It took five years, millions of dollars and a couple thousand programmers but Windows Vista, Micorosoft's newest operating system, finally hits stores Tuesday.
Our own Jack Kapica has spent much of the last two months pushing Vista through hoops and over hurdles and, as he wrote in Microsoft's New Look last week, "The new Windows is more than just putting new tires on an old wreck."
However, Kapica stopped short of recommending the new operating system because of its cost and because, for all of its tarnished reputation, "Windows XP is still a good, stable operating system as long as it's properly updated, patched and firewalled."
So what are your thoughts?
Jack Kapica was online to take your questions. You can read a transcript of the live chat by scrolling below.
Editor's Note: globeandmail.com editors will read and allow or reject each question/comment. Comments/questions may be edited for length or clarity. We will not publish questions/comments that include personal attacks on participants in these discussions, that make false or unsubstantiated allegations, that purport to quote people or reports where the purported quote or fact cannot be easily verified, or questions/comments that include vulgar language or libellous statements. Preference will be given to readers who submit questions/comments using their full name and home town, rather than a pseudonym.
Michael Snider, Technology Editor: Hi everyone and thanks for joining us today. We've got a nice bunch of questions for you Jack, but before we get to them I want to prod you in to talking a little about your music file-transferring issue because I'm not sure how many people saw your blog post on it. I've noticed some issues with burning ROM software on the borrowed HP laptop I was using to get a feel for the new OS, so I'm wondering if there have been any other upgrading ... ummm, "hiccups" shall we call them?
Jack Kapica: This is one of the most annoying problems anyone will encounter trying to upgrade to Vista. Home users will more than likely put Vista on a new machine (or buy a new machine with Vista installed on it), or wipe their current machine for a clean install. In all cases, they will have a hard time transferring their music licences to the new machine — many online music stores have yet to upgrade their system for identifying which songs you legally bought from them. And if you have to reconstitute your entire catalogue of MP3s, I pity you for the work you're going to have ahead of you.
I've been trying to regain the rights for four songs I bought from Puretracks, and have yet to succeed. I've spent more time than I care to admit doing this. All Puretracks will tell me is that it's a "compatibility issue" and that it will be fixed by Vista launch date, which is today.
If you have to do this for every MP3, however, I don't think there's a jury in the country that will convict you for a bad case of DRM rage.
Paul from Vancouver writes: It took five years, millions of dollars and a couple thousand programmers but I have a question. Is the Blue Screen of Death still blue? ... Gerhard Eschelbeck, a spokesman of a security company called Webroot Software is cautioning people that Microsoft's anti-virus programs may not fully protect them. In testing, the company said, the new Windows Defender program failed to block 84% of viruses -- including 15 of the most common pieces of malicious code. Why should this inspire anyone to trust this new Vista? I just went to Microsoft's website and they wanted me to enter the 'Show Us Your Wow' competition. I think I'll wait until they show me theirs first.
Jack Kapica: I don't know if the blue screen of death (BSOD) is still blue. In fact, I don't know if it's still there — I have yet to be able to crash Vista in such a way as to find out. And believe me, I've tried.
Defender is not meant to stop viruses, so I'm not sure what Webroot intended to claim or whether you are indeed quoting them correctly. That's because Microsoft says Windows Defender "helps protect your computer against pop-ups, slow performance, and security threats caused by spyware and other unwanted software." The anti-virus feature is part of the new Microsoft One Care package, which is so new I got my copy only yesterday.
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