[starjax]

why are there so many people down on Vista? Especially media people? I am so tired of hearing Vista failure! Vista Disaster! Vista sux!


I think every one of these people have a very short memory. I have been doing computer support for over 15 years. Most of that supporting end users at the consumer level and enterprise level. My first enterprise/corp task was to upgrade windows 3.1 computers to windows 95 for "outlook" email. I've have deployed windows 2000 and windows xp as major projects to help corp. standardize their hw and software platforms. I know the ins and outs of te operating systems pretty well.

there are some basic truths to had. It doesn't matter how well an OS is designed, tested, and maintained the user will find a way to break it. The user will always find something doesn't work (os compatibility) no matter how much time is spent making sure that compatibility issues are worked out. Lastly, you will not be able to satisfy everyone.

For the consumer, going from win9x to xp was a huge experience. It was a great step forward in stability, user interface enhancements, hw support. Still there were new bugs found. USB hw, especially had issues. Driver for hw was very lacking. Then there were several security holes found. From the enterprise side, there was a very big issue with blue screen error resulting from image deployments. Out comes the first sp for xp. Fixed a large number of bugs, performance issues, included a large number of hw drivers, and security fixes. It wasn't until sp1 that most corp. started working seriously on deploying xp.

For the most part, going from nt to 2000 was just as big of an experience for corp. users as was consumers upgrading to xp. However, going from windows 2000 to xp wasn't as nearly a big transition. It was a more natural evolution.

Then there became the litany of security holes in xp, Internet explorer, and other MS applications. There became a very big concern for security improvements. Service pack 2 for xp made many changes to the os including a better firewall, improved Internet explorer, and many, many security fixes. Out of this came a new mindset regarding a ground up focus on security.

Vista was developed to be more secure. To offer a lot more internal enhancements. At this there have been very successful. Looking at our own support forums, though I see a familiar trend. Users are finding ways to break it. Users are finding things that aren't compatible. Not only is the a self evident truth, but the exact same thing was experienced when xp was released. Slightly different issues and slightly different fixes are required for the same general problems.

Does vista have problems? Sure it does. Are they anything new compared to other operating system launches? Nope. Been there, done that, bought the t-shirt. Will sp1 fix everything? Probably not. It will go a long way to resolving many of the complaints out there. It will fix a large number of things people want to be addressed.

The only thing I think MS failed at was bringing about enough new technology in vista to give it the "wow" factor. I know they dropped a number of enhancements for a variety of reasons. I hope in the next iteration of vista they are able to bring those technologies to the platform.


So to those that are quick to bash vista for its short comings and issues, please take a look in the mirror. This isn't the first os to go through with this. Please temper your tirades with quiet reflection on OS history.

regards,
Starjax

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I agree with this.
I am pleased with my Vista home premium. The search function is great.
I get tired of hearing people complain about how much they dislike Vista, especialy if they do not use Vista.
The same thing happened with XP when it first came out. Vista is no different. Just new.

[hfcg]

I agree with this.
I am pleased with my Vista home premium. The search function is great.
I get tired of hearing people complain about how much they dislike Vista, especialy if they do not use Vista.
The same thing happened with XP when it first came out. Vista is no different. Just new.

[ScHwErV]

Nicely said starjax. Same thing I have been fighting here at work. Everyone comes to me asking if they should upgrade and telling me about how they heard Vista is so horrible. Its insane.

[admin]

I don't think it's a single issue. To start, I think Microsoft did a poor job of marketing Windows Vista. They created lofty goals before it was released, and failed to deliver. It was also a long wait between XP and Vista, but on the surface not much appeared to have changed. I think a lot of the new innovation in Vista was either security related, or designed for enterprise. Not an easy sell to the consumer. The tables have turned in recent years, and more innovation is now driven from the consumer level to enterprise. Not the other way around. However, Microsoft is an enterprise driven company.

Many of the complaints involve driver support. Microsoft can't write the drivers for Windows Vista, each hardware manufacturer is responsible. For some it's too expensive, others would rather sell new product instead of investing money in discontinued products. While 64-bit Windows Vista is an excellent OS, driver support for it has been especially poor. The installed userbase is just too small. Driver support is getting better. If your device doesn't work with Vista, don't blame Microsoft. Blame the manufacturer.

User Account Control can be annoying. Especially, when setting up a new system. And it needs improvement. However, it prevents most people from running as administrator, and makes limited accounts much more usable than they were in XP.

Rarely do you hear about BSODs (blue screens of death) with Vista. They've done a tremendous job with stability. Yes, it does require more RAM, and performance may be slightly worse than XP. But hey, XP was slower than Win98 and required more resources. Win98 was slower than Win95, and so on. Additional features require additional resources. Hardware has definitely advanced far faster than the requirements of the operating system.

Security, is much improved. With Windows XP, the Blaster worm was running rampant. As soon as service pack 1 for XP was released, we soon required people here to have it installed before offering malware help. Trying to clean a system without it is futile. Service pack 2 for XP brought even more sweeping security changes. In contrast, Service Pack 1 for Vista has some patches, but no sweeping security changes. We see occasional security issues with Vista in the malware forum, but XP continues to have the most issues.

One final point. Google is the Internet darling. Microsoft is the evil empire. In this age of blogging, and social driven media sites like Digg, any article written negatively about Microsoft is going to garner a lot more attention than a positive article. I've experienced that myself. It didn't take long for the media sites to figure this out. Since their in the business of attracting eyeballs, they give them what they want. Negative Vista press.

[PsychPosse]

I got my mail the other day and was opening this package I had while telling this guy next to me that I ordered Vista Ultimate.
He goes, "why in the world would you do something like that?" and proceeded to tell me how "horrible" it was.

So I cut him off and I said: "This is my second Vista Ultimate OS, I love it so much that I am going to install it on my other computer, and I am putting my XP disc in the microwave!"

The look on his face was priceless.

The only knowledge he had that Vista was horrible, was that of hearsay.

I like Vista Ultimate so much that I now have two of the same OS's on my laptop. (I plan to uninstall and put it on my desktop when I get it built)

[james_8970]

Just my opinion, but people hate change. They don't care if it's new or better, they just aren't interested to begin with so they won't give it a chance.
I find Vista is oversimplified at times and things are not in their usual spot. I think if anyone gave it a chance, they'd like it.

Things I have disabled to date on vista:
UAC
Windows Defender
Windows file indexing
Security Center, hate the warning of the above being disabled.
After the above have been removed, it's basically XP with a face lift.
James

[Kat]

Just my opinion, but people hate change.

Call me old, or call me stubborn. Whatever you like to label it... I don't like Vista. Have I used it? Yes. Have I given it a fair chance? Yes. Did I have specific bad "issues" with it? No.

I just didn't like it. I PREFER my XP Pro.

[james_8970]

Just my opinion, but people hate change.

Call me old, or call me stubborn. Whatever you like to label it... I don't like Vista. Have I used it? Yes. Have I given it a fair chance? Yes. Did I have specific bad "issues" with it? No.

I just didn't like it. I PREFER my XP Pro.

One fault is that Vista is over simplified. I find myself looking deep into the OS settings, only to find it's right under my nose and Vista needs 1 clicka for every 3 clicks in XP. I'm still learning where stuff is ~9 months after I got it. Though I'm sticking with what I said, the majoirty of people hate change I for one like to be adventurous
James

Edited by james_8970, 14 February 2008 - 09:13 PM.

[Troy]

Hi there,

I really like the thread title

After two days with Vista (and I knew I'd need a little time to get used to it), I'm never going back. I, for one, do like change

Although I am interested to see what XP will be like with SP3, but I no longer have my XP box so I'd have to check it out on a friend's computer.

Troy

[Canorro]

Its just not Xp
Thats why people doesn't like it
And probably what people didn't really like about it was that it was having drivers issues and also sooo many people started saying it was bad like news and internet pages also mac says they copy a few features
But after all i don't think its that bad just needs a few Services pack and you'll see almost all ppl running vista by a few years

[gchasse]

I was a victom of the war against Vista. But then the harddrive on my xp laptop blew a bearing. Had to have a computer right away. Got a nice laptop, 17 inch screen, and yup Vista Home premium. I havent looked back yet. Love this thing. I did get a new harddrive for the old laptop and reinstalled xp and everything else but its just not the same. I am looking foreword to sp1.
Geeks to Go is an amazing place. Keep up the good work

[starjax]

just for reference, xp sp3 will not contain any new features. It will include all the security patches and hotfixes released since sp2. It is also already available for download at Microsoft. For more info on sp3 for xp please read here

[AgentMES]

As for me I'm sick and tired of the Windows Vista compatibility issues.

And probably what people didn't really like about it was that it was having drivers issues and also sooo many people started saying it was bad like news and internet pages also mac says they copy a few features
But after all i don't think its that bad just needs a few Services pack and you'll see almost all ppl running vista by a few years

I agree.

Edited by AgentMES, 17 February 2008 - 04:48 PM.

[Essexboy]

For my two pennorth I like it. I have Vista Ultimate - upgraded last January. Since I have had ZERO BSOD, ZERO freezes. The bit I really like ZERO re-installs (well I do like to mess) . Plus her indoors finds it easy to use as well, and I can now read a book in peace while she uses it

It is on an XP ACER system - no driver problems and a RAM upgrade to 2 Gb sorted out the speed problem

[loophole]

I've never had any issues with vista, took me a few days to get used to but thats it.