I’ve observed a curious phenomenon on the web. From tech blogs to social networks, people seem to be willing to give Windows 7 a chance. This from the crowd that has, in the past few years, called out Microsoft every chance they got. From the days of the Netscape trials to the recent filleting Vista received, chopped and diced in so many blog reviews that still linger today in the collective geek consciousness, one wonders why anyone would want to give Microsoft another chance with their desktop.
When it comes down to it, geeks still want Windows. Some converted to Macs, some converted to Linux, but for the most part Macintosh is too expensive and limiting and Linux was just too hardcore, needing a real intimate familiarity with configuration files just to upgrade a video driver. They want what they know, but they want it better. Some have begrudgingly accepted Vista onto their desktop, claiming it’s just “not that bad”, while others cling to Windows XP like it’s the last stop before the abyss of blue screens and misbehaving applications.
What we’ve seen of Windows 7 is exactly what we wanted to see, proof that it addresses the criticisms of the recent past. The OS installs faster, loads faster, comes back from standby on your laptop faster, and will run with less resources, like a demonstration where it ran on a netbook with a simple processor. The bloatware from built-in applications is gone, although calling these programs bloatware was debatable, and things that gave the appearance of annoyance, like the multiplying icons in the System Tray, have been paired down to necessity only. In fact, they have made the Taskbar so simple looking, it’s almost Apple sleek. It’s proof that the geek community still has a voice with the software empire.
But what about the calls to have Microsoft completely rebuild Windows from the ground up and all the opinions that the basis on which Windows was based was too broken to fix? The common wisdom was Microsoft needed a reboot similar to the Mac OS when they debuted X, something that broke legacy apps and built something modern. MinWin was often sighted as a possible replacement, a version of Windows that was so small as to be trivial to run on basic hardware. The components you wanted would attach and run what you need, not that much unlike Linux and Unix.
None of those opinions became this new operating system. Windows 7 is really Windows Vista tweaked. Windows 7 is the same basic kernel and does the same basic things. Like the Six Million Dollar Man they’ve made it better, faster, stronger. Why stick with the old code that turned so many off? Simple, it actually worked, just not as well as it could. The biggest problems, UAC security and incompatible drivers, have mostly been addressed. Programmers now know they will encounter the security features of UAC and, therefore, write better programs with better security standards. The driver issue, so prevalent when Vista launched, is now a distant memory. All new hardware has a Vista driver and older peripherals are either no-longer in use or had a proper driver written for them.
Windows can only be Windows, with it’s decade of compatibility with hundreds of thousands of programs and required GUI. It can’t break with the past and most of us would have a problem with that in one way or another. It can’t be Mac, because the choices in hardware and software afforded us by the former WINTEL alliance has built the PC generation and we would still have to run Boot Camp to get what we needed. Linux, with all its goodwill and improvements is still a text-based operating system at its core and most people, even geeks, can’t get their arms around that kind of required fuss on their desktops. We want Windows to be Windows, but we want them to do it right.
Geek blogs are singing the praises of recent trade show demonstrations of Windows 7, even if they can’t figure out the reason for the name. Early adopters are installing the beta and trying to get their hands on it by any means necessary, back channels and all. The posts we’ve seen from the formerly grumpy blogosphere about Windows 7 have been so positive. In fact, the glowing requires sun glasses. It seems like they’ve finally gotten it right after two years of bad blood with their users. Make it a good one Microsoft, it may be your last chance to impress us all.
- Eric Beehler (consortioservices.com/blog)
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CSTechcast.com brings you good cheer in another podcast for IT pros. This week we talk about your online brand and why it's important with the co-founder and editor of sqlservercentral.com Steve Jones. In the news, IBM unveils the Open Collaboration Client open source desktop system, Microsoft and RSA get cozy with security integration, Amazon announces a free tier of access to SimpleDB, Windows 7 beta gets an official date, and patch tuesday plays the Grinch with six critical updates to keep you up late. The irrational logic that keep people hanging onto Windows XP, making some a tidy profit, gets "The Worst Tech of of the Week", we take "A Closer Look" at what to do with the firesale deals caused by the bad economy on enterprise tech equipment, and "The Weekly Tech Tip" is a simple quick fix to SQL Server database orphaned users. Our sponsor this week: Admin Script Editor by iTripoli. Links to stories and sites discussed during the show:
IBM Launches Microsoft-Free Linux PCs (InformationWeek)
Microsoft, EMC's RSA Partner To Protect Data (InformationWeek)
Amazon Opens SimpleDB To Unlimited Public Beta (InformationWeek)
I know where you can get Windows 7 Beta 1 DVD's... shhhhh (Technet Keith Combs' Blahg)
Patch Tuesday will have eight bulletins (CNet)
Hate Vista? Dell Now Charging $150 Extra for Windows XP (Sillicon Alley Insider) Thanks for catching our podcast. Submit feedback at our main page CSTechcast.com and follow our updates and randomness throughout the week on twitter.com/cstechcast and friendfeed.com/cstechcast. Let your friends know where they can find us so they can get in on the info and fun. Link to the episode: http://www.cstechcast.com/home.aspx?Episode=53 - Eric Beehler (consortioservices.com/blog)
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CSTechcast.com has the latest podcast for IT professionals. This week Tableau CEO Christian Chabot talks to us about techniques for exploring new and unfamiliar data using business intelligence tools. Find out more about Tableau at tableausoftware.com. In the news, Microsoft's PDC show saw the unveiling of Windows 7 and Azure cloud services, Sony recalls another 100,000 laptop batteries, Linux is getting popular as a utility OS when you don't want to wait for Windows to boot, Informatica and Salesforce.com team to sync data between internal apps and SaaS software, and the Google-Yahoo deal sees scrutiny from the US Department of Justice. Shortchanging a tech policy debate by a certain presidential candidate's policy wonk gets "The Worst Tech Move of the Week", we take "A Closer Look" at Windows 7, and we tell you how to find a successful DFS sync in "The Weekly Tech Tip". Our sponsor this week: Admin Script Editor by iTripoli. Links to stories and sites discussed during the show:
Microsoft launches Windows Azure (CNet)
Sony Recalls Notebook Computer Batteries Due to Previous Fires (CSPC)
HP, Toshiba Recall Sony Laptop Batteries (InformationWeek)
Linux Headed For More PCs Than Windows (InformationWeek)
In Age of Impatience, Cutting PC Start Time (New York Times)
Linux to Ship on More Desktops than Windows (Linux-foundation.org)
Informatica To Offer Salesforce.com Integration Service (InformationWeek)
Yahoo, Google May Walk Away From Search Deal - Report (InformationWeek)
Obama tech advisor sounds cautious notes at one-man "debate" (Ars Technica) Your continued support for CS Techcast is appreciated. Thanks for posting reviews to the podcast directories like iTunes, Podcast Alley, and TechPodcasts.com. Give your feedback and let us know what your thinking. If you have show ideas, let us know. All our contact information is available on CSTechcast.com. Support our sponsors, who help cover the costs of doing this show every week. Check us out on the social networks at Twitter.com/cstechcast and Friendfeed.com/cstechcast. Thanks. Link to the episode: http://www.cstechcast.com/home.aspx?Episode=49 - Eric Beehler (consortioservices.com/blog)
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The newest episode is available at CSTechcast.com, a full podcast for IT professionals. This week, CEO of Brighttalk.com Paul Heald talks about how webcasts are helping business reach other businesses and the technology behind it. In the news Microsoft is set to release the cloud computing OS Red Dog, the Windows XP downgrade gets six more months of life, web sites get their credentials ripped off, AMD swings at Intel with the Shanghai server CPUs, and Steve Jobs IS alive even after a rumored health crisis. Credit card companies lack of concern for bad wireless security gets "The Worst Tech Move of the Week", we take "A Closer Look" at the fork in the road upgrading to Windows Vista or Windows 7, and the new Hyper-V Server's HVCONFIG is detailed in "The Weekly Tech Tip". This episode of CS Techcast is sponsored by: vConferenceOnline. Use the discount code CSTECH at vConferenceOnline.com for a 10% discount on a virtual conference. Don't miss the SSWUG Ultimate Virtual Conference coming up soon. Links to stories and sites discussed during the show:
Microsoft will float cloud OS this month (InfoWorld)
Windows XP gets another lifeline (CNet)
Researcher finds evidence of massive site compromise (ComputerWorld)
AMD Says Shanghai Won't Be Another Barcelona (PC World)
Apple stock tumbles nearly 11% on false report of Jobs' heart attack (CompuerWorld) As always, thanks for listening and hit the CSTechcast.com website for ways to get a hold of us. Also, check us out at friendfeed.com/cstechcast and twitter.com/cstechcast for our opinions on tech throughout the week. Link to the episode: http://www.cstechcast.com/home.aspx?Episode=45 - Eric Beehler (consortioservices.com/blog)
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CSTechcast.com brings you another episode of the podcast for IT professionals. Today, we talk about the future of IPv6 for business with Fred Wettling, author of Global IPv6 Strategies from Cisco Press. In the news, solid state drives are looking to replace spinning disks for enterprise applications, AMD is introducing new processors, a court ruling on model trains impacts free software, Windows 7 starts to get real, and iPhone gets Gartner's nod for use in business. VMWare's servers have fallen and they can't get up in "The Worst tech Move of the Week", greening servers gets "A Closer Look", and a quick FTP server setup is "The Weekly Tech Tip". Links to stories and sites discussed during the show:
IT managers opting for solid-state drives over hard disks (ComputerWorld)
AMD targets business with new desktop chips (ComputerWorld)
Legal milestone for open source (BBC)
Engineering Windows 7 (MSDN Blogs)
Windows 7 Details In October, Microsoft Says (InformationWeek)
iPhone 3G Available Online For Business Customers (InformationWeek)
VMware bug causes worldwide disruption (ZDNet)
This is the last week to get your feedback in for a chance to win a $25 Amazon.com gift certificate. Tell us what you think. Links to all the ways to give your opinion on the home page. Thanks for listening and, as always, get the latest podcasts at CSTechcast.com.
Link to the episode: http://www.cstechcast.com/home.aspx?Episode=38 - Eric Beehler (consortioservices.com/blog)
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CSTechcast.com, your weekly source for tech, trends, news, and reviews for IT pros presents the latest episode of our podcast. Rhonda Layfield joins the fray to update us on the extensive deployment tools available for the Microsoft Windows platform. Find Rhonda contributing to the web site Minasi.com. Tech news brings everyone early exposure to the DNS flaw, VMWare decides to give away the ESXi hypervisor, Drizzle aims to slim down MySQL, the Brocade-Foundry marriage merges Fibre-SAN switching with 10G Ethernet expertise, and Terry Childs finally gives up the goods. Quick selling VC's are investing in "The Worst Tech Move of the Week", we take "A Closer Look" at virtualization sprawl, and we look at SharePoint disaster recovery in "The Weekly Tech Tip".
Links to stories discussed during the show:
New DNS exploit now in the wild and having a blast (ArsTechnica)
VMware Counters Microsoft, Will Make ESXi Hypervisor Free (InformationWeek)
Drizzle project plans a stripped-down MySQL (InfoWorld)
Dissecting the Brocade-Foundry Merger (eWeek)
SF mayor gets codes to hijacked city network (CNet News.com)
VCs Reap What They Sow (Gigaom)
The Silicon Valley VC Disease (Scobleizer)
Give us some feedback and win a $25 Amazon.com gift certificate. We really want to know what you think. Contact us from the feedback button, e-mail us, and post to the blog all at CSTechcast.com. Also find us micro-blogging at twitter.com/cstechcast and friendfeed.com/cstechcast. Subscribe so you never miss an episode.
Link to the episode: http://www.cstechcast.com/home.aspx?Episode=35
- Eric Beehler (consortioservices.com/blog)
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Another podcast is up and available at CStechcast.com, the podcast for IT professionals. This week we talk about the history and the future of networks with John Day, author of Patterns in Network Architecture. The news brings cloud computing to your data center with a new product from HP, easier Web 2.0 APIs from Google, details on Windows 7 and Ruby on .NET, and a warning on Apple Safari on Windows. Lack of data breach disclosure "The Worst Tech Move of the Week", getting Vista's search to work right in the "Weekly Tech Tip", and we take "A Closer Look" at smartphone security in your network. Links to stories discussed during the show:
HP Building Out Web 2.0 Infrastructures (eWeek)
Google Delivers New AJAX APIs (eWeek)
Google's Gears Gains Ground (eWeek)
Google Shows Off Android (eWeek)
Microsoft linking Silverlight, Ruby on Rails (InfoWorld)
Windows 7 to have touch-screen interface (InfoWorld)
Court finds Dell guilty of fraud (InfoWorld)
Dell shares jump after solid 1Q results (Business Week)
Microsoft Warns Of Security Vulnerability Arising From Apple's Safari (Information Week)
Microsoft Security Advisory (953818) (Microsoft.com) Check out the review of our podcast at That Podcast Show: http://www.imaginatepro.com/thatpodcastshow/?p=78 As always, show your appreciation for CS Techcast by dropping us an e-mail, voicemail, or blog post. You can also write a review in your favorite podcast directory and in iTunes. This will help get the word out and help us continue to bring you a great podcast every week. Thanks to everyone for listening. Link to the episode: http://www.cstechcast.com/home.aspx?Episode=27 - Eric Beehler (consortioservices.com/blog)
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The latest CS Techcast podcast is here with news, views, and interviews for IT professionals at cstechcast.com. This week we discuss Microsoft Expression Web and the approach of these tools in a Web 2.0 world with Jim Cheshire, author of Using Microsoft Expression Web 2. Find Jim at www.jimcobooks.com. The news brings new web mashup design and an updated Live Maps from Microsoft's Live platform, Forrester is going against conventional wisdom with Vista in business, Citrix turns up the heat on the competition with smooth delivery of applications via virtualization on their XenDesktop beta, and an increasing zero day worry as a Microsoft vulnerability exploit is in the wild two days after the patch release. Blog aggregating gets aggravating for "The Worst Tech Move of the Week", virtual Josh gives us advice on Windows and how to avoid getting tripped up by service principle names in "The Weekly Tech Tip", and we take "A Closer Look" at the Microsoft MVP Summit. Links to stories discussed during the show: Ozzie's Mesh Mashup (eWeek Microsoft Watch)
Hands on: new Microsoft Live Maps improvements impressive (Ars Technica)
Don't Skip Vista, Forrester Study Says (PC World)
Citrix`s Smooth New XenDesktop (eWeek)
MS08-021: A Must-Patch Vulnerability (eWeek)
For Sale: 3 Blogs, Barely Used; Seller Highly Motivated (TechNewsWorld) CS Techcast is proud to bring you a quality podcast every week, without fail. If you enjoy it, share it with your friends and point them to cstechcast.com. As always, thanks for listening. Link to the episode: http://www.cstechcast.com/home.aspx?Episode=21 - Eric Beehler (consortioservices.com/blog)
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We interviewed John C. Dvorak this Thursday for CS Techcast episode 20, to be release Monday, about several interesting IT trends. One topic we touch on is the seemingly soft, targeted debut of Windows Server 2008. There was almost no press about it in the general media or even the tech press except within the Microsoft-specific tech community and some enterprise IT trade papers like eWeek. My speculation is that Vista and the negative response received from its big release is causing Microsoft to be cautious about its launch so they don't attract bad press as the "Vista for servers", which is true in the same ways XP and Server 2003 share similar kernel code.
Today, the day after this discussion for the upcoming CS Techcast releasing Monday, a new Gartner report says that Windows is collapsing. They report the continuing trend towards web apps and the increasing irrelevance of Windows as reasons why Microsoft must go through with the Yahoo merger. With only a 6.3% adoption rate for Vista in business, they tell us that companies cannot make the justification for a migration to Vista when there is no obvious benefit to the new OS. They also cite the need for a new version of the client OS to mend fences, but the very large code base of Vista and the massive effort it will take to turn it into a smaller, leaner version of itself to address the many criticisms hurled at it in the past year will take a while. In the end, though, web apps may make the version of Windows you are running largely a moot point in the very near future.
Make sure you tune into the latest release of CS Techcast this Monday for our discussion of Windows Vista and Server 2008, pre-Gartner report, and more insight with John C. Dvorak. Find the CS Techcast podcast at cstechcast.com.
- Eric Beehler (consortioservices.com/blog)
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CStechcast.com brings you another information filled podcast for IT pros. This week we interview Ben Day, Microsoft MVP for C#, conference speaker, and leader of the Beantown.NET User Group to get into the benefits and how to avoid the controversy of LINQ. Find him online at Benday.com. In the news we see the nail in Windows XP sales coffin, we explore Windows 7 rumors, you get exposed to a plethora of security patches, go head first into IRS phishing, see the resurgence of backscatter spam, more DDoS traffic, get some much needed help from a honeypot client, look at VMWare's latest release to control VM's, and confirm what we already knew about the direction of IT this year. Creative shuts down helpful user written Vista drivers for "The Worst Tech Move of the Week", we show you why SPNs are important for domain accounts in IIS and SQL in the "Weekly Tech Tip", and we take "A Closer Look" at IT conferences. Quest Software is giving away a copy of Change Director for SQL Server. Enter using the "Contest" link at CStechcast.com.
Links to stories discussed during the show:
Microsoft Windows XP Dies June 30, as Planned (eWeek)
Windows 7, Successor To Vista, May Ship Next Year (Information Week)
Critical IE, Office, Windows Patches on Deck (eWeek)
Another Phishing Scam Spoofs IRS (ENT News)
Backscatter Spam Is Back (eWeek)
Internet tubes dripping with "raw sewage" of DDoS attacks (Ars Technica)
VMware Adds Control To Burgeoning Virtual Infrastructure (Information Week)
Report: IT Heads Back to Basics (eWeek)
Creative Labs Stops Guy From Making Its Technology Work Better (Techdirt)
Setspn Overview (Microsoft TechNet)
The Big Giveaway is Closing Soon!
Don't miss our big giveaway of Quest Software's Change Director for SQL Server. Change Director for SQL Server provides a powerful automated solution for managing change to SQL Server databases. Please enter using the "Contest" button on the CStechcast.com homepage.
Leave comments at the blog, on the feedback form, or at our voicemail. Thanks for listening this week and every week.
Link to the episode: http://www.cstechcast.com/home.aspx?Episode=19
- Eric Beehler (consortioservices.com/blog)
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