Windows XP Service Pack 3: General Public Release

XP Service Pack 3 has been released both as a separate download as well as over Windows Update. I guess MS kept their word and released it in 1H CY2008, as they cryptically put it.

Unlike Vista though, XP SP3 can be slipstreamed.

Filed in Windows.

Tekzilla Pans Vista Too

Tekzilla, a video podcast show, gave a damming review of Vista in its episode 30. Well, actually it was in response to a viewer who asked the host why they didn’t like Vista. He replied that the big problem of Vista was its application and hardware compatibility issues.

I suppose it’s true. Maybe it’s possible to live with the slower performance or even the crashes. But if the hardware doesn’t work with Vista, and some of the applications no longer work, then it becomes a big issue, since it’s no longer possible to do work on a machine with Vista on it.

Filed in Windows.

XP SP 3 is Released - for MSDN/Technet Subscribers

After another burst of indignation from MSDN and Technet subscribers, Microsoft has relented and released XP SP3 to MSDN and Technet subscribers. Get it from the Top Downloads page after logging in.

It will still be released to the masses next week on April 29.

Filed in Windows.

Microsoft Disses Paying MSDN Subscribers over Windows XP Service Pack 3, Again

Microsoft has not learned its lesson from the outcry when it released Vista SP 1. It has announced that Windows XP Service Pack 3 will be available to the general public on April 29. But it will not be available to the MSDN and Technet subscribers, who have paid big bucks for their subscription, until the following month. Yup. Once you pay them money, they’re no longer interested in you.

Reaction to this has already started in the MSDN/Technet forum in a separate thread — the original thread was locked after 3 or so posts, so users opened a new thread. As someone on Slashdot mentioned, “Why do MSDN and VL customers get this later than Windows Update? What exactly are we paying for?”

Filed in Windows, Outraged.

Creative Takes Down Third Party for Fixing their Broken Vista Audigy Drivers

Creative probably made a major tactical error. Apparently the drivers for their sound cards do not work well under Vista, with many features crippled. A developer named Daniel K created fixed drivers that allowed Audigy and X-Fi (?) users to use their cards on Vista the way they could on XP. Now Creative has issued a notice to the modder to take down his drivers. This has led to a major hue and cry in all the major forums, including Creative’s own, as well as many tech news sites.

I have a feeling that Creative is disallowing the fixes because they want users to buy a new sound card for Vista, as well as pay for some add-on software pack called Alchemy so that their sound card will work in Vista as advertised.

There are probably at least 2 parties at fault here:

• Microsoft - for releasing a Vista that has disabled so many things that came with XP and causing so many driver problems. The Vista developers obviously don’t believe in backward-compatiblity.
• Creative - too money grubbing about the whole matter. Good grief, customers have already paid for your card. And you didn’t even have to fix the software, someone did it for you. You destroy your goodwill when you take him down without providing your own fixes.

Update: see the latest news on this, as well as the URL where you can get the modded drivers in Creative on the Defensive over X-Fi/Audigy Drivers Fiasco.

Filed in Outraged, Opinion, Windows.

Vista’s Driver Problems Are Not Exaggerated

In case you thought Vista’s problems were exaggerated, Ars Technica dissects Microsoft’s internal documentation about the vista driver problems that caused crashes. Nvidia driver crashes accounted for 479,000 of crashes, or 29% of all crashes recorded in the period under study. Microsoft’s own drivers was the next highest cause of crashes, at 17.9%. And so on. ATI’s, Intel’s, and other manufacturers’ drivers also led to crashes.

I find it amusing that Microsoft’s own drivers was the second highest cause of crashes. They can’t exactly blame the third party manufacturers for not implementing drivers correctly here!

Now that we’re in 2008, more than a year since Vista’s release, I really hope that these problems are fixed. It’s becoming quite hard to find computers that come with XP, and sooner or later, I have to upgrade my computer.

Filed in Windows.

Microsoft: Vista SP 1 Cannot Be Slipstreamed

Bad news for everyone who wanted to slipstream SP1 into their Vista DVD. Microsoft says that SP1 cannot be slipstreamed because the slipstreaming facility itself has to be upgraded before it will work. So much for those who are trying to make a smooth SP 1 install.

There’s also a new WAIK.

Filed in Windows.

Vista Service Pack 1 (SP1) Now Available

Microsoft has released Vista SP 1 for download. It’s a 400+ MB download, so be ready to spend ages just getting the thing.

Filed in Windows.

Why Does Microsoft Love to Be Cryptic? What is IS7-VIS3.rar? Or IE7-VIS1.exe? Or IE7-VIS2.rar?

In a sudden urge to test my site in as many browsers as possible, I came across a link to Microsoft’s free distribution of virtual machines with various versions of IE. And there I ran into a roadblock. Remember when I grumbled about their use of cryptic acronyms in one of their announcements? Well, it’s not just their announcements. Even their download links are cryptic.

The web page tells you that you can download Virtual PC images with IE 6 and IE 7. Then it proceeds to list the various files that you can download - by shortened filenames. Take a look at this. What do you make of them?

• IE6_VPC.EXE - okay, I can figure this out. It’s IE 6 in a Virtual PC image. That’s okay so far.
• IE7_VPC.EXE - this must be IE 7 in a Virtual PC image.
• IE7-VIS1.exe - is this IE 7 running on Vista? If so, then what’s the next one?
• IE7-VIS2.rar - IE 7 running on Vista? Again? Or perhaps it’s because it’s packaged in a RAR archive. But wait - there’s more…
• IS7-VIS3.rar - IE 7 running on Vista! Again! In a RAR archive! Again! Will wonders never cease?
• IE8_VPC.EXE - IE 8 (huh?) in a Virtual PC image.

What good are all these filenames to the downloader? Why give the filenames at all? Don’t these wizards at Microsoft realize that you can give a link a different text from the actual filename? Not everyone in the world automatically knows what you mean when you give these cryptic filenames from the MSDOS era. They should at least give a description if they feel compelled to write the filename.

Anyway, if you can tell the difference between those VIS filenames, let me know in the comments. I’m just gonna download the IE6 image for now.

Yeah. And I noticed the IE 8 thing too. I think it’s probably just a beta. I’ll investigate and post again when I find out more. Update: it’s true - IE 8 beta 1 is out. Update 2: I just noticed that it’s not three IE7 links, but 2. The third one is IS7 not IE7. But what is IS7?

Filed in Web Design, Software, Windows.

Microsoft: Vista is a Disaster - Microsoft Internal Emails Dissected

It appears from Microsoft’s internal email, which were submitted as court evidence in a US class action lawsuit against Microsoft, that the release of Vista had many issues.

• Microsoft employees themselves, including their senior executives like Vice President Mike Nash, got fooled by the Vista Capable sticker on computers. “I personally got burned,” he said, in a widely reported message. His purchase, a computer with a Vista Capable sticker, was unable to run the Aero interface. “I now have a $2100 email machine,” was his verdict.
• Driver problems abound. As every one knows.
• “Massive changes in the underpining for video and audio led to a really poor experience at RTM, especially with respect to Windows Media Center. This change led to incompatibilities,” was a message from Steven Sinofsky. This, in my opinion, is putting it mildly.

Incidentally, while reading about this matter, I came across this interesting tidbit of information: Microsoft plans to solve the confusion among consumers about the numerous Vista versions by adding even more versions, this time differentiated by geography. Yes, sir. These are the geniuses that gave you Vista. Did you expect any less?

See also my previous posts on Vista:

• Reports say that Vista SP 1 is Still 40% Slower Than XP
• Vista SP 1 for MSDN and Technet Subscribers OutCry
• The Missing Up Arrow in Vista’s Explorer
• Vista File Copy Performance: Relearning the Same Lessons Learnt Yesterday
• Vista’s Attempt at a Comeback

I didn’t realize that I had so many things to say about Vista.

Filed in Software, Windows.

Reports Say Vista SP 1 is Still 40% Slower Than XP

Service Pack 1 for Vista, which I talked about before, has not yet been released to the general public, but the word is already out that in spite of all its touted performance improvements, it is still 40% slower than XP on “a variety of basic productivity tasks”.

I’m beginning to think that Microsoft should just give up hope on Vista. Like I said in my post on Vista’s usability issues, the OS is already plagued with a bad reputation. This kind of reputation is very hard to undo. Everyone is looking to SP 1 as the do-or-die magic pill to fix all the annoyances they have experienced with Vista, and unfortunately, it will never be able to fulfil their expectations. You need a huge revamp to do that.

I know this will never happen, but Microsoft should consider returning XP to the shop shelves while it works on the next version of their OS. And hardware vendors should seriously offer XP as an option with all their off-the-shelf computers. I know many people who have decided not to upgrade their computers for the time being because Vista is the only OS available for the new hardware.

Filed in Software, Windows.

The Unfolding Yahoo-Microsoft Love Story

Once upon a time there were two companies, Microsoft and Yahoo. One day, Microsoft proposed to Yahoo that they unite in corporate matrimony. Yahoo spurned its not-quite-lover’s advances, saying that its dowry was not quite sufficient. Unrequited though its love was, Microsoft was not deterred, and retreated to consider other options. “If I cannot woo Yahoo,” the scorned lover proclaimed, “by golly I will assault it”.

Somewhat sidelined in this quarrel is the other party in the lover’s triange, Google, who, full of sour grapes, declared that if Microsoft and Yahoo unite, the world is doomed.

Don’t miss the next exciting episode in this continuing soap opera. Coming to a blog post near you.

Filed in Humor, Windows.

Vista SP 1 for MSDN and Technet Subscribers OutCry

When Microsoft announced that MSDN and Technet subscribers would only get Vista SP 1 in March along with everyone else, there was a huge outcry. After all, the MSDN and Technet subscribers are the programmers and technical staff that have to handle Vista issues or perhaps even do the SP 1 rollout themselves. Not giving them time to evaluate SP 1 beforehand is ridiculous, since they will have to test to make sure that SP 1 works well with their software and systems.

Following the outcry, Microsoft posted an update to say that SP 1 will be available to subscribers at the end of the month. While this is certainly better than having the SP 1 at the same time as the general availability date, it is still extremely late, since the end of February means the beginning of March. (Aren’t they the same thing?) In any case, if it’s slightly earlier than the public release, the time given to the people who need to test/evaluate SP 1 is still too short. It’s interesting that the journalists can get SP 1 earlier than the people who need to support it.

It begins to look more and more like Microsoft really doesn’t like its customers. Only monopolies can treat their customers like dirt and get away with it.

Filed in Windows, Software, Outraged.

The Missing Up Arrow in Vista’s Explorer

About a year ago, I installed Vista on my machine for kicks. At that time, Vista was new, and everyone was excited about it. So was I. After it was installed, I soon ran into my first frustration with Vista. The Windows Explorer that ships with Vista does not have an UP arrow in the toolbar. The UP arrow in XP allows you to go up one level in the directory in an easy and convenient manner. The missing UP arrow means that something that used to take a single mouse click now takes multiple mouse clicks to accomplish the same thing.

While I know that there are many superior Windows Explorer replacements around, until then, Explorer suited my needs fine. I don’t understand the Vista team. Why is Vista’s usability so much worse than XP’s usability? Was it designed by a committee? (You know the saying, a camel is a horse designed by a committee.) The downhill slide towards lower usability in Vista is reflected in many other aspects of its interface. Did anyone at Microsoft actually try to measure their productivity loss when they migrated to Vista? Did anyone at Microsoft even use Vista daily for their actual work before releasing the OS? They need to eat their own dogfood before releasing it. Else the irritations of the OS will only be discovered when users try it out, and then they will give the OS a bad reputation.

Lest you think that I’m still suffering under the torture of Vista-usage, I reformatted the hard disk after about a month of usage, and reinstalled XP.

Update: Oh sheesh. It looks like I’m shooting off my mouth in ignorance. Apparently, Vista does have a better alternative to the Up arrow in Explorer after all. In my defense, let me say that the solution is not obvious.

Filed in Windows, Software, Opinion.

Vista File Copy Performance: Relearning the Same Lessons Learnt Yesterday

According to Mark Russinovich’s blog, the reason why Vista’s file copy is so slow is because Microsoft basically disabled the file caching for file copies. In Service Pack 1 (SP1), they have re-enabled the file caching, so maybe I was wrong when I said that Vista’s SP1 file performance won’t improve much.

Back in the MS-DOS days, the original DOS system did not come with any file caching. Then various third parties discovered that if they cached both read and write operations, MSDOS would appear to be more responsive to the users. Microsoft, ever eager to catch up with the innovators, eventually implemented file caching for DOS in the form of a utility called SMARTDRV.EXE. Smartdrv cached both file read and write operations, leading to a smoother user-experience when file reading/writing/copying operations were involved. And everyone was happy.

The Vista team apparently forgot this lesson, as it has many other lessons. But as they say about history, if you don’t learn from them, you’re doomed to repeat its mistakes over and over again.

Footnote: this doesn’t explain the reported slow delete operations though.

Filed in Windows, Software, Opinion.