Build your own PC if you don't want OEMs choosing what you get.
Sure, 'cause most users can do that... (not)
It's that easy. This is akin to buying a car. Most car manufacturers FORCE you to get a car stereo. Usually a bottom of the line crappy car stereo that a minority of people replace because they recognize its faults and have the know-how or ability to pay someone with the know-how to replace it.
So you *do* understand!
And you're saying most PCs come with a bottom of the line, crappy OS? (Hey, it's *your* metaphor...)
And yes - I agree, a *minority* of people replace it... But the *majority* do not and probably can not...
See that, car metaphor. You're buying a car, with many different parts. One of those parts is an OS, without which many people would say the car is broken. While a stereo isn't as integral to a car's functionality to most people as an OS is in a PC, it is nevertheless something people expect. And Microsoft isn't obligated to continue to sell and support old products indefinitely. So naturally, they built a better, newer stereo, and now you're going to kick and scream and shout like a kid that they're forcing their new stereo down your throat.
Sure, but if I had upgraded or was *forced* to get a new "MegaPlay model X7" stereo (still rollin' with your ridiculous analogy), and it no longer played my audio CDs the way it was meant to, I'd expect "MegaPlay" to fix my stereo.
But if "MegaPlay" instead went ahead and made the X8 (which only fixed my skipping issue and simply redesigned just the faceplate), I'd expect people to be pretty pissed if had to buy the new model. So would you... just admit it...
DEAL WITH IT. There are OEMs that sell Linux or OS-free installed boxes. Buy one of those. Or build your own. There are choices, shockingly enough. If you refuse to exercise your economic vote, who cares.
You still miss the point... Again, most regular users don't have these options (or they don't know these options are out there). And years of "conditioning" (brainwashing) tells them they *need* the major car stereo model (read Windows). Not to mention that the versions of OS-free systems that are sold are usually the bottom rung models. Going back to cars/stereos - this is like telling a new buyer, (s)he can only get the Ford Pinto if (s)he wants a "stereo-free" car...
"Either they are rushing it, or it's really just a minor change to Vista."
Yes
Yes... there's no reason to debate the whole "minor changes" thingy...
Get your info straight from the proverbial horses mouth...
Page 16, paragraph two... Or just search the PDF for the string "minor changes"
... we don't ask Red Hat to rewrite, clean room, every release of Enterprise Linux, nor do we scream and whine "OMG, does anyone have any doubt that FC10 is just a rebrand of FC9 with some updates?!?"
No, we don't. But there is a big difference here... Nobody was forced to swallow a Red Hat release when they purchase a new PC. But the fact is, most users were forced into the Vista OS. And users are being forced to leave XP behind. Whether all the whining about Vista is deserved or not, the fact is that Vista had/has many problems. Now, instead of Vista getting patched/updated, all these users will be forced to "buy" a new OS... even though that *new* OS is really just a "service pack." So - people feel ripped off, and rightly so if you ask me...
But it does move! -- Galileo Galilei
