All good and valid points--the same ones I made here the week Vista was
released and users started screaming about the fact that fax had been moved
to Business and Ultimate and removed from Home.
I got flamed to ashes. Amidst the flames, I did see another side to this. In
many ways, Microsoft's marketers really did blow it on this one. They
exhibited very little understanding of this fax product and its user base.
Specifically:
1. The Microsoft Fax module has always been a very limited fax product with
few features and less than stellar reliability. It has sufficed reasonably
well for the home user who only needs to send an occasional fax and is
willing to put up with its idiosyncrasies. Vista's version has some nice new
features and is somewhat more reliable, but it has hardly reached the level
where I would consider it robust enough for business use where fax merges
and sending to multiple recipients are the norm. Moving it from Home to
Business just made no sense. They moved it away from the users who need it
to the ones who couldn't care less about it.
2. I am a firm subscriber to the caveat emptor principle. But when I tried
to see how well or how clearly documented the fact that Home had no fax and
only Business did, it was disturbingly obscure. I did finally find it in the
fine print, but only because I was expressly looking for it. Sadly, most
users do not research their OS "upgrades" nearly as carefully as they
should. Microsoft has done a very good job of creating a culture in which
casual users just expect that their next OS will not only have all the
features of their current one, but also lots of new features and lots of new
eye candy. It never occurs to them that any feature might suddenly go
missing.
This is, of course, a rhetorical discussion. Nothing will change as a
result. The most we can achieve is to hope that users learn some valuable
lessons and become more circumspect in their rush to upgrade to the latest
OS. Dig beneath the marketing before making that decision. Most will
probably still want the new toy in the end, but at least they'll know what
they're getting--and what they're not.
--
Russ Valentine
[MVP-Outlook]
"Ken Blake, MVP" <kblake@xxxxxx> wrote in message
news:ljfvo31ggmpj0usg819f2iddp6efutp21c@xxxxxx
> On Thu, 17 Jan 2008 08:26:02 -0800, jay sureka
> <jaysureka@xxxxxx> wrote:
>>
>
> He certainly won't see your message here, in this peer-to-peer
> newsgroup. If you'd like to try to contact him directly, I believe his
> E-mail address is billg@xxxxxx.
>
>
>> I feel it is down right cheating that Vista Basic don't have faxing
>> facilities where as all older editions had faxing facilities. >
>
> And I think that's simply nonsense. When you buy a product, whether an
> operating system, a car, or anything else, especially when it comes in
> several different models, it's incumbent upon you to do the research,
> find out what features come with each model, and choose the one that
> meets *your* needs. It sounds to me like you simply failed to do your
> homework, and got the wrong product; that's nobody's fault but your
> own.
>
> The reason that there are several different editions of Vista is so
> each person can choose which feature set he needs. and not have to pay
> for more than he needs. Not everyone needs faxing capability, and
> those that don't need it shouldn't be made to pay for it.
>
> Why don't you write to Mr. Toyota and complain that your Corolla
> doesn't have some feature that my Camry has?
>
>
>> I request that
>> free down load is given to all vista basic buyers >
>
> --
> Ken Blake, Microsoft MVP Windows - Shell/User
> Please Reply to the Newsgroup