apple 'puters). Some BBC show I caught the other day awarded it gadget of the year, so it must be doing something right.

What do you think that is?

 

[DG55]

I find it pretty weird that of all things people choose to argue over its an operating system. Why is that?

Personally I blame Apple completely, and I think the small number of Windows 'fans' come about merely as a reflex when attacked by the barrage of Apple bullshit.

I could be wrong.

 

[ChrisFilter]

Well, you don't know that. After all, he does use a wide range of gadgets and operating systems.

A less prejudicial question might be to ask why the iPhone is so popular (even among people who don't use apple 'puters). Some BBC show I caught the other day awarded it gadget of the year, so it must be doing something right.

What do you think that is?

It has brought smart phone technology to the average High St consumer. It's well presented, very useful and isn't any better or expansive than it needs to be. Simple and enjoyable to use. The marketing budget and social caché associated with it is also very important.

 

[Crispy]

It has brought smart phone technology to the average High St consumer. It's well presented, very useful and isn't any better or expansive than it needs to be. Simple and enjoyable to use. The marketing budget and social caché associated with it is also very important.

Pretty much spot on, I'd say.

 

[editor]

Stephen Fry on the iphone
http://www.stephenfry.com/blog/2007/09/16/device-and-disires/#comments


Fairly frothy, I'd say.

Try reading something a little more up to date from Mr Fry.

Beauty. Charm. Delight. Excitement. Ooh. Aah. Wow! Let me at it.

In the end the iPhone is like some glorious early-60s sports car. Not as practical, reliable, economical, sensible or roomy as a family saloon but oh, the joy. The jouissance as Roland Barthes liked to say. What it does, it does supremely well, that what it does not do seems laughably irrelevant.

The iPhone is a digital experience in the literal sense of the word. The user's digits roam, stroke, tweak, tweeze, pinch, probe, slide, swipe and tap across the glass screen forging a relationship with the device that is like no other.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2007/nov/10/iphone1?gusrc=rss&feed=media

Sure looks fanboy frothy to me.

 

[editor]

.A less prejudicial question might be to ask why the iPhone is so popular (even among people who don't use apple 'puters). Some BBC show I caught the other day awarded it gadget of the year, so it must be doing something right.

What do you think that is?

It's a stylish and slick phone that has redefined consumer expectations of smartphones. But that doesn't mean it's beyond criticism because for all its gloss there are serious shortcomings, both in the physical sense and in Apple's control of the thing.

 

[Crispy]

What were you expecting from Stephen Fry? Measured technical prose?

In less flowery language his words acn be reduced to:

Ooh it's pretty! It's compromised, sure, but the things it does, it does well. The interface is particularly intuitive and rewarding.

So yes, I agree with your appraisal of his style, but the actual content seems like a reasonable opinion to me.

 

[editor]

Ooh it's pretty! It's compromised, sure, but the things it does, it does well. The interface is particularly intuitive and rewarding.

Pretty much like Vista then.

 

[DG55]

Well, you don't know that. The contrary seems to be the case, judging by Crispy's post. Heck, the guy can afford to try out (and does!) a wide range of gadgets and operating systems.

A less prejudicial question might be to ask why the iPhone is so popular (even among people who don't use apple 'puters). Some BBC show I caught the other day awarded it gadget of the year, so it must be doing something right.

What do you think that is?

Hype, iPod, and eye candy. Thats why it sells.

I agree, it works very well in terms of selling form over functionality. Genius really.

 

[Crispy]

Pretty much like Vista then.

Really? Windows interface intuitive? Only if you already know windows.

 

[boskysquelch]

does anyone have a link to the animation of the convoy of Lusers being led through the desert by the farting prophet of consumerism?

 

[Jonti]

One reason is that people have many thousands of pounds of money and effort invested in the system they use and are familiar with. If it fails -- and perception and marketing are vital in computing -- they take quite a hit re-buying applications and relearning how to do stuff. Even their work may become inaccessible.

A know a guy who wrote his own system for their business using Foxpro for DOS. He wrote it, it does what he wants, it's fine for his needs. He's saved himself a whole bundle of cash over the years. But now he finds he has little choice but to rewrite the whole damned thing, as neither product is supported anymore by the parent company, but only the parent company has access to the source code. He can fix his own code, but the flaws in the tools and platform will never be fixed.

Having your entire business system trashed on the whims of an amoral multinational is a bullet well worth dodging. The only way to avoid the possibility is by choosing products that anyone can support, not just the original author.

 

[Jonti]

Hype, iPod, and eye candy. Thats why it sells.

I agree, it works very well in terms of selling form over functionality. Genius really.

I've never used one of these devices, and I doubt I ever will. Around £400 is way too much.

But even I can tell there must be more to it than hype and eye-candy. Please, get serious, it's an interesting question, and I'd like to know what people think about it.

 

[boskysquelch]

http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=HKH4YGKnOSs

Consuming Kids: The Commercialization of Childhood (Trailer)

or

http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=hGaOQKJik-s

Consumerism! The Musical

for the Majority it has fuckall to do with need but a perception of want(sic).

 

[editor]

Really? Windows interface intuitive? Only if you already know windows.

Windows Vista is pretty straightforward stuff for new users although any computer system may prove a challenge to people who have never used a computer before. I was impressed how easy it was to set up though.

 

[DG55]

I've never used one of these devices, and I doubt I ever will. Around £400 is way too much.

But even I can tell there must be more to it than hype and eye-candy. Please, get serious, it's an interesting question, and I'd like to know what people think about it.

That was a serious answer.

The immediate popularity comes directly from the iPod, its very similar, almost exactly like an iPod with a phone, and they're both things which many people always carry on their person.

It is hyped like any Apple product, but the hype mixed with the popularity of the iPod means its not just confined to the much smaller Mac crowd, but everyone.

The eye candy adds to the hype, and makes people think they want it. This makes people buy it initially, since the effect of eye candy only really lasts for a short while before its forgotten about.

I think an offshoot of the eye candy factor is that it seems cool, and allows people to show off a little bit. The app store helps with this, with pointless applications like making your iPhone into a light-saber, or turning the screen into a virtual pint of beer, just for laughs of course.

So thats why its popular, in my view. All these things, of course, are completely silly reasons to buy such an expensive device, and/or with a ludicrous monthly fee.