From: Gary Britt 

Here's an interesting high point.  I just got this from an Email from Raxco
makers of Perfect Disk, Disk Defragmenter:

Raxco is proud to announce that PerfectDisk 8 is the first and only
defragmenter to be Certified for Windows Vista by Microsoft.  PerfectDisk 8
Build 50 is now available for use on Windows Vista, as well as Windows XP
Home/Professional, Windows Server 2003 and Windows 2000
Professional/Server.

*During the PerfectDisk 8 Vista certification testing process, Raxco’s
development team uncovered a *bug* within a component of Windows Vista that
*could potentially cause hard drive corruption*. Raxco has already reported
this bug to Microsoft and Microsoft is working to resolve the issue. Raxco
has designed PerfectDisk 8 build 50 to specifically work around this issue*


mike wrote:
> http://www.theinquirer.net/default.aspx?article=37394
>
> ===
> ONE OF THE most damning condemnations of the shiny DRM infection
> masquerading as an OS is on Microsoft's own site, its paid for list of
> reasons why Vista roX0rz or something. It is really a good laugh.
>
> This article is sheer marketing pabulum, but you would think Microsoft
> could have at least figured out something worth a damn to crow about in
> its own propaganda piece. Rather than fib about what Vista brings to the
> table, it told the truth, and that is why things are so sad.
>
> So, what does it bring? 7.5 things, none of which are worth the time it
> takes to install, much less the money or the rights Vista takes from
> you. Let's go down the list shall we?
>
> 1) IE 7: The number one thing as they say is not exclusive to Vista, nor
> is it anything other than a warmed over virus and spyware vector. Use
> Firefox or pay the price, botnet herders want your box. So far 0/1.
>
> 2) Windows Sidebar: Be still my beating heart, widgets that every other
> OS in the world has had since about, oh, 1983, but done more
> intrusively. Luckily it sucks resources and screen space. Handy tip, if
> you are experiencing heavy CPU load at idle, turn off the clock, you may
> get 1/3 of your CPU time back. This pile was tested for how long? 0/2.
>
> 3) Aero: Ok, they are right it is pretty. 1/3.
>
> 4) Mahjong Titans: If you don't have anything real to talk about, why
> not tout fluff. (Read this next part as me feigning excitement) Holy
> sh*t, Mah-fscking-jong!!! Way cool. I was only expecting a database
> filesystem and middleware layer four years ago, but Mahjong just blows
> me away. Now I understand where all those years, programmer-decades and
> billions of dollars went, certainly not flushed if you get Mahjong
> Titans! Damn grrl. Can you imagine if you could get this kind of
> awesomeness on the web for free, or at any of 17 billion freeware sites?
> Never happen, would it? 1.000007/4
>
> 5) Start Menu Search: This is a feature? Ummmm, this is better than
> Google Desktop Search how? Oh yeah, it is on the start menu not the
> start bar so it takes an additional click. Whoopty-fscking-do0. MS
> should be ashamed of this one, like the start menu on the bottom where
> it ergonomically blows to avoid accusations of cloning Apple. Hint to
> MS: Apple put it there for a reason, it was the right thing to do
> ergonomically, and the bottom is not. Hint to MS 2: Google put it there
> for a reason, it was the right thing to do ergonomically, the menu is
> not. 1.000004/5.
>
> 5.5) Stay Start Menu: Wow, it would take an MS employee to put their
> name on liking the 'advances' of the XP start menu over the older one.
> More clicks are better, and even a troll would know bigger is better. It
> is also green, what more could you want? Anyone with half a brain kills
> that monster as one of the first things on the must do list after
> installing XP. Advances from there are low hanging fruit indeed. That
> said, I think they deserve the .000003 points back for that, going to
> 1.000007/5.5.
>
> 6) Control Panel Search: WTF? The reason they need a search for the
> control panel is because they dumbed it down to the point of
> unusability. How stupid are they? The non-moron interface, aka classic
> mode, worked just fine, if you wanted to adjust your fonts, you clicked
> on fonts, user accounts, you clicked on user accounts. You never had to
> guess which one of 4 big icons might have the thing you wanted, if any
> of them did. One really has to wonder if MS is run by wizards, not the
> term of endearment, but little applets that don't let you do anything
> while frustrating the hell out of you and leaving you more borked than
> when you started. This is clearly a case of 19 steps backward followed
> by another 3 back trying to make up for it. Dumb dumb dumb.-1.999993/6.5
> with an added 'idiots'.
>
> 7) Windows Photo Gallery: Yay, Microsoft finally realised Picasa is a
> threat, so it is forcing a bloated app down your throat. Not having
> tried it, and being a kind person who really likes Microsoft, I will
> give it full credit here. -.999993/7.5.
>
> So, as you can plainly see in this scientific look at the high points of
> Vista from MS itself, Vista adds negative value to your computer. There
> is no denying the numbers, it is there in black and white using only MS
> paid for spin.
>
> Vista is shiny and its maker can't even come up with a decent list as to
> why you should care. May I suggest you take your $400 and pick a new
> hobby using this as seed money? You won't get a DRM infection, you won't
> sell your soul to licensing agreements, and you will have a computer
> that is actually more functional. What more do you want? æ
> ===
>
>  /m

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