The Daily Whim
Fair and Unbalanced
Mon
Apr
16
2007
Not Your Daddy's Dell, No Vista In View
At the very end of a long rant I’ll link below, Walter Mossberg says “The first day of owning an expensive new gadget should be a pleasure, not a hassle.” Indeed, Reid said with a satisfied smile. While I’ve had my new baby (see How Reid Buys a New PC) for over a week now, first I was out of town several days, and then otherwise too busy using it productively to blog. Yes, I said that. Blogging does not equal productive.
That’s also why I haven’t yet written my promised update to the three year old “My Essential Software,” since loading a new computer is a textbook run through of what’s essential, i.e., what gets loaded first. As opposed to what still isn’t loaded (“Printer drivers? Who needs’ em, we live in a paperless society now! With flying cars!”).
But my article about how to buy a Dell without Vista is already garnering hits from people searching that for just that phrase. That and my experience buying this PC sort of ties in to a recent article about what often comes loaded on them, as well as the reported slowness of Vista boot times. And my comparison has been fairly strikingly different.
Walter Mossberg calls them “craplets.” The icons for “Free AOL Hours” and umpteen trial versions of software. And he’s rightfully peeved about it:
The problem is a lack of respect for the consumer. The manufacturers don’t act as if the computer belongs to you. They act as if it is a billboard for restricted trial versions of software and ads for Web sites and services that they can sell to third-party companies who want you to buy these products.
I’m distinguishing these programs, sometimes called “craplets,” from the full-featured, built-in Sony software meant to enhance the computer, or from entire, useful programs Microsoft builds into Windows, such as music and photo organizers.
On my new Sony, there were two dozen trial programs and free offers. The desktop alone contained four icons representing come-ons for various America Online services, and two for Microsoft. The start menu and program menu had more items that I neither chose nor wanted. Napster, a music service I don’t use, was lodged at the lower right of the screen.
Walter S. Mossberg: Using Even New PCs Is Ruined by a Tangle Of Trial Programs, Ads
And it’s not just Sony, it’s an unfortunately common practice with most major manufacturers, including Dell. In fact there’s even a piece of freeware called the PC DeCrapifier that targets just this issue.
And it is one I was prepared to deal with, on first boot of my new PC. But it must be one of those things they foist on the Home/Home Office buyer, as my “Small Business” workstation had only two things I immediately uninstalled: Google Desktop Search (too intrusive, like a high maintenance girl friend), and Google Toolbar for Internet Explorer.
Otherwise, it was a nicely stripped install of XP Pro that took up a mere 4.7GB of Drive C (which now totals 16.7GB with all my apps added). Back to Walter’s Vista Experience:
I also was shocked at how long this machine took to restart and to do a cold start after being completely shut down. Restarting took over three minutes, and a cold start took more than two minutes [...] Sony also said the boot-up times I recorded are ‘not at all uncommon with Vista-loaded PCs’ and are faster than on some competing computer brands.
Geez, Louise, three minutes to reboot is “not at all uncommon with Vista-loaded PCs”? I had to see what times I got for comparison. Granted, I’m booting off a 10,000 RPM hard drive, not a laptop drive, and I’m booting into XP Pro, not any flavor of Vista. But, um, both of those things were choices, purchased by design.
Anyway. Let’s start with a cold boot. From the time I push the power button to the time I see the user login screen is 43 seconds. To get a desktop with a cursor that has no hourglass beside it is a total of 55 seconds. From power button to first productive click, less than a minute.
A restart that has to also include the Windows shutdown process isn’t much worse. When I click the “Restart” button, I’ve got a dead black screen in 11 seconds, a user login screen in 1 minute and 2 seconds, and a usable desktop in 1:12. Available RAM? 1,743MB out of 2GB (I’m guessing Vista is a bit more RAM hungry, too).
In summary, from everything I’ve heard and read, I cannot figure out one substantive functional gain I would get from a new operating system that Microsoft spent six years creating. And that’s pretty stunning, when you think about it. No wonder Bill Gates is getting out.
As far as I can tell, buying into Vista gains you some new eye candy in the form of the “Aero” interface. To a guy who works mostly in a plain text environment or on photos from the real world, that doesn’t exactly make me giggle with excitement. You also buy into a hardware and software web of Digital Rights Management. But since I’ve never ever had any problems with managing my digital rights (have you?), I have to assume this “feature” is for the benefit of others. And you gain the protection of the now infamous User Account Control (“Cancel or Allow?”), at the cost of decreased productivity as you click pop-ups to authorize the simple action you just requested.
In addition, you apparently gain time to smell the roses or savor the coffee while you wait a few minutes for your Vista Experience to reboot. This is exactly the user experience a company trying to commit suicide would force upon both its vendors and customers. And that’s exactly what they intend to do, even at those remaining outlets where you can still get a PC with XP:
However, the clock is ticking, and Dell and other PC makers will be obliged to stop selling machines running XP by the end of the year, despite ongoing compatibility and performance issues with Windows Vista.
Dell has decided to continue offering XP on business systems through the summer through a feature called “Customize with Windows XP,” the company said in a recent blog post.
PC World: Dell promises to still sell Win XP systems, despite Microsoft pressure to move on to Vista
However, Dell is not selling any of their Home/Home Office machines with XP, nor do they intend to. Vista has been on the market two months and already the alternative options are getting scarce. And by year’s end, they’ll allegedly all be gone.
That’s yet another reason I decided it was time to pony up and get a machine with specs that will last (Precision 390 with 1.83 GHz Core Duo 2, 2 GB RAM with slots open for 2 more, DVD-RW + DVD, 160 GB 10,000RPM Drive C, 320 GB Drive D, 320 GB Drive E, and 24” widescreen LCD with Soundbar), running the operating system of my choice, before Microsoft stupidly decides they don’t want to take anyone’s money for XP ever again.
And I’m lovin’ it. Barring disaster, the earliest I’ll be looking to replace this new system is likely in the spring of 2010. I’m betting something will have replaced Vista by then. One way or another.
Because if Vista is the future of Microsoft, Microsoft is now dead to me. And my wallet.
Published 11:30AM, Mon, Apr 16 2007
Category: Computers Software
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Peanut Gallery
I actually thought of the very “discussion” to which you’re referring while I wrote this. And that’s enough said about that.
As for “by the time your Cray drops dead,” if we’re talking 2010, who knows which way the OS winds will be blowing by then? Is Microsoft the kind of company that can admit they released a “New Coke” and, like that large Atlanta based company did, be willing to eat the crow their customers serve up and quickly “revise” their product lineup accordingly?
I kinda doubt it. As I said, I truly think this dilemma was the reason Bill Gates finally said “I’m going to retire and go try to fix the Whole Darn World” (I mean, if you’re going to take on a gargantuan and likely impossible challenge, why not take on one that may save a few lives?). I’d like to think Microsoft is collectively smart enough to offer up a Service Pack or three for Vista that does the best they can to undo/limit the damage done, but otherwise devotes a Manhattan Project like effort into creating Vista’s successor, and a worthy one that will make up for this mess.
Like I said, I kinda doubt it. As you mentioned, who knows what packages of Linux they’ll have out there in three years. Certainly even more user-friendly, just going by the latest trends.
Personally, when/if I someday convert over some expensive Adobe/Macromedia licenses from PC to Mac, I would have no problem with making my next “PC” a dual booting Mac Pro (the MacBook coming later this year will be the first step in that direction). I looked at it this time, but largely due to the significant difference in processor(s), it was going to be a good grand more than I spent on the Dell. In two or three years, though, I’m guessing I’ll be pricing them anew for my next system.
But that’s hard to imagine at this moment. I luvs mah new ‘chine.
Bill Gates had his pick of new projects: cure AIDS, end illiteracy, or fix Windows.
Sounds like he picked the two easy ones.
Update: “Dell is bringing XP back. Amid significant customer demand, the computer maker said on Thursday that it has returned to offering the older Windows version as an option on some of its consumer PCs [...] Starting immediately, Dell said, it is adding XP Home and Professional as options on four Inspiron laptop models and two Dimension desktops.”
“I’m Bringin’ XP Baaack”
Thanks to Justin Timberlake, that campaign comes with a built-in jingle.
reidstott: Say what you want about Obama's politics, but no one has spoken about America with such sincere inspiration since, well, Ronald Reagan.
From what I read, it’s the OEM versions of XP that won’t be available after January. So, assuming I have some problem installing my retail version of XP Pro on a new computer, I could buy another retail copy. I haven’t tried moving XP to a new computer yet, but supposedly it’s just the OEM versions that die with the old computer. We’ll see. On the other hand, I suspect businesses are being dragged kicking and screaming toward Vista, so there may be help. If Office 2007 is anything like what Vista is supposed to be like, it’s possibly the most annoying and bloated group of apps I’ve ever tried to use.
Maybe by the time your Cray drops dead you could get another Vista-free Dell, like you said. Or, for me, maybe by then I’ll be able to get Dreamweaver, Photoshop, Peachtree Accounting and MS Access to run on linux. Or, maybe we’ll all be heading toward Macland. I’d love to see a certain “johhny Cakes” (newsgroup insider joke) extolling the virtues of Macs in 2010. I’ll have all his old posts saved so I can rub his nose in it.