Microsoft has just released its Vista operating system. There are plenty of other analysts who will tell you that Vista requires new hardware and more memory to run efficiently, and that you may have problems using current XP hardware or software. However, in this article I will discuss whether we really need Vista and the possible hidden features that can make Vista useful to abusive governments and corporations.
The first question I want to ask is do we really need Vista? To answer this, let me go back seven years. Windows 2000 Professional was the first operating system from Microsoft to add enhanced networking technology to a desktop intended for the typical user. Microsoft’s other operating system from the year 2000 called Millennium was never very successful. In late 2001, Microsoft decided to use the base 2000 Professional and created a new system called Windows XP. In fact, they left a lot of the networking stuff that came with 2000 Professional in XP Home Edition. To get the stuff they left off and a few other things, you had to buy XP Professional.
Here’s the interesting thing. Most programs that run on XP also run on Windows 2000. Internet Explorer 7 (which reportedly still crashes a lot) can only run on XP, but Internet Explorer 6 and Firefox run just fine on Windows 2000. Most office and Internet software has no problem running. in Windows 2000. You need to remember what the purpose of an operating system really is. Its primary purpose is to run user-based software, and Windows 2000 accomplishes this purpose with most current Windows software.
What did Windows XP do to make it better than Windows 2000? They claim better security with their Service Pack 2, but from the virus and spyware attacks I’ve seen, it doesn’t seem to have helped. Things like memory management, more efficient use of modern processors, and better networking may be some of XP’s hidden improvements, but service packs could add this kind of functionality to Windows 2000.
A lot more stuff was added to XP that can be described as bloated. They’ve added the famous persistent dialogs that warn you when you don’t have an antivirus or your automatic updates are turned off. By default, Microsoft doesn’t think you’re smart enough to look at files in Windows folders without destroying them, so it hides them, and to see them you need to click “Show the contents of this folder.” File extensions are even hidden by default. Control Panel was simplified because Microsoft thought your brain was too weak to understand the complexity of seeing it in “Classic View”. Many of the dialogs that Microsoft added are actually insults to your intelligence. Do you really need the operating system to tell you “you have unused icons on your desktop?”
To make more money with its XP operating system, Microsoft introduced activation. Activation means you can only use the system on one computer. The software will not work on computers other than the one for which it is activated. Hackers soon got past the activation code. That’s why Microsoft introduced the “Genuine Windows Advantage,” in which your computer must prove that it’s running genuine Windows before you can download any additional free software from Microsoft, including the Internet Explorer 7 browser or new media players.
This just goes to show that Microsoft has been subtly restricting its operating system over time so that Microsoft, and not the user, gets all the benefits.
Here are some review questions. Can Windows 2000 browse the Internet and play YouTube movies? Yes. Can Windows 2000 run typical business software like Word, Excel, Access, Photoshop, or Open Office? Yes. Can Windows 2000 run Power DVD software to play typical DVDs? Yes. Can Windows 2000 provide network and file level access to network users? Yes. So why did we need XP in the first place? All we got was more annoying dialogs, activation, and Windows Genuine Advantage. Of course, you should realize that as CPUs advance, Microsoft won’t support their advanced features in Windows 2000, but they could if they wanted to.
So for the last five years, what most users have done on Windows XP, they could have done on Windows 2000. Microsoft forced most people to upgrade because they have a monopoly that requires new PC manufacturers have their latest operating system pre-installed. on all new PCs. Many people don’t realize that Windows XP Home was actually an earlier version of Windows 2000 and that they had to purchase Windows XP Professional to get roughly the same networking functionality that they originally had with Windows 2000.
Now it’s time for Vista. Vista has four versions: Vista Home, Vista Home Premium, Vista Business, and Vista Ultimate. If you are now running XP Professional and “upgrade” to Vista Home, you are actually being downgraded several levels. You probably need Vista Ultimate to bring back the same features that your XP Professional had. It costs $259 to upgrade to Vista Ultimate and $399 to install on a new PC.
You can bet that Vista will have a lot more annoying dialog boxes and push you to buy more Microsoft software like Office 2007 that you probably don’t need.
Did you know that the NSA (National Security Agency) helped design the security of Windows Vista? This is the same organization that helped the Bush Administration spy on American citizens. Asking the NSA to help design Vista’s security is akin to asking the fox to help design the chicken coop. Coupled with Vista’s activation code and “backdoor” software added by the NSA, your Vista could be telling the corporate aliens running the government exactly what you’re thinking. Imagine, you are a government employee and you navigate to a site that criticizes the current administration. The next day you hear a knock on your door. It’s the FBI; They’ve come to take you in for questioning. They were monitoring your online habits thanks to Vista.
Nobody knows what code is hidden in Microsoft software, that’s the problem. Actually, we don’t know if the NSA placed any hidden code there. With Vista, the government can be spying on the population for years to come. Even if that doesn’t happen, you can bet Vista software is designed to continue to give Microsoft and its partners, not the consumer, an ever-increasing advantage.
Consumers have already lost the battle for open operating systems. There is virtually no PC vendor in the United States that sells a PC that doesn’t have a Microsoft operating system pre-installed. The exception is an Apple PC; then the Mac operating system, another proprietary system, is pre-installed. Think about it, people aren’t given the option to install an open operating system like Linux. To be fair, there shouldn’t be any operating system installed on a new PC. You must buy a “systemless” PC, then choose the operating system you want and have it installed by the store before you take the PC home.
As long as PCs are pre-installed with XP or Vista, very few people will switch to Linux. Most people are not technically savvy enough to attempt the installation themselves. And even after installing Linux, people who have worked with Windows all their lives take some getting used to.
The 21st century is the century where greedy governments and corporations try to squeeze every penny out of the working class to enrich their leadership. Everyone is looking for new ways to control us. Information technology is creating new techniques for governments to track populations through closed operating systems like Vista. We can only avoid surveillance by adopting open source software like Linux. By being able to examine the Linux code, experts around the world can say with much more certainty that there are no surprises placed there by enterprising governments or corporations.
For links to sites with many more reasons to avoid Vista, visit BadVista.org.