"He recommends against online petitions though, proposing instead that customers should harangue Microsoft through its official channels, such as its feedback website."

I think customers should harangue Microsoft (and make life easier on themselves) by buying an Apple computer and running OSX.

:-)

I never realized how "good" XP was until Vista.

I am speaking as someone who has not only tried Windows Vista, but bought Vista Ultimate 64-bit on a brand-new Santa Rosa 15" notebook....it is by far the most over-priced, over-hyped, over-bloated OS I've ever seen since Windows Me.

Ultimate Extras? Forget it. There's two or three...and they haven't made any new ones since the release. Total Ballmer B/S!

My fiancee finally convinced me to "switch" two weeks ago after I was fighting w/ Vista BSODs one Saturday afternoon. I'm now running a 13" white Macbook w/ 4GB of RAM and XP Pro under VMWare...

No crashes, no issues, no headaches....it just works.

Vista, your days are numbered.

Funny how the author of the article suggests that the transition period between two versions should be at least two years. Meanwhile, when Apple releases new OS (say, Leopard), you no longer can buy Tiger from them, and for sure can no longer get Tiger pre-installed on a Mac. You'd think majority of Mac owners/buyers would be up in arms over this. Yet, for the most part, there's very little noise.

The difference is that Mac OS X full-version upgrades usually make Macs FASTER. With Windows, your best bet is to buy a new machine and pray there are driver and application updates to support the new pile of... I mean, OS.

Microsoft shot themselves in the foot over and over even BEFORE Vista was released. Early on, MS released lists of features for the upcoming OS.. announced them BEFORE they were proven to work. So, as the delays piled up, they were forced to take away promised features that were either overly ambitious or marketing fantasies.

Apple is smart. They only publicize new OSes like Tiger or Leopard when they're nearly done and the feature set is complete.

With Leopard it was the first time in memory when features were CUT from just before the release... resolution independence for instance.

Who says you can't buy Tiger?:

http://store.apple.com/1-800-MY-APPLE/WebObjects/AppleStore?spart=MA453Z%2FA

that's because new releases of Mac OS X don't take 7 years to come out and aren't total pieces of s*** like Vista.

the Windows OS. There will never be a better Windows, ever. They should just put out service packs indefinitely for Windows XP. Any newer OS will be more bloated and slower with more driver problems. The new slogan for Windows should be.... Windows XP -- It's not going anywhere, because it's the furthest you can go.

The difference is that Mac OS X full-version upgrades usually make Macs FASTER. With Windows, your best bet is to buy a new machine and pray there are driver and application updates to support the new pile of... I mean, OS.

Leopard is soooo much faster than Tiger (10 times faster, if I recall correctly)! It's just incredible!

And are you sure you're talking about Windows and the drivers? For there seems to always be people who need updated drivers for their printers/scanners/etc everytime Apple comes out with a new OS, and Leopard is no different.

I am with you testudo, have been using Vista since it came out on a lot of desktops and laptops (maybe 30 HPs) and it’s been working great (Except on a VAIO). I been finding new features on it for the last 3 months and now I see XP as Stone Age, not to mention my wife’s OSX (god it looks older than Stone Age and works like Ice Age).

talk about fanboyz Yeah the IT industry is abuzz with Apple's "failure" of leopard solely due to drivers. I remember when Jobs danced like a monkey and said that Leopard would be ten times faster right old testy? Is vista faster or slower on the same hardware, hmmmmm? Seems to me it included every feature that Apple said it would. Many that were supposed to ship with Vista but didn't. ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha… c'mon, with windows 7 so close to golden master? ah ha ha ha ha ha ha ha… "…but captain, you must abandon ship!" "Never, the Titanic is UNSINKABLE!!!" ha ha ha ha ha ha ha They are scrambling to buy something to defend against Google Apps and all the open source software that works so much better and has a brighter future. They "committed" to the internet several times over the last decade and they need to buy Yahoo?!? They can't develop what ever Yahoo might have with all their billions and the largest staff of developers in the world? A consistent legacy of unfulfilled promises and undelivered goods. Yet the trolls toil on in the trenches, vista is better really, really, taking the market by storm with its wonderfulness. Sure vhmp01, just throw out the VAIOs they must be c***, its not the OS's fault! With the economy and the energy issues we face now is the time to replace all your working PCs with the most expensive, bigger energy hog machines you can get. Just s*** can those hard drives, video boards etc so you can give Ballmer more of your money for c*** that doesn't work as advertised. Nearly the whole industry begging and pleading for them to support an old dog they can keep patched up. This is progress in technology today? Gettin' to be a comedy now, or would that be better described as a tragedy?