SuperSite Blog

Paul is right to slam Dvorak and others about this.

First, every commercial *nix copies Microsoft in regard to the registry - they use a klunky database to store ini files though, but they do try hard to emulate the functionality of the registry. The notion that the registry is "bad" is preposterous (at best) and guys like Dvorak suggesting otherwise reveal themselves to be pretty weak technically. The reality is that the *nix have adopted a binary database in vain efforts to copy the Windows registry – leaving them a staggering 31 years behind Windows!

More... in Vista/Win7, the registry is virtualized - just as the entire named space is. It loads as a single page at start up and is extremely fast - certainly far faster than loading text files containing initialization information...

Yet more... the entire named space in Vista/Win7 is virtualized. Therefore, data and files are written to %profile% and all user and apps data is virtualized to and or from virtual user space. It is very efficient and extremely fast and more importantly, all data are treated as objects - specifically, securable objects where access to them is brokered (UIPI) - making them very difficult to compromise. What was once known as WinFS became unnecessary as the virtualization of the entire named space progressed - it became unnecessary to abandon NTFS as the virtualization layer(s) were set down on top of the existing file system. Dvorak is reaching for problems that do not exist and calling back to long held, but false issues in Windows that actually make Windows far more performant and secure that its competitors. In Windows, all objects are virtualized “to” and or “from” named space and apps (or both) and objects/data may be bound simultaneously in other contexts. It is extremely efficient and “hard” in the sense that compromising or corrupting them is all but impossible. Similarly, as objects, each may be subject to very granular and multiple simultaneous policies.

While there are some *nix purists that have resisted the evolution of a registry within their beloved distributions of choice, it isn’t because the idea of a registry loading as a single page is bad. On the contrary, it is because they have, as with so many things, implemented that which they have lifted from Windows very poorly and or it differs from what they are used to.

The bottom line is that the registry, is not only a very good thing technically, in Vista and Windows 7 it is virtualized, refined, resistant to compromise and corruption, self-healing and blisteringly fast.

It is three decades ahead of the copy the *nix are trying to make of it – and candidly, creating a half-baked version of it in a binary DB in the *nix is, well… kinda sad.

One last thing…. Apple and their OS X? Yeah, they’re doing it, too and it ain’t pretty! Sorry, but them’s the facts and Paul’s write right to hammer Dvorak for suggesting otherwise. I like Dvorak, he’s funny, but he’s going to risk losing relevance if he doesn’t find some genius with the technical chops to help him keep from looking like an ass.

With regards to the registry. No one can deny that the concept leaves itself open to self destruction. Time and time again my PC has become slower in the months following a fresh install. I made it a ritual to re-install windows every 3 months to retain adequate performance. This process has however become a lot easier with windows now offering harddrive cloning in the operating system. I keep looking at my brother's Imac which had MacOS installed on it three years ago and it is still pretty nippy. I am quite fond of windows, but as nice as win 7 is, it still is only  a minor update to vista, which i was happy with for the 3 years that it lasted. However MS asking for over 100 dollars in upgrade fees for what is essentially a clean up of vista ala snow leopard is not adequate. i think apple got it spot on with 29 dollars for an upgrade from leopard to snow leopard.

I won't go as far as to say that the Registry is a bad thing. Quite the opposite, definitely, and it's a great resource that solved a lot of issues.

However, over the long term, I have seen the Registry become a bloated mess, and as an IT professional that has had more than my fair share of migration efforts, I do think XML/INI files are ultimately a better solution for most 3rd-party applications.

I use FileZilla for FTP/SFTP transfers on a regular basis, and I love the fact that I can throw the C:\Program Files\FileZilla folder onto a flash drive and run it that way without any hassle from any system. Why? Because it uses XML/INI files for the configuration. Interestingly, however, it also offers an option for Registry use during first install.

The problem isn't the Registry or DLL's, however, it's developer misuse of those technologies. If they would be consistent and responsible about keeping their settings and DLL's in their own exclusive locations rather than all over the file system and Registry, it wouldn't be an issue.

Pingback from  What is Happening to Windows 7? « JohnsonsPlace

"I like Dvorak, he’s funny, but he’s going to risk losing relevance if he doesn’t find some genius with the technical chops to help him keep from looking like an ass."

Dvorak - he's like the Colbert of the computer world, except that unlike Colbert, Dvorak takes his truthiness seriously.

"With regards to the registry. No one can deny that the concept leaves itself open to self destruction."

Please explain your reasoning.

"Time and time again my PC has become slower in the months following a fresh install."

Please explain how your registry - something that on a heavily trafficked computer equates to approximately 40MB, but is allocated dynamically - somehow slows your computer down.  Are you that desparate for RAM?

The System Registry is like DRM.  It's an answer to a problem that everybody is quick to criticize, but nobody has been able to offer a better alternative.

I read the Walt Mossberg article when Ed Bott blogged about it, but the video seems worse.  You don't have to have the hard disk wiped when you upgrade to 7 from XP, you can have it transfer your old stuff to windows.old.  Am I right?

Oops, nix that last comment, Walt does mention the Windows.old way of upgrading at the end of the video on his page.  I still don't see how any of this is particularly hard or painful,  though.  I haven't seen any backlash against Windows 7 either.

bluewiggle, I don't know what you are doing that causes your computer to suffer such a performance hit that you need to reinstall every three months, but that is certainly not the norm.  I'm typing this on a 4 year old XP computer that is still the original OEM install, and this being my work computer, it has been used hard, with countless installs and uninstalls of software, drivers and patches.  It still runs good.  Likewise, it has been a rare feat that a full reinstall is needed to be done on any of the computers in my office.  These things require maintenance, but so does everything to keep it in tip-top shape.

The problem with the registry has more to do with a historical rememberance from years past, rather than a current reality.  It is certainly true that registry corruption was far more prevalent pre-XP, but it still gets dinged for that old reputation.  Quite frankly, there was a LOT of things wrong with 9x, which *caused* the problems with the registry, not the other way around.

And Paul is certainly right.  Ask the founders of NT why they did what they did, and it certainly made sense then.  Difference choices would be made now, no doubt, but it was the right choice at that point in time.

"The problem isn't the Registry or DLL's, however, it's developer misuse of those technologies."

Exactly.  That is often the problem with so many things.  Vista nVidia drivers anyone?

Ahhh winsuperslant at again.  The 60% number was NOT his idea and it was covered when it came out by many but I guessed you missed that Paul?

www.reuters.com/.../idUSTRE56C0NC20090713

www.businessinsider.com/six-in-ten-companies-will-not-buy-windows-7-2009-7

news.cnet.com/8301-13860_3-10285117-56.html

www.roughlydrafted.com/.../the-vista-myth-why-windows-7-wont-turn-microsoft-around

www.maximumpc.com/.../study_60_companies_plan_skip_windows_7

www.telegraph.co.uk/.../Windows-7-six-in-10-companies-wont-upgrade.html

www.pcmag.com/.../0,2817,2350082,00.asp

There are more, if you use Google, Bing somehow missed that news and so did Paul.  Of course we missed the Microsoft numbers here at the superslant as well.  

Its pure Irony that Paul accuses Dvorak of slanted journalism, pure irony.  Oh how one could reach back in Paul's world and pull out all of the "Apple is dead" comments and full blown articles with ease.

Paul seems to have an awful case of diaper rash over this 'non event'.  I'd suggest more talcum next time.  

I can guarantee that Dvorack will never read this.  Thurrott just doesn't rate high enough, so ultimately Paul is just pissing in the wind on this one.  That's ok, that's what he does.  

Still, it reads that Paul agrees with John that the registry is a boondoggle but Paul cannot fathom criticism of any core function of Windows...  as surely as if he had coded it himself.  He's a kept man but his advice is good when one accounts for the partisan source it comes from.  At least Dvorack's living isn't based on just one company, which means he can be snarky about everyone equally [which he frequently is].  

That is a more honorable position than Thurrott enjoys.

In regards to Mossy, there is often half truths as he looks at everything with fruit colored glasses.  I especially found the following comment extremely rich from his article on 7:

"the easiest solution may be to buy a new PC preloaded with Windows 7, if they can afford such a purchase in these dire economic times."

Funny, no mention of dire economic times when talking about Apple products.  In fact, he is quite dismissive of the additional costs in his review of the sealed battery MacBooks.

rr0de74, the reports were totally misread.  Once again, Ed Bott does a very good analysis of this.

blogs.zdnet.com/Bott

"The primary goal of this survey was to assess the impact of the weak economy on IT infrastructure projects and we found that, despite its impact on short-term plans, 41% of organizations plan a wholesale migration to Windows 7 by the end of 2010. This is actually a strong adoption rate when compared to the historical adoption rate of Windows XP in its first year which was cited as 12-14%."

So, the 60% number is just for 2010, forgetting that many years occur after that before Windows 8.  The 41% cited in the report is actually a HUGE number given the glacial pace of IT departments.  Of course, many believe that everyone will immediately upgrade, all billion of them, in 2009-2010.  How people could assume this is the case is beyond me.

Irony indeed.

Again, the corporate world does not  "upgrade". They RE IMAGE!

Next story please.

Going with a pure XML registry is a bad idea, unless it was contained in a secured binary file, but then it wouldn't be much different than it is today, with XML elements only replacing the existing key structures.

ASCII based file formats are just not a good idea to contain program settings, but having each program have it's own configuration file doesn't make a lot of sense either.

If programs were to offer an integration of each of their separate configuration files, virtualized as a single registry, it might be a little more secure, but you wouldn't have the benefit of binary compression, or encryption, and there are performance implications to breaking the registry up into multiple files.

No, the system registry is the best idea at this time.  People that argue that it's a performance drain on the system don't know what they're talking about.  This is the same reason why experts will tell you that registry cleaners don't do anything positive for the system, and certainly don't improve your system performance.

"Again, the corporate world does not  "upgrade". They RE IMAGE!"

It's the best practice approach that MDT defaults to - using USMT to backup settings and doing a full install.

"rr0de74, the reports were totally misread.  Once again, Ed Bott does a very good analysis of this."

They were. Even ScriptLogic's website had a different interpretation of it.

Mossy should stick to fawning over Apple products. Dvorak should probably switch to celebrity gossip.

First, I have to laugh every time Paul refers to Microsoft as "the software giant". Lately, it has the sound of whistling past the graveyard. Microsoft is certainly not in the same place as beleaguered Dell, but it isn't the company of old either.

On the specific point here, it isn't like I'm an expert on Windows architecture, but the registry puts all settings files in a single location, so it is susceptible to a single point failure, right?

That is just a bad idea, and there is no "performant" argument that balances that bad design choice. Microsoft seems to believe this is the way to do things; it's also how Entourage (Outlook as well?) stores email, which is one of the many reasons I won't go near that program.

"The bottom line is that the registry, is not only a very good thing technically, in Vista and Windows 7 it is virtualized, refined, resistant to compromise and corruption, self-healing and blisteringly fast."

I can't judge this, but how much does "blisteringly fast" matter? How much of the total time of any program is spent reading a configuration file? I'd say that robust matters a lot more than fast....

"Its pure Irony that Paul accuses Dvorak of slanted journalism, pure irony.  Oh how one could reach back in Paul's world and pull out all of the "Apple is dead" comments and full blown articles with ease."

Exactly right.  "Paul's world" is pretty different that the one where the rest of us live. Here's just one quote,

"Apple's market share is 1.88 percent today, and as your own math showed you, it will be 1.7 percent or lower in 2004. Why is this so hard for Mac advocates to understand? The Mac market is ending."

Actually, using Paul's own beloved marketshare numbers, the Mac has DOUBLED in size since he wrote that and Apple has grown from 10% of Microsoft's market cap to 70% of Microsoft, larger than Google, 5 times the size of Dell.

Paul could not have been more wrong.

The faux outrage over Dvork is quite funny.

They way I always understood it was the the registry was critical to how Group Policy works... which is how you manage client computers through Active Directory.

In that sense what is a more efficient way of implementing Group Policy without a single monolithic collection of settings?

"On the specific point here, it isn't like I'm an expert on Windows architecture, but the registry puts all settings files in a single location, so it is susceptible to a single point failure, right?"

Except that when it's well designed and respected by users (or programs) it's a much more secure way of doing it - kinda like keeping user data off of workstations and putting it all on the server, and then just requiring a backup of the server, rather than all the workstations.  It's easier to maintain and manage, and more secure.

Or, you could just let programs handle their own configuration data with whatever permissions they see fit and see where that leads....

Dvorak - as relevant as the PC Magazine that he writes for.

Ditto for Mossbeard and the WSJ for that matter.

I enjoy reading Dvorak, and have for a long time.  Is he always correct?  Of course not, but he' s not paid to be politically correct.  I actually enjoy reading this blog as well, though Thurrott chugs the kool-aid a bit much some days, and can't see through  his Microsoft vision goggles.  

Face it, Thurrott makes his money by saying nice things about Microsoft products, so he can't bite the hand that feeds him.  

And even though the registry is really a legacy function at this point, it *was* a bad design decision from the beginning.  

I work for a very large federal government agency, and we *just started* rolling out Vista to workstations and laptops.  It will be three to four years before we see Windows 7, and by that time Windows 15 will be out?! *That's the reality*.

So are there any REAL test on the registry slowing down a computer.  I've always pointed at crapware and process's running in the background.  Anyone have any links to some test that have been ran?

Back with 2000 we had at least 1 computer a week have registry issues (200+ machines here)  XP was a  little better but still a pain.  I haven't seen a Vista issue yet.  I really haven't seen any XP problems since SP2.  I think it's a non issue.  What ever replaces it will be massive and slow.

Pingback from  Windows 7 Blog » What is Happening to Windows 7?

@dipshit, I agree with you.  I never stated when I though corporations would switch, I know mine probably will start our testing of Windows 7 in mid 2010, and that should take 3-6 months they we will discuss go/no-go and then a date for the start.  If I had to guess that would be early 2011.

My point is Paul is digging on Dvorak about the 60% quote like Dvorak made it up, when it was widely talked about when it came out, except for here because that would probably not go well with Paul and his pro-MS world. Much like we have not heard from him on the year end results for MS, which in the world of MS should be HUGE NEWS since MS has NEVER posted an annual loss.

Irony indeed.

Oooh, the good 'ol Apple is killing the big, bad Microsoft, eh, chuck?

"...which in the world of MS should be HUGE NEWS since MS has NEVER posted an annual loss."

Huh? Did MS actually post a loss?

There is no denying that as you install more software on a Windows box and the registry gets larger and larger that Windows performance suffers over time.  Hence the practice of re-loading Windows for PC enthusiast every so often.

I have even read that some corporations, will refresh Windows clients on a regular basis to speed things up.

There is nothing quite like a clean install of Windows with no apps installed when it comes to Windows performance.

Whom ever said corporations re-image is dead on.  No corporation is going to  install Windows 7 even over the top of Vista SP2, if they know what they are doing.  I have loooooooong been an advocate of clean installs at home as well, and that is with any OS from any company.

@Chuck, Entourage is a offline only connection to Exchange.  Much like Outlook is with a POP/IMAP account.  Data is stored locally in one file, the same for Outlook on a PC, it uses a .pst file, or .ost file.  Outlook in non-cached mode connects directly to the Exchange server database.  The problems of the Entourage are no different than a Outlook user that lives out of a .pst file.  Hopefully the Snow Leopard Mail/iCal/Address book compatibility with Exchange will end Entourage for good.

I love how you call Dvorak "a smart and experienced guy" when he's baiting Macintosh users, but when he criticizes The Precious, you turn on him like a circus tiger that suddenly sees his trainer as dinner.

But the best part of this post is here: "Windows 7 is a huge win. It's not a revolutionary technical update to the core OS (that was Vista). It's just a chance to nicely fine-tune something that, for some people, was a little off."

You're saying that Microsoft is charging up to $219 for some "fine tuning" of a product that was "a little off"? Seriously? That's remarkable. It's almost as remarkable as your conclusion that if everyone just read the Supersite for Windows and Microsoft PressPass pages, there would be no need for any other tech journalism.

Talk about hubris...

@rr0de74@live.com: MS posted a quarterly loss, and revenues were down year-over-year, but they did not post an annual loss.

It was, however, their first quarterly loss in the software giant's history.

So you're partially correct. Kind of.

Ten seconds of research (there's this site called "Google"...) will help you:

www.channelweb.co.uk/.../microsoft-posts-first-ever

Whats the world wide percentage of Businesses going to OS X?

Fairly obviously, Dvorak is making these articles because he has a vested interest - he was one of those that predicted that Microsoft would 'junk up' Windows 7 by the time the final release came around (back in the early days of Beta when everyone said how good it was).

Now that it's gone RTM, and with many people about to get their hands on it via MSDN and Technet, Dvorak is clearly wanted to 'prove himself right' - by creating a set of negative articles drawing on whatever sources he can get his hands on to somehow prove that he was in some way right all along.

Of course, he isn't, and we know that Dvorak is basically a ranty link-baiter.  Don't give him the satisfaction.

"Whats the world wide percentage of Businesses going to OS X?"

Who cares? Those numbers don't matter unless you're a sheep, mindlessly following the herd.

If they DO matter to you, I suggest you purchase your next car, MP3 player, hamburger and soda on marketshare numbers. Forget about quality, taste, or personal preference. Heck, maybe you might want to move to China. They have the most people, so it must be the best place to live, right?

What is Happening to Windows 7 is exactly my question. It's Aug 6th and I'm still waiting for the RTM to go live on technet. This is the date it was announced for isn't it?

That's really the only news I'm waiting for at this point.

On topic: Dvorak has been irrelevant for years. He just a cranky guy who is never happy and will find fault with anything and everything. Nothing he says really matters in the end anyways. But it does get some people mad though!

@lotsamystuff you are correct, I was wrong.  I did know it was a 3rd quarter loss, down from last years 3rd quarter, so annually but only for the 3rd quarter:)

It will be interesting to see the annual results.

"Fairly obviously, Dvorak is making these articles because he has a vested interest - he was one of those that predicted that Microsoft would 'junk up' Windows 7 by the time the final release came around (back in the early days of Beta when everyone said how good it was)."

That is hilarious!!!!!  Paul has a book to sell, Windows 7 Secrets.  To make that book half way decent he surely has to keep in the good grace with someone at Microsoft, so that he can get good product information, that hopefully for him know one else has or does not get before him.  (Paul will let you know when he is first, trust me).   To do that I am sure Paul has to be a tad pro-Microsoft....just a tad.

Its called "follow the money".  In this case Paul's money trail is a lot more relevant than Dvorak's.

I can't find the information regarding the creation of the registry and the reasons, but Raymond Chen does provide some information regarding it, and compares it to XML and INI files.

blogs.msdn.com/.../6523907.aspx

"but the registry puts all settings files in a single location"

No, it is actually in several files in the system32\config directory, and the user settings are in additional files in your user profile directory.  The Registry Editor just allows you to control all of them from one place, and they are all treated as the same place through the registry API's.

The key to the registry is security granularity.  That is something you can' t achieve with text or XML files.

"Huh? Did MS actually post a loss? "

Not that I'm aware of.

"Microsoft is charging up to $219"

I got it for $39.

"It will be interesting to see the annual results."

I'm sure they'll bounce back just fine. The new version of Vista will be sure to give them a substantial boost, as long as they don't pee the profits down the drain promoting Bing.

"Oooh, the good 'ol Apple is killing the big, bad Microsoft, eh, chuck?"

No. I'm asserting----using this thing I like to call "data"----that Paul's gleeful squealing about Apple's pending extinction was totally wrong. And that's good for you, because some entity has to exist to keep Microsoft honest. If you feel that Microsoft plays a reciprocal role with Apple, fine. Hegemony is a bad thing.

""On the specific point here, it isn't like I'm an expert on Windows architecture, but the registry puts all settings files in a single location, so it is susceptible to a single point failure, right?"

Except that when it's well designed and respected by users (or programs) it's a much more secure way of doing it - kinda like keeping user data off of workstations and putting it all on the server, and then just requiring a backup of the server, rather than all the workstations.  It's easier to maintain and manage, and more secure."

Debatable, as is the performance point. File access to a single binary file is faster than to many ASCII files, however they are formatted. But, how much does it matter for overall performance? Not much, because config files are read at program startup and written at program exit, and perhaps accessed a little bit while the program is running when the user changes some pref setting. As a user, I much prefer distributed and robust over centralized systems that can be corrupted in their entirety by one mistake in one program.

lotsa,

"Windows 7 is a huge win. It's not a revolutionary technical update to the core OS (that was Vista). It's just a chance to nicely fine-tune something that, for some people, was a little off."

Yep. Funny. Paul has ranted for years over $129 when OS X is upgraded, but the $219 is a-okay. He knows who butters his toast.

"They way I always understood it was the the registry was critical to how Group Policy works... which is how you manage client computers through Active Directory."

Actually GPO's are downloaded in separate files stored in the inf and sysvol folders on a refresh. They are then run through RSOP (resultant set of policies) to deliver a final policy. At least that's how I understand it. You could easily replicate it using XML-based documents if you wanted to.

But I think the better bet is a hybrid solution. Store and load OS configuration items in a database since those will be accessed constantly. The rest should be stored in separate files so they can be more easily managed and don't take up memory unless they are needed. I like Mac OS X's namespaced preference plist files (stored in ~/Library/Preferences) since it's easy to find the preferences for your particular program and delete it without running through a confusing hierarchy of registry keys, but that's an advanced user thing.

"The problem isn't the Registry or DLL's, however, it's developer misuse of those technologies. If they would be consistent and responsible about keeping their settings and DLL's in their own exclusive locations rather than all over the file system and Registry, it wouldn't be an issue."

I agree with this one completely. If devs were keeping to the rules, many problems wouldn't exist.

As for Windows slowing down with time - COME ONE! It's not like we're using WinMe!

Windows don't slow down because of registry problems. Whole computer slows down because of:

- many unneeded background processes from 3rd party apps wasting a) memory b) CPU cycles

- disk fragmentation

There are probably more reasons to it, but these two certainly make more impact in the entire "slownes" scheme than any registry or general Windows problems.

Paul, you could at least spell John D's name correctly.

Dvorak's style of being as irritating as possible has served him well through his writing career (longer than Paul's by something like a factor of 3).

There was a multi-year period when he slammed Apple in his back page columns in an Apple-specific publication while at the same time slamming Microsoft in his back page columns in a PC-specific one. In each case saying how much better the "other side" was.

My problems with the registry are:

- If there is a problem with an application's preferences (something has become corrupted and the application doesn't run), there is no easy way to just trash this application's preferences and let the application rebuild them at next run. I once had a problem with a Nero update messing up my system and I had to edit the registry manually (deleting all Nero references that I could find) before the installer allowed me to reinstall.

- There is no way to delete the registry and let it rebuild itself (using defaults) if there is corruption. Remember how the old Mac OS (pre OS X) used the desktop database to know which applications were installed, where they were located, and which types of files they could open? If it became corrupted you could just delete it and then you had to wait a little while for the system to rebuild it.

- Applications have to be installed and uninstalled by an installer program in order to update the registry and many times they leave behind garbage when they are uninstalled.

- You cannot easily copy an application's preferences to another computer.

BTw, while we're at Win7 - shouldn't it be on MSDN/TechNet for the "chosen partners"? I guess my company isn't in the right "partner" category, despite being an ISV :/

"Whats the world wide percentage of Businesses going to OS X?"

Who cares? Those numbers don't matter unless you're a sheep, mindlessly following the herd.

If they DO matter to you, I suggest you purchase your next car, MP3 player, hamburger and soda on marketshare numbers. Forget about quality, taste, or personal preference. Heck, maybe you might want to move to China. They have the most people, so it must be the best place to live, right?

===================

This is sh*t. If US can grant US passports to anyone in China without asking a question how many people do you think there would be still in China? In a FREE market, people choose the product/service which maximise his/her utilities (including quality, taste or what ever). This is just basic theory of economics. Don't let someone else to educate you for this; you can learn by yourself if you really interested and want to learn it before posting some silly posts right? People do vote, with their $. BTW, please tell me how Mr Obama (who has the most share of recent election) is lack of quality or taste or whatsoever.

"bluewiggle, I don't know what you are doing that causes your computer to suffer such a performance hit that you need to reinstall every three months, but that is certainly not the norm.  I'm typing this on a 4 year old XP computer that is still the original OEM install"

============

Same here. I have been using a XP machine (for work, otherwide I'd use vista) for nearly 3 years without noting any slowing down issue. Of course I have installed/uninstalled numerous softwares on this machine.

"Don't let someone else to educate you for this; you can learn by yourself if you really interested and want to learn it before posting some silly posts right?"

Clearly you missed the point. Not surprising, given the rambling nature of your response. You don't need to give me a lecture on economics when I was using an absurd example to illustrate the absurdity of the original poster's point.

Do you get it now? Or shall I draw you a picture?

"I got it for $39."

So what? That doesn't change the fact that Microsoft is charging (please note the key words that follow) UP TO much more than that.

I'll admit that I was wrong in quoting the "$219.00" number though. It can actually set you back much more. My apologies for the error:

store.microsoft.com/.../B985134B

"Do you get it now? Or shall I draw you a picture?"

I was just saying that, and I'm saying this again, in a free market people choose the product/service which maximise his/her utilities. Any problem? Funny though I was investigating the choice model recently. Maybe I'm missing something. Then please draw me a picture, please.

So what? That doesn't change the fact that Microsoft is charging (please note the key words that follow) UP TO much more than that.

==============

By your logic, one should say people still buy it because its high quality better taste etc.

Screw you, Dvorak!!!

Paul,

Dvorak is that crazy ass uncle that nobody wants around unless there's a family feud. Mac fans love him when he's ranting against Windows and all things Microsoft. Windows fans love him when he's ranting all things OS-X and Apple. In the huge scheme of things, just like PC Magazine, Dvorak has been non-existent for years. I know a lot of people who would love to be in Dvorak's position. Writing about technology, being able to check out the latest and greatest, and envisioning the future. But the man always has a complaint, no matter how well the product is made.

Just another fool who complains about everything because he can't sit back and be glad that he's even got the opportunity. If the man is so angry and so un-satisfied with all things computer tech, maybe he's in the wrong field.

Dvorak's rants reminds me of Macbeth. The very famous soliloquy called, "Tomorrow and tomorrow and tomorrow..." Its how I feel about people getting vile about Apple and Microsoft. They're just companies trying to sell products and make money.

"She should have died hereafter;

There would have been a time for such a word.

To-morrow, and to-morrow, and to-morrow,

Creeps in this petty pace from day to day,

To the last syllable of recorded time;

And all our yesterdays have lighted fools

The way to dusty death. Out, out, brief candle!

Life's but a walking shadow, a poor player

That struts and frets his hour upon the stage

And then is heard no more. It is a tale

Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury

Signifying nothing." — Macbeth

Dvorak and a couple of respondents on here need to step back, unplug, step outside, smell the roses, take a walk, and realise its not a big deal. Dvorak's articles aren't going to change a company's IT plans, my purchase plans, or even any Mac users purchase plans. Let Dvorak fret on stage. In a few months or a year, Mac fans will want his head for something he doesn't like about OS-X, Safari, the iPhone, whatever. A tale told by an idiot, full of Dvorak's sound and fury that signifies nothing.

Folks, I'm going on vacation for 12 days in Northern California starting Friday afternoon. Have fun ranting, raving, and ripping each others heads off.

Peace!

Dvorak is going through his Applepheliac phase. He's probably notices that his MS Flaming "analysis" seems to be getting more hit traffic than his previous Mac flame shticks.

Nothing to really see here. If you watch last weeks Cranky Geeks, he tried to peddle this same half baked theory and gets shot down by the panel especially Garnet Lee.

lotsa, I was well aware of the UP TO.  However, most people will just need to spend $119 for the Home Upgrade.  Only if you are building a computer yourself will you need the full version that you quote.  And remember, in the never ending quest to show how the Snow Leopard upgrade is only $29, if you didn't upgrade to Leopard, it will cost you much more.

Dvorak has been striving for relevance for a while now. He has nothing to offer so this is the kind of drivel he produces these days.

@sub

Good Times, if your near Burney Falls check them out, I also reccomend the North side of Mt Shasta, Castle Crags and the Trinity Alps if you like to stretch your legs a bit.

@johnbaxter

Just because Dvorack has been successful being a professional troll doesn't make him relevant, regardless of how long he's been doing it.  

"So what? That doesn't change the fact that Microsoft is charging (please note the key words that follow) UP TO much more than that."

And Apple charges, what, $129, or $139 if you don't have Leopard already?

"I'll admit that I was wrong in quoting the "$219.00" number though. It can actually set you back much more."

My apologies too.  Snow Leopard will set you back a lot more if you don't already have a Mac, since that's a requirement too.

Dvorak has been striving for relevance for a while now. He has nothing to offer so this is the kind of drivel he produces these days.

@sub

Good Times, if your near Burney Falls check them out, I also reccomend the North side of Mt Shasta, Castle Crags and the Trinity Alps if you like to stretch your legs a bit.

@johnbaxter

Just because Dvorack has been successful being a professional troll doesn't make him relevant, regardless of how long he's been doing it.  

"If you watch last weeks Cranky Geeks, he tried to peddle this same half baked theory and gets shot down by the panel especially Garnet Lee."

I love how his theme music sounds like something that would come from a washed out circus clown act.

@Gabe:

Your arguments make no sense whatsoever.  Here's a breakdown in order:

1)  If you remove the program's application settings in the registry after installation, and the application doesn't reapply defaults, that's the program's fault.  That is not related to the registry.  In fact, I've seen numerous Windows 3.1 programs that use their own INI files that can't operate properly when you delete the program INI because they aren't designed to recreate them just at program launch.  The INI files would be there after an install, but had to exist with valid settings in order for the program to work properly.

2)  Also true for Win.INI and System.INI from Windows 3.1.

3)  Poor application design is poor application design.  Again, not Microsoft's fault for putting out proper design rules for registry integration and ISV's not following them.  Doesn't apply specifically to the registry either.

4)  Go into the registry, find the HKLM\Software and HKU\Software entries for the application, and export.  Then import on the new computer.  If the software was designed according to proper specifications, most application settings will be there.

Newsflash:

A guy from **Google** on Cranky Geeks says Windows 7 is "SLOOOW!"

Why does that Google Open Source guy on Cranky Geeks look like another of Stallman's Kids (or is that "Stallman sKids"?)

Just for everyone's information...WINDOWS 7 is now available for download from technet!!!!!

It's gonna be a fun evening!

Now back to your regular arguing, and whatnot. ;)

@ Dipsh1t:

"And remember, in the never ending quest to show how the Snow Leopard upgrade is only $29, if you didn't upgrade to Leopard, it will cost you much more."

Sure. It'll cost you $129. Just like it always has.

@ Waethron:

"Snow Leopard will set you back a lot more if you don't already have a Mac, since that's a requirement too."

Well, DUH!

1.  Who pays attention to Dvorak?  He's like the Michelle Malkin of tech news.  

2.  Mossbergs audience is different from ThurrBott's audience.  Now that the final details are known, it's time to let the more general audience know.

3.  Why does Mossberg infuriate ThurrBott so much?  

Did SubZero just quote Macbeth? Wow, this blog is going up town now!

John C just likes to stir the pot. He sits around and thinks about "what ifs" then throws them at the wall to see what sticks. 1 time out of 100 he'll be right and the he can say "See, I told you." In this case Paul is feeding the troll by responding.

The Registry is a great idea, poorly implemented and maintained. This is one area where I think MS should have been more like Apple. MS should have locked down the install/uninstall and registry edits a long time ago.

@Chuck:

Single point of failure, just like any vital system file, or hardware. The standard PC is full of SPoF.  By your argument, we should not have databases. My god, how could we possibly store all the important information in one file. That can't possibly be safe. And yet it is, and its done every day.

Dipsh t Admin rambles:

"no mention of dire economic times when talking about Apple products."

< 1 minute of googling reveals this:

"while Apple has cut the prices of these two new laptops, they are still pricey compared with similar-sized models from other companies...you can get competing machines for hundreds of dollars less."

ptech.allthingsd.com/.../new-mac-laptops-use-batteries-sealed-for-power

Walts ethics statement...where is ThurrBotts?

"I am not an objective news reporter, and am not responsible for business coverage of technology companies. I am a subjective opinion columnist, a reviewer of consumer technology products and a commentator on technology issues.

--

I don't accept any money, free products, or anything else of value, from the companies whose products I cover, or from their public relations or advertising agencies. I also don't accept trips, speaking fees, or product discounts from companies whose products I cover, or from their public relations or advertising agencies. I don't serve as a consultant to any companies, or serve on any corporate boards or advisory boards."

allthingsd.com/.../ethics

I agree with Paul! The registry  is not a problem ... It just increase the perormance compare to text based settings files...

Effectively we all experiment a slow down in performance when registry grown and contain unnecessary things overtime ...

The system should monitor more the registry to keep it clean and keep it max performances...

I don't know...

May be the registry should only be use by the system to keep system setting ... and maybe COM modules things, but avoid let all program to mess with it...

I don't know!

@pmcgrath,

"Single point of failure, just like any vital system file, or hardware. The standard PC is full of SPoF.  By your argument, we should not have databases. My god, how could we possibly store all the important information in one file. That can't possibly be safe. And yet it is, and its done every day."

Sure. Let me clarify; the problem with the registry is that ONE program or ONE error can send you off to a full Windows reinstall, and this can be caused by, say, a text editor that writes its preferences file wrong and overwrites something else in the registry. At least, this is how I understand it, and that just looks like bad design to me. PCs -are- full of SPoF, of course, but the registry puts in another by choice, and it's a bad choice. Various people in this thread have noted,

"f you remove the program's application settings in the registry after installation, and the application doesn't reapply defaults, that's the program's fault"

"Applications have to be installed and uninstalled by an installer program in order to update the registry and many times they leave behind garbage when they are uninstalled"

"The problem isn't the Registry or DLL's, however, it's developer misuse of those technologies. If they would be consistent and responsible about keeping their settings and DLL's in their own exclusive locations rather than all over the file system and Registry, it wouldn't be an issue."

In short, the registry is fragile and depends on avoiding "developer misuse". That's just a bad design; something that important should not rely on the good behavior of random programmers. The solution that seems to work pretty well is to put system preferences in separate files and factor the program prefs into their own files.

Makes migration to a new machine simple, including user settings.

No application ever messes with anything but its own settings. The file system enforces the separation for you.

If there's a problem, just delete the prefs file and the app will create a new one.

And, again, I think the "performance" issue is a canard. Is Windows constantly reading/writing the registry? Why? That should happen at program start/stop and at rare (and mostly user initiated) points while the program is running. I'm not seeing a performance issue that justifies something this fragile.

@lotsamystuff

"You're saying that Microsoft is charging up to $219 for some "fine tuning" of a product that was "a little off"? Seriously? That's remarkable. "

I seriously almost laughed out loud at work after reading that!

another point that is an 'event'.  HP/Dell/Acer tied for worst for Laptop support and Apple scored best.  I wonder what Meagan will do when she needs to call HP to support her.  I guess not all laptops are created equal.  I'm sure Paul will spike this story as surely as he does the ones about Microsoft's terrible profits reporting recently.  He cherry picks 'non events' but not real stories.  typical.

gizmodo.com/.../laptop-mag-determines-acer-dell-and-hp-have-the-worst-tech-support

"He's like the Michelle Malkin of tech news."

Who?

"the problem with the registry is that ONE program or ONE error can send you off to a full Windows reinstall"

So can a single virus, a single compatibility problem, a single corrupt or missing file, or a single piece of hardware failing.  The "SPoF" argument isn't valid.  It's the same argument that crooked salespeople used to use a few years back when all-in-one printers were starting to take the market, and separate devices were no better, but cost a lot more.

"....and this can be caused by, say, a text editor that writes its preferences file wrong and overwrites something else in the registry....In short, the registry is fragile and depends on avoiding "developer misuse". That's just a bad design"

Ok, so here's the big question in coming up with a solution to the problem:

The registry works but isn't secure against problematic programs.  How do you mitigate application permissions to certain sections of the registry then?  Any ideas?

My suggestion is to require that application developers have digitally signed applications to write to the system registry.  This would alleviate a LOT of problems, because it costs an extra expense for digital code-signing certificates, and only validated developers would commit to the extra expense.

If you separate critical sections with tighter write-access security (maybe a tiered system for digital certificate rights requiring a larger investment by the developer) from user-mode sections that "everyday" applications would have access to, you could still allow applications with read-access to certain system-level shared sections.

It also adds to the complexity of the system registry, but I think it would solve a lot of issues.  If developers don't want to, or can't be bothered to digitally sign their applications, they can go back to using text-based config files instead.

The system registry already has NTFS-style permissions in certain sections, but requiring a code-signing certificate purchase by developers would weed out many malicious software writers.

@Ocean: "ThurBott"

Try again! That wasn't funny.

"In short, the registry is fragile "

It isn't actually.  Numerous backups are created, the system also tracks changes with System Restore checkpoints, and it already has NTFS-style security permissions set on many sections.  It's much less fragile than having individual text files for configuration settings.

"The solution that seems to work pretty well is to put system preferences in separate files and factor the program prefs into their own files"

It already is that way.

"Makes migration to a new machine simple, including user settings."

It's already easy.  USMT does that already.  For consumers, the same functionality is provided in Windows Easy Transfer, but with a friendly GUI interface (USMT is text-based, but can be automated by corporate deployment tools).

"Is Windows constantly reading/writing the registry?"

No.

"Why?"

Because it doesn't need to.

"That should happen at program start/stop and at rare (and mostly user initiated) points while the program is running."

That's what happens actually.

Ocean, thanks for your trolling and analysis.  It is always appreciated.  If you read what I said, you would see that he doesn't speak of the dire economic situation in the Apple article, just that other solutions are cheaper.  The tone changes however when speaking of 7, and suddenly it is dire economic times.  It's subtle, but obvious.

See here for what I said:

"Funny, no mention of dire economic times when talking about Apple products.  In fact, he is quite dismissive of the *additional* costs in his review of the sealed battery MacBooks."

Pingback from  What is Happening to Windows 7? | Windows Seven 7

For everyone who keeps quoting those 'customer satisfaction' surveys, they don't mean a damn thing. If a Mac exploded into flames and burnt down the house, most Mac fanatics would still say they were extremely satisfied with their purchase.

I have a number of friends who own Macs and the first thing they installed on them was either Windows XP or Vista. I wonder how Mac sales would be doing if MS made it impossible to install Windows on a Mac?

"It's subtle, but obvious."

It's also several months later.  

@techman.merb: "If a Mac exploded into flames and burnt down the house, most Mac fanatics would still say they were extremely satisfied with their purchase. "

Maybe Apple makes them sign the confidentiality agreement too. If they can do it with burning iPods, why can't they do it with Macs?

"I wonder how Mac sales would be doing if MS made it impossible to install Windows on a Mac? "

Got any links to backup this spurious insinuation?

"If a Mac exploded into flames and burnt down the house, most Mac fanatics would still say they were extremely satisfied with their purchase."

I like the news about the recent exploding iPod.  The father of the kid it happened to was insulted that Apple only wanted to pay for a refund but required that they sign an NDA to keep it quiet.

I'd be hiring up Johnnie Cochran's ghost to go after Steve Jobs's ghost!  :P

"I don't serve as a consultant to any companies, or serve on any corporate boards or advisory boards."

Maybe that should apply to Google execs also?

" The father of the kid it happened to was insulted that Apple only wanted to pay for a refund but required that they sign an NDA to keep it quiet."

Lots of lawsuits end with stipulations that one side or both not speak in public about the details and resolutions of a case.

"Lots of lawsuits end with stipulations that one side or both not speak in public about the details and resolutions of a case."

It wasn't a lawsuit though.  Apple approached them with the offer of only a refund, not a large monetary settlement, which would befit an NDA.  Instead it was only a dollar-per-dollar refund of the purchase price of the iPod.

"Sure. Let me clarify; the problem with the registry is that ONE program or ONE error can send you off to a full Windows reinstall.."

And yet it never happens. Just like I don't drown while I drink a cup of water, but sure! Anythings possible!

"Got any links to backup this spurious insinuation?"

Why would he have asked the question if he had links to back it up?  

Good choice of words though, it almost makes you sound like you have more of a life than posting all day on a Windows website. (Bring on the retort that I myself am posting. Predictable)

Dvorak is too busy playing the role of Mr. Cranky as though he's a struggling actor trying to remain in character.  He gets so wound up over trying to appear unbiased, yet he blurts out comments that reveal how much he HATES Microsoft, so this isn't a surprise to anyone that listens to his podcasts, etc.

The registry isn't bad.  It's good.  Stupid vendors writing sloppy code are what ruins the registry.  Like a nice paved highway with crappy cars smacking into the guard rails.  What can you do?

Waethorn,

Two points,

""In short, the registry is fragile "

It isn't actually.  Numerous backups are created, the system also tracks changes with System Restore checkpoints, and it already has NTFS-style security permissions set on many sections.  It's much less fragile than having individual text files for configuration settings."

I don't see why that would be true. Distributed text configuration files mean that one app can NEVER corrupt anything involving other apps. Very robust. There are many programs that clean, or repair the registry, and "windows registry repair, in quotes, returns 179,000 hits. This says to me that there are major issues with the whole registry concept.

Second,

"

"That should happen at program start/stop and at rare (and mostly user initiated) points while the program is running."

That's what happens actually."

If so, then there is no "performance" reason to use something like the registry. Distributed text files, while slower, are perfectly fine, because reading config. files is never the rate limiting step for anything. So, again, why use a centralized system that puts all the eggs in one basket? If there is a reason, aside from legacy of "that's just how it was done", I'm not seeing it.

Well because we all know Apple products are perfect, I've avoided using Apple after my first iPod failed, that is why I don't like them, one product, I like Atari, Nintendo, Sony, and MS with the first Xbox, why because there hard ware runs for a very long time. Especially that Atari 2600

"Distributed text configuration files mean that one app can NEVER corrupt anything involving other apps."

You're kidding right?

Text files not being able to be changed?

LOL!  That's the funniest thing I read all day.

"There are many programs that clean, or repair the registry, and "windows registry repair, in quotes, returns 179,000 hits."

Speaking of which, you should try this program called WinFixer that's found on many websites....

"there is no "performance" reason to use something like the registry"

It's called file fragmentation.  Maybe you've heard of it?

"why use a centralized system that puts all the eggs in one basket?"

Quite simply, because it's easier to manage.  With manageability comes control, security, and yet, better flexibility too.

Why do you think corporations don't use peer-to-peer networks vs. server-domain networks?

"....puts all the eggs in one basket"

How much control do you have when it's many baskets, each with a different carrier?

"The registry works but isn't secure against problematic programs.  How do you mitigate application permissions to certain sections of the registry then?  Any ideas?

My suggestion is to require that application developers have digitally signed applications to write to the system registry.  This would alleviate a LOT of problems, because it costs an extra expense for digital code-signing certificates, and only validated developers would commit to the extra expense.

If you separate critical sections with tighter write-access security (maybe a tiered system for digital certificate rights requiring a larger investment by the developer) from user-mode sections that "everyday" applications would have access to, you could still allow applications with read-access to certain system-level shared sections.

It also adds to the complexity of the system registry, but I think it would solve a lot of issues.  If developers don't want to, or can't be bothered to digitally sign their applications, they can go back to using text-based config files instead."

Just what I've been trying to say. Text-based config files are fine (on OSX they're called .plist files, and are readable, and editable in any text editor).

The "blisteringly fast" registry is an answer to a nonexistent problem. Failure resistance is much more important than "fast" in this case.

"Paul’s write right to hammer Dvorak for suggesting otherwise. I like Dvorak, he’s funny, but he’s going to risk losing relevance if he doesn’t find some genius with the technical chops to help him keep from looking like an ass."

Paul has no more "technical chops" on this than Dvorak; it's the biased criticizing the cranky, with plenty of sound and fury (I did like the Macbeth quote!), but not much else.

"Text-based config files are fine (on OSX they're called .plist files, and are readable, and editable in any text editor).  The "blisteringly fast" registry is an answer to a nonexistent problem. Failure resistance is much more important than "fast" in this case."

It figures you would use an OS X example of completely insecure method as an answer to security.

Paul, your numbers are far too optimistic. Under current economic conditions where big business is focusing (laser beam style) on their bottom line it is unlikely win7 will see heavy adoption within your 30month time frame.

Lketchum, WOW what a post! Your significant use of sophistry would quality you as propaganda minister for M$. Most of the changes to Win Registry in Vista/Win7 is primarily to allow legacy applications functionality and to rein in poorly written applications that write user data to a read-only system location (such as the HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE hive) can be redirected to a more appropriate location, without changing the application itself.

Pragmatic registry solutions? Yes.

Practical solutions? No. Still too many avenues for malware to hide.

Lketchum stands in front of a mirror, with classical music playing in the background, rehearsing his posts, like he is Shakespeare.

"Over 80 percent of IT pros plans to upgrade to Windows 7 within 30 months"

WTF does that mean?  Specifically "IT Pros".  Nothing.  Its a statement that allows Microshaft to say they achieved it at some point before 30 months.

I could say that 80% of ***, whale watching, subway eating, Mustang drivers use Ubuntu as their preferred OS.  How could you prove me wrong?

This blog is a joke, but hey thanks for the laughs.

"This blog is a joke, but hey thanks for the laughs."

People who say these things are always amusing...mostly because they usually come from people like Lindy who continually visit and seemingly spend a fair amount of time regularly posting.

"It figures you would use an OS X example of completely insecure method as an answer to security."

First, I wasn't commenting on security. I was talking about reliability to accidental damage by authorized users, ie, the "developer misuse" issue. However.....

Tell you what, I'll email you the .plist file for, oh, how about Safari. You do anything you like with the file and email it back to me. I'll overwrite the safari.plist file with whatever you send and run Safari. We'll see what happens.

What will happen is NOTHING. Safari may crash, hang, run wrong, but that's it.

As Paul has mentioned during his podcasts with Leo on Windows Weekly Dvorak is someone who throws a hand grenade into a room then sits back watching everyone's reaction. Its more of the same type of sensationalist stuff he has been writing for years.The windows registry is an unwieldy beast and has become that way partly due to poorly written software apps and wil probably remain that way until there is a viable replacement.

Oy. This is getting silly, but....

""Distributed text configuration files mean that one app can NEVER corrupt anything involving other apps."

You're kidding right?

Text files not being able to be changed?"

Of COURSE they can be changed. Jeez, a preferences file has GOT to be changed, by definition. But you put the prefs for program A in one file and those for program B in another. That way, program A's screw up can't change the separate prefs file for program B. I know you aren't this obtuse, so don't pretend otherwise.

"there is no "performance" reason to use something like the registry"

It's called file fragmentation.  Maybe you've heard of it?

Yes, dear, I've heard of it, while you were most likely in grade school. Now, can we talk substance? The file fragmentation point is irrelevant because (1) the pref files are only rarely read/written, so the speed is essentially irrelevant, (2) small ASCII files often fit on one sector/track on the disk, so they don't get fragmented anyway. That's actually another advantage of the separate files; they don't grow huge like the registry where fragmentation COULD be an issue. (I don't think it is, much, but it could be because the file can become arbitrarily large.)

"why use a centralized system that puts all the eggs in one basket?"

"Quite simply, because it's easier to manage.  With manageability comes control, security, and yet, better flexibility too."

And, as many have pointed out, easier to mis-manage, too. If that happens, you can lose settings for everything, including system stuff.

"Why do you think corporations don't use peer-to-peer networks vs. server-domain networks?"

Strawman false analogy that has nothing to do with what we are discussing.

And, last word from me (to much applause, no doubt), Dvorak is a blowhard and hit troll. However, he's right about the problems with the registry. However, I agree that this has essentially nothing to do with Windows7's success or failure in the marketplace.

The registry itself has nothing wrong with it, it's when developers get lazy and dump all their garbage in there, then don't have the entries removed when their program is uninstalled.

The registry will only be downfall of Windows if developers continue to be lazy and if people like Dvorak keep blaming it for everything.  The general public doesn't know what the registry really does, just that there are a lot of registry cleaner ads on various websites (most of which turn out to be spyware).  Soon they will begin to dislike it because of bad journalism and simple ignorance, which will turn them away.

However, I must agree that the registry is terribly cluttered, there's got to be some way to clean it up a bit.

"What will happen is NOTHING. Safari may crash, hang, run wrong, but that's it."

Lol. That doesn't sound like NOTHING to me... Looks like you just proved his point... Good job. Fail.

"What will happen is NOTHING. Safari may crash, hang, run wrong, but that's it."

Lol. That doesn't sound like NOTHING to me... Looks like you just proved his point... Good job. Fail."

Ah, me, reading comprehension issues. OF COURSE a single application may behave strangely if you deliberately mangle the prefs file for that single application.

Now, mangle the registry file in a similar way? What happens? The whole f-ing system crashes.

That is the difference.

You guys are in denial. Stockholm syndrome.

"And, last word from me (to much applause, no doubt).."

Guess not... You must keep defending your favorite corporation!!

"Ah, me, reading comprehension issues. OF COURSE a single application may behave strangely if you deliberately mangle the prefs file for that single application."

So your point is...? Looks like you proved that if you write over files in OSX things will stop working. Then you say the same will happen in Windows...

I just deleted a few keys from the registry. My system didn't crash.

Fail again. Go get a job.

In reply to my own post :"BTw, while we're at Win7 - shouldn't it be on MSDN/TechNet for the "chosen partners"? I guess my company isn't in the right "partner" category, despite being an ISV :/"

All I can say is... IT IS HERE FINALY! ALL OF THEM! ME DOWNLOADING! :D

Ahh.. you Borgtards are such thoughtless sheep: mossblog.allthingsd.com/.../deciphering-windows-7-upgrades-the-official-chart

Such a simple chart to explain how to upgrade! mossblog.allthingsd.com/.../windows-upgrade-chart.png

Upgrade for OS X? Install Snow Leopard. That simple!

<to myself>: Don't feed the trolls, don't feed the trolls...don't...

Pingback from  Paul Thurrott and The Windows (Propaganda) Supersite ~ Revelations From An Unwashed Brain

Pingback from  What is Happening to Windows 7? | The Software Nook