• We’re currently investigating an issue related to the forum theme and styling that is impacting page layout and visual formatting. The problem has been identified, and we are actively working on a resolution. There is no impact to user data or functionality, this is strictly a front-end display issue. We’ll post an update once the fix has been deployed. Thanks for your patience while we get this sorted.

WinXP looks worse than ever before, now in war with Kodak

C

Czar

Lifer
http://www.zdnet.com/zdnn/stories/news/0,4586,2781900,00.html?chkpt=zdhpnews01



<< His team was developing new software to manipulate digital photos and needed to make sure it was compatible with Microsoft's latest version of Windows, the basic software that runs most new computers. An early version of Microsoft's newest software, code-named Whistler, had just arrived at Kodak's software labs. When Mr. Gerskovich and his team loaded it onto their computers, they were shocked by what they saw.

When Kodak cameras were plugged into a PC loaded with Kodak software, it was Microsoft's own photo software that popped up--not Kodak's. Camera customers would have to go through a cumbersome process to get Kodak's software to pop up every time, and most would probably just use Microsoft's.

More troubling, the Kodak team found that the new program steered orders for picture prints to companies that would have to pay to be listed in Windows, and that these companies also would be asked to pay Microsoft a fee on every photo sent through Windows.

The Kodak team felt double-crossed. They had worked with Microsoft and the camera industry for a year on a new photo-transfer standard that allowed Windows to recognize when a camera was plugged in. Now, Kodak felt, the standard was being used against Kodak and other digital-camera makers, because it favored Microsoft's competing camera software, embedded in the planned new version of Windows. >>



Lots more in the article. Issues like this one just make me angry, I for one will not use XP no matter what :|:|:|

In this case
Microsoft = Rambus
 
Oh well, here we go again. Godzilla is running rampant in Tokyo.

My take:

Win98 = great/best gaming experience
resource hog
poor memory management
must be tweeeeeeeked for optimal performance

W2K = mediocre at best gaming experience
great memory and resource management
just install SP2 and you're golden

WinXP = pipe dream
bloatware
licensing/activation nightmare
MS emailing/phoning/faxing knocking on your door at 0200 to ensure
you have been thru the appropriate licensing/activation nightmare
doubt it'll get off the ground in a big way

It took about 2 years for all the code-gurus to work the bugs out of Win98; I'm hoping that the same thing happens for W2K. I'd love to move to it, but I'm a big gamer...I'm sticking with 98 until W2K is as perfect as it's gonna get.
 
I have been running the beta (Official use here not from some warez site) and it runs like a snail on a bad day. I haven't put it on my new Athlon yet though.
 
If when XP doesn't make your computer a more user - friendly / diverse tool then M$ is in for a real down turn. As far as Bloatware is concerned bring it on we have the Hardware it's about time somenbody builds some software that puts it all to use. I am looking forward to the new improved Media player, Messanger, built in WAN support, Remote Access capabilities but in firewall etc. etc. About freaking Time! Let's harness Broadband connectivity and Faster clockspeeds. If XP delivers what it's promising it will be a massive improvement / milestone. If they don't there going to lose ALOT of money. If thier marketing budget is as big as I hear they must think they have a winner and lets all hope thier right
 
If XP succedes it will only bring Microsoft ALOT of money, then I mean ALOT, they are trying to take every penny they can get with XP.

1. You have to pay an annual fee to use XP
2. Your computer is microsofts bitch when it comes to reinstalling or installing new hardware.
3. This issue we are talking about here.
4. Overly bloated Media player that Real Networks very mad about.
 
Nicely put, Maxputer. I'd honestly like to see them succeed. I'm not an MS-basher. Sure, MS is the schoolyard-bully of the computer world, but that is big business. If you can't hang, well, you know. We'd all still be using DOS on an Apple IIe (OMG...no UnrealTournament! :Q) if it weren't for MS.

I've just been sitting back, watching approximately 1,000 members of this forum go thru the whole XP-Beta-Tester experience, and wondering if XP is gonna be a great product. I'm not impressed so far, based on what I've read.



 
I haven't heard anything about annual fee's for XP, and I've covered the material very thouroughly. You might be confused with .net which is M$ next big move but still aways off behind XP.

As far as user registration is concerned I understand... did you pay for your OS ?

I'm glad the WinXP is bring third party -type- software into the OS I don't want to have milliions of other software installed, PCanywhere, Realmedia, Musicmatchbox, ICQ, Net Meeting, Whiteboard programs, Propriatary Camera/Printer packages etc. etc. I would like to have it ALL in the OS assuming it delivers and works well.... One price, One install, One New computing eXPerinece, why wouldn't you like it? I understand that nobody likes the school yard bully (M$) but they have done alot for the PC and the Mac, so giving them the benefit of the doubt doesn't seem so out of order to me...
 
I agree they have done alot for the computer world.

With Xp you will have to pay $25 every 3 months, or was it $50 every 6 months, cant remember. Microsoft say that it will improve customer satisfaction because the OS will be absolete after 2 years anyway so users wont feel like they are throwing their money away.

Cant say I did, though Win2000 is the only OS I´v concidered buying. I would have if it would have been at the same price as Win98. Also with the software industry it does not fall under the same rules as the rest of the industry, you cant get your money back if you are not satisfied. If I buy a radio I know I can return it if I´m not satisfied, with Windows I cant do that, if I buy it I´m stuck with it.
 
Hey, check out this article about xp's protection scheme:[L]http://www.zdnet.com/anchordesk/stories/story/0,10738,2779746,00.html[/L]


<< SO, HERE I AM, sitting in a jet at 34,000 feet someplace above God-only-knows-where, using my computer and minding my own business when Microsoft threatens to essentially shut down my copy of Office. And at the very start of a week-long business trip, too.

Why did they do that? Here's what the help screen said: &quot;Due to a significant change in your computer configuration from when Microsoft Office was installed and activated, some important information about your computer needs to be restored, and the product needs to be reactivated to continue to function properly.&quot;

Hmm, the threatening message popped up while I was writing a column in one window and using Enfish OneSpace in another. I wonder if that had anything to do with it? But I'd installed Enfish weeks ago; funny the message should appear now. Or maybe it was the copy of Documents-to-Go I installed a few hours ago so I could load Word documents onto a Palm device.

FRANKLY, I HAVE NO IDEA WHAT I DID, if anything, to change the configuration of my computer. Nor should it be Microsoft's business if I did. As it stands, I am on an airplane, my original Office disk is 6 miles below and 2,200 miles behind me, and Microsoft has just told me that Office will die if I don't immediately reauthorize my copy. >>



Good times 🙂
 
XP -> -> Just say Hell NO! Ah, the good old days of Office 97...load it up, enter your CD Key and forget all about it forever. Those days are long gone.
 
<hissyfitrant>

I'm not an &quot;MS-basher,&quot; but anyone can surely admit Microsoft is certainly a good business---an awesome foe. They've imitated, or bought out the successful, and ground others into the dirt at the slightest sign of &quot;weakness&quot; (management-, market-share-wise, etc.).

Because it is a good business does not mean all it's products are good for all of us. I used to rent movies from the same place that I bought my groceries. It was convenient, true. I like taking my clothes to dry-clean at a certain small business, as I know dry-cleaning is what they specialize in, and they are more likely to do a better job than a supermarket that also offered the above service. Also, if at any time I do not feel satisfied in any way with the dry-cleaner, I will just switch to any number of nearby cleaners who might offer a better deal. A supermarket/video/dry-cleaning operation may be a convenience, but certainly not one I would want if it was, or felt like the only place-in-town to get such things done. Anybody see a software metaphor there? 😛

I installed the Corel Suite of graphic/photo apps the other day. I immediately loaded up a JPEG thinking, &quot;let's see what Photo-Paint can do here!&quot; The JPEG loads sure enough... in what app? In Microsoft Photo Editor, of course, which was installed as part of Office 2000, which I installed before Corel. I corrected that, but as said in a previous post, your &quot;average Joe&quot; will not be willing to take a trip to &quot;Folder Options,&quot; then wade through the dozens (hundreds on occasion) of file types likely to be there all to change the &quot;open with&quot; app for his favorite file types, or even likely to know how to do this in the first place. This is ingenious from a business standpoint, but not what I'd like to see as a consumer.

I like MS apps such as Internet Explorer, Office 2000, Notepad 😀 , and the like, but I, like others, see a fine line should be drawn in what is included with an OS for productivity---not because I despise convenience, but need a top-quality product. Outlook Express? No thanks! I like Forte Agent as my newsreader. Others have their favorite. The bottom line is choice, as the availability of choice can only lead to better quality. For the most part, let others decide what (and whose) software they want to install. Of course, the presence of warez, and cracks (did I say that? 😉 ) might make that decision a little easier for me as compared to some other &quot;righteous&quot; folk.

Windows 2000 Pro remains my OS of choice: little software integration (by MS-standards 😀 ), good for gaming, and frankly, excellent for everything else. I have everything I need at the moment in that OS, and do not foresee the time where I will be compelled to upgrade to Windows XP. The necessity to contact &quot;Big Brother Bill&quot; for a change in software/hardware (among some other things) does not facilitate an upgrade to the &quot;latest, and greatest,&quot; IF what I have now already does all I want, IMHO. I hope others will consider if their needs are being met in an OS before blindly upgrading.

</hissyfitrant>
 


<< 1. You have to pay an annual fee to use XP >>



Wrong. Fee is optional, you can purchase the product for the full price, and not pay any fees.

Leon
 
MS is the Clinton of the computer biz. They didn't get where they are in an honest, moral, forthright manner. They deserve all the s..t that can possibly get heaped on them.
.bh.
 
Got my linux box almost done. Win2K has run fine for me I have to say. But, very few people are seeing what MS is doing with XP. They want to own EVERY OS, on every machine in the world, then charge you to use it. That's a Monopoly folks.
 


<< Camera customers would have to go through a cumbersome process to get Kodak's software to pop up every time, >>



You mean the cumbersome right click>open with>always use this....or has this changed in XP?

 


<< You mean the cumbersome right click>open with>always use this....or has this changed in XP? >>


The average users wont bother doing that.
 


<< The average users wont bother doing that. >>



Maybe not, but calling that a cumbersome procedure in XP, come on, give me a break.
 
I didn't read all the post but ..you would think MS is trying really hard to knock out alot of the lil guys apps..Built in DVD player(there goes Power DVD, WinDVD,and company) If I,m correct it even has burning software which has copy right protection built in...whoooa!
Sh_t I think MS might have to lightin up alil and give the lil folks get some..my 2 cents:|
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

TRENDING THREADS

Back
Top