Everyone's got an end of year list, so... WGA Nightmares After nearly losing my primary development workstation to this Orwellian scam I began to appreciate why so many power users have switched to Linux. Hopefully, Microsoft will honor its commitment to remove the Vista "kill switch" with SP1. Linux ACPI Woes I was *this* close to switching to Ubuntu. Then I realized that the power management s Everyone’s got an end of year list, so… WGA Nightmares After nearly losing my primary development workstation to this Orwellian scam I began to appreciate why so many power users have switched to Linux. Hopefully, Microsoft will honor its commitment to remove the Vista “kill switch” with SP1. Linux ACPI Woes I was *this* close to switching to Ubuntu. Then I realized that the power management scheme had more in common with NT 4.0 (i.e. effectively non-functional) than NT 6.0 (i.e. a very functional Vista). Perhaps they’ll get it right with “Hardy.” Broken Vista Backup Inexcusable. If something’s stored in a user’s personal *data* folder structure (i.e. Document, Picture, Music, etc.) it should be backed-up. Period. That I have to ZIP-up my work each day (including all my my .aspx files) to ensure that Vista’s Backup actually picks-up the data is ridiculous. What could’ve been, what might’ve been… VMware Arrogance Note to EMC: Rein these guys in a bit, will ya? All that talk about VDI and world domination is getting a bit stale. The real threat to Microsoft’s hegemony will come from the browser, not a virtual machine. Longhorn Nostalgia Let’s see: Take some aging bits from an incomplete (and now defunct) Windows beta release, mix-in some clever photo-chopping and a few install script tweaks, and voila! You have a hunk of steaming, semi-functional crap that is *still* subject to international copyright laws. Of all the stupid schemes… User Account Control Everyone hates UAC for the wrong reasons. Yes, its annoying. And yes, you’re worried that users will just blindly click-through the warning dialogs. However, the real issue is the false sense of security: Even if you pay attention to every elevation prompt you’re still not secure. It took less than six months for some clever hackers to discover a potential loophole in UAC’s “non-elevated” administrator scheme. Take a cue from the Linux crowd: Dump Vista’s default security scheme and run as a true “Standard User” whenever and wherever possible. Forking Linux! Talk about your hyper-sensitive types! I had the audacity to comment on the internal politics of the Linux community! Shame on me! On the plus side, the resulting firestorm permitted me to achieve that rarest of journalistic trifectas: The 3-column “Dvorakian” bait and switch. Thanks, guys! 64-bits Gets the Shaft! First it’s the lousy driver support. Then it’s being shut-out of various “Live” beta programs. However, the final straw was learning that Microsoft would not be supporting Vista x64 as a SoftGrid client platform. How can Microsoft expect us to take its 64-bit offerings seriously when they keep giving users of Vista x64 (of which there is a growing base) the shaft? Vista SP1 Once the cure-all that would save Vista, Service Pack 1 is turning out to be a major non-event. Performance improvements? Non-existent. Reduced UAC harassment? Nope. In fact, aside from correcting a few well-publicized flaws, SP1 does little to improve the lot of Vista users. It is what it is, so stop waiting for a miracle and either suck-it-up or switch OS. Live Anything Embrace and Extend lives on! Thanks to Office Live, we now have access to a half-baked attempt to marry the Web 2.0 and Microsoft’s productivity suite. Unfortunately for the folks from Redmond, Live Documents does it better. I just love it when a little guy makes a fool out of the 800lb gorilla. Happy New Year!RCK Software DevelopmentSmall and Medium Business