>>Needless to say, this won't seriously hobble the
>>Redmond machine but it will, I predict, widen the
>>currently tiny non-MSFT desktop space.
> Which is a very, very good thing.
>
> Joanna
>
I have a few minutes of experience with Vista when I recently helped my sister set up her new laptop. Pretty interface, but I wasn't overly impressed.
It sounds like that with Vista, Microsoft is now headed downhill. If Vista doesn't come with any must-have new technologies, then nobody is going to flock to this update. Most people don't care these days which operating system they use as long as they can can do their work, share files, play games and so on. Microsoft will still dominate because they have such a large installed base, because companies will stick with the platform and because new companies come pre-installed with Vista.
Otherwise, I think that Microsoft's dominance of the desktop is on a downhill course. Not because the software sucks--I never see the BSOD on my laptop that runs XP--but because it doesn't matter anymore what OS you use.
Take Ubuntu, for example. I've installed it on a test server at my house. The software is so easy-to-use that I've lost interest in it. It downloads updates fairly easily. I can use Firefox, OpenOffice and other good programs on it. I could spend more time tweaking the system and getting under the hood, but the system is so robust and hassle-free that I'm just not that interested.
It's funny to hear that Vista is having driver problems, because that is a longstanding criticism of Linux.
I've thought about switching totally to Ubuntu, but I have the following serious reservations:
1) Photoshop 2) Dreamweaver 3) Concerns that old files in different formats will be unreadable by Linux programs. 4) Gaming support 5) Gimp is not Photoshop. I'm sorry, please don't show me a Kia and tell me that it is a Porsche 6) Desktop publishing and pre-press. Can I do a magazine on Ubuntu and get it to the printer okay?
Chuck