TW Blog :: Archives for October 2007

Windows Vista Doomed?

Relates to Exploder and Operating Systems

I am excited about the forthcoming release of Leopard - what Mac fan wouldn't be. Tiger was good and Leopard promises greatness.

Meanwhile in the other camp things are not looking so good. Is Windows Vista really that bad that Microsoft should abandon Vista altogether? I cannot deny a certain amount of disdain for Microsoft's operating systems. I admit this is only because of the lengthy and repetitive hours I have been subjected to flushing viruses and spyware from friends, family and client systems. Recently I was asked to look at a blatant spyware issue on a Windows XP system that was loaded with the latest releases and security patches and boasted apparant protection with anti-virus and firewall software. Apparantly this was not enough as the system had become unusable due to an uncontrollable software loop firing off dialogs all over the screen. And as always the resolution involved arduous hacking of the registry and system files to try and locate and then isolate the cause of the disease while inoculating the system against future threat.

We all know from the Mac vs Windows debate that Windows susceptibility is not solely down to popularity and sales -Windows viruses are so prevalent because of poor software enginering. Microsoft seem persistent in releasing software before it is ready for public consumption and the death-toll is apparantly ringing already for Vista.

Prior to switching to OS X, I was quite content using my old Windows 98 box, and sometimes I still do (although principally I need to call on my WinXP box to make use of side-by-side browser testing on Internet Explorer). But when I decided I needed a more powerful system and went for upgrade in 2005, I chose to make the switch because I was so dejected by the issues nearly everyone I knew was having with Windows XP. With OS X I know I am in control. I do not have to trawl cryptic registry keys if I want to find a rogue utility on the system. I do not have to overcome spyware blocking the task manager to see what software is eating up my resources. I do not fear phishing and trojan attacks when browsing the internet.

The problem though is popularity. As a web developer I have had to contend with the constant foibles of Internet Exploder web browsers for a long time. Even to the extent I am annoyed that my own development is being held back by time wasted hacking patches for all versions of this accursed browser, when instead I would rather be working on standardised enhancements from the XML family. So as a developer, what would it really mean if Vista were to fail? I still see as many as 50% of visitors to my managed sites using Internet Exploder 6. This browser version will linger as long as people are reluctant to make the switch to Vista.

The solution - buy a Mac!

Posted on Tuesday, Oct 02, 2007 at 14:06:28.