Warp wrote:
>   Not so with Windows. Microsoft *must* sell a completely brand new version
> of Windows each n years. Of course people wouldn't buy the new version if
> it was basically identical to the old version, with just internal invisible
> improvements, and perhaps a few new programs (which would work in the old
> version anyways). 

I agree.

Actually, I've found a bunch of new good stuff in Vista. It's just hard 
to explain to someone who only uses the computer casually. How do you 
explain to someone who knows nothing about computers why the backup 
utility is superior in the event of a disk crash, for example? Or why 
RAID support is improved?

MS has to not only do stuff to improve an OS that's already pretty darn 
mature, but also has to make it visibly enticing at first glance, 
regardless of what's under the hood.

Of course, MS also has to make it nicer for hardware sellers, since 
that's something like 85% of their sales last I heard. So driver stuff 
has to be easier, installation has to be easier (even tho most users 
never see that), branding has to be easier, and so on.

It's a funky world, comparing commercial to free software.

-- 
Darren New / San Diego, CA, USA (PST)

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