It Gets worse with Vista

Microsoft Vista has several "enhancements" that make it a real horror. Sure, it is pretty, but you need to spend $2000.00 for new hardware to use the most expansive of the pretty new features. The estimates are approximately 71% of computers in use today do not meet the requirements to run Vista. The "horror" part comes in the form of errors in applying the new security policies, the DRM and the licensing.

First, the main change to security involves mimicking Linux in making permanent, separate, administrator and user accounts. This works very well in Linux. Unfortunately for Microsoft, the implementation makes doing anything on your Vista based computer about impossible. You get endless pop ups and roadblocks when you try to do the simplest things. The pre-release testing showed that the testers soon turned off the security features because they were too annoying. It is now a real pain to install anything like a hosts file or other third party security features that help make up for the lack of it in Windows. So much for security. If you are like millions of others, you absolutely can not stand Internet Explorer. Do you want to install Firefox in Vista? Get ready for a real headache. MS wants you to keep using it's own products, not someone else's.

Next, we have the DRM. Digital Rights Management is what Microsoft and it's partners, RIAA (Recording Industry Association of America) and MPAA (Motion Picture Association of America) use to control what you see and hear on your computer. Believe it or not, the RIAA and the MPAA have a tool built into Vista that allows them to revoke your ability to use your computer. Like the other spyware on your computer, this spyware reports back to them what you are doing in real time then allows them to stop your computer if they think that you don't actually own what you are listening to or viewing. Congratulations, you now have a $2000.00 boat anchor, at least until you install Linux on it that is.

Getting treated like a criminal just got easier with Vista. The WGA (Windows Genuine Advantage) has been taken to the next level. Not only is the thing continually checking to see if it is really a licensed copy, it also checks every installed program on your computer to see if it thinks those are licensed too. You guessed it, it reports back to Microsoft on it's findings. If it doesn't like what it finds, your computer is disabled. When you "buy" software, you really don't buy it, you license it. The creator still owns it, you just get to use it in consideration of the money you paid out. In past versions of Windows, you can reinstall your operating system as many times as you want. When the viruses keep on messing things up, you can keep on making things new again with fresh installs. This changes with Vista. Now, you get two installs including the original one, before you need to buy it all over again, as the license expires after the second install. Linux is looking better and better all the time.

Your Options

Windows is an operating system. That means that it makes your computer talk to applications. By "your computer" we mean the box, the keyboard, mouse, display and printer by your desk, AKA the hardware. The software is the operating system and the applications or application software or the programs. Windows is a program. So is Word, Real Player, iTunes, Firefox or anything else you "run". Let's say you want to type a letter. You open a word processor like Word -or- better yet, Open Office, which talks to the operating system which talks to the hardware. The hardware provides you a way to type and displays it, saves it, sends it somewhere or prints it.

Now what if I told you that you really don't need Windows to operate your computer? You can write documents, access the internet, play music and games or in general do anything on your computer you want without Windows! Microsoft is an economic machine that exists because they advertise that you need them and you believe it. Elsewhere on this web site you have already seen that you don't need to spend money to have security software on your computer. How would you like to find out how to ditch the expense of Windows too?