I had a second requirement in that I wanted a very good machine for cheap. My third requirement was that it had to be better than my desktop model. My desktop had an older processor, but it did have 2 gigabytes of memory. The new laptop (with the addition of a new monitor) would replace the desktop system.

Like it or not, Vista is here. My desktop was running Windows 2000 Professional, and although it was running fine, it would soon be unsupported. I had performance issues, as well. I also needed the laptop up and running with all my stuff on it by the end of April. No, I was not going to consider a Mac. Here, then, were my requirements:

1. I wanted a very good laptop for cheap.
2. It had to have a good processor with at least 2 gigabytes of memory.
3. It had to be up and running with all my stuff on it by the end of April.
4. It had to have a graphic card, memory, and processor capable of running Vista reasonably well, although it did not have to have Vista itself, per se.
5. In a weird-but-true situation, the deal had to please my friend more so than me.

Although Vista was not a requirement (capability to run Vista in the future was), all the non-Vista machines that I looked at had crappy graphics cards that were ruled out by my friend. Changing a graphics card is no big deal in a desktop model, but on a laptop, it is.

To get a machine for cheap, we were watching Dell for refurbished models, as well as other places for the best deals. All in all, I had a pretty tough set of requirements, and at least three weeks passed with my friend nixing every choice that I presented him. Finally, a machine came in that met his satisfaction. And if he was satisfied, then so was I.

The Machine

Dell Inspiron 6400/E1505 notebook
Intel Core 2 Duo processor T7200
4MB Cache/2.00GHz/667MHz FSB
2 GB DDR2 SDRAM 533MHz (2 DIMMs)
TV tuner w/ remote control
15.4 in WSXGA+ notebook screen
Windows Vista Home Premium
6-cell primary battery
Intel Pro Wireless 3945
8X CD/DVD burner (DVD+/- RW) with double-layer write capability
120 GB SATA hard drive (5400 RPM)
256MB ATI Mobility Radeon X1400 HyperMemory graphics card
Norton Internet Security 15-month subscription
Image restore software
Free shipping

The price was $1,099. I am not a geek, but I assume that this was a very good deal, given my set of requirements and also by looking at current pricing of that configuration in a Dell catalog. I was also able to pick up a refurbished Dell UltraSharp 2407WFP 24-inch widescreen flat-panel LCD monitor for $539 (also with free shipping) that my friend said was to die for. I wanted to get a 22-inch monitor for way less, but my friend, bless his heart, would have none of it.

Software Problems

The problems started shortly after I received my stuff. All the hardware was fine, but I started having huge problems when I loaded my existing Office 2002 versions on the machine. I kept getting repeated messages that an application was trying to access my Outlook mailbox. By repeated, I mean something like 20 popup boxes, one right after another, all saying the same thing. Canceling the messages did no good; I had to OK every damn one of them. Then, after a 30-second pause or so, there would be another blast of 20 messages to respond to.

The specific message was: “A program is trying to access e-mail addresses you have stored in Outlook.” Check out this Outlook experience: “I can deny or I can allow for 1, 2, 5, 10 minutes. If I don’t select 1 minute, I am not able to do anything with the form. Only if I did select the check box ‘Allow for 1 or 2 minutes,’ then only I am able to get the program to work.” That person’s experience was actually better than mine. Regardless of what I did, I was not able to get Outlook to work at all:

Imagine that popping up every second for 20-30 seconds, after which you get about 20-30 seconds to do something, followed by another blast of 20 or so prompts. Allowing access for 10 minutes does not help.

Dell Software Support — Less Than Worthless

I made the mistake of calling Dell for support. Dell told me that I did not purchase coverage to help me with this problem. I replied that I paid an extra $70 for one year’s support with my purchase. Software support responded this was a software issue and my policy was for hardware only. I asked for escalation. The supervisor said I could have signed up for one month of support for $50 at the time I bought the machine, but it would now cost me $250 (and that it was a good deal). Dell would not give me the first month for $50 anymore. I was too late. What kind of policy is that, anyway? I threatened to return the machine (I wasn’t serious, as I needed something), but all that got me was “one free try” for 15 minutes. The software support team looked around for a while, and their conclusion was that I had a virus. I told them that others had this problem, as well (there are lots of references to this on Google), but they insisted I had a virus. I escalated one more time and was told once again that I had a virus. I explained why it was extremely unlikely that I had a virus, but they responded, “Take it or leave it for $250.”

So here’s the deal. I have a brand-new machine, running Vista, behind a hardware firewall, with Norton security on the machine, and one of the first things I did was update virus configurations (after I got my DSL connections working — which, by the way, was another time-consuming problem in and of itself), but the best Dell could come up with was that I had a virus, and Dell wanted $250 to fix it.

I told Dell where to go. Dell software support seriously sucks. But I knew that headed in. I have had previous support issues with Dell. I wasted a few more hours of my friend’s time and mine scrambling around on the Internet for a solution. I did find some free software that, supposedly, would fix this problem. It locked up Outlook, and I had to remove it.

Somewhere along the line in my attempts to fix the problems, Outlook itself realized I had a problem and searched for a solution. The solution was a set of fixes to Outlook. I put them on. Same problem, another search. More fixes. This went through three iterations. After the last fix was applied, the solution from Microsoft was one that I should have been bright enough to figure out in the first place: I needed to upgrade to Office and Outlook 2007.

One can actually spend days on crap like this, and I did, while slowly loading other stuff from my old machine to my new machine, and getting a small amount of other work done, as well. Note that Vista has a feature to move data files between computers automatically, but it does not work with Windows 2000. Sheesh. I am not even going to go into the details of the time and effort it took to fix a corrupted Outlook file on my old machine, which happened in the process of trying to export it to the new machine. That alone took half a day to fix, and I still do not know how it got corrupted.

Flying Saucers and Missing Shards

There was no real choice. I decided to purchase the home version of Office for 2007, and by Microsoft’s clever design, Office Home does not come with Outlook. I had to purchase a stand-alone version of Outlook.

Microsoft packages its stuff securely. I removed all the clear tape that I could find on the Outlook box, but I still could not get the box open. If you have not seen these boxes, they consist of very thick, bolted plastic and a slider to open the top. I could not get the slider open. I was not a happy camper, and at 3 a.m. on the third day of trying to get the computer to run, I just decided to force the box open by prying it apart.

This was a mistake. The box splintered into a dozen or so pieces, and I cut my hand in the process. The CD went sailing across the room, and I was dripping blood on the carpet. Although the CD was not damaged, the product key was. It split into three pieces, of which I could find only two. I spent two hours that night looking for a tiny plastic shard containing two characters of the product key…to no avail.

I decided to load the disk, and of course, it would not load authorized (without the key), but it would load unauthorized with a 25-use limitation, after which the product would not run. I also opened, this time successfully (with no cuts or bruises), the Office 2007 box and loaded that software as well.

Lo and behold, the problem of repeated messages — “A program is trying to access e-mail addresses you have stored in Outlook” — went away. I suspected as much. Word and Outlook talk to each other. Vista just cannot handle programs accessing the mailbox like they used to. So I would have paid Dell $250 for nothing and would have trained them as well (assuming, of course, that I would not still be searching for the solution some two weeks later). On next to no sleep for three days of messing around, I went to bed somewhat happy at 5 a.m.

A New Product Key

The next day, I called Microsoft. I was actually impressed with its automated voice menu system, as I quickly got to someone who could help me with activation.

I told them I had a problem they had never heard of before. They assured me they had heard everything. I explained the problem, and they stood corrected. They had not yet heard of anyone cutting their hand opening a box of software, with the CD sailing across the room, with the product key splintering in pieces, one of which could not be found.

The contact generated a new key for me. I entered it, and it was accepted on the first try. Hooray! I was happy. I spent the rest of the day loading other software on the new laptop. I was pleased to see that my own programs ran without a hitch. I also managed to get some real work done for a change. So was everything up and running on the fourth day? Not so fast.

I rebooted on the evening of the fourth day, as some software that I had loaded required a reboot. I went into Outlook, and it would not run. It seems Microsoft gave me the key for some sort of trial. I could not send or forward messages, but only receive them. That problem only happened after I rebooted. No problem, I thought, I’ll just call Microsoft again.

The next day, I called Microsoft’s automated system, but this time, it took me to a person in India who had no idea what I was saying. Eventually, that person gave me another number to call. It was for “Microsoft paid support on a per-incident basis.” No thanks. I called the first number back and talked to yet another person who redirected me back to India, where once again I received no help.

Somewhere along the line, I escalated the problem and finally got to someone who was (after several attempts) able to generate a product key for me that actually worked. Ultimately, I had to uninstall Outlook, and then reinstall it with the newly generated key.

Dell Hardware Support

It was only after getting all my software up and running and stuff moved off the old machine that I even bothered with the new monitor. That was five full days later. The new monitor came up, but I could not get anything to display on it. It’s like it was sitting there turned on, but unattached to my computer. Furthermore, Dell neglected to send me a user’s manual with the monitor.

I called Dell hardware support about the monitor. When it comes to automated response systems, Dell’s is as bad as it gets. After a very lengthy delay in the automated system, with me repeatedly doing nothing but swearing and pressing the operator key on my phone, I was actually connected to a real live person.

This time, I was very lucky to get a person who not only cared, but who also knew what he was doing. This is a very rare combination these days. He walked me through configuring the monitor so that I could use both the laptop monitor and the new flat-panel monitor. The graphics card (for which I also have no manual) seems to work beautifully, at least for my purposes. I would like to say that Dell hardware support is great, but after the software fiasco and the length of time it took to get to a live person, I believe that I simply got a random “good draw” — sort of like catching double aces to start off a hand of Texas hold ‘em.

But the guy who helped me configure the ATI graphics card was very good, indeed, especially since this was actually a software problem.. I felt blessed in light of recent experiences at both Dell and Microsoft that this hardware person from Dell even agreed to help.

Hmmm. It now seems that one feels “blessed” to get any help. Is that unusual?

Lessons Learned & Advice

• Do not even think about trying to get prior versions of Office or Outlook (at least 2002 versions) up and running on Vista. If you buy Vista, plan on purchasing new versions of Office and Outlook
• Dell software support totally sucks. Plan on this problem never being fixed
• Dell laptops are fine, but only if you know enough to make a wise selection or if you have a guru helping you. Actually, that statement is not unique to Dell
• I really do like Dell’s 24-inch flat-panel monitor
• Dell hardware support is, likely, far better than software support. Then again, I may have simply been very lucky with hardware support. However, anything is better than Dell software support. In fact, if you have a software issue with Dell, you may want to try hardware support first and pray
• It may take you far longer than you think to get a new machine up and running
• Do not attempt to force open a hard plastic case containing software unless you want a cut hand, missing shards of product keys and an extra day of grief
• Get a knowledgeable person who understands your needs to help you. I am very pleased with my new system now. Thanks, R.E.!
• The Vista experience took me 5 days. Armed with info from this post, however, your results could be much better.

Addendum: I have been running Vista now for about a week with no additional problems. I like it, especially the extra security. Many things you do now require permission, which is fine with me. There will be no more automatic uploads if you accidentally visit a rogue site.

Some will note that I have previously stated that OpenOffice would be the end of Microsoft revenue streams. I think it will…eventually. And because of problems like mine, businesses will be slow to migrate to Vista.

Vista did not change the fact that Microsoft’s upgrade model is under stress. New computers may come with Vista, but the amount that Microsoft can get for Office and the like will probably drop significantly over time. I just can’t see users in India and China paying for Office when they can get something nearly equivalent for free.

It was my personal timeline to do something quickly that forced me into one more Office upgrade cycle when I was still relatively happy with Office 2002. I got six years of use out of Windows 2000 Professional and close to five years out of Office and Outlook 2002. For many, myself included, I expect or at least hope this will be my last major paid-for hardware and software upgrade cycle for a long time.

Regards,

Mike Shedlock ~ “Mish”

April 17, 2007

The Vista/Dell Experience was originally featured on Whiskey and Gunpowder. Visit Laissez Faire Books for the best selection of libertarian book titles.

“The success of Google opened Microsoft’s eyes to the riches available in Web advertising, the chief technologist for the world’s largest software maker said on Tuesday.

“‘It was a wake-up call within Microsoft,’ company chief software architect Ray Ozzie said at a Goldman Sachs investor conference in Las Vegas.

“Google’s success alerted Microsoft to the financial power of advertising and how it might complement revenue from subscriptions for its desktop software, he said…

“Google derives almost all of its $10.6 billion in annual revenue from advertising, while Microsoft’s loss-making Internet arm generated $2.3 billion in sales last year. Microsoft makes most of its money from its dominant Windows operating system and Office software suite.

“‘It is critical for Ray Ozzie to rethink how Microsoft competes in the Web world, because it is a totally different landscape out there, and if Microsoft doesn’t adapt, it will get left behind,’ said Morningstar analyst Toan Tran.”

Advertising vs. Software?

The above article makes it appear as if the battleground is advertising versus software. Reality is different. On Feb. 22, the AP reported, “Google Unveils Web-Based Office Software”:

“Google Inc. will begin selling Corporate America an online suite of software that includes e-mail, word processing, spreadsheets, and calendar management, escalating the Internet search leader’s invasion on technological turf traditionally dominated by Microsoft and IBM.

“The expansion, to be unveiled today, threatens to bog down Microsoft Corp.’s efforts to persuade businesses to buy the latest version of its market-leading Office suite that was developed along with its new Vista operating system.

“Google’s software bundle, to be sold for a $50 annual fee per user, also poses a challenge to International Business Machines Corp. and its Lotus suite…

“Google has been offering a free version of its online software suite, called Google Apps, for the past six months. More than 100,000 small businesses and hundreds of universities nationwide are using the free service, Google said.

“The fee-based version, Google Apps Premier Edition, includes five times more e-mail storage — 10 gigabytes per e-mail box — as well as a guarantee that all services will be available 99.9% of the time with around-the-clock technical support. Google also is adding mobile access to e-mail accounts through the BlackBerry devices that tether workers to their offices.

“‘This is a big step for us, but I think it’s a reasonable step,’ Google Chief Executive Eric Schmidt said in an interview Wednesday. ‘Our product is so cheap that it’s sort of no-brainer to try it out.’”

Upgrade Price Wars

Note: This section is technical. Nongeeks should concentrate on the price differentials and skip the rest.

Desktop Linux is looking at “Upgrade Price Wars: Vista vs. Linux”:

“Bottom line time, it will cost you $724 per PC to upgrade to Vista. Or you could pay $170 per PC to get SLED (Linux that comes with business support). That’s a savings of $554 per user desktop.

“Now, you could argue that you can do better with Vista pricing than that, and the like. I won’t argue with you. You can also drop the software costs of everything on the Linux side to zero. How? By firing your MCSE (Microsoft-certified software engineer) IT staffer and replacing him with an NLCE (Novell-certified Linux engineer) professional and switching over to openSUSE 10.1 and using purely open source solutions. When it comes to software and IT costs, there are almost endless variables. One thing, though, is certain: The upfront costs of a Linux desktop are far lower than Vista’s price tag.

“You may feel absolutely sure that your users will find it much harder to move to SLED than to Vista. There, I will argue with you. Take a long, hard look at Vista, then take a look at SLED. Do the same thing, for that matter, with Office 2007 and OpenOffice.org 2.0. If your mind is at all open, I think you’re going to find that users will face pretty much an even learning curve, no matter which operating system you switch to.

“Putting aside all issues of Linux being more secure than Windows, and Vista lacking almost every significant feature it was supposed to include, just looking at the dollars and cents, just looking at getting office work done, SLED, the Linux desktop, is unquestionably the better choice over Vista.”

Vista Security Cracked

If those were not a big enough headache in and of themselves, it seems, “Vista Activation Cracked by Brute Force”:

“It looks like Microsoft’s unhackable OS activation malware has been hacked…

“It is a simple brute force attack, dumb as a rock that just tries keys. It is ugly, takes hours, is far from point and click, but it is said to work…

“The method of attack has got to be quite troubling for MS on many grounds. The crack is a glorified guesser, and with the speed of modern PCs and the number of outstanding keys, the 25-digit serials are within range. The biggest problem for MS? If this gets widespread, and I hope it will, people will start activating legit keys that are owned by other people…

“So what do you do? There is really no differentiating between a legit copy with a manually typed in wrong key and a hack attempt. Sure MS can throttle this by limiting key attempts to one a minute or so on new software, but the older variants are already burnt to disk…

“There is nothing MS can do at this point other than suck it down and prepare for the problems this causes. To make matters worse, MS will have to decide if it is worth it to allow people to take back legit keys that have been hijacked, or tell customers to go away, we have your money already, read your license agreement, and get bent, we owe you nothing.”

I can go on and on about problems with Vista, but I won’t. Every release of Microsoft is the same. New Microsoft releases are plagued with so many problems, yet people keep buying the company’s software anyway. Will it be different this time?

Time to Switch?

Wired takes up that question with an appropriately named article, “Google Apps: Should You Switch?”:

“Google’s new Web-based office software suite, which the company announced Thursday, is a swift kick to the teeth delivered squarely in the direction of Microsoft. Or is it?

“Google Apps Premier Edition is a collection of office tools for businesses — word processor, spreadsheet, e-mail, calendar, and Web page creator — all of which are accessible through a Web browser. Pricing is set at $50 per user per year, less expensive than Microsoft Office, but with much the same functionality. Microsoft has its own Web-based suite of tools in Office Live, but the company’s offering doesn’t match Google’s. And Google isn’t going after Office Live, it’s going after Office…

“Reasons to switch to Google’s Web-based office suite:

• Cost. Compared with the $500 list price for the full version of Microsoft Office Professional 2007, Google’s $50 per year price tag is cheap. Telephone, e-mail, and Web support are included in that price, so organizations could see a drop in IT support costs as well…
• Centralized data storage. Documents are available from any Web browser, upping the convenience ante for remote workers. Plus, 10 GB is plenty of room. For most users, that’s more than they’ll ever need
• Security… A bonus: Gmail arguably has the best spam and virus filters of all the Web-based e-mail services…
• 24/7 access to the work space. The beauty of Web-based applications is that they are accessible from any computer with an Internet connection, anywhere in the world. Also, every worker in the company gets the same tool set — like a standard corporate software install without the production and installation costs
• Cut the Microsoft leash. Any company switching to Google Apps will be free of Microsoft’s sluggish upgrade cycle and confusing, restrictive licensing requirements.

“Reasons to stay on the desktop:

• Privacy. This is a big one. Persuading any company, large or small, to store sensitive intellectual property, financial documents, and customer data on a server owned, sheltered, and maintained by Google would take a truckload of trust…
• Regulatory compliance. Certain industries are bound by regulations concerning storage, transfer and privacy of data…
• Google Apps is incomplete. Where’s the PowerPoint killer? Also, anyone who keeps their entire contact list in Outlook is going to be seriously underwhelmed by Gmail’s contact-management features
• Working on the Web is weird. Users who have grown accustomed to the smooth responsiveness of desktop applications will feel like a stranger in Web 2.0 land. Latency issues, Ajax-powered user interfaces and the absence of true drag-and-drop functionality will prove a turnoff for many
• No offline access. Even in today’s ‘always on, always connected’ corporate environment, the tubes occasionally get clogged. Plus, there’s no Wi-Fi on airplanes yet. Web-based applications are useless when the user isn’t connected to the Internet. Also, documents stored at Google can’t be retrieved when Google can’t be reached.”

Wired sums all of this up and concludes, “There are just as many reasons to stick with the status quo.” I disagree. Microsoft is an aging dinosaur. Still, that has not stopped it yet. So let’s look at things in another light. Where is Microsoft’s growth going to come from? India? China? Brazil? Think again. Are those countries going to shell out big bucks for Vista, or go with Linux for free?

The answer should be obvious: Linux. The savings are simply too great. Paying $500 for Office with the programming staff required to support it is eventually just not going to fly, either. Those few who need PowerPoint or special graph features in Excel likely have a genuine need for Office. For everyone else, forget about it.

Still, large mainstream businesses will be reluctant to change until costs force the issue. In that regard, Microsoft is more likely to slowly fade into the sunset over time than succumb to any quick knockout blow. In the meantime, expect Google and Open Office to put increasing pressure on the price Microsoft can get for its software.

At $50 a year, when that includes disaster recovery, backups, remote access, and zero upgrade hassles, Google Apps look increasingly attractive, just as the cost of Microsoft software looks increasingly overpriced.

Dell Considers Linux

On March 7, Reuters reported Dell might offer Linux as alternative to Windows:

“Dell Inc. is considering offering the Linux operating system as an alternative to Microsoft Corp.’s Windows on its personal computers, a Dell spokesman said on Tuesday.

“The PC maker said it received more than 100,000 customer requests for Linux in a “suggestion box” posted on Dell’s Web site less than three weeks ago.

“‘We are listening to what customers are saying about Linux and taking it into consideration,’ said Dell spokesman David Lord. ‘We are going forward. Let’s say, Certainly stay tuned.’”

If you thought price does not matter (100,000 customers in three days), think otherwise. Even though Open Office and Google Apps are not as good as Microsoft Office, for many people (perhaps most) Open Office or Google Apps will be good enough.

Copyright Issues

Has Microsoft has seen the writing on the wall when it comes to software sales? Perhaps. They are now attempting — too little, too late (as well as too big, and too cumbersome) — to challenge Google over ad revenue. With that in mind, please consider Microsoft’s attack on Google regarding copyright issues:

“Microsoft on Tuesday launches a fierce attack on Google over its ‘cavalier’ approach to copyright, accusing the Internet company of exploiting books, music, films and television programmes without permission.

“Tom Rubin, associate general counsel for Microsoft, will say in a speech in New York that while authors and publishers find it hard to cover costs, ‘companies that create no content of their own, and make money solely on the back of other people’s content, are raking in billions through advertising and initial public offerings.’

“Mr Rubin’s remarks, presaged in an article in Tuesday’s Financial Times, come as Google faces criticism and legal pressure from media companies over services allowing users to search online for books, films, television programmes and news. Viacom, the US media group, instructed YouTube, which Google owns, to remove 100,000 clips of copyright material.”

The Financial Times is writing about the rights and wrongs of Google content:

“Google now faces a backlash from publishers that make the professional ‘content’ – from films to television programmes and books – on which it relies. They argue that Google is playing fast and loose with the intellectual property of others in order to attract users to its services…

“It must be fun for Microsoft, accustomed to defending its own dominance of personal computer software, to have a David-like dig at the Internet’s Goliath…. Companies, especially powerful ones, cannot get away with riding roughshod over the wishes of smaller enterprises just because it suits them. Microsoft has discovered that painfully over the years. Now it is Google’s turn.”

Attempting to portray itself as David in a battle with Goliath (as Microsoft is attempting to do) seems laughable. Besides, exactly when did Microsoft learn it could not ride roughshod over smaller players?

Regardless of what Microsoft wants you to believe, this battle has nothing to do with copyright issues, or David vs. Goliath either. This yapping shows that Microsoft is increasingly concerned about its business model. And with attacks on that business model from Linux, Open Office, Google, and Apple, Microsoft should be concerned. This is what happens to aging dinosaurs when evolution passes them by.

Regards,
Mike Shedlock ~ “Mish”

March 7, 2007

Google, Microsoft and Evolution was originally featured on Whiskey and Gunpowder. Visit Laissez Faire Books for the best selection of libertarian book titles.