Views from the Ivory Tower
By Ted Bade - March 2007
Well heck, since Apple isn’t doing much that is newsworthy (that’s IMHO), I decided to pick on Microsoft and their new OS release called Vista-xxx (The hyphen xxx means fill in the variety of your choice). There are some issues with it and while it might become the most used OS on this planet, it still is simply a vague shadow of Apple’s Mac OS X. Just because something is popular it doesn’t mean it is the best or even a good idea. So join me as we watch a new set of lemmings jump off a cliff into the unknown!
Wow, Bill sure sounded shaken - As Microsoft released Vista there was a lot of talk on the Internet about how it is not much more then a rip off of features from Apple’s Tiger operating system. What’s the surprise, hasn’t that always been the way Microsoft operates? The surprise is that people believe it.
This time must be obvious, even media people who are not Mac biased are saying it. I have read a number of articles in which the author compares Vista to what is in the current version of Mac OS X. In one case, the author even went as far as to suggest that a person thinking of upgrading to Vista and buying a new machine, might want to consider a new Mac and Mac OS X instead! The implication was that they would be happier.
In an interview with Newsweek magazine, Mr. Gates sounded a little shaken. Take a look at this article, specifically page 2 http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/16934083/site/newsweek/page/2/.
I especially liked his comment about the security guys breaking Mac OS X “every single day”. Wow, I didn’t know it was that bad for Macs. Do we see a new virus every day or do we really just see a proof of concept?
In the article the interviewer pointed out that it is commonly felt that many of the “new” features in Vista were really just a copy of features in Mac OS X. From his reply, I got the impression Mr. Gates’ had no idea of any concept that was actually created by Microsoft for Vista. If he had one, he could have pointed it out. But he didn’t. He just said, “We could show you things.” Yeah, right...
It’s been a free ride until now Bill. What you are experiencing is a world of computer users that are a lot more experienced then in the 70s. No longer can marketing keep a poorly done product making profit. People have become educated. They make observations and even ask questions about a computer product. If this weren’t true, then the general media wouldn’t be so keen to give credit to Apple’s silly commercials! Nobody, (I sincerely hope) believes the claims of any commercial without testing it themselves. I think this is especially true of the media related to technology. Surely they will lie with a straight face to make a point or promote their favorite product, but they won’t accept the claims of a commercial, especially a silly one like those Macintosh commercials.
I have no personal experience with Vista. I am sure that it is better the XP and probably a step in the right direction for Microsoft. But, as you would expect, I will stick with Mac OS X. I look forward to the next update to Leopard which should happen in the next couple of months, not five years down the road.…
Tell Vista to crash - Just a slightly humorous aside, I found an article referring to an exploit of Vista that allows a loud audio file to command the computer to do something. Apparently Vista’s voice control feature can have a series of commands shouted at it by playing an audio file such as one found on the Internet or from an email. For instance, if visiting “MySpace” a user clicks on an audio file which has the volume cranked to max. If this audio file contained the right set of commands, Vista would follow the instructions. http://blogs.techrepublic.com.com/Ou/?p=416
I know, I know, this article is just a proof of concept and nobody has done this. I just thought it was interesting. Bottom line, computers aren’t yet smart enough to understand the difference between an intelligent or stupid command. So I would stay away from any feature like this. Imagine how short a movie “2001: A Space Odyssey” would have been if all Dave had to do was say: “Hal: Open command prompt. Erase C: ...
Too many choices are confusing customers - While we are speaking about Vista, we should not forget the confusion Microsoft has created by releasing so many versions. There are four versions for home and four for businesses. Not to mention a special N edition for European home users. Each has a slightly different feature set and a more expensive price tag. It seems to me this is all too confusing for the typical user. Let’s hope that the kind people in the computer reseller stores will help those buyers in the home market. IT guys, you are on your own! If anyone discovers the version that is bug free and has acceptable security, let me know!
By the way, if you happen to read the Vista User Agreement of the upgrade version carefully, you will discover that there is a statement that says you agree to no longer use the older version of the software you are upgrading from. I get the impression you are supposed to destroy the old version at midnight with a full moon, while chanting “Vista, Vista, Vista”!
The question I have is, does this make it illegal to re-install Vista? I mean, it is a pretty good idea to reinstall Windows after an extended period of using it. This seems to clear up sticky files, bad bits, and makes the system run like a bright new one. Then again, what if your hard drive fails and you need to reinstall. In order to put Vista back on the computer, you need to install the old OS first (yup, that’s the way it works, the upgrade won’t work unless you are replacing an older system.) So what does one do, violate the agreement or buy a brand new version?
What were they thinking? Probably, we can scare enough people into buying the full version when all they need is an upgrade.
They are concepts not active viruses’ - In an interesting article posted on the MacNewsWorld site
http://www.macnewsworld.com/story/fsnMZAO0Mk7S29/Mac-Malware-Slow-but-Steady-Evolution.xhtml
Staff writer John P. Mello Jr. points out that almost all of the noise about malware for Mac OS X has been in the form of a proof of concept. Which is to say, somebody figured out that something malicious could be done. The good news is that so far, there doesn’t seem to be anyone actually disseminating an actual piece of Malware.
The article goes on to point out that Mac’s smaller marketshare has a lot to do with the lack of malicious code. People who do this kind of thing want to make a large effect, so they attack Windows, where they can affect the most number of machines.
I still think that writing and disseminating malicious code is a truly evil act. It is not nice, even if you are doing it to a Windows machine. But I am happy that another month has gone by and we still haven’t heard of a real virus for Mac OS X.
Until next month, keep on enjoying your Mac!
