This article is more suitable for the local bingo club magazine...

I installed SP1 over a clean install of Vista on a current model Thinkpad. SP1 has solved all of the problems I had with Vista prior to downgrading to XP a few months ago.

After a few days with SP1 and full-time use I fully recommend it--with the caveat of a clean install. No crashes, fast performance, very stable. Vista is now a much better OS than XP, no question.

I have worked with vista on a PC working with athlon XP 2000+ and only 512mb of Ram. its performance was poor but not as much as the others said. considering SP1 and buying more Ram i will fully migrate to vista. vista is much more better than XP.

I think I'm also like your friend... Lost confidence in MS after Vista's release... Planning to switch to a mac. PS. I'm a home user (student infact)...
@George: I installed SP1 on my Dell 1420 and it BSOD'ed... :( never had the guts to try that again... :(

To all the people saying Vista is so much better: Why? What is it about Vista that you prefer? List a few things, please.

I was a Vista user for most of last year. I bought in early to Vista Business and so was plagued with really awful bugs and a lack of drivers for months.

The slight benefits that I saw where the improved explorer interface, better graphics, DirectX10 for games and some improve bundled apps (games, etc).

They are all far out-weighted by the costs: slower performance, UAC pestering me, Explorer crashing over and over again (with some files), the lack of improvement in some apps (burning cds and dvds is as unstable as ever).

So yeah. I got fed up and moved all my machines to Linux. There's still a few issues but when everything's up and running, it's amazing.

Vista SP1 actually improved my experience on my laptop. Most of the fixes for annoying crap like buggy readyboost, annoying remote desktop dialogs and crap power usage were enough for me to upgrade. Unlike others I like UAC because it prevents adobe crapware from infesting startup.

You could lead a horse to water but can't make him drink. Same goes for operating systems. If people want slow running, resource hog, DRM that spys on the user 30 times a second, that cannot run on 75% of the computers in the U.S. and the world. Software that costs more than a mortgage payment (Vista and Office)...well... Who am I to stop their "pleasure"?

Right now I am using Windows XP and Linux on. By next year it will be 25% Windows or less. Wine (lets you run Windows programs on Linux) is going to 1.0 general release in June which will tip the balance further.

And Open Suse and Red Hat has some interesting items in the works and the new release for Ubuntu is about upon us. And in six months yet another dozen or so government agencies will have gone open source.

All this while Vista users will be still be on edge wondering if SP1 is going to crash their system. While Microsoft is going to "supposedly" discontinue Windows XP in three months but yet EePc is planning to have Windows XP Home on its three million computers over the next few years. And while a large portion of the IT world will stick with XP until Windows 7, MSFT will still discontinue Windows XP...

Sounds like a soap opera, I couldn't even dream this stuff up...lol

You are a dumb fuck and a stupid fuckin cunt. so go fuck yourselfs you fuckin microsoft cunt.

In other words, fuck off you cunt.

I must be the outlier - Vista ran well on my not-designed-for-it Dell E1705, and SP1 update (not reinstall) just flies.

What I like about it:

1) Sleep/Hibernate is flawless and fast. Computer comes out of sleep in < 15 seconds.

2) Search. I know I know I can install 3rd party search. But I don't have to.

3) Prefetch and/or SuperFetch start my applications extremely fast. Outlook comes up in 1 second to my profile prompt. When I select a profile, in 1-2 seconds it is ready to go.

This machine is a 1.7 dual core, 2gb, 5400 rpm drive. Modern, but not a racehorse.

4) Wireless (especially with SP1) connects quickly and works great.

5) All my USB devices are working.

I don't experience Explorer crashes and UAC doesn't bother me. I run as a standard user and like knowing when I'm switching to an admin function.

I'm no MS shill and love Linux, but I wonder what the real stats on Vista problems are. Or perhaps I'm just living a charmed life?

I have had no problems with Vista SP1 and was not nervous at all when I was prompted to install and get it working correctly.
I don't understand all the people "afraid" of an update. I actually thought the 3 step process it took was nice and I figured I could roll back if anything wentwrong. No problems at all

Haven't had any problems with Vista at all except for a HP printer driver early on. Other than that it has worked great. A little slower then XP but not by much. SP1 has made networking a little faster and the suspend/wakeup is faster. Still stable. Adobe needs to fix their crap flash plugin to IE so it won't crash the browser. That's the only time it fails.

Yeah, just stay away from SP1. Two failed attempts later (ending in BSOD), I can safely tell you it's not worth it.

I agree with the first commenter though, this article is of a quality that belongs in the local bingo newsletter. Sorry Joe.

This is very interesting! I have enjoyed reading this very insightful post. Very engaging and informative. Thanks for sharing.

This is very interesting! I have enjoyed reading this very insightful post. Very engaging and informative. Thanks for sharing. :)

How can grown educated people get emotional about an operating system. My dozens of applications including the company developed ones run faster on SP1 - go and fight and be rude about the colour of all your pink toys, computers are not toys

Joe,

Why don't you ever write a good article about Microsoft? Your Apple ass kissing yesterday was embarassing

I used to think you were somewhat amusing, now I just think you are an ass.

When I heard ZD was going bankrupt my first thought was that you would finally be gone. Well we can only hope.

As of this I am officially removing your RSS feed from page on Windows Live.

Goodbye.

I bought a Dell Inspiron 530 at WalMart for $800. 2.4Ghz Dual Core CPU, 2GB RAM, 500GB HD, 22" flat panel monitor, Vista Home Premium. I was going to put Kubuntu on it which I had used for almost 2 years. I thought I'd just try Vista to see what all the fuss was about before I wiped it though. I liked using it, and decided to keep it and moved all of my files from Kubuntu. So, I guess I'm a switcher, but I came back to Windows. I had no problems with SP1 on this machine. I don't play games, but everything else I do with Office 2007 and other software flies.

For me so far, Vista has been extremely stable. UAC is no more troublesome than sudo in Debian Linux, and all you have to do is click it and not type your root password which is different than your user password (or should be). To look at memory usage, Kubuntu is just like Vista, it claims and manages as much as it can get. Vista gets bad press for using the same approach though.

I've gone back to using some Windows programs that I used to run in Wine. One, Powertab (a guitar music program), has no Linux peer, and never worked quite right under Wine, but I put up with it. Although I only use it for personal enjoyment and not anything work related I'm glad to have it back. I'm using One Note now too. Kubuntu has something similar, Baskets, but its development has been discontinued. The magic of open source is that anyone who wants can pick that project up and continue it though. I'm not (although I program for a living), but the magic is still there.

Anyways, I could run Linux if I wanted to, and did (other than Kubuntu too). I could buy a Mac if I wanted to, but don't. I like Vista fine and haven't had any of the troubles that I've read about that are associated with it.

Joe, I think you are taking this attitude towards Vista SP1 a bit too far. Of course it will break some apps and some hardware compatibility, there can't be a certain guarantee everything will always work. Even OS X updates will do the same from time, either it will break an applications Extension or Startup Daemon for instance.

So, your one sided approach to this story shows that you are not really understanding how the system works on both sides of the fence. As for Office 2007 and Outlook 2007 crashes, did you ever think to install SP1 for the suite?

Updates such as SP1 are intended to resolve problems that were not possible in the initial release and improve system performance, so your friend can be happy with his system. I remember when XP SP2 broke some apps, but they were resolved with updates (free too). The intelligence of the Windows Update system in Vista also ensures that SP1 is compatible with your system. So if it detects a hardware or app compatibility it will surely withhold the update until the preexisting issues are resolved.

Joe, install SP1 on the systems you mentioned.

Complete Backup and restore of vista takes about 15-20 minutes combined on my machine. Microsoft recommends you do this before and after a major update in case there are problems.

The only time I have ever used the restore was when I switched the primary hard drive on my machine, but I must say I was impressed with how painless the whole process was, so don't be afraid to use it. I also recommend checking the installed products web pages to make sure there are not any known issues.

As for SQL 2005 Express, as long as there are no instances running it shouldn't be eating up any memory. There are a lot of time saving things for small businesses that can be accomplished through office and SQL Express.

Zippy wrote: Yeah, just stay away from SP1. Two failed attempts later (ending in BSOD), I can safely tell you it's not worth it.
--------------

You cannot rightly say "it's not worth it" if you haven't successfully installed it. Only after you get SP1 installed and run the OS for awhile can you make a valid comparison.

So far I've installed SP1 on my cousin's Inspiron 530S desktop (or is it a 510?) and watched my partner install it on his Inspiron E1405. The former is a Vista-from-factory, and the latter is an Vista-upgrade. Both installed fine and continue to run fine.

I too have had no issues with Vista SP1. It is installed on several machines at work and it runs great on all of them -- and they are not anything spectacular as far as hardware goes. I think Ziff Davis editors have some kind of hidden agenda for publishing nonsense like this.

Well, I've installed Vista SP1 (from the full download, not via Windows Update) on two machines and it has worked fine. Both PCs perform better as a result. Therefore, I conclude that anyone who has had a problem insalling SP1 is an incompetent fool and should have their computer taken away from them and replaced with a slate and piece of chalk.

Get a grip. Of course you should take a backup first, but if you are running Vista then you should install SP1. Otherwise bite the bullet and make the swtich to something else.

Joe,

Your analysis here leaves a lot to be desired. You know he really should have 2GB for Vista to get decent performance, but you didn't recommend he upgrade his RAM?

You know Vista SP1 (like any Microsoft Service Pack) is intended to make things work better, yet you won't install it on a system having problems. Do you also only take medicine when you're feeling good?

If your Buddy "loves Microsoft but hates Vista" tell him to install some more RAM so he can give it the chance it deserves. What he's doing now is like trying to read a good book with the wrong prescription eye glasses. The book is fine but his experience is going to fall short.

You're laying a lot of the blame for your friends machines poor performance on Microsoft. Consider blaming some of that on HP for a lousy implementation, loading it up with a lot of junk it doesn't need and selling it with otherwise high end components but insufficient RAM. Your friend maybe can't be expected to know that, but you should.

It's interesting. Everyone knows how the news (like CNN and Fox News) never report about anything good in the world because otherwise they think that they don't have a story. It's just like that. A few people have had issues w/ SP1 (a tiny minority mind you), but it's the only thing getting reported because it's bad news. I mean, who wants to hear that they're SP update worked great (besides me)? It's just like that. Everyone is getting upset b/c a couple people had a few issues, and they're in a panic, so that's all they publish. Too bad you can't post some legit news that actually gives Microsoft some due credit...

Joe, your hesitation to install Vi$ta SP1 is not without merit. Especially on your friends mission critical business computers, or perhaps worse, your wife's machine. No doubt, you would have been in big trouble, instead of Micro$oft, if you had messed that one up.

While I do believe, that for most people SP1 will install correctly, as that is what its intended to do. And the number of people writing in here supports that view, at least the ones that don't work for M$. But it seems like they are a large percentage that are having trouble with this Service Pack.

Angry Vista users vent over SP1 driver issues

computerworld.com/action/article.do?command=viewArticleBasic&taxonomyName=windows&articleId=9070578&taxonomyId=125&intsrc=kc_top

Quote; " The service pack is being withheld from machines containing one or more of the listed drivers, because, as Microsoft put it in a support document, "these device drivers are problematic on Windows Vista-based computers when you update to Windows Vista SP1."

That made an industry analyst wonder about Microsoft's driver-testing process. "When Microsoft said there were problems with drivers, I assumed it was some odd scanner or camera, or an ancient printer or something," said Michael Cherry, analyst at Directions on Microsoft, a Kirkland, Wash.-based research firm. "But then I saw the list. It makes me wonder what's going on with device driver testing.

"Microsoft keeps saying that there's this vast ecosystem of device drivers, but it appears there's a much smaller number of reliable, well-tested drivers. Because if these drivers [on Microsoft's list] were tested, that calls into question the testing process."
--------------------------------------------------
and of course this one;

Windows Vista update plagued by glitches

news.com.au/technology/story/0,25642,23409009-5014239,00.html

Quotes; "MICROSOFT'S first update to the Windows Vista operating system could cause even more problems for some users. Instead of improved performance, the update seems to be causing more headaches for Vista users. Comments on technology websites indicate that some users could not begin the update at all. Others found that their updated systems had more problems than before SP1 was installed.

The Windows Vista SP1 website states that the update will not work if the computer uses particular devices by Intel, Symantec or RealTek AC. Users must first resolve certain software conflicts for these devices before they can begin the update.

It also states that SP1 is not compatible with particular anti-virus programs including ZoneAlarm Security Suite and BitDefender Antivirus.

On the official Windows Vista Team Blog, one user commented that the update used more memory than before.

"Isn't a service pack suppose to fix issues? (I) went from using 650mb ram idle to 1gig... I'll be switching back and a very bleak outlook for ms (Microsoft)."

Another user stated that their computer displayed the "blue screen of death" and crashed shortly into the update."

I've been running Vista Premium on an AMD 64 3000 processor with 1.5 GBs of RAM and a 10K WD Cheetah drive with absolutely no problems. Performance is well worth my $73 academic edition upgrade, given the 2.0 performance scale.

I knew this going in, but I have been bit by the RealTek AC'97 driver issue. My sound works sporatically even though I updated to the latest driver. At this point, I don't have any reason to think this is a MS issue. MS does have its problems in terms of making sure their code is high quality, but 3rd party software, especially drivers, have always been the Achilles Heel of Windows.

Following chips' lead, here is an article that is linked to the one he posted:

www.news.com.au/technology/story/0,25642,23350454-5014108,00.html

Quotes:

"SENIOR Microsoft staff complained about misleading advertising and Windows Vista incompatibility issues in a series of embarrassing emails made public during a court case."

"Microsoft staff also discussed a decision to lower Vista's hardware requirements to encourage sales, with one manager warning the move would result in 'a complete tragedy'."

It's not just the anti-Microsoft rabble on slashdot and Microsoft Watch who complain and bash. It's also Microsoft's own exalted executives.

Even more interesting reading is found in the 158-page PDF file that contains Microsoft emails:

graphics8.nytimes.com/packages/pdf/business/MSFT.pdf

Windows Vista SP1 Flunks Out At Penn
University of Pennsylvania tech staffers are advising faculty and students not to upgrade to the new service pack for Microsoft's Windows Vista operating system.
The school's Information Systems & Computing department said it will support Vista SP1 on new systems where it's preinstalled, but added that it "strongly recommends that all other users adopt a 'wait and see' attitude," according to a newly published department bulletin.

Penn's ISC department advised "continuing to use previous versions of Windows XP and Windows Vista until after the initial bugs in SP1 are identified and fixed."

Vista SP1 users have reported numerous glitches since the operating system became widely available on Tuesday.
http://www.informationweek.com/story/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=206905083&cid=RSSfeed_IWK_Windows
------------
Upgrade to the new service pack for Microsoft's Windows Vista?
Up to you...

I'll just add my comments to the list - After some initial disappointment with Vista's performance on my Dell e1505 (compared to XP), I bravely installed Vista SP1 while on vacation.

To my delight, everything went perfectly. I had none of the reported problems and my laptop which I use regularly for Photoshop, Visual Studio 2005/2008 and Office is running better than ever.

Don't get me wrong - Vista and Microsoft have had some serious bumps in the road, and likely will have more - but this update to SP1 makes me (and my laptop) feel a little bit better.

Joe;

I understand you and your friend's point clearly and I've been away playing with my HP BlackBird 002 for a little while. It came with Vista x86 and I rushed to reformat the drives (Raid) and installed the x64 version with SP1.

I have other machines, such as workstations and laptops. However I must say that Symantec's Ghost 14.0 is heaven-sent in rolling images back and forth from XP SP2 and the public beta of SP3. On several machines of mine, I noticed a remarkable improvement when installing Vista SP1 on these and using them everyday. But as the days turned into weeks, weeks a couple of months, on all three of my machines to include my newest toy -- Vista began degrading. I run Office 2007 SP1 on all my boxes that are Vista and Microsoft. I do not use, nor will I, tools such as Norton SystemWorks, and other registry editors as I found out the hardway that these programs aide greatly into breaking down and making the OS become unstable.

Having said this, and realizing that it is a whole chain of events to poorly written third party drivers, truly uncompatible applications that advertise that they are Vista Ready that not all the blame should be put on Microsoft's shoulders squarely.

I put XP SP3 on my BlackBird and the performance went through the roof. As far as security, I use third party applications such as firewalls, anti-spyware and ant-virus products that has been tried and tested in years of refinment. I really liked some of the features in Vista but it ultimately isn't worth the headache and eventual stability problems.

I thought I might of been able to get away with using Vista on the new machine, and not to mention, the Mrs's new laptop. But again, Vista began to errode.

Vista sounds more like the problems I had with Windows 95. It was very buggy and crashed a lot. Why take a chance with Franken-OS? I do hope MS gets their respective act together.

I'd definitely upgrade my wife's machine first ... if that goes well after a month or so I'd upgrade mine. :)

Partners in Game Says :
"I'd definitely upgrade my wife's machine first ... if that goes well...

@Partners in Game :
The telling factor will be if you still have a wife "after a month." ;)

SP1 hell, server won't even install right. I have tried it on one AMD 5200 and on a 3200 it stops
at the last five percent of the install so server
2008 must be other piece of shit.

SP1 hell, server won't even install right. I have tried it on one AMD 5200 and on a 3200 it stops
at the last five percent of the install so server
2008 must be other piece of shit.

Is it possible to say that Windows 95 had less problems than Vista and Vista SP1?

Everyone with Vista at this company has upgraded to SP1 last week. No problems.

Vista RTM was dissapointing. It's the little things that left users wondering. We began to ask where's our familiar comfortable boot screen image like in XP (now you have to enable it yourself!) The classic GUI on Vista was and still is woeful. Drivers were buggy for a slew of hardware such as Digital TV Cards. Performance was slow compared to XP on a PC with 1Gb of RAM running the same 3.4Ghz CPU. The fancy "Aero" interface is hard on the eyes - just use Windows Explorer and you'll crave for XP's simplicity.

It's as if Microsoft tried too hard on Vista. But all is not lost. SP1 has lots of goodness. Performance has improved on file IO operations and is close to the XP experience. Drivers have improved to the point of being on par with XP.

That said, I'm still using the simplicity that is Windows XP. ;-)

Consumers seem to have had no problem embracing Vista. If businesses aren't careful, they're going to be left behind. Remember, folks, XP's days are numbered--trying to cling to it is like trying to cling to a sinking ship. Either move to Vista, or get out of the Dimdows kitchen. The choice is yours.

Douglas S. Taylor said:
"Having said this, and realizing that it is a whole chain of events to poorly written third party drivers, truly incompatible applications that advertise that they are Vista Ready that not all the blame should be put on Microsoft's shoulders squarely."

Well, we have the following ingredients in the Windows Vista stew:

1. A monopoly with a market cap of about US $250 billion dollars and scant incentive to build quality when it doesn't help the continued growth of the monopoly.

2. Software vendors with razor-thin margins, changing and spotty specs, and hardware designs to protect.

3. Users who demand complex and high-function software for US $49 or less.

These are not the best ingredients for a tasty (read: successful) stew.

The waffled comments in this piece has made the entire article non-news.

"Consumers seem to have had no problem embracing Vista."

Only consumers who have the financial means to purchase new PCs. The rest are continuing to use earlier versions.

"If businesses aren't careful, they're going to be left behind."

Businesses have a hardware life cycle that isn't driven by the latest release of software, but rather by solid business and budgeting guidelines. And these days, most businesses don't have the money to spend on upgrading systems just to run the latest cool operating system.

"Remember, folks, XP's days are numbered"

And even Microsoft can't quite figure out what that number is. Because the market demands software that doesn't require them to raid their bank accounts just to upgrade their hardware to run it.

"Either move to Vista, or get out of the Dimdows kitchen. The choice is yours."

Legions of Apple and Linux users are already way ahead of you, having already followed your advice!

I think I'm also like your friend... Lost confidence in MS after Vista's release... Planning to switch to a mac. PS. I'm a home user (student infact)...
@George: I installed SP1 on my Dell 1420 and it BSOD'ed... :( never had the guts to try that again... :(

Vista SP1 installed beautifully on my machine after which I made a nice clean image of my fresh harddrive using my awesome Vista Business. With a Vista Business - XP Pro dual boot my machine is unstopable. Some laptops might need you to temporarily disable the Flash Cache and the Wi-Fi from the BIOS. If you think that macs won't get blue screens or annoy you, you will be up for a rude awakening. The last one I used froze more than Windows ME, went crazy and ate my slightly scratched CD and I was almost ready to start dropping it on the bed. Why the hell doesn't put an eject button on a cd? A company which even makes nice new computers without a CD/DVD drive in 2008, that's who.
For those having problems with SP1, make sure that you look up and find the 2(3 for Ultimate) prerequisite updates first.