Users Praise, Raze Windows Vista
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We asked, and you responded about your experiences using Windows Vista--the good, the not so good and the really ugly. |
Consensus isn't so good for Microsoft in the short term, but by the end of 2007 the situation should greatly improve. Most users praised Windows Vista's looks, performance and features, but nearly everyone complained about either device driver or applications compatibility problems. Generally, the people using Vista really like what they see in the operating system, but driver and applications problems taint what should have been a really good experience.
"Stability and performance are excellent, although I am running it on a fairly powerful box," said Helgi Páll Helgason, lead developer for Kaupthing Bank. "[I] love Aero and the whole look and feel. My main problem is, perhaps not surprisingly, driver support."
The generally positive Windows Vista response bodes well for the future, when more device drivers are available and more applications are compatible.
"I love Vista and Office 2007," said Chuck Kemp, who works as a Microsoft software specialist for Dell. "I have only found one device that does not work at all, and it is not that important to me at this time. Overall, [Vista] is great and getting better."
Kemp started using computers around 1980, first a Tandy TRS-80. He mostly used Linux until Microsoft released Windows XP Beta 2, more than five years ago.
Breaking Down the Reaction
User satisfaction falls into four broad categories:
- Aero user interface
- Performance
- Stability
- Desktop accessible features like Sidebar and search
User dissatisfaction falls into five broad categories:
- Hefty hardware requirements
- Missing device drivers
- Incompatible applications
- Confusion caused by user interface and feature location changes
- User impact of security changes
The Good
Jon Hibbins, a software development manager living in Gatwick, UK, is a "power user at work," where he doesn't yet have Vista. Hibbins installed Windows Vista Ultimate on his primary home PC about a month ago. The operating system "works perfectly, so much so I have moved all my images and pics from my Mac to my PC." Hibbins praised the overall built-in feature set, singling out the sidebar and search, which he described as "very good."
"I have to say that overall, I'm quite impressed with it," said Chris Martindale, a developer with Interactive Business Systems, in Oak Brook, Illinois. I haven't had a single crash or issue with it."
Martindale runs Windows Vista Ultimate on a laptop with 2.2GHz AMD Turion 64 processor, 2GB RAM, 128MB graphics accelerator and 100GB hard drive.
While some respondents grumbled about Vista's hardware requirements, Kemp praised Microsoft's approach. Windows Vista curtails features for lesser hardware, but also opens up the engine to accommodate heftier configurations.
"What I like the best is that Vista knows how to fully use the hardware," said Kemp, who runs Windows Vista Ultimate on a Dell Dimension PC with 1.67GHz dual-core processor and 2GB of RAM.
"The approach to the UI is great," said Amin Adatia, a technical user living in Ottawa, Canada. Adatia, who also praised Office 2007, has used computers since 1973 and has built his own systems for the last 10 years.
While Microsoft generally touts improved security as one of Windows Vista's most important capabilities, virtually none of the people praising the operating system called out security as a benefit.
The Not So Good
Many users expressing some dissatisfaction with Windows Vista called out holes that diminished the overall experience.
Shad Collins, director of Information Technology for Bojangles Restaurants, expressed a common frustration about Windows Vista testing: "We are evaluating Vista for corporate deployment. There are enough issues with this OS that we can't even do a limited deployment. Even on decent equipment (3GHz with 1GB RAM), it runs slow. [Windows Vista] uses a huge amount of RAM."
Bojangles is testing Windows Vista on several 64-bit workstations. "By the time the user can log in, the system is using over a gig of RAM," Collins added.
Kevin Prowell, network manager for a health care provider in Baltimore, Md., described fairly common problems with hardware drivers. After upgrading Windows XP Media Center to Windows Vista Ultimate, several devices, including the Creative sound card and WebCam and NetGear Wi-Fi card, stopped working.
"It's not [Windows] NT 4 hidden under a pretty shell is it?" Prowell asked. "Heck, the new version of Media Center says that I don't have a TV tuner installed, yet I watch TV via [Hauppauge] WinTV 2000 regularly. Don't get me wrong, I'm not a Microsoft basher. I'm just very disappointed that after five years of waiting, I ended up installing a downgrade."
Matt Wilson, owner of Accent Computing in Georgetown, Texas, is stumped by applications support, mainly PhatNotes 4.7.2 for Pocket PC and Cisco VPN client. "I must have Cisco VPN working since I do a lot of work for my day job remotely," he said. "Other than that, I'm ready!"
The Really Ugly
Collins and Charles Wiltgen, founder of a California-based stealth startup, expressed frustration about Windows Vista's UAC (User Account Control).
The new feature more finely demarcates user rights and generates security pop-ups for numerous Windows Vista controls. During testing, Microsoft repeatedly reduced the number of UAC warnings, but not enough for Wiltgen, who described the user experience as "frustrating."
Collins was also exasperated. "The limited access that [Windows Vista] has the users operate under is a nice concept," but the UAC notifications have "a tendency to nag you to death when doing an install or running a non-signed application."
"The absolute worst feature is User Account Control," said Chris Carrier, who is an application manager for an Illinois company that he asked not be identified.
As a "technical person," Carrier understands UAC but expressed frustration that common tasks are "interrupted and slowed down by UAC. I know that my mother-in-law won't understand how to use it, and so I won't recommend the new OS for a while."
Windows Vista's new user-rights mechanism also can lead some application installers to fail. Problems can occur when the installer looks for administrator privileges that aren't there; Windows Vista runs all users in a standard mode.
For Spencer Chapin, owner of Western Wildlife Images in Loveland, Colo., software installation failure is a Vista deal breaker.
"I will not install it on my main computers," said Chapin, who has found applications "that do not install properly. These are not old versions but the latest versions. I have had problems upgrading from one version to another to get different features to work properly."
Other than UAC or hardware requirements, few users griped about Windows Vista as a core product. Again, when Vista failed to satisfy, interaction with hardware and software typically soured the experience. Still, early user reaction suggests Windows Vista will start off on a rough road before the view opens up.
"For most people, Vista lives up to its name as a 'distant view or prospect,' and for the vast majority of users the leap to Vista should be 'wait until '08,'" Wiltgen said.
Comments (17)
I agree that UAC has a nearly fatal defect: there is no actual LOGIN to UserIDs with admin rights, so it nags, and nags, and nags.... it's time consuming and just plain INFURIATING.
If you're a person supporting it, you just can't get your work done efficiently. Ubuntu Linux, as distributed, has the same problem: it's "safer" for home users, by a business administrator needs to have a simple way to login with 'root' privileges to do his/her work and then log out.
The missing Drivers will certainly be addressed pretty quickly, and the hardware requirements will be less costly in the near future. But the lack of support for software which needs to be installed as 'root', and (even more so!) now-unmaintained but business-critical software which needs to RUN with root privileges, is really a show-stopper.
A lot of people are gonna keep XP for these applications, because it is often too EXPENSIVE and RISKY to modify admin-rights Software in fundamental ways. It would be beneficial for Users if MS provided support for admin logins in their upcoming Service Pack-- but of course, this might not be beneficial for Microsoft: Vista being run with admin privs on a regular basis would expose it to a lot of stuff which Microsoft won't have to worry about supporting under the current design.
Microsoft's best interest might NOT align with the interests of many Enterprise Customers in this area. And obviously, Microsoft WINS any such conflict-- unlike Linux or BSD, they own the Windows OS Software and you don't have rights to change it and your changed version for your own needs.
So XP is gonna be around for a REALLY long time, and I think that's unfortunate.
Posted by Rick Stockton | December 21, 2006 5:19 PM
add to User dissatisfaction section
1) Cost
2) Security
3) DRM
4) genuine disadvantage
Posted by Moving2Mac | December 21, 2006 7:09 PM
UAC can be disabled. Then you have the same behaviour as with XP. Allegedly, you can disable just the nerving UAC-Dialog with a policy.
I haven't installed Vista yet, but I will in the next days. Disabling UAC will be one of my first actions...
Posted by Harald | December 22, 2006 2:23 AM
Joe - Many your articles have reader comments stating the CISCO VPN client does not work with Vista.
I also use the CISCO VPN client for work and you should let your readers know that for at least the last month CISCO have a beta client available that has worked perfectly for me on VISTA RTM. You need a valid login to the CISCO web site to download it - but any organization using CISCO VPN should have this login. The particular version I am using is VPN Client Version 4.8.01.0590 and it works perfectly on VISTA.
I have been running Gold/RTM for 6 weeks now on a laptop with 1.3 GB RAM and 1.1 GHZ processor (Ultra Mobile) and it runs super well. Certainly a big improvement on XP. I love the security features in Vista.
Also, it might be worth you doing another article explaining that UAC is there to protect you when some other software does something that requires admin rights (ie Spyware, etc). Most users think of it as just an annoying second prompt.
Posted by David Taylor | December 22, 2006 7:32 AM
VISTA LOVE. INTEL HELL!!!!
IN APRIL 06 OBTAINED INTEL D975XBX MB, MEMORY 4 GB,LEADTEK 7800GTX, HITACHI SATA HDD,2 250 GB.
ALL GOOD STUFF!!!
STARTED WITH VISTA BETA 5306 TRU RTM. NOT TOO MUCH PROBLEMS. I HAD 5 BIOS UPDATES ON MB!!!*******TROUBLE****
ON BOOTING THE FIRMWARE WOULD STALL. WOULD HAVE TO POWER OFF REBOOT!!!
AT THE BEGINING THE INTEL BANNER WOULD BE ON SCREEN FOR 1.5 MINUTES . I CONTACTED INTEL SUPPORT. THEY SAID SORRY, NO FAST BOOT!!!
NEXT PROBLEM WAS HANGS ON DVD-ROM WITH NO DVD IN TRAY!!!IT WOULD HANG FOREVER.FIX, PUT A DVD IN
THE TRAY!!!
DVD-ROM ON IDE INTERFACE.HAD TO REMOVE DVD FROM IDE INTERFACE. COULD NOT LOAD VISTA TO SATA HDD'S!!
PUT DVD ON USB2 TO LOAD VISTA. NO WORK!!!I SUSPENDED THIS OP.
BIOS CHANGE LEVEL 1159,DVD HANG WENT TO 1.5 MINUTE WITH NO DVD IN TRAY!!
*******BIOS LEVEL 1378********
********DISASTER*******
WIPED OUT MY MB, COULD NOT DO A THING!!!!
SENT EMAIL TO SUPPORT. THEY CAME BACK WITH 26 STEPS TO DO LIST, GET OUT OF MY FACE YOU DUMMY!!!
I DID NONE OF IT. TOLD THEM BIOS UPDATE BAD!!!
A WEEK LATER LEVEL 1378 WAS PULLED FROM INTEL DOWNLOAD SITE!!!!WENT BACK TO 1159 BIOS LEVEL.
IN THE INTERM, I PURCHASED TWO DVD BURNERS, SATA BRIDGE BOADS TO CONVERT IDE TO SATA INTERFACE!
PUT DVDS ON INTEL MATRIX PORTS.
NOW I CAN LOAD SYSTEMS. SATA HDD DRIVE RUNS TO FAST FOR DVD ON IDE INTERFACE, USB2 AND FIREWIRE!! HOW ABOUT THAT SPORT FANS?????
THIS BOARD COMES WITH SILICON AND INTEL MATRIX RAID ARRAYS.DVD BURNER WOULD NOT WORK ON SILICON RAID!! TWO BURNERS ON INTEL MATRIX WORK OK!!
DRIVERS FOR SILICON DOWN LEVEL.
MS VISTA ASSURANCE PROGRAM SAID RAID ARRAY DRIVERS WEAK!!INTERESTING!!!
MY RIGG NOW HAS FIVE OS'S INSTALLED TWO XP,THREE VISTA.
*********BIOS LEVEL 1441********
OPERATION WIPE OUT!!!!
ON SEVERAL COLD BOOTS ERROR MESSAGE NTLDR MISSING!!OHHHHHH!!!!
POWER OFF REBOOT OK. STRANGE!!
THEN IT HAPPENED NO RECOVERY AT ALL.
USED VISTA FIX PROGRAM. WORKED, GOT BACK BOOT MENU.
WELL IT HAPPENED AGAIN. COLD BOOT NTLDR MISSING!!!
NO RECOVERY. LOST ALL SYSTEMS. THE MICROCODE IN THE BIOS WENT CRAZY!! INTEL BANNER CAME ON SCREEN AND WAS FROZEN.PULLED BATTERY FROM BOARD TO RESET BIOS,BATTERY 45 MIMUTES OUT OF BOARD PER INTEL!!!
HAD TO RELOAD XP, VISTA. APPEARED TO BE STABLE AFTER THAT.VIRUS IN BIOS. I DO NOT THINK SO!!!
THIS WAS AT VISTA RTM RELEASE!
SHORTLY AFTER 1441 WAS RELEASED,TWO WEEKS 1463
BIOS LEVEL RELEASED.
CODE ON MB APPEARS TO BE STABLE NOW.
I WENT TO INTEL-MS READY2ROCK AFFAIR.THE INTEL REP WAS NOT INTERESTED IN MY TAIL. MS REP ,WELL THATS INTEL'S PROBLEM!!!!
I DO NOT HAVE GOLD OR GOLD MASTER FOR VISTA.
ALL I CAN SAY IS VISTA LOVE, INTEL HELL!!!!
SEE YOU IN THE FUNNIES!!!!!
Posted by RG | December 22, 2006 8:11 AM
VISTA LOVE. INTEL HELL!!!!
IN APRIL 06 OBTAINED INTEL D975XBX MB, MEMORY 4 GB,LEADTEK 7800GTX, HITACHI SATA HDD,2 250 GB.
ALL GOOD STUFF!!!
STARTED WITH VISTA BETA 5306 TRU RTM. NOT TOO MUCH PROBLEMS. I HAD 5 BIOS UPDATES ON MB!!!*******TROUBLE****
ON BOOTING THE FIRMWARE WOULD STALL. WOULD HAVE TO POWER OFF REBOOT!!!
AT THE BEGINING THE INTEL BANNER WOULD BE ON SCREEN FOR 1.5 MINUTES . I CONTACTED INTEL SUPPORT. THEY SAID SORRY, NO FAST BOOT!!!
NEXT PROBLEM WAS HANGS ON DVD-ROM WITH NO DVD IN TRAY!!!IT WOULD HANG FOREVER.FIX, PUT A DVD IN
THE TRAY!!!
DVD-ROM ON IDE INTERFACE.HAD TO REMOVE DVD FROM IDE INTERFACE. COULD NOT LOAD VISTA TO SATA HDD'S!!
PUT DVD ON USB2 TO LOAD VISTA. NO WORK!!!I SUSPENDED THIS OP.
BIOS CHANGE LEVEL 1159,DVD HANG WENT TO 1.5 MINUTE WITH NO DVD IN TRAY!!
*******BIOS LEVEL 1378********
********DISASTER*******
WIPED OUT MY MB, COULD NOT DO A THING!!!!
SENT EMAIL TO SUPPORT. THEY CAME BACK WITH 26 STEPS TO DO LIST, GET OUT OF MY FACE YOU DUMMY!!!
I DID NONE OF IT. TOLD THEM BIOS UPDATE BAD!!!
A WEEK LATER LEVEL 1378 WAS PULLED FROM INTEL DOWNLOAD SITE!!!!WENT BACK TO 1159 BIOS LEVEL.
IN THE INTERM, I PURCHASED TWO DVD BURNERS, SATA BRIDGE BOADS TO CONVERT IDE TO SATA INTERFACE!
PUT DVDS ON INTEL MATRIX PORTS.
NOW I CAN LOAD SYSTEMS. SATA HDD DRIVE RUNS TO FAST FOR DVD ON IDE INTERFACE, USB2 AND FIREWIRE!! HOW ABOUT THAT SPORT FANS?????
THIS BOARD COMES WITH SILICON AND INTEL MATRIX RAID ARRAYS.DVD BURNER WOULD NOT WORK ON SILICON RAID!! TWO BURNERS ON INTEL MATRIX WORK OK!!
DRIVERS FOR SILICON DOWN LEVEL.
MS VISTA ASSURANCE PROGRAM SAID RAID ARRAY DRIVERS WEAK!!INTERESTING!!!
MY RIGG NOW HAS FIVE OS'S INSTALLED TWO XP,THREE VISTA.
*********BIOS LEVEL 1441********
OPERATION WIPE OUT!!!!
ON SEVERAL COLD BOOTS ERROR MESSAGE NTLDR MISSING!!OHHHHHH!!!!
POWER OFF REBOOT OK. STRANGE!!
THEN IT HAPPENED NO RECOVERY AT ALL.
USED VISTA FIX PROGRAM. WORKED, GOT BACK BOOT MENU.
WELL IT HAPPENED AGAIN. COLD BOOT NTLDR MISSING!!!
NO RECOVERY. LOST ALL SYSTEMS. THE MICROCODE IN THE BIOS WENT CRAZY!! INTEL BANNER CAME ON SCREEN AND WAS FROZEN.PULLED BATTERY FROM BOARD TO RESET BIOS,BATTERY 45 MIMUTES OUT OF BOARD PER INTEL!!!
HAD TO RELOAD XP, VISTA. APPEARED TO BE STABLE AFTER THAT.VIRUS IN BIOS. I DO NOT THINK SO!!!
THIS WAS AT VISTA RTM RELEASE!
SHORTLY AFTER 1441 WAS RELEASED,TWO WEEKS 1463
BIOS LEVEL RELEASED.
CODE ON MB APPEARS TO BE STABLE NOW.
I WENT TO INTEL-MS READY2ROCK AFFAIR.THE INTEL REP WAS NOT INTERESTED IN MY TAIL. MS REP ,WELL THATS INTEL'S PROBLEM!!!!
I DO NOT HAVE GOLD OR GOLD MASTER FOR VISTA.
ALL I CAN SAY IS VISTA LOVE, INTEL HELL!!!!
SEE YOU IN THE FUNNIES!!!!!
Posted by RG | December 22, 2006 8:12 AM
VISTA LOVE. INTEL HELL!!!!
IN APRIL 06 OBTAINED INTEL D975XBX MB, MEMORY 4 GB,LEADTEK 7800GTX, HITACHI SATA HDD,2 250 GB.
ALL GOOD STUFF!!!
STARTED WITH VISTA BETA 5306 TRU RTM. NOT TOO MUCH PROBLEMS. I HAD 5 BIOS UPDATES ON MB!!!*******TROUBLE****
ON BOOTING THE FIRMWARE WOULD STALL. WOULD HAVE TO POWER OFF REBOOT!!!
AT THE BEGINING THE INTEL BANNER WOULD BE ON SCREEN FOR 1.5 MINUTES . I CONTACTED INTEL SUPPORT. THEY SAID SORRY, NO FAST BOOT!!!
NEXT PROBLEM WAS HANGS ON DVD-ROM WITH NO DVD IN TRAY!!!IT WOULD HANG FOREVER.FIX, PUT A DVD IN
THE TRAY!!!
DVD-ROM ON IDE INTERFACE.HAD TO REMOVE DVD FROM IDE INTERFACE. COULD NOT LOAD VISTA TO SATA HDD'S!!
PUT DVD ON USB2 TO LOAD VISTA. NO WORK!!!I SUSPENDED THIS OP.
BIOS CHANGE LEVEL 1159,DVD HANG WENT TO 1.5 MINUTE WITH NO DVD IN TRAY!!
*******BIOS LEVEL 1378********
********DISASTER*******
WIPED OUT MY MB, COULD NOT DO A THING!!!!
SENT EMAIL TO SUPPORT. THEY CAME BACK WITH 26 STEPS TO DO LIST, GET OUT OF MY FACE YOU DUMMY!!!
I DID NONE OF IT. TOLD THEM BIOS UPDATE BAD!!!
A WEEK LATER LEVEL 1378 WAS PULLED FROM INTEL DOWNLOAD SITE!!!!WENT BACK TO 1159 BIOS LEVEL.
IN THE INTERM, I PURCHASED TWO DVD BURNERS, SATA BRIDGE BOADS TO CONVERT IDE TO SATA INTERFACE!
PUT DVDS ON INTEL MATRIX PORTS.
NOW I CAN LOAD SYSTEMS. SATA HDD DRIVE RUNS TO FAST FOR DVD ON IDE INTERFACE, USB2 AND FIREWIRE!! HOW ABOUT THAT SPORT FANS?????
THIS BOARD COMES WITH SILICON AND INTEL MATRIX RAID ARRAYS.DVD BURNER WOULD NOT WORK ON SILICON RAID!! TWO BURNERS ON INTEL MATRIX WORK OK!!
DRIVERS FOR SILICON DOWN LEVEL.
MS VISTA ASSURANCE PROGRAM SAID RAID ARRAY DRIVERS WEAK!!INTERESTING!!!
MY RIGG NOW HAS FIVE OS'S INSTALLED TWO XP,THREE VISTA.
*********BIOS LEVEL 1441********
OPERATION WIPE OUT!!!!
ON SEVERAL COLD BOOTS ERROR MESSAGE NTLDR MISSING!!OHHHHHH!!!!
POWER OFF REBOOT OK. STRANGE!!
THEN IT HAPPENED NO RECOVERY AT ALL.
USED VISTA FIX PROGRAM. WORKED, GOT BACK BOOT MENU.
WELL IT HAPPENED AGAIN. COLD BOOT NTLDR MISSING!!!
NO RECOVERY. LOST ALL SYSTEMS. THE MICROCODE IN THE BIOS WENT CRAZY!! INTEL BANNER CAME ON SCREEN AND WAS FROZEN.PULLED BATTERY FROM BOARD TO RESET BIOS,BATTERY 45 MIMUTES OUT OF BOARD PER INTEL!!!
HAD TO RELOAD XP, VISTA. APPEARED TO BE STABLE AFTER THAT.VIRUS IN BIOS. I DO NOT THINK SO!!!
THIS WAS AT VISTA RTM RELEASE!
SHORTLY AFTER 1441 WAS RELEASED,TWO WEEKS 1463
BIOS LEVEL RELEASED.
CODE ON MB APPEARS TO BE STABLE NOW.
I WENT TO INTEL-MS READY2ROCK AFFAIR.THE INTEL REP WAS NOT INTERESTED IN MY TAIL. MS REP ,WELL THATS INTEL'S PROBLEM!!!!
I DO NOT HAVE GOLD OR GOLD MASTER FOR VISTA.
ALL I CAN SAY IS VISTA LOVE, INTEL HELL!!!!
SEE YOU IN THE FUNNIES!!!!!
Posted by RG | December 22, 2006 8:14 AM
So, let's see. Move to Vista for the security features, and then disable UAC.
Or, let's see. you could stay with XP and give ME the $$ you were just going to throw away.
Note on Ubuntu and its version of UAC:
Not NEARLY as irritating as Vista, from experience. At least in Ubuntu, once you've installed the app, you don't have to keep acquiring user rights to run it. (Usually, unless it's an admin app). And, it remembers your user/password for a given time period so you don't have to keep entering the same info.
Posted by KC | December 22, 2006 8:40 AM
Harald, you are correct. I had a problem with DRM'd media from a certain unnamed company not working. I launched gpedit.msc, and dug around in the security node, and modified settings to put UAC to sleep...didn't fix my problem, but I know some new group policies now.
UAC is new to us Windows users, and will take some getting used too.
However, I for one don't find it UAC annoying. I find it no more annoying than UNIX/Linux requirig root privileges for doing 'serious' stuff like installing apps, or changing network settings.
Posted by Darrick | December 22, 2006 9:41 AM
I plan to avoid Vista as long as possible. I don't intend to aid Microsoft's vendor lock-in plans for media or file formats unless I absolutely have to. To that end I have been training myself on Linux desktops (primarily Ubuntu) for the last year, and I found out (to my surprise) that the Linux zealots are largely correct - there's hardly anything you can do in Windows that doesn't have an analogue for Linux. Linux has become my main desktop OS.
Posted by dwasifar | December 22, 2006 6:34 PM
One of the key frustrations we have with UAC is that it continues to prompt every time you run an unsigned DotNet application.
There needs to be a way to put it on an authorized list of applications as an admin and not have it prompt again at execution.
Posted by Shad Collins | December 23, 2006 10:35 PM
Joe;
Whatta know, a good article...
I wrote in times past about Vista and my so called testing with the latest version known of the "Business" version. I would also like to add, as the CEO of my small I.T. Business, I have been telling my clients, both the home user, and the business clients to wait on Vista. Right now, I have to agree, Vista with its eye-candy is a "downgrade." Not just a downgrade on PC performance and stability sake, but also on personal control of your PC. Since XP I've seen Microsoft gain control of one's PC with DRM and other underhanded tactics in comparision to earlier versions.
For me, XP Professional is a good balance of operability, stability, and performance. I see no reason why I should recommend to anyone including the family pooch to upgrade to Vista. I am waiting to see what SP-3 for XP holds, and who knows, if everyone who is in the business like I am are going to hold off until Vista releases a Service Pack, and I am figuring the first Service Pack for Vista will be released in late July or Early August 2007. By November, 2007 anyone buying Vista will have SP-1 included in the Installation Disk. Having guessed and said this, I'll wait and see what happens by December 2007 and re-evaluate the situation.
I also think that DirectX 10 should be revisited for XP machines. I think that if the general public and business "sober up" from the MS Dog and Pony Show, (it seems that business is really sober enough about this to wait) It may force MS's hand to make Direct X 10 ready for the XP Platform -- But this would mean less money in MS Coffer's pockets and this would mean a first I suppose.
Merry Christmas Everyone!!!
Posted by Douglas S. Taylor | December 25, 2006 11:25 AM
Let's see here. How best to describe Vista? Perhaps a Simpsons quote. So far the OS has produced nothing but "angry yawns" from all the techs I have discussed it with. We are all unimpressed with the minimalist 3-D effects of Aero Glass, and equally stumped by the high graphics card requirements. (It takes a 128MB 3d accel card to do THIS??? My old 8MB Voodoo 2 could handle tons more graphics than this.) Throw in the lack of speed compared to XP, and the incompatibility of Vista with LOTS of hardware, and we find ourselves asking, "why would I suggest anyone use this?".
One other huge con is the built in KILLSWITCH. When it is entirely possible for WGA checks to mistakenly fail, I would NEVER suggest ANYONE use a machine that can be purposefully reduced in functionality at the software makers discretion. It's a case of who's policing the police here?
Posted by Raiden | December 26, 2006 5:47 PM
I don;t get vista. Sure you want to protect 'foolish' users from themselves. And surely you do not want to bug sysadmins. So why not put a root user in the business releases???
Just doesn't make sense.
Posted by errr | December 27, 2006 7:55 AM
vista is another ME - avoid........
Posted by bigbird | December 27, 2006 11:32 PM
You know one nice thing? In Paint they added a Crop command, and when you paste you can crop to that size. Very useful for saving window grabs, etc.
Posted by Takeo | December 30, 2006 10:38 PM
Vista is without doubt the biggest disappointment for a long time. Despite a clean build, my Vista is incompatible with Word 2007 and Visual Studio.NET. The synch features do not work and cutting a DVD is impossible. Windows One Care is annoying, ineffective and buggy. Even the Vista screen saver crashed. Printer sharing is just about impossible - it is certainly unpredictable. (My PC is a dual-boot with Windows XP on the other partition - which works perfectly.) I'm not sure if other irritations are just unfamiliarities or just plain bad design - but I'm rapidly concluding that no matter how much I use Vista much of what it does will continue to be long-winded, complicated and hard to find.
Vista is too high-maintenance for corporates and too complicated for consumers - its good looks are just whipped cream on a cowpat.
Posted by Martin Lloyd | January 28, 2007 8:54 AM