This is not a new revelation... Microsoft is not the nasty, money and power hog that most media people seem to feel they are, and portray them as such for the purposes of sensationalism. For the dollar, they put out a very good product, including the operating system. I am not a Vista fan yet. However, they are making an extreme effort to create a positive and secure working environment that both business and home users can enjoy and feel comfortable with. The press, government and computer novices are SO QUICK to beat them up with the M word.. Monopoly. The vast majority of what they make and put out works well as they release it. However, because the M word is passed around and they are required to "break up the OS", provide code to small little comapnies that then have BILLIONS of dollars in code handed to them on a platter, even though they have no clue what to do with it, and companies like Netscape that are a waste of time, the OS then coughs with the outside additions. Microsoft is to blame?

Every time Microsoft has released a new OS, they have allowed users the LEGAL right to load and use ANY previous verion of the OS they desired to use. One and only one per computer at a time... Vista is no different from that. Microsoft acknowledges that not all people are delighted with a new version and in many cases, problems with compatibility are so great, it is often much better and much more reliable to go back to a stable previous version. In the case of XP, that is NOT as step back...

That change in OS in itself can be a task. There are NOT always drivers for hardware in an previous OS release. That also does not mean that manufacturers will support a previous OS on a particular computer. That is an entirely different issue. Companies like Dell, Gateway and HP are charged a small fee by Microsoft to put the OS on each computer they deliver. They also assume the responsibility to support that hardware and OS combination. In my opinion, they do a very poor job of it but that also is another issue. They can shirk that responsibility in these cases and jump at the chance.

Yes there are issues with Vista... But if you will remember back, those of you that are complaining (if you are old enough to remember), to W98, NT, W2000, ME and XP; they all had initial problems also. All but NT and ME became very stable operating systems and Microsoft offered "ways out" of those OS situations. To this day, W2000 is the grandfather of the current generation of OS products from Microsoft and is STILL ultra stable for business, both as a server product and as a station product.

This is no secret and no one time thing. Microsoft is a responsible and creative organization. They KNOW that there will be mistakes and some hiccups; however, they offer valid alternatives and work arounds and they do make a good effort to clean up "opportunities" (there are no problems) as they occur.

I came up in the days were OS costs were measured in the multiple hundreds of thousands of dollars on mainframs and minicomputers. For what they do and the support behind them, Microsoft products are the best bargain in computing. No, I don't work for Microsoft... Yes, I also have had issues with them in the past but they have ALWAYS resolved them.

Gene Davis
Sr. Engineer
Computer Support Group, Inc.
Palm Springs, CA
www.csgnetwork.com