Oh dear! Is it really Microsoft bashing time again?
Regards,
/\/\ick...
-----Original Message-----
From: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
[mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]]On Behalf Of Cameron R. Hood
Sent: Tuesday, September 18, 2001 2:26 PM
To: Ben LaBelle; Chris Wren; Monique Boulanger; Eva Orme; matthew
campbell; Jack Hockin; Lorne Fiedler; Mike Gillette; pat L; Patrick
Bradley; [EMAIL PROTECTED]; randall LaRoque; Darren & Tara
Sutherland
Subject: If you don't now own a Mac, better get one (from "Forbes
Magazine"
The legacy continues...
Windows XP: Breaking Things
Stephen Manes, Forbes Magazine, 10.01.01, 12:00 AM ET
What an upgrade! Even the latest hardware may not work right under Windows
XP, and programs may have problems, too.
Microsoft's new Windows XP operating system comes with David Byrne's song
"Like Humans Do" from his new CD, Look Into the Eyeball. But if you install
XP as a software "upgrade," you're more likely to be singing the next
track's refrain, "I am fixing broken things."
As Microsoft rolls out its jillion-dollar ad blitz in the coming weeks,
you'll undoubtedly be hearing about all sorts of wonderful features in its
new operating system--some of which are genuinely welcome even if they are
long overdue. But there are other things you won't hear about, particularly
when it comes to upgrading current machines.
In tests on several computers, I ended up with a machine that would not turn
off, a modem that stopped working, a wireless network card that wouldn't
connect and an erstwhile all-in-one printer/scanner/fax that was
transmogrified into a some-in-one printer/scanner. When I pointed out these
and other anomalies to Shawn Sanford, group product manager for Windows, he
said, "It was time to focus on the quality of the product. People don't want
to have crashes."
No argument there; users have been moaning about forced reboots since
Windows first appeared. But Sanford added, "We had to cut off some of the
compatibility. There's gonna be issues with old devices and legacy
software."
Basically, hardware may not work right under Windows XP until somebody gets
around to writing new software for it, and old programs may have problems,
too. Before installation, a built-in "Upgrade Advisor" may offer warnings
such as, "This version of IrDA Protocol will not work with Windows XP."
Translation into human: Install XP and your infrared port will stop working.
But instead of offering a useful Web link, the Advisor says: "To update [to]
a more recent version of this software, go to the Microsoft Web site
(http://www.microsoft.com)." Do that and type "IrDA Protocol" into the
search engine, and you'll get a mind-bending list of document summaries. You
won't get the software.
The Advisor warned that a Sony machine's modem wouldn't survive XP unless I
had a special file for it. No link at all this time--just a note to "Contact
your hardware vendors." XP disabled the modem precisely as promised; that
made it rather difficult to gather updates from the Web.
Things like special-function buttons may go dead, too, until your computer
maker gets around to fixing them. Sony, for one, will offer a disk of XP
upgrades for current machines and online fixes for units shipped in 2001 and
2000. Those with older units may be out of luck.
A Toshiba notebook worked well enough under Windows Me. Under XP, it could
no longer be put into sleep or hibernation mode. Or turned off. Pressing
either the big, red virtual "off " button on the screen or the real button
on the system merely rebooted the unit.
Software can be problematic, too. Current antivirus programs and many other
utilities are guaranteed to be useless until you upgrade them. Even
Microsoft's new Train Simulator game ran into glitches.
On the desktop machine I normally use to test products, the Upgrade Advisor
came up with a mere 27 items in the categories Software That Must Be
Permanently Removed, Hardware That Might Need Additional Files, Scanners or
Digital Cameras That Might Not Work, Software That Does Not Support Windows
XP, Software That Must Be Reinstalled, Software That Might Not Support
Windows XP, and Incompatible Hardware Accessories, which included the
software for a Microsoft mouse. At that point I filed Windows XP in the
category Software I Will Never, Ever Install On This Machine. Spend $99 to
"upgrade" a computer to Windows XP only if you really, really want to be
humming "Broken Things" a lot.
As always, it's generally less painful to buy a whole new machine with the
new operating system preinstalled. Such products are not available as I
write, but presumably everything in them will work fine, and probably even
more reliably than in past models. But unless you upgrade your peripherals
to new XP-ready designs, you may run into compatibility gotchas.
I tried two different 3Com 802.11b wireless network cards on several
machines. XP repeatedly recognized the cards and insisted they were "working
properly." They weren't. One message suggested: "If you are having
difficulty connecting to a network, click Advanced." Too bad the "Advanced"
button was grayed out and unclickable.
Hook up an HP OfficeJet G85 Printer/Scanner/Fax, and XP will find it. But it
will also eliminate the ability to send faxes directly from the computer.
According to HP, full-functioned drivers for most of its peripherals will be
available eventually. Expect similar woes with older scanners, organizers
and cameras.
So exactly why would you want a new XP machine? The main reason is
stability. Unlike its consumer-level predecessors, XP is built on the newer,
more robust Windows 2000 platform. It should crash less often, though "less
often" does not come close to meaning "never." The ability to download
software fixes from the Web automatically is welcome, but unproven.
Microsoft's previous attempt at this was lackluster--and the company seems
to use the feature as an excuse for fixing known problems later rather than
sooner.
A dumbed-down new user interface is the most visible new feature. It may
help utter novices get comfortable with their new machines, but irritated
Windows veterans are likely to turn it off and go back to the "classic"
look.
With XP, setting up a network can be significantly easier than in the past.
But the firewall Microsoft has finally included to protect against outside
depredations is so rudimentary that it offers no protection from common
hacks that work from the inside--like the many e-mail viruses that exploit
the company's many security gaffes. And there are major flaws in the
much-touted scheme to let multiple users share a single machine--like the
way your kid can easily read or delete your files, password or no, and the
way one user can zap another's unsaved work.
At long last Windows can burn recordable CDs without clunky third-party
software. Microsoft also makes it easier to work with digital photos and
some audio files. But Windows Movie Maker is a clumsy toy compared with the
iMovie software Apple ships on every Macintosh. And what we might call XP's
Monopoly Extension Systems (or "MESS") shamelessly keep trying to suck you
into an all-Microsoft future, relentlessly shoving Windows Messenger, MSN
Explorer, Microsoft Passport, Microsoft photo printing services and
Microsoft proprietary media formats in your face.
Internet Explorer 6 has a grab bag of new features, including animated
"assistants" just as annoying as the ones the company recently was boasting
it had killed. But you can download that same browser free for earlier
versions of Windows. No XP necessary.
And the world's richest Chief Software Architect continues a record for
design elegance unmatched since the Yugo. Dialogue and error messages don't
always mean what they say. Settings are scattered hither and yon; you adjust
some aspects of the screen display under the heading "Appearance and
Themes"; for others (and some of the same ones) you need to go to
"Performance and Maintenance." The new interface ends up being a flashy
facade slapped onto a structure amateurishly renovated several times too
often.
As usual, Microsoft will try hard to convince you that its older stuff is
basically crap--which many users will have little trouble believing. But if
your current computer is working well, XP offers no compelling reason to
replace it. And XP offers plenty of compelling reasons to avoid "upgrading"
existing machines.
The time to join the Windows XP bandwagon is when your old machine has
simply outlived its usefulness--and after Microsoft delivers the bug fixes
that inevitably arrive several months after the original ship date. By
November computers with XP preinstalled will be virtually the only Windows
units you can buy, and within a year or so the computer world will no doubt
be thoroughly XP-ified. Then you can upgrade your computer and peripherals
with a lot less worry about "Broken Things."
--
Cameron
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