Prominent News Organization Actually Recognizes Problems with Windows Vista

A great magazine I used to read was "US News" Magazine. It's a bit more in-depth and usually had great journalism. However, consider this recent article I read about criticism of Windows Vista.

First off, the article claims that Windows Vista is a roaring success but only briefly and with little to back that up. It is? Take away the fact that Microsoft is a monopoly, so businesses are almost forced to upgrade with it every 2 years until they say enough is enough. And then take away the fact that it's hard to find PCs that don't come with it already OEM installed. Is it a roaring success then? No, it's not. Not by a long shot. In fact, I would reason to bet that Windows 95 and Windows 2000 were roaring successes compared to Vista. Surely the folks high up in Microsoft see that and are biting their nails. I'm glad the message is getting out.

Second, it prompts one to consider alternatives. When you click that link, it wants you to think of software you have to purchase when it references Linux. It mentions the $60 copy of Linspire. However, my first inclination would be to mention the free alternatives first like Ubuntu. Thank goodness it even mentioned Ubuntu in that list of alternatives, but it then said "if you're a bit of a techie". I disagree with that opinion, although I will admit that we in the Linux community could go further than we have. It's still very hard to install new fonts in our word processors on Linux, and to do so without screwing up our entire OS.

Third, I'm glad that the article even mentioned alternatives, especially for a major news organization. Hurray, our message is getting across!

Fourth, I'd like to see magazines and websites like this consider Libervis.com and Nuxified.com as places to go to find those they can interview on technical opinions that may not run in the mainstream Microsoft realm.

Fifth, I'm glad the article prominently mentioned Mac OS and I'll tell you why. Anything that sends a message to Microsoft that it's on the wrong track is a good thing. And many long-time Mac lovers end up feeling that they need more apps and more power, so they upgrade their Mac to Ubuntu or other versions of Linux. So being on a Mac is one more step closer to being on free software, and I'm all for it.

Sixth, I think US News tried hard to be fair and balanced, but I would reason to bet that they get too many ad dollars from Microsoft to be fair and balanced. So the article has a run-of-the-mill pro-Windows theme through it that sort of reads like, "Vista is a hit. However, it's got some issues and there are alternative products. Still, however, Microsoft is committed to the future in considering this criticism." Yeah, right. Microsoft wouldn't know the truth even if you sprayed it on their eyeballs.