Notes From the Field: OS priced to the max, Radio Shack drops ax

08.09.2006
Three days after sharing a "Pre-Release Candidate 1" version of Vista with 100,000 of its closest friends, Microsoft has let fly the actual Release Candidate 1 (http://weblog.infoworld.com/techwatch/archives/007744.html). Reactions so far range from gushing to guarded. But some folks, including faithful Cringe correspondent David S., couldn't install the pre-release candidate at all. It appears the pre-RC1 build refused to play nicely (http://www.microsoft.com/communities/newsgroups/en-us/default.aspx?dg=microsoft.public.windows.vista.general&tid=95c2d898-d503-4540-9749-7b25ccb3c873&p=1%5d) with certain nVidia GeForce drivers. We're still waiting for Microsoft to tell us whether the driver glitch got fixed in the three days between releases. I predict we'll see more than the usual number of release candidates before the Vista dust settles. Just a hunch.

For a few dollars more: Along with RC1, Microsoft released pricing for its next generation OS. Vista will cost from US$100 to $399, depending on whether you go for original recipe or extra crispy. Apparently Microsoft is on a mission (http://www.infoworld.com/article/06/08/29/HNamazonvista_1.html) to prove that Moore's Law does not apply to operating systems. For your greenbacks you'll get an OS that's faster, more reliable, more secure, and easier to use. Which is, of course, what Microsoft said about XP -- not to mention Windows 2K, 98, 95, and 3.1. The good news: Microsoft is doing its part to help the environment by recycling old press releases.

Shack attack: Radio Shack laid off some 400 people (http://www.cio.com/blog_view.html?CID=24418) via e-mail last week. Canned employees received a message giving them 30 minutes to clean out their desks. Some people felt this was just a tad cold, but it was better than the company's alternative termination plan: douse the axed Shackers in steak sauce and release the Doberman Pinschers.

If you lived here, you'd be fired by now: Meanwhile, Intel is expected to cut more than 10,000 jobs -- and if there is a creator in heaven, the company will start with the folks who dreamed up its "Viiv" marketing strategy. However, I'm told Intel plans to do its layoffs in a kinder, gentler way: by renting billboards along Highway 101 and posting the names of sacked Intellers.

Send your hot tips or layoff e-mails to cringe@infoworld.com, and you may get back a sack for storing your unemployment checks.