After maybe as long as 10 years without a store bought computer, I finally took the plunge and picked up a cheap little PC from Circuit City. With Windows Vista, of course. It's already installed, so it shouldn't be any trouble to just power up and see what Vista is all about. Right? Not so fast.
There are certain things that people seem to like to say about Linux, when compared to Windows:
- Linux is complicated, and Windows is easy.
- You've got to be all technical to use Linux; with Windows, you can just turn it on and it works.
- You don't have to install Windows; Linux means you have to do a big long complicated installation.
So, I figured, why not give it a try? How tough could it be? Here's what I found.
The first thing was that when I booted up the first time, it took some non-trivial amount of time to initialize the system (or something). Not sure exactly how long, but it may have been as little as 10 minutes or as long as 20 (because I walked away after getting tired of waiting). Possibly the PC was initializing the hard drive or something, but whatever. By that time, I needed to power down rather than continue. There was no way to abort the installation process, so I had to do a hard power down.
The first thing to do with the install is to look at the licenses: the install screen referenced a Microsoft web page, so I went there and chose the Home version of Vista to read a pdf file of the EULA (www.windowsvista.com/useterms).
So I started to actually read the terms and conditions. Because I wanted to see just how much easier it is to use Vista than Linux.
The first thing, though, was that Microsoft gives me two choices: either accept all their terms and conditions, or I can "return it to the retailer for a refund or credit".
Before I even get to the main body of the license, I'm thinking, maybe I can just go ahead and install Linux and get a refund on Windows. But the license specifies I have to try to get the refund from the retailer first; if they won't give me joy, Microsoft points me to another web page, North American Retail Product Refund Guidelines.
Now, there, they tell me that I "can easily return any Microsoft retail product* to the retailer from which you purchased it, subject to that retailer's return policy." (emphasis mine)
Did you notice that asterisk there? Microsoft refers to the things they sell as "products" even though, according to the fine print: "* For convenience Microsoft refers to software licenses and hardware as “products” in this policy. Customers actually acquire software licenses from Microsoft, not software."
Got it? You don't buy software from Microsoft, you buy licenses.
Also, Microsoft has a longish list of "products" not eligible for refunds, starting with OEM software pre-loaded on a PC. So, forget that. I continue to the second section of the EULA, "Installation and Use Rights".
So, it turns out that before I can use the software I've got to assign it to one device (PC). OK, I guess that's fair enough. There's more details, and another section of the EULA addresses more of those details, but then I come to #4, "Mandatory Activation".
It turns out I've got to "activate" Vista with Microsoft, which means I've got to allow my PC to send information about the software and the device to Microsoft over the Internet. There's another link to a press office article with more information about Microsoft's Software Protection Platform, "Protecting Software and Consumers from Counterfeiters".
Now, before I get too far, I have to think this over: in order to use the software according to the terms of the license, I must validate it, which means I've either got to permit the software to "phone home" and send some data about my computer and network connection to Microsoft, or call myself and somehow give that same information to Microsoft by telephone--but that might subject me to added charges.
Also, my computer may connect to Microsoft automatically to send that data; and if I don't activate, the system will nag me until I do or until it shuts down altogether as a penalty for not activating. Um, OK.
"Validation" is #5, also, and I'm referred to yet another web page for more information about why I want to do this: Genuine Microsoft Software. Stuff about how important it is to be certain that I'm using genuine Microsoft software, and getting confidence and peace of mind.
And there's another link, which actually links to the same article as before, the press release article about mandatory activation and all the great reasons I should do it. OK, already looked that over.
There's another link in there that points to the Windows Genuine Advantage FAQ just in case I had more questions. OK, I get it.
But that's just distracting me from the last part of this section, which tells me that if during an activation check Microsoft decides I'm not properly licensed, they'll (maybe) turn off some features of the software.
I'm getting worried, but on to #6, titled "Potentially Unwanted Software", and I'm starting to get more worried. Because there's some program called Windows Defender that's going to search my system for " ..."spyware," "adware" and other potentially unwanted software."
That sounds great! Maybe I won't need any antivirus software.... But wait, there's more. If Windows Defender finds "potentially unwanted software" (I've got to use those quotes there, you'll see why in a second), you get the option to ignore, disable or remove it; by default, if Microsoft decides that a particular piece of "potentially unwanted software" poses a "high" or "severe" threat, it will be automatically removed.
Now, the thing is, Microsoft tells me, removing "potentially unwanted software" may cause other software (presumably, "wanted software") to stop working, or it may cause me to break someone else's license.
Oh, and by the way? If I used Windows Defender, I might "also remove or disable software that is not potentially unwanted software."
In other words, if I use Windows Defender I might actually remove software that I want/need. Notice the wording: it's not Windows Defender that's going to remove my own software, it's me that does it.
Next is #7, "Internet-based Services". There's a lot here. For starters, you get pointed to the Windows Vista Privacy Statements page. In the main EULA, they say that Microsoft won't use the information to identify or contact you; in the privacy statement page, they reassure you that:
Except as described in this statement, personal information you provide will not be transferred to third parties without your consent.
And then go on to describe all the ways that they will transfer your information. For example, if they feel like it, if they are obliged to by law or by some legal process, to protect Microsoft's legal rights, or to act in an emergency to protect the safety of Microsoft employees (first), users of Microsoft software/services (second), and members of the public (last).
Oh, and btw? If Microsoft needs to change its privacy policy, it will notify you by "prominently posting" the date of the latest change (or they might contact you directly). So, if you want to know what the policy is, you've got to go check the website every now and then.
There's more in this section, including a pointer to a page about Microsoft's malicious software removal in which I am informed of the malware that the tool will remove automatically. Apparently, none of that malware carries a severity rating of higher than "moderate", which means "Exploitability is mitigated to a significant degree by factors such as default configuration, auditing, or difficulty of exploitation." That, according to yet another page that covers Microsoft's severity rating system, from which we learn that an important vulnerability would be one:
...whose exploitation could result in compromise of the confidentiality, integrity, or availability of users data, or of the integrity or availability of processing resources.
and a critical vulnerability is one:
...whose exploitation could allow the propagation of an Internet worm without user action.
That page about malicious software removal also pointed out (way at the bottom) that Microsoft's tool only removes the listed malware:
Any malicious software that is not listed in this table is not detected and not removed by the tool. To scan for and remove other malicious software, use an up-to-date antivirus product.
And it points me to yet another page, this one, Windows XP Protect Your PC, inexplicably to a microsoft.com/canada/ page about Windows XP Service Pack 2. Looks like I'll have to go and get some anti-virus software after all. I think.
In fact, there's a lot more to this section, including more information about stuff like digital rights management and intellectual property that you need to careful not to infringe.
But the next section, #8, "Scope of License", spells out some more of the details of what you can and can't do. Number 1: Thou shalt "not work around technical limitations in the product".
Anyway, you can keep reading, I couldn't myself. Just skimming, I got to the bottom, at which point I couldn't help but notice that although Microsoft provides a limited warranty, it doesn't really give me much joy: the most I can recover from Microsoft or its resellers is the amount I paid for the software itself. And that's not too likely.
Now, you really should read this section (#25), but one bit says that Microsoft isn't liable for any damages, even if "Microsoft knew or should have known about the possibility of the damages".
So, basically, I'm thinking at this point that there's a lot that I need to know about Vista, and especially anti-virus software, among other things. Somewhere in there I got referred to the Microsoft International Support page, where I discovered things about Vista such as:
- You can't uninstall Vista; if you want to go back to the way things were, you've got to re-install your old OS (e.g., blow off Vista). Sounds a lot like Windows 95, as I recall.
- Not all Windows software will run on Vista. Hm. I guess that's not a problem for me since I have no Windows software at all.
- Here's a nice list of Vista upgrade installation error messages just in case you run into trouble.
- It's probably a good idea to buy some kind of virus scanning software or service, just to be sure.
Oh well. I've spent the better part of a day tracking this stuff down--and to be honest I'm a big skimmer rather than reader--and I still haven't got past the first installation screen on my brand new computer. Frankly, there's a lot information here to digest, and a lot of it is pretty scary.
And kind of a nuisance, since I'll have to open up a shrinkwrap container to get at the Windows product key and enter that in, along with all the rest of the process (whatever that might be).
So, time to pull out the Ubuntu install CD and get to work.
