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Sanity and common sense prevails

It seems that reality finally became apparent to whoever it is at Microsoft who came up with those draconian Vista licensing terms.

The original terms that were going out with Vista originally only allowed users to transfer their copy of Vista to new machines twice. Now, someone has seen the light and now, according to the Windows Vista Blog you can:

You may uninstall the software and install it on another device for your use.  You may not do so to share this license between devices

In other words, if your hard drive dies, or your motherboard turns up it’s toes you can replace them and use the copy of Vista you already own. Under the old rule it was a case of three strikes and you were out till you bought a new Vista licence.

It’s all smoke and mirrors

Back in September I reported on Vista pricing and delivery and at that time Microsoft were trumpeting the news that Vista Home and Vista Professional would hit the shops at the same price as the Windows XP equivalent.

Well now it seems that Microsoft may be engaging in a little bit of smoke and mirrors. Jim Wong, the corporate vice-president of Taiwan based computer maker Acer, is reported as saying that the basic versions of Vista are so basic that no one will want them.

According to Mr Wong the versions of Vista that home users and businesses will buy comes at an extra cost of around 10% over the basic version. So bascially we can expect to pay more.

You’ve paid for the operating system so you can transfer it to a new machine right? Think Again!

CNet is reporting that Windows Vista is coming with new licensing terms that will severly restrict the number of times you can transfer the operating system to a new machine.

With previous Windows systems there was no limitation on the number of times you could transfer the operating system to a new machine but that’s all about to change.

When you buy Vista you’re not actually buying the software, you’re buying a license to use the software and that license will only allow you to move the operating system to a new machine just once.

And don’t think that you will be able to sneak your way around the provisions of the license because Microsoft’s Software Protection Platform will catch you and shut Vista down.

You can read the full story here

After inadvertently releasing the price list for Vista on their Canadian website Microsoft seems to have had second thoughts about the price point for their new operating system.

Microsoft has now officially announced that pricing for Vista will be the same for comparable versions of XP and nominated $US199 (around $A258) as the price for Windows Vista Home Basic.

Microsoft has also announced that Vista will be available for businesses in November and consumers in January.

Microsoft has not yet officially released its pricing for the new operating system but someone in Microsoft’s Canadian office managed to let the cat out of the bag.

For a short period of time the prices for Vista were displayed on Microsoft’s Canadian website and it now seems that the basic Vista operating system is likely to retail for around $US233 (that’s $A305 as I write this).

For the top of the range Vista product you can expect to pay around $US449 ($A$588) and for Vista Business the price will be $US379 ($A497).

You can read the full story here

CNET news is suggesting that Microsoft will release 12 security patches next Tuesday for Windows and Office. It’s suggested that at least one patch will require a reboot and another is a patch of a patch.

Hmmmm

You can read the full story here

As Microsoft releases more beta versions of their new operating system more and more people are getting the chance to look, touch amd play and more people are finding things that they don’t like about it.

Some are even going so far as to suggest that using the latest beta release was something like being a rat caught in a maze.

If you’re interested in what appears to be a fairly lengthy read then follow the link to 20 Things You Won’t Like About Windows Vista

Close on the heels of a senior member of the Vista team admitting that there was still a lot of work to be done before Microsoft’s new operating programme was ready for release CNet is reporting that Microsoft’s CEO as saying that Vista is on “on track to ship in the first part of next year January”.

You can read the full story here

IT industry research firm - Gartner Group - is now forecasting that Vista won’t see the light of a general release day until sometime during the second quarter of 2007.

Should we be surprised - on past performances further delays from Microsoft should be expected.

Vista is certainly something exciting on the horizon and many people are looking forward to it but Microsoft has a little surprise in store for anyone who thinks that they can use a non-legal copy of the new operating system.

You can read all about it here and get a rundown on some of the hardware you will need to run Vista as well.