Will Bill Gates be Mother Nature’s Next Enemy?

 We all know that Vista is excruciatingly demanding on PC specs. And the problem is, it will probably work best when purchased in a bundle with a Vista-compatible PC. But what will it do to all the other non-Vista compatible PCs?

Here are interesting clippings from Softchoice’s white paper on the possible effects of Vista to the environment. According to their survey:

• 50% are unable to meet basic requirements
• 94% are unable to meet “Premium” requirments
• 41% and 78% of which need RAM ugrades (basic and Premium respectively)
• 12% and 16% of which need CPU replacements (basic and Premium respectively)

These have raised alarms that when push comes to shove and Microsoft forces the market to upgrade by some act of technological “bullying,” a lot of the incompatible machines would be rendered useless.

PC recycling is a grand option. But with the worldwide rollout of Vista, we have to accept the fact that not all countries have effective electronics recycling facilities. Third-world countries who take PC purchasing as larger investmentswould either have to stick to XP, or make the hard decision of letting go of incompatible units and purchase Vista-ready computers.

Thus, the purchasing cycles should be constantly monitored if not policed. While it is good that technology keeps on developing, dominant players must also keep in mind the many other factors that need to be considered.

It’s quite ironic how Microsoft features blue skies, white clouds, and green pastures in Windows ads and images while it is forcing a wide-scale environmental concern. I don’t want to sound like a tree-hugging hippie but haven’t you noticed the differences in climate over the years?