14 DAY TRIAL // Vista arrived, and now the clock is ticking. Unfortunately for Microsoft, things don't look as bright as expected. Although it's almost certain that Vista won't be a commercial failure in the long run, this is not the worst thing that can happen to Microsoft at this time, but please let me explain something here...
Just like Intel's sales were driven by a huge inertial force that kept them afloat while AMD was holding the performance and reliability banners high above, the same happens with Microsoft's operating systems. If tomorrow a new operating system - that works on any PC manufactured after 1998, being also faster, more reliable and easier to use than anything else available in the world at this time - becomes available for a price of 50$, one-time sale and no additional charges, Microsoft won't go down to 10% of the market in one month, not even in one year.
As I was saying in an earlier article, to gain a decisive victory in the operating systems war, you need more than just good weapons and strategy, since the enemy has resources that seem inexhaustible, but when the enemy seems to be helping you, things start to look much better...
I am sure that Microsoft doesn't intend to bury itself in a coffin marked Windows Vista, especially since the Linux threat doesn't seem much of a problem now, once they started to enter this market too, considering the agreement with Novell; but if we talk about Apple, then it's a completely different situation.
For instance, the simple fact that a part of the press claims that Vista is a blatant copy of Mac OS X brought a lot of exposure to Apple and its products, without having to pay a single cent. On the other hand, from Home and Professional Editions that we had with Windows XP, now there are 10 versions available for Vista. This gives a lot of meat to chew on to various websites, but it doesn't stop here, since some people may not be ready to spend two days reading about all these versions and checking others' opinions on the Internet in order to decide what's good for them. With Mac OS X, it's simple - "get the big cat", no matter if its name is Tiger or Leopard.
At last, if you lost your original Windows XP CD, then you won't be able to simply upgrade to Vista, and you'll have to pay for a full license, which doesn't sound good at all, and if you think about the fact that I missed reminding you about the hardware requirements of Microsoft's "revolutionary" operating system, then you should know that I don't even want to think about this subject, and the reason should be obvious...
At this time, there's only one tiny problem concerning those that are tired of their old operating system: while the Vista, no matter how good or bad may be, is available on the market, its soon-to-be direct competitor, Mac OS X Leopard, is still on its way, but when it comes, a lot of users may simply forget about Vista and bow to their new god, the big, black cat!