reaxion's dashboard

Mimi, Office isn't included with Windows, or any other software for that matter, nor have they ever been. It is just Windows itself we're discussing here, not other Microsoft products.

Matthew, OS X and Linux both have thousands of features most users won't use... it doesn't mean the makers of these operating systems charge more or have different versions!

The biggest joke of Vista was Ultimate Extras. Essentially everyone paid for the ability to encrypt their drive (which is free using the open source application TrueCrypt and significantly more secure if you do) and some extras which basically never showed up.

Just because Microsoft *can* charge more for a version of the OS with its extra "features" that doesn't mean they should. In fact, all these extra versions do is confuse buyers of the operating system. Almost $400 for an operating system? What a ridiculous situation. I don't see why users should pay for a company's ineptitude at getting their software out the door.

The only reason many users have stayed with Windows? Games. Simple as that. That's why Microsoft would not release DirectX 10 for XP. If they lost that one advantage many users would abandon the Vista platform completely. Microsoft Office runs perfectly on the Mac, and now that Snow Leopard has full Exchange support, there is no stopping the enterprise from moving over.

I am not tackling this argument from the viewpoint of a non-Windows user. I've been using their operating systems since Windows 3.0 beta, both as a regular user and an IT professional, and have no illusions about what their bloated platform has become.

It is also the largest and most insecure virus magnet there is. No matter what MS puts in front of the virus and worm makers, they ALWAYS get past it, due to Windows' inherently insecure model. A new install of XP SP3 requires piles of patches and updates to get it to be fully "secured". Don't even talk about what happens if you don't have a slipstreamed CD handy and only have an original SP1 disk to install from. Vista is somewhat more secure, but there are more and more worms and viruses getting by its defences every week.

Ever tried a fresh install with Mac OS X or Linux and no hardware firewall? Funnily enough, they're both protected against almost any threat that may hit them, at least enough for you to get them installed and updated to ensure everything is good. XP, Vista AND Windows 7 all give you an Administrative account as a new user default. Even with UAC on the Vista platform, it can be overridden. It's only a matter of time on W7.

They should take a leaf out of Apple's book; create a virtual machine that runs XP (with *full* DirectX support, of course. If VMWare can do it, why not Microsoft?) and completely rewrite the entire main operating system from scratch, breaking all legacy 20 year old code. So what if it took 4-6 years. It would have been 100 times better than Vista, and would have provided a solid foundation for them to start doing yearly operating system releases, at a reasonable price.

I see they've included an optional virtual PC with Windows 7, and it's pretty poor as it has heavy requirements, but it could have been so much better if they had taken it to the final step.

Ah well. I only wish that Windows 7 had been what Microsoft showed us in the original Longhorn video demos.

Matthew, if you had read the message above, the suggestion here is for simplicity with one *single* full version. You completely ignored the point that Nathan was making.

Apple, and other operating systems providers, make one single version of their operating systems for users (this does not include server OSs, of course). They also don't charge $400 for a new version to give you all the operating system features.

If Microsoft decide to charge for W7 the way they did for Vista, I'm pretty sure they will find customers seeking other solutions.

Great to see you're still interested in coming up with something, Lenny. Safe travels!

Absolutely. We neeeeed OS integration :)

Okay. Thanks so much for your reply. Well, if anyone is able to assist with an addon to do such a thing I'd really appreciate hearing from them :)

Okay, I've tried the two suggestions from GeekShadow. Flyerfox won't work on Songbird 0.61. The second one, NativeBird, looks like a standard application window now with an iTunes type feel. Not quite what I was meaning, but a step in the right direction. I've attached a screenshot of how it looks on my machine.

http://img231.imageshack.us/my.php?im...

Now, using my rudimentary Photoshop skills, I've created a rough mockup of how I see the final look turning out, using the colour scheme specified by Vista, rather than one tied directly to the feather. Let me know your thoughts on that.

http://img231.imageshack.us/my.php?im...

@GeekShadow: I've not had a chance to give them ago on my home machine yet, but I will tonight. I'll get some screenies up after that.

Hi Lenny,

A glassy version of the current dark feather would be sweet!

I'm excited to see what you can come up with...

I sometimes forget that Songbird is not even a complete application yet! It works so well since 0.6 was released that I forgot most of the issues I experienced previously. I take your comment and agree with what you're saying, so I can only wait and play with the nice things the Songbird team release for us to experiment with.

Thanks for replying again, and get some coffee :-D – reaxion, on July 07, 2008 08:05

Tyler, that's your feeling about the player and you're entitled to use it any way you see fit.

I personally have different usage habits and different machines that I work on, so your suggestion isn't valid for me. Anyway, this isn't about how you use the player, it's about my suggestion for an improvement to the player, otherwise I would have remained silent and just used it.

Products thrive on growth, suggestion and nurturing, but you're suggesting we just accept what we're given and use it that way. It would never grow as a product if we chose that route, now would it?

@Lenny: Are you going to give it a go? If so, keep us posted here and we'll happily beta-test for you.

@Geekshadow: I will give those a try tonight and put up some screenshots once I have. Thanks for your suggestion.

Hi Tyler,

I can do that same thing with all media players out there, so that's nothing new. The context menus allow me to browse and start Songbird from any location on my hard drive, so it's a one step process.

Thanks for your suggestion though.

rx