My experience on this forum.

[Guest]

I have to say, after a few days of letting my problem stew here and watching
it scoll down into unanswered history, I find the vast majority of the posts
are 'me too' posts. (Except for that Mac troll guy)
I have posted the details of my blue screen twice, with no helpful response
either time. I had much more effort put into my problem by the kind people
of VistaBabble.com.
Doesn't anyone from the vista support team read or respond to these posts?
I posted what my stop error was, and so have others. A small hint such as:
'Oh, you might try looking here', or 'yes, we're aware of that and looking
into it' would be vastly helpful. I know it's new and it's all cave
exploring without flashlights, but a stop bluescreen with absolutely no
reference to that error? anywhere? Where is the person on the team that
wrote the trap that causes the error code?
And to the Mac troll: Mac doesn't run the software that I need and boot camp
is a kluge, so be happy with your mac and shup up already, you stand between
a lot of people and the possible help they came here for.
The other thing I notice is that once a post has a reply, it seems that
everyone assumes the reply solved your problem. This is not typically the
case. There are many posts with 1 or 2 replies that don't or can't address
the issues expressed.
While the mostly helpful MVP's move on to the no reply posts that look
interesting.

Sorry about the rant. I just really wanted to install my copy of Vista
Business, guess I'll just have to wait a while. Apparently a long while.

BTW, loved the RC2 on my desktop, that's why I wanted to install on my laptop.

 

[Rock]

This is not official MS support. Everyone here is a volunteer, who want to
help others. Maybe no one has an idea about your issue? I don't now.
Occasionally someone from MS might post here on their own but not as part of
official support.

 

[Mike Hall - MS MVP Windows Shell/User]

Tony

Try the suggestion on this website..

http://vistasupport.mvps.org/windows_vista_repair_options.htm

You may want to try a clean install if that above doesn't work, and then use
your backup files to reinstate your important stuff..

 

[Adam Albright]

I have to say, after a few days of letting my problem stew here and watching
it scoll down into unanswered history, I find the vast majority of the posts
are 'me too' posts. (Except for that Mac troll guy)
I have posted the details of my blue screen twice, with no helpful response
either time. I had much more effort put into my problem by the kind people
of VistaBabble.com.
Doesn't anyone from the vista support team read or respond to these posts?
I posted what my stop error was, and so have others. A small hint such as:
'Oh, you might try looking here', or 'yes, we're aware of that and looking
into it' would be vastly helpful. I know it's new and it's all cave
exploring without flashlights, but a stop bluescreen with absolutely no
reference to that error? anywhere? Where is the person on the team that
wrote the trap that causes the error code?
And to the Mac troll: Mac doesn't run the software that I need and boot camp
is a kluge, so be happy with your mac and shup up already, you stand between
a lot of people and the possible help they came here for.
The other thing I notice is that once a post has a reply, it seems that
everyone assumes the reply solved your problem. This is not typically the
case. There are many posts with 1 or 2 replies that don't or can't address
the issues expressed.
While the mostly helpful MVP's move on to the no reply posts that look
interesting.

Sorry about the rant. I just really wanted to install my copy of Vista
Business, guess I'll just have to wait a while. Apparently a long while.

BTW, loved the RC2 on my desktop, that's why I wanted to install on my laptop.

Did you read my nearly 200 line post on BSOD and how I fixed my issues
so I could install Vista?

You apparently are new to Microsoft "support" groups. Well, I'm not.
Been peeking in them for years, and can only stand it for a few days,
tops. The testosterone level in groups such as these is a high as they
are in political newsgroups and that results in a lot of pissing
contents rather then exchange of useful information.

First off nobody is obligated to help anybody else. Period.

Second, in case you haven't noticed, simply because somebody tacks on
MVP, doesn't make them the most knowledgable poster. In fact its
usually a sure sign to ignore what they say or take it with a liberal
amount of salt since their bread is buttered by Microsoft and you
rarely get a objective response. There are exceptions of course.
However if you hang around long enough you'll discover most MVP's are
BIG on ego and short on worthwhile advice unless you consider cut and
paste artists useful.

Third, there is nothing magical or that complicated about installing a
operating system any more than installing any other software. You just
need to take it slow and be able to understand the gibberish of things
like stops in BSOD's, then respond to them appropriately.

Four, don't get suckered into the ususal BS. For example the biggest
advice you'll hear is its always best to do a clean install. That's
baloney. If your present OS, assumping XP, is stable and not giving
you any problem and you pay attention to driver issues, backup
important stuff BEFORE you begin and proceed knowing something bad
could happen, there's no reason not to install in place, like I just
did on a system loaded with nearly 2 TB of files, and it worked fine
after one minor hickcup.

My ranting was mostly over Microsoft being greedy forcing customers
into version they neither wanted or needed, nothing new there, and the
poor job they did the the Vista Upgrade Advisor that can badly mislead
you into thinking you'll have a smooth install only to discover once
you begin the actual install program which tells you the truth and
what was called not a problem by the "advisor" turns into things they
admit ARE potential problems, which in my case in my first attempt
caused a BSOD stopping the install cold.

 

[Wegie]

I have to say, after a few days of letting my problem stew here and watching
it scoll down into unanswered history, I find the vast majority of the posts
are 'me too' posts.

it's cuz Vista has lots of problem that should have been caught in early
testing.

(Except for that Mac troll guy)

I'm not a troll, i'm a helpful computer professional

I have posted the details of my blue screen twice, with no helpful response
either time. I had much more effort put into my problem by the kind people
of VistaBabble.com.

Okay, I'll go there to help as well, thanks!

Doesn't anyone from the vista support team read or respond to these posts?
I posted what my stop error was, and so have others. A small hint such as:
'Oh, you might try looking here', or 'yes, we're aware of that and looking
into it' would be vastly helpful. I know it's new and it's all cave
exploring without flashlights, but a stop bluescreen with absolutely no
reference to that error? anywhere? Where is the person on the team that
wrote the trap that causes the error code?

This is USENET, it doesn't have a lot of value other than it is free. My
advice of course is "priceless", but you already know that.

And to the Mac troll: Mac doesn't run the software that I need and boot camp
is a kluge, so be happy with your mac and shup up already, you stand between
a lot of people and the possible help they came here for.

Then don't run BootCamp! (technically, it's not a kludge at all, it's
just a highly polished boot manager) There are lots of options that run
your software on a Mac. Macs run more software than Windows does, so
keep that in mind. Sounds like you need Parallels for your situation.

http://www.parallels.com/en/products/desktop/

Or just shipped is CrossOver... it gets rid of Windows! But lets you run
most Windows software, pretty sneaky... and will kill MS over time.

http://www.codeweavers.com/products/cxmac/

So don't give me the song and dance "a mac" won't run my software,
that's completely untrue and you know it.

The other thing I notice is that once a post has a reply, it seems that
everyone assumes the reply solved your problem. This is not typically the
case. There are many posts with 1 or 2 replies that don't or can't address
the issues expressed.
While the mostly helpful MVP's move on to the no reply posts that look
interesting.

Well, there are A LOT of problem, and usenet isn't the place or format
for them. Better luck next time. Or as I have said before, get a Mac and
you won't have these issues. Macs really do "just work"... It's shocking
how well they perform. (i've used every PC, every OS over the last 25
years or so)

Sorry about the rant. I just really wanted to install my copy of Vista
Business, guess I'll just have to wait a while. Apparently a long while.

Or just get a Mac and be done with it...

 

[Adam Albright]

This is not official MS support. Everyone here is a volunteer, who want to
help others. Maybe no one has an idea about your issue? I don't now.
Occasionally someone from MS might post here on their own but not as part of
official support.

Microsoft doesn't have any "official" support...unless you pay for it.
If they offered free support they would go bankrupt in a couple months
responding to the tens of millions of phone call they would get about
their buggy software. <snicker>

 

[Adam Albright]

it's cuz Vista has lots of problem that should have been caught in early
testing.


I'm not a troll, i'm a helpful computer professional


Okay, I'll go there to help as well, thanks!


This is USENET, it doesn't have a lot of value other than it is free. My
advice of course is "priceless", but you already know that.


Then don't run BootCamp! (technically, it's not a kludge at all, it's
just a highly polished boot manager) There are lots of options that run
your software on a Mac. Macs run more software than Windows does, so
keep that in mind. Sounds like you need Parallels for your situation.

http://www.parallels.com/en/products/desktop/

Or just shipped is CrossOver... it gets rid of Windows! But lets you run
most Windows software, pretty sneaky... and will kill MS over time.

http://www.codeweavers.com/products/cxmac/

So don't give me the song and dance "a mac" won't run my software,
that's completely untrue and you know it.


Well, there are A LOT of problem, and usenet isn't the place or format
for them. Better luck next time. Or as I have said before, get a Mac and
you won't have these issues. Macs really do "just work"... It's shocking
how well they perform. (i've used every PC, every OS over the last 25
years or so)


Or just get a Mac and be done with it...

The only good apples are the kind you can chew. Show me a Mac user and
I'll show you a kid that refuses to grow up. The proof is Apple has
been around longer then PC's and in spite of them having a official
policy of dumping them in schools by the carload for next to nothing
or even giving them away in a effort to hook kids, they NEVER have got
much above a 6% market share. That should tell you something, but in
your case I doubt it.

No serious user wants a cube or a computer colored purple or orange.
However that kind of marketing apparently does appeal to kids.
<snicker>

 

[EarthSchol]

The only good apples are the kind you can chew. Show me a Mac user and
I'll show you a kid that refuses to grow up. The proof is Apple has
been around longer then PC's and in spite of them having a official
policy of dumping them in schools by the carload for next to nothing
or even giving them away in a effort to hook kids, they NEVER have got
much above a 6% market share. That should tell you something, but in
your case I doubt it.

That was never Apple's fault. It's always been the computer "outsider".
It's the spear of innovation in the PC industry and while it might not
have the "most", it has the top portion of the PC market.

Last time Apple was No. 1 was in 1995 with around 14%. Now it's in 4th,
and will be in 3rd place once 2007 is complete. The Apple generation is
just getting into positions of power, while the old "Buy IBM or be
Fired" generation is now dying off.

Don't worry, Apple will be No. 1 in a few shorts years. It's already 50%
the size of Microsoft, and much more valuable than DeLL, so ponder that
for a moment.

No serious user wants a cube or a computer colored purple or orange.
However that kind of marketing apparently does appeal to kids.
<snicker>

Yes, but Power Users all use Macs... it's the intelligentsia that use
them, people like Bill Joy that created Java, Tim Berners Lee that
created the world wide web, the Google Kids, all Mac people.

Only the "cogs in the corporate machine" still are stuck using "Windows"
which is just another word for IBM. The poor souls, so uneducated about
modern computing techniques.

Someday you'll move up and see what all the excitement is about! Check
out below for a preview of what is coming the world in June! (you'll see
it in Vista in 2012)

http://www.apple.com/macosx/leopard/index.html

-

 

[MICHAEL]

Don't worry, Apple will be No. 1 in a few shorts years. It's already 50%

the size of Microsoft, and much more valuable than DeLL, so ponder that
for a moment.

Liar.

http://money.cnn.com/magazines/fortune/fortune500/snapshots/114.html
Apple
Revenues= $13.9 billion
Profits= $1.3 billion
Assets= $11.5 billion
Market Value= $55 billion

http://money.cnn.com/magazines/fortune/fortune500/snapshots/406.html
Dell
Revenues= $55.9 billion
Profits= $3.5 billion
Assets= $23.1 billion
Market Value= $68.4 billion

http://money.cnn.com/magazines/fortune/fortune500/snapshots/676.html
IBM
Revenues= $91.1 billion
Profits= $7.9 billion
Assets= $105.7 billion
Market Value= $131.1 billion

http://money.cnn.com/magazines/fortune/fortune500/snapshots/625.html
HP
Revenues= $86.6 billion
Profits= $2.3 billion
Assets= $77 billion
Market Value= $96.6 billion

http://money.cnn.com/magazines/fortune/fortune500/snapshots/879.html
Microsoft
Revenues= $39.7 billion
Profits= $12.2 billion
Assets= $70.8 billion
Market Value= $284.1 billion

http://money.cnn.com/magazines/fortune/fortune500/performers/companies/by_market_value/index.html
Biggest Companies: By Market Value (stock price x outstanding stocks issued)

http://money.cnn.com/magazines/fortune/fortune500/performers/companies/profits/index.html
Most profitable companies

http://money.cnn.com/magazines/fortune/fortune500/full_list/
Biggest Companies: By Revenues

 

[Mike Hall - MS MVP Windows Shell/User]

It has the top portion of it's own market.. the only country where Apple
have any real foothold is the US, and even that is fairly tenuous.. their
biggest selling point was always graphics, but a PC is almost as good, if
not as good these days.. the PC has come a long way over the years.. Macs
have stood still other than appear in some arcane case designs.. pricing
kills Macs, that and the lack of good software..

 

[Adam Albright]

Liar.

http://money.cnn.com/magazines/fortune/fortune500/snapshots/114.html
Apple
Revenues= $13.9 billion
Profits= $1.3 billion
Assets= $11.5 billion
Market Value= $55 billion

http://money.cnn.com/magazines/fortune/fortune500/snapshots/406.html
Dell
Revenues= $55.9 billion
Profits= $3.5 billion
Assets= $23.1 billion
Market Value= $68.4 billion

http://money.cnn.com/magazines/fortune/fortune500/snapshots/676.html
IBM
Revenues= $91.1 billion
Profits= $7.9 billion
Assets= $105.7 billion
Market Value= $131.1 billion

http://money.cnn.com/magazines/fortune/fortune500/snapshots/625.html
HP
Revenues= $86.6 billion
Profits= $2.3 billion
Assets= $77 billion
Market Value= $96.6 billion

http://money.cnn.com/magazines/fortune/fortune500/snapshots/879.html
Microsoft
Revenues= $39.7 billion
Profits= $12.2 billion
Assets= $70.8 billion
Market Value= $284.1 billion

http://money.cnn.com/magazines/fortune/fortune500/performers/companies/by_market_value/index.html
Biggest Companies: By Market Value (stock price x outstanding stocks issued)

http://money.cnn.com/magazines/fortune/fortune500/performers/companies/profits/index.html
Most profitable companies

http://money.cnn.com/magazines/fortune/fortune500/full_list/
Biggest Companies: By Revenues

Power Users use Macs is a Oxymoron if there ever was one. LOL!

 

[EarthSchol]

Liar.

Nope! You were looking at old data.

http://money.cnn.com/magazines/fortune/fortune500/snapshots/114.html
Apple
Revenues= $13.9 billion
Profits= $1.3 billion
Assets= $11.5 billion
Market Value= $55 billion

As of this Post:

Apple Revenue is running at $21.4 Billion for 2007
Market Value: 72.28B

http://finance.yahoo.com/q?s=AAPL

http://money.cnn.com/magazines/fortune/fortune500/snapshots/406.html
Dell
Revenues= $55.9 billion
Profits= $3.5 billion
Assets= $23.1 billion
Market Value= $68.4 billion

As of this Post:

Dell Market Value: 53.27B

http://finance.yahoo.com/q?s=DELL

http://money.cnn.com/magazines/fortune/fortune500/snapshots/879.html
Microsoft
Revenues= $39.7 billion
Profits= $12.2 billion
Assets= $70.8 billion
Market Value= $284.1 billion

They are 50% larger than Apple in revenue, just like I said.

http://finance.yahoo.com/q?s=MSFT

Apple will be the World's 3rd Largest PC Vendor this year. Right behind
HP and DeLL.

Check YOUR facts next time!

 

[EarthSchol]

It has the top portion of it's own market.. the only country where Apple
have any real foothold is the US, and even that is fairly tenuous.. their
biggest selling point was always graphics, but a PC is almost as good, if
not as good these days.. the PC has come a long way over the years.. Macs
have stood still other than appear in some arcane case designs.. pricing
kills Macs, that and the lack of good software..

Incorrect. Apple is the very top of the PC food chain, everything they
do, have done over the last 30 years, filters down to PCs over time. PCs
are just cheap "imitations" of Macs.

Nobody in their right mind would buy a PC for Graphics, Productivity or
Internet use. PC's are mainly Game Machines, and still used by old
school companies that don't want to face the fact they are caught on a
poorly designed system that still has to run Microsoft Software.

Macs are not priced the same as any Top Tier PC Vendor, and since there
is no Microsoft Tax when you guy them, they can be cheaper than PCs in
many circumstances. Apple has the cost advantage now that they have
switched to lower cost, (but) less powerful Intel chips.

Actually, the OSX software library is quite a bit more advanced than
what is available on PCs. Currently there around around 14,000 modern
OSX Applications, while only around 2,400 of similar caliber available
for the PC. So while PC users still are in the dark on many aspects of
modern computing, they are starting to switch over in droves. It's fun
to watch them get excited about computing once again.

 

[Adam Albright]

Nope! You were looking at old data.


As of this Post:

As of this post Apple has less then 7% market share regarding personal
computers. Most of Apple's profits come form the IPod. <giggle>

Steve Jobs is a class A prick. He always was. I NEVER have or will
ever buy Apple anything, mostly because of that egomaniac. He makes
Bill Gates look like a choir boy.

 

[Guest]

This is not official MS support. Everyone here is a volunteer, who want to
help others. Maybe no one has an idea about your issue? I don't now.
Occasionally someone from MS might post here on their own but not as part of
official support.

Thank you for your reply. I came to this page thru
Microsoft.com/commutities not my newsreader. I see the blue MicroSoft
header and the 'Search Microsoft.com for:' at the top of every thread along
with Quick Links, Home and Worldwide. And I had to sign in to post. I guess
I mistakenly assumed this forum was monitored by Microsoft. I suppose that
means there is no official support. Oh Well. I truly do appreciate
everyones time here.

And I did Try John Barnett's MVP site regarding installing Vista SATA
drivers. Unfortunatly (for me) it is impossible to install drivers at the
prompt he describes in the upgrade scenario (FAQ #26, upgrade step 10), as
the 'install drivers' button does not exist in the release version of Vista.
Not that I even know that's what prevents my installation. There is no
explanation of stop 0x018 'reference by pointer' anywhere.

So, if, at some future time, there IS a hotfix for my install failure, I
wonder how I will install it? Need to be running Vista to install, Can't
install. Catch 22 and I'm not alone.

 

[MICHAEL]

I do regret making the mistake of not using real-time numbers,

*and* for calling you a liar, sincerest apologies.

However, you never explicitly defined size based on revenue.

In terms of profit and market value, Microsoft towers above Apple.

Microsoft's earnings and profit will soar next quarter because of Vista.

Apple has two storm clouds: the Job's options' scandal and an antitrust complaint.

http://www.microsoftmonitor.com/archives/2006/10/microsoft_fisca_6.htm

This afternoon, Microsoft announced results for its fiscal 2007 first quarter, ended September
30. Quarterly revenues were $10.81 billion, up 11 percent from a year earlier. Operating income
rose 11 percent year over year to $4.47 billion from $4.05 billion. Net income was $3.48
billion and 35 cents a share, compared to $3.14 billion and 29 cents a share a year earlier.
Sequential comparison: In the fiscal fourth quarter, revenue was $11.8 billion, with operating
income of $3.88 billion and net income of $2.99 billion, or 28 cents a share.

http://www.macobserver.com/stockwatch/2007/01/17.3.shtml

Apple Inc. announced its earnings for the first fiscal quarter of 2007 with a record breaking
US$7.1 billion in revenue and a net profit of $1 billion. The numbers exceeded analyst
expectations by a substantial amount, and were fueled by strong Mac and iPod sales.


http://www.macobserver.com/stockwatch/2007/01/18.1.shtml
Apple reported that it sold 1.6 million Mac in the December quarter, below the 1.75 million
units analysts projected. That number, according to Piper Jaffray analyst Gene Munster, isn't
as big a deal as investors are making out.
"Despite initial investor reaction, we believe the Street will eventually view the December Mac
number as positive... The Street got ahead of itself," he said.

Mac sales numbers were flat, compared to the same quarter last year - which puts them in line
with average performance over the past five years. Overall marketshare, however, is up. The
year over year gain inched up from 2.1 percent to 2.4 percent. Q3 2006 did jump up to 2.8
percent thanks to strong education sales in September, and Apple is likely to bounce back up
again after Adobe Creative Suite 3 ships this spring.

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601039&sid=aim9IbKNOcq8&refer=columnist_pauly

Does Apple Inc. Have a Future Without Steve Jobs?: David Pauly
But what if government investigators implicate Jobs in Apple's backdating-of-stock-options
scandal?

The Cupertino, California-based company's own investigation, led by Apple director and former
U.S. Vice President Al Gore, exonerated the CEO. While Jobs had been aware of and recommended
some backdating, the investigation said he hadn't benefited from the grants and didn't
``appreciate'' the accounting implications, which in the end forced Apple to reduce its profit
over the past nine fiscal years by $84 million.

Jobs clearly would have benefited from a suspect grant in 2001 if it hadn't been subsequently
canceled. The option was recorded as approved at the now-famous board meeting that didn't occur
on Oct. 19 of that year. Apple recorded $20 million in stock-based compensation as a result of
this grant.

That option and another grant to Jobs were canceled in early 2003, when the CEO was given
restricted stock totaling 10 million shares, adjusted for a split.

Worst Case

Federal investigators may not be as kind to Jobs as the Gore committee. In early October,
several news organizations, including Bloomberg, reported that U.S. prosecutors in San
Francisco were looking into Apple's backdating. Legal experts say they expect that the U.S.
Securities and Exchange Commission also is looking into the company's actions.

If the government decides Jobs isn't so innocent, Apple directors will face a dilemma. Do they
fire their indispensable man? Other companies caught up in the backdating mess have.

Firing Jobs would undoubtedly send Apple shares plummeting as investors who consider Apple and
its CEO as one bail out as quickly as they had jumped aboard.

http://blogs.zdnet.com/BTL/?p=4207

While Macworld is running strong January 9 to January 12, lawyers will be filing documents for
an antitrust complaint in the U.S. Northern California's District Court that could wind up
being a lot more important than any product launch.

In Apple's annual report filed last week, the company noted a few lawsuits–including one over
an alleged Nike-iPod patent infringement and another about G4 malfunctions–but the most
interesting one is an antitrust complaint challenging Apple's tactics in the online music
market. In a nutshell, a class action lawsuit (Tucker vs. Apple Computer) initially filed July
21 alleges that:

"Apple has engaged in tying and monopolizing behavior, placing unneeded and unjustifiable
technological restrictions on its most popular products in an effort to restrict consumer
choice and restrain what little remains of its competition in the digital music markets.
Apple's CEO Steve Jobs has himself compared Apple's digital music dominance to Microsoft's
personal computer operating system dominance."

Apple sought to dismiss the complaint but U.S. District Judge James Ware shot Apple down on
Dec.20.

 

[Adam Albright]

Thank you for your reply. I came to this page thru
Microsoft.com/commutities not my newsreader. I see the blue MicroSoft
header and the 'Search Microsoft.com for:' at the top of every thread along
with Quick Links, Home and Worldwide. And I had to sign in to post. I guess
I mistakenly assumed this forum was monitored by Microsoft. I suppose that
means there is no official support. Oh Well. I truly do appreciate
everyones time here.

The truth is the MVP program is a marketing tool dreamed up by
Microsoft in place of giving REAL support to its millions of customers
where Microsoft would actually have to hire a sizeable support team
and pay them like nearly all other software development companies have
done to field general questions and basic support issues any software
developer should respond to without charge.

To become a MVP you need to be nominiated by somebody who already is a
MVP or some Microsoft stuffed shirt. There is NO formal test of
knowledge or quiz to become a MVP, but for sure you need to be a brown
nose and kiss up to Microsoft and never ever be critial of Windows or
anything Microsoft. That's why I'll never be a MVP, I'm too honest and
blunt.

As far as SATA issues, for sure you're not alone. There is a simple
fix that works for most. Go to BIOS and typically under Intergrated
Peripherals you'll see several options. In my Award Bios there are
four seperate entries. You need to disable SATA if that's a option or
if you have a choice between IDE and SATA, switch to IDE. This in no
way will harm your drives or data. It likely will make them run
slower, which is fine for installing Vista.

As far as the chicken and egg issue, yep there is one. Best work
around is keep visitng your motherboard web site and just wait till
they release VISTA drives for SATA controllers for your PARTICULAR MB
version. Mine just did about a week ago.

For many the issue is really Intel dropping the ball. Many
motherboards use Intel's ICH8R controller or similar. Do a web search
for Intel Matrix Storage Manager, for many links and specifics about
issues concerning same and getting files directly from the Intel site
if you can't wait for your motherboard vendor.

Regardless, STILL best to switch to IDE mode until Vista is up and
running, then you can play around and change to SATA mode since many
people have reported stop pages during install with inabled SATA
drives. I have yet to do that myself.

One caution. If you find SATA drivers suitable for your MB, best to
use those that support your current OS and Vista. If you can only find
Vista only drivers, DO NOT try to install until Vista is up and
running and just do what I said above, switch to IDE mode to install
Vista.

 

[Wegie]

As of this post Apple has less then 7% market share regarding personal
computers. Most of Apple's profits come form the IPod. <giggle>

although it's the high end 6% of the market, not the middle or bottom
that Windows resides in. and actually, the iPod is only about 40% of
revenue, the Mac is still the bread winner for the company.

Steve Jobs is a class A prick. He always was. I NEVER have or will
ever buy Apple anything, mostly because of that egomaniac. He makes
Bill Gates look like a choir boy.

nah, you are misreading him. he's the intellect of the industry, he's
the driving force that created the pc market and what pushes it forward.
sure he's very demanding and has extremely high standards, but that's
hardly a fault if you want the very best in life.

sounds like you don't want the best, so you are sticking to clunky
windows. it's your choice of course, but the smart people have all moved
to Macs and will never go back to poorly built windows machines.

 

[EarthSchol]

I do regret making the mistake of not using real-time numbers,

*and* for calling you a liar, sincerest apologies.

thanks, apologies accepted... apple is growing extremely fast, so even
numbers 90 days old don't show the fast pace of apple's growth.

However, you never explicitly defined size based on revenue.

In terms of profit and market value, Microsoft towers above Apple.

yes, and i never disputed that... microsoft has a monopoly and history
shows they can make incredible profits when a market is out of balance /
not based on competition.

Microsoft's earnings and profit will soar next quarter because of Vista.

probably not. Vista may rank up there with the product failure of the
Zune earlier in the year. the stock has really dropped since Vista came
out, so it's not going to be pretty going forward. here is the chart
since Vista came onto the stage...

http://finance.yahoo.com/q/bc?s=MSFT&t=5d

Apple has two storm clouds: the Job's options' scandal and an antitrust
complaint.

yes the options situation could be problematic, but the antitrust issue
is a non-starter since apple doesn't have anything close to a monopoly.

http://www.microsoftmonitor.com/archives/2006/10/microsoft_fisca_6.htm

This afternoon, Microsoft announced results for its fiscal 2007 first
quarter, ended September
30. Quarterly revenues were $10.81 billion, up 11 percent from a year
earlier. Operating income
rose 11 percent year over year to $4.47 billion from $4.05 billion. Net
income was $3.48
billion and 35 cents a share, compared to $3.14 billion and 29 cents a share
a year earlier.
Sequential comparison: In the fiscal fourth quarter, revenue was $11.8
billion, with operating
income of $3.88 billion and net income of $2.99 billion, or 28 cents a share.

http://www.macobserver.com/stockwatch/2007/01/17.3.shtml

Apple Inc. announced its earnings for the first fiscal quarter of 2007 with a
record breaking
US$7.1 billion in revenue and a net profit of $1 billion. The numbers
exceeded analyst
expectations by a substantial amount, and were fueled by strong Mac and iPod
sales.

yes, apple is growing faster on a smaller revenue base. thanks for
pointing that out.

http://www.macobserver.com/stockwatch/2007/01/18.1.shtml
Apple reported that it sold 1.6 million Mac in the December quarter, below
the 1.75 million
units analysts projected. That number, according to Piper Jaffray analyst
Gene Munster, isn't
as big a deal as investors are making out.
"Despite initial investor reaction, we believe the Street will eventually
view the December Mac
number as positive... The Street got ahead of itself," he said.

Mac sales numbers were flat, compared to the same quarter last year - which
puts them in line
with average performance over the past five years. Overall marketshare,
however, is up. The
year over year gain inched up from 2.1 percent to 2.4 percent. Q3 2006 did
jump up to 2.8
percent thanks to strong education sales in September, and Apple is likely to
bounce back up
again after Adobe Creative Suite 3 ships this spring.

yes, mac sales grew 28% last quarter so it shows it's the fastest
growing PC vendor, thanks for point that out. It should achieve 40%
growth once Adobe CS3 and Leopard is released around June.

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601039&sid=aim9IbKNOcq8&refer=columni
st_pauly

Does Apple Inc. Have a Future Without Steve Jobs?: David Pauly
But what if government investigators implicate Jobs in Apple's
backdating-of-stock-options
scandal?

The Cupertino, California-based company's own investigation, led by Apple
director and former
U.S. Vice President Al Gore, exonerated the CEO. While Jobs had been aware of
and recommended
some backdating, the investigation said he hadn't benefited from the grants
and didn't
``appreciate'' the accounting implications, which in the end forced Apple to
reduce its profit
over the past nine fiscal years by $84 million.

Jobs clearly would have benefited from a suspect grant in 2001 if it hadn't
been subsequently
canceled. The option was recorded as approved at the now-famous board meeting
that didn't occur
on Oct. 19 of that year. Apple recorded $20 million in stock-based
compensation as a result of
this grant.

That option and another grant to Jobs were canceled in early 2003, when the
CEO was given
restricted stock totaling 10 million shares, adjusted for a split.

Worst Case

Federal investigators may not be as kind to Jobs as the Gore committee. In
early October,
several news organizations, including Bloomberg, reported that U.S.
prosecutors in San
Francisco were looking into Apple's backdating. Legal experts say they expect
that the U.S.
Securities and Exchange Commission also is looking into the company's
actions.

If the government decides Jobs isn't so innocent, Apple directors will face a
dilemma. Do they
fire their indispensable man? Other companies caught up in the backdating
mess have.

Firing Jobs would undoubtedly send Apple shares plummeting as investors who
consider Apple and
its CEO as one bail out as quickly as they had jumped aboard.

http://blogs.zdnet.com/BTL/?p=4207

While Macworld is running strong January 9 to January 12, lawyers will be
filing documents for
an antitrust complaint in the U.S. Northern California's District Court that
could wind up
being a lot more important than any product launch.

yes, but Jobs never received any money from those options, so it's
pretty much a dead end for the Feds. Plus many people in the antitrust
division covering these 200 cases have recently resigned (believe it or
not) so this case is winding down from a lack of interest.

I fully agree Apple and many other tech companies (200+ at last count)
are in a pickle over this, but backdating is perfectly legal... so it
won't affect Jobs over the long term.

In Apple's annual report filed last week, the company noted a few
lawsuits­including one over
an alleged Nike-iPod patent infringement and another about G4
malfunctions­but the most
interesting one is an antitrust complaint challenging Apple's tactics in the
online music
market. In a nutshell, a class action lawsuit (Tucker vs. Apple Computer)
initially filed July
21 alleges that:

"Apple has engaged in tying and monopolizing behavior, placing unneeded and
unjustifiable
technological restrictions on its most popular products in an effort to
restrict consumer
choice and restrain what little remains of its competition in the digital
music markets.
Apple's CEO Steve Jobs has himself compared Apple's digital music dominance
to Microsoft's
personal computer operating system dominance."

Apple sought to dismiss the complaint but U.S. District Judge James Ware shot
Apple down on
Dec.20.

yawn, nothing will come from any of that... Apple controls less than 8%
of music sales, so until they control 95%, there is nothing to worry
about, much less sue over.

 

[Mike Hall - MS MVP Windows Shell/User]

Adam

I suggest that you look into what it takes to be nominated and
accepted/awarded before passing judgment.. one of the qualities that MS like
about MVP's is that we are blunt and honest, not being affiliated to MS in
the way that paid employees of the company are..

Your comment has been duly noted, and your name removed from my list of
possible nominees..