Another Vista News Post

Here are some of the stories making the rounds about Windows Vista.

Newsweek sat down with Bill Gates and asked him about Windows Vista, what he would tell an average user if they asked him why upgrade to Vista, what’s next, and his viewpoint on those apple commercials with the nerdy PC guy and the supposed hip Apple guy.

NEWSWEEK: If one of our readers confronted you in a CompUSA and said, ?Bill, why upgrade to Vista?? what would be your elevator pitch?
Bill Gates: The most effective thing would be if I could sit down with them and just take them through the new look for a couple of minutes, show them the Sidebar, show them the way the search lets you go through lots of things, including lots of photos. Set up a parental control. And then I might edit a high-definition movie and make a little DVD that’s got photos. As I went through, they’d think, ?Wow, is that something I could use, would that make a difference for me?? Source: Finally, Vista Makes Its Debut. Now What?

Apple has released a fix for Windows Vista users who said they could not play songs purchased from iTunes because of permissions errors, the fix is called iTunes Repair Tool for Vista 1.0, you can download it here.

Apple late Thursday posted iTunes Repair Tool for Vista 1.0, a software update that fixes iTunes issues reported by new Windows Vista users. According to widespread reports, music purchased from the iTunes Store could not be played in iTunes on the new Microsoft operating system released this week. Users reported that they received a message saying their computer was not authorized to play the purchased tracks. ?The iTunes Repair Tool for Vista 1.0 will repair permissions for important files required by iTunes to play your iTunes Store purchases,? Apple states in the brief release notes. Source: Apple offers iTunes fix for Vista users

Bill Gates was in Romania and declared that the new Windows Vista could run life support systems in hospitals, with the right amount of administration.

Journalist: Let?s imagine a hospital where life support systems are running Vista. Would you trust it with your life?

Bill Gates: Security has been the top priority for Microsoft for quite some time and that?s why I put out a key call for us to focus on that in a very big way over three years ago, and that?s why we?ve made investments like having people from Gecad ( Romanian company ) join on the security action from Microsoft. The answer to your question is that, absolutely, Vista is the most secure operating system we?ve ever done, and if it?s administered properly, absolutely, it can be used to run a hospital or any kind of mission critical thing. But it?s not as simple as saying ?If you use Vista, that happens automatically?. The issues about patient records and who should be able to see them, the issue about setting up a network, so that authorized people can connect up to that hospital network, the issue about having backup power, so that the computer systems can run even if the generators go down. There are a lot of issues to properly set up that system, so that you have the redundancy and the security walls to make sure it fulfills that very critical function. So we are working with partners to raise their skills to make sure that when get involved in an installation like that they can make it secure. So I feel better about Vista than any other operating system, but there?s a lot of things that need to be done well, and we?re certainly committed to step up and make sure these security issues are easier and better understood. Source: Bill Gates: Vista is so secure it could run life support systems

Of course the first thing you think of is the blue screen of death, and, as that website notes, it could give it an entirely new meaning. I say wait at least until the first service pack later this year.

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