Microsoft’s $300 million advertising campaign for Windows Vista, starring comedian Jerry Seinfeld launched with a television commercial without much talk of Windows, or Microsoft. That was oddly appropriate, considering that Seinfeld’s eponymous ’90s hit comedy was described as “a show about nothing.”
Before debating the relative merits and shortcomings of Linux and Windows, it helps to understand the real distinctions between them. Jack Wallen has distilled the key differences into one list.
We asked the devoted Linux users, the dual-Windows-and-Linux-booters, and the newer converts to the open-source operating system last week why they made the switch to Linux, and received over 330 responses as of this posting. The answers were sometimes level-headed, often passionate in their embrace of open-source culture, and occasionally induced a laugh (or a cringe) with tales of the last straw before switching.
Dell will continue to offer Microsoft’s Windows XP operating system to customers beyond the June 30th deadline. The announcement comes after CEO Steve Ballmer suggested that Microsoft might change its mind and extend Windows XP if customers asked for it. However, Mr. Ballmer added that most customers were not asking for XP.
The much-hyped “year of the Linux desktop” may still not be with us but there’s no doubting the free open-source operating system has gained significant traction in the last year. One reason for this is, with equal certainty, the mess that is Windows Vista. Here’s how it’s actively driving new interest in Linux.
Owners of non-genuine copies of Windows XP will get a black background instead of their wallpaper every hour, as well as a translucent watermark, as part of new efforts by Microsoft to deter piracy of its products.
The advertising industry is bracing for trouble from the next version of Microsoft’s Internet Explorer, details of which were announced today, because it will offer a feature that blocks some ads and other content from third-parties that shows up on Web pages.
The holy grail of the coming ten years of the operating system world is to make them not only pretty on the surface, but also pretty underneath - logical, structured, human-readable. I strongly believe that this is the next big challenge for developers on all sides - Windows, Mac OS X, or Linux.
The attempted image overhaul comes in the wake of Apple’s “Mac vs. PC” ads featuring a geeky PC guy who vaguely resembles Bill Gates being unable to keep up with a better-looking, hip Mac counterpart. Those ads, painting Windows as stodgy and unreliable, have reinforced criticism about Vista’s performance, stringent hardware requirements and lack of support for other software and devices such as printers.
The 2008 annual report filed yesterday with the Securities and Exchange Commission containsMicrosoft’s view of the competitive landscape as described for each of its five business divisions: Client, Server and Tools, Business, Online Services and Entertainment and Devices.