Computer Story...

We’ve been primed for the birth of prince Vista all year long, with a Greek chorus of Microsoft watchers reporting on every phase of the extended pregnancy. The prince was conceived five years ago, not long after Windows XP was born. This year, the people were shown ultrasound scans of the baby prince in the womb that revealed his size and features. They say the new prince is going to be big and strong like his Mother.

When he is finally born, will the masses line the streets as they did for the arrival of Sony’s Playstation 3? Or will they stay at home and grumble about the inevitable hike in taxes that has followed every royal birth? The experts have refined the computer models they fashioned to predict the prince’s behaviour. They say he’s the most handsome prince yet and will tower over his brothers. His name, announced a year ago, is an intriguing choice: the Oxford dictionary describes Vista as ‘a mental view of a long succession of remembered or anticipated events.’ We’ve had plenty of anticipation and, no doubt, many of us remember the pain of adjusting to the new court protocols that were issued with Windows XP.

The emperor’s clothes

Vista’ Windows Glass is the hook for those who’re bored with watching grass grow on their screens. The geeks will get new tweaks that’ll keep them off the streets, and the experts will write new tomes that make the rest of us feel like dummies once again. What will be left when the party’s over and the crowds have gone home? According to Mac OS-X users, little more than features they’ve enjoyed for years, and they include the graphics.

Security of the realm

Microsoft says people will buy Vista for its better security. Norton and McAfee say they feel threatened by Vista’s security. They must’ve heard Microsoft’s Jim Allchin tell reporters that Vista’s new lockdown features were so strong that antivirus software was no longer needed. Is its security that good?

Vista comes with a two-way firewall (at last), Windows Defender (to catch spyware) and Internet Explorer 7 (to plug the holes that made IE 6 such an easy target for hackers). But Microsoft is playing catch-up here, and it’s pretty late in the game for most of us, since we made arrangements long ago with people who have a track record in security. Microsoft doesn’t. The Vista firewall won’t worry Zone Alarm, and Windows Defender won’t cause the people who make SpySweeper sleepless nights - it has yet to win a certification from an independent testing lab. And IE 7 is not enough of an advance to make a dent in the popularity of browsers like Firefox and Opera.

Vista has a feature called User Account Control, which is designed to protect us from ourselves. We’re advised to be suspicious of rulers who make these claims – they usually want to restrict our freedoms. UAC restricts our freedom to install applications and do regrettable things to system files. Most users will probably turn it off but UAC is another case of playing catch-up with security features that OS-X and Linux have offered for years.

In short, there are better firewalls, spyware catchers and browsers out there than those offered by Microsoft, and security experts scoff at the claims that Vista doesn’t need antivirus software. For the insurgents of the underground, Windows Vista is a new target and they won’t take long to find the cracks in its walls.

Core Promises

A big feature of Vista was to be the Windows File System (WinFS), said to simplify information storage and retrieval. Now we’re told that the royal surgeons will add this feature in a year or two. Meanwhile, there is an option of working with virtual folders, a step in the right direction but no big deal for Mac users.

On the bright side, Windows Vista at last includes decent back-up software: CompletePC Backup. In fact, it goes beyond back-up as it’s able to copy a hot image of your entire system, like Norton Ghost and Acronis True Image. The catch is that you only get the program with premium editions of Vista. There are five editions, from Windows Vista Home Basic to Windows Vista Ultimate. Prices range from $199 to $399 (US). Vista Ultimate comes with a set of special options, like the spoilers and mag wheels you get with an AMG Mercedes. No one seems quite sure as yet what these options are.

More security, higher taxes

I’ve heard people in village taverns complain that, with the birth of Vista, the price of Windows has gone up while the price of everything else that goes into a PC has gone down. And they fear that Vista, like all the princes before him, will be more demanding of resources. It’s true: unless they upgrade the graphics card in their monitors, they won’t be able to see the prince in his full glory.

The renegades in the Linux camp find the price debate amusing and remind us that their operating systems are free, offer equal functionality and impose fewer taxes on resources. Mac users say it’s about applications and, since Apple released bootcamp, they can run software from both Mac and Windows camps. In regard to Vista, Steve Jobs points out that Apple has released five versions of Mac OS X in the five years it took Microsoft to develop just one.

Peace and Stability

It is a about applications. It’s about work, not operating systems. And for work, what we want most of all are stable, reliable systems. Making Windows XP meet that need took Microsoft three years and Service Pack 2 (2004). In a curious way, the operating systems business resembles the prescription drug business. The common-sense rule there is that you don’t take a new drug until it’s been in circulation for five years - that’s how long it takes for the side effects to show up.

Microsoft’s corporate customers know this and are in no hurry to upgrade to Vista. They’ll wait until Service Pack 1 comes out in a year or two, at the very least. Most small business and home users will stick with Windows XP as well. Why would they trade a mature, stable operating system for an unproven one that will require hardware upgrades, introduce compatibility problems and impose a long learning curve? In any case, more of their work is done on the Web these days, via browsers and other online software, and Vista won't offer any advantages over XP here.

And what if you’ve just bought a new PC with a Core Duo 2 processor – will Vista run better on Intel’s latest hotrod? Sadly, Vista doesn’t take any more advantage of multi-processing technology than XP. That’s another operation scheduled for a future date.

The economics of Windows

Is Microsoft worried about people refusing to pay the price it asks for Vista? Or about Windows XP users who hold off upgrading to Vista for a year or three? Or those who buy Macs or cross over to the Linux camp, now that it offers mature desktop packages like Ubuntu?

Not likely. Microsoft hasn’t lost any of its market share (in operating systems) despite dragging the chain for so long with Vista, and PC sales have grown, not fallen. You see, over 80% of Windows revenue comes from new PC sales which include the operating system. Some time early next year, new PCs from Dell et al will ship with Vista instead of XP and the show will go on. Next time you buy a new PC, chances are you’ll get Vista pre-installed on it, like it or not.

The irony is that Microsoft didn’t need Vista except to show good faith, to show that it cares about security and about offering its customers competitive wares. Despite years of bad PR, Microsoft’s share of the desktop OS market has remained steady at well over 90%. Microsoft owns it lock, stock and barrel. If Vista took another year or more to see the light, the court’s accountants wouldn’t see a dent in the total tax intake of US$50 billion.

The realm of Windows is a benign dictatorship and King William likes to be seen as generous rather than mean. And he knows that the people love festive occasions, most of all royal births and weddings with their pomp and ceremony. That’s why Vista was conceived and that’s how Vista should be perceived.