df473f39
XPost: comp.sys.mac.advocacy, comp.sys.macintrash
From: nunya@busyness.info

Derek Currie wrote
(in article
):

> Gates Unveils Next Version of Windows

[snip]

> The highlight of opening night--OK, the only light--was the annual
> keynote presentation by Bill Gates and his team. The talk opened with
> mocked-up demos of the wizzy future, like Bill sitting down before a
> triptych of 30-inch computer monitors that, as in the movie "Minority
> Report," appeared to be nothing more than sheets of clear acrylic.
> Everything in the future, we're assured, will work smoothly together,
> never crash and never get viruses.

So OS X will dominate then?  That's great news.

[snip]

> The best part was a demonstration of Windows Vista, the next version of
> Windows, which Microsoft still says it will ship before the end of 2006.
> The audience in the standing-room-only auditorium was treated to a show
> of some features that hadn't been previously demonstrated. Here's an
> annotated blow-by-blow:
>
> * Transparent window edges. Well, it's true that Vista looks nicer than
> any previous version of Windows. But I'm just not sure about the value
> of transparent window edges. They're cool, sure; but exactly how many
> times, in your work life, have you muttered, "Darn! If only I could see
> just the part of the background window that's currently obscured by the
> 1/3-inch margin of the foreground window"?

A fair point, however, I can testify that the complete LACK of
window borders, transparent or otherwise in OS X is visually
tiring for some reason.  I really don't like it.  I wish it were
more like a conventional GUI in that regard.  But, at least it's
stable.

> * Widgets. Vista will let you summon, at the right edge of the screen,

Why not make the location configurable?

> widgets: single-purpose, single-window little programs. One's an egg
> timer, one's a news ticker, and so on. It's a lot like the Dashboard in
> Mac OS X (or the shareware Konfabulator that came before it), except
> that apparently, you can't put the widgets anywhere on the screen you
> like.

Then it's exactly like Konfabulator then.  Pity that both Apple
and Microsoft have screwed them over.

> * 3-D application switcher. With a keystroke, Vista can present you with
> a stacked deck of every window that's open on your machine, making it
> easier to hunt through them for one particular window. It's a lot like
> the Expose feature in Mac OS X, except that you don't get to see all of
> the windows simultaneously; you have to walk through them one at a time
> with the mouse or keyboard.

It's eye candy, but requires a smoking video card for it to work
well.  That's to keep the hardware vendors happy, while
pretending they are doing you (the customer) a favor.

> * Global, fast search. Vista can now find words in any of your files,
> quickly and easily, just like the Spotlight feature of Mac OS X.

Wow.  I wonder where they got that idea?

> * Photo organization. Some limited photo editing is now built into
> Vista's photo browser, which couldn't look more like Apple's iPhoto
> program if you ran it through a copying machine.

I hope it's more stable.  Oh wait, it's windows.  It'll be less
stable.  Relative to iPhoto, that's quite an accomplishment.

> If I seem to be laying on the "stolen from Apple" language a bit thick,
> you're darned right. Ordinarily, I'm careful about making accusations
> like this, because I know I'll get hammered by Apple bashers. But in
> this case, there's not a shred of doubt: most of the features Microsoft
> demonstrated last night were pure, unadulterated ripoffs from Mac OS X.
> I could hear actual whispers of recognition from the audience around me.

I'm surprised the Windows crowd didn't just think it was all
brand new magic.

> Does it matter? Not really. The courts have established that you can't
> copyright a software idea (only its code); besides, Apple occasionally
> helps itself to Microsoft's ideas, too. Truth is, I use both Mac OS X
> and Windows, and I'll be happy to have these features on both platforms.

I used to, until I realized that I don't have any need for
Microsoft anymore.  After the "active code" in WMV design flaw
thing, I want no part of a company that freaking stupid.  As if
active code in email wasn't bad enough.

> Besides, there were a few Vista features that Microsoft apparently
> dreamed up all by itself:
>
> * Sideshow. This ("sideshow," not "slideshow") is an optional feature of
> future, Vista-compatible laptops: an external L.C.D. screen that lets
> you look up, for example, your calendar without actually having to boot
> the thing up. Sideshow was displayed only briefly and without much
> explanation, so that's about all we know.

Then it's not shut down.  It's just another ACPI sleep state
most likely.

> * Slideshows with movies. The new Vista photo browser won't just show
> still photos; it will also integrate your camera's video clips into the
> slideshows.

ZZZZzzzz

> * Stacks. In the new Windows Media Player, when you sort by Genre, your
> albums' icons appear as piles of album covers, neatly grouped by kind of
> music.

Wow.  That'll make the music so much more exciting to listen to.
> * Thumbnail tabbed browsing. Internet Explorer will finally get tabbed
> browsing (a feature that Firefox, Safari and other browsers have had for
> years), in which you can keep multiple Web pages open at once, all in
> the same window; you switch from one to the next by clicking little
> file-folder tabs at the top. But in the Vista browser, you can also view
> all your tabbed Web pages as window miniatures, so that you can jump to
> one according to what it looks like (rather than just its name). A great
> idea.

If you have the screen real-estate to spare.

> Anyway, all of this will be nice to have, if it works and doesn't
> require us all to buy new computers to run it.

Guess what, that isn't the case.  The hardware requirements are
MUCH higher than XP.

> But I think that what most people want from the next Windows isn't more
> stuff added, but rather stuff to be taken away--like crashes, lockups,
> viruses, error messages and security holes.

good luck.  Some of them are designed into standard Microsoft
product features.  Clueless dolts.


--
Lefty
All of God's creatures have a place..........
.........right next to the potatoes and gravy.
See also: http://www.gizmodo.com/gadgets/images/iProduct.gif

--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
 * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)