25 Things Microsoft Must Do To Save Vista
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The first year for Vista was nothing short of a failure to be honest. Many people have downgraded their systems back to XP or have moved to Mac or Linux all together. Then there is the other side where people are loving Vista and have had no problems, and trust me I wish I was one of them. I think my problems exist because I bought my laptop before Vista was released and it came with a sticker on the computer that reads “Vista Compatible” and thats why I think I have had the problems that I have had. I get labeled as a Microsoft hater but I am far from it, I wish Vista was the best OS to date, so I have listed the 25 things I think would help Vista.
- Make Windows Live OneCare and the Live Suite come with Vista for free. Windows OneCare should be included in Vista for free or maybe a small yearly fee. OneCare is a great set of programs that help your computer stay safe and has an excellent back-up feature. Some of the Windows Live suite programs are amazing. I use one of the programs called Live Writer to write this blog and its by far one of the easiest programs I have ever used.
- Add Podcast support to Windows Media Player! Every other media player has it and there is no reason why WMP11 doesn’t have it.
- Better hardware support. This isn’t Microsoft’s fault this is geared towards the companies that preinstall Vista on there machines with faulty drivers and shady support.
- Add spell-check into IE7. I misspell everything, no joke. Its puzzling why IE7 doesn’t include a spell checker program.
- Make DreamScene available in all versions of Vista. Its a great little program that should be included within the Aero experience.
- Ditch Windows Calendar, the program is a joke.
- Make the Welcome Center usable! How about adding links to your favorite programs in there?
- Figure out a way to make Windows Sidebar not so annoying. Unlike Widgets in OS X the "Gadgets" really serve no purpose and there really isn’t any useful ones out there.
- Give us at least one new program a year via Windows Update. This would at least make upgrading a little fun, wouldn’t it?
- How about some Windows Live Arcade games or the Games section? Lets get Tetris and Uno on there and be able to play the games online against Xbox Live players.
- Better installing and uninstalling programs. Make it seamless and try to have a uniform way of doing this like in OS X.
- Fix the disk defragment. There are many programs out there that do it faster and do a better job. As a computer user we shouldn’t think about having to defrag our hard drive or clean up files left by the OS that don’t need to be there.
- Stop burying the search! Make is a single place that you know you can search and improve the overall indexing of the search feature.
- Fix the sleep issues with Laptops. I have about a 15% chance that my computer will not wake from the sleep correctly, way to high of a number.
- Fix remote desktop. For the average user this is way to complicated, all you should need to know is the persons name and password to share a screen.
- Better network connectivity. I have had some issues of Vista dropping my network and it takes way too long to connect to a new network.
- Implement a install/unistall program like Ubuntu has to make it easy to find Vista certified software.
- Better customization.
- Power Toys! One of the best things about Windows XP was the great Power Toys people made. This is one of the main disappointments I have had so far with Windows Vista.
- Bite the bullet and give us built in Blu-ray support. Its apparent that HD DVD is dead so jump ahead of the competition and give us Blu-ray support in Media Player.
- Give the user the ability to use their own browser or media player. That’s right let us uninstall IE7 and WMP11 and use what ever we want!
- Better integrate the excising software. Its like all of the software included in VIsta, Windows Calendar, Contacts, Movie Maker, DVD Maker, are all by themselves. Do like iLife did and make theses programs work seamlessly together.
- Trash Flip-3D or overhaul that piece of junk. Give us a new and exciting way to switch between applications.
- Multiple desktop support. Every other major OS has this feature now, why not Vista?
- Finally, Listen to the users. Throughout the whole Vista beta testing it seems like Microsoft didn’t listen to our thoughts and what we felt needed to be fixed before the release.
I would love for you readers out there to add some more stuff to this list via a comment, and here’s to a better second year of Vista!
8 Comments
andydoane
February 17th, 2008
at 12:51pm
I agree with having a uniform install/uninstall. I get so frustrated when I go to Add/Remove Programs and the thing tells me I can’t uninstall because something’s messed up in the Registry. I like the OS X version of simply dragging an application to the trash much better.
Matt Valencia
February 19th, 2008
at 4:37am
If Microsoft humbles itself and starts finally listening to the consumer and closes the vast chasm between microsoft and the average end user.
They will not fall.
“Therefore let him who thinks he stands take heed lest he fall.”
1 Cor 10:12
M@V
John Howard Oxley
February 19th, 2008
at 5:55am
0. First and foremost, ditch the DRM — as it now stands, when I install VISTA, my computer becomes Microsoft’s computer!
Not having any, thanks. This issue dwarfs any of the other problems in terms of importance, and if not cured, means I will move from XP to virtualized XP on a Linux box [or even better, OS/X, if APPLE ever finally sees the light and sells its OS independently].
It really is just that simple!
Jim in Virginia
February 19th, 2008
at 8:10am
I guess I’m just the oddball in this vast new world of Vista ‘failure’ I read so much about. In my own network of work and personal relationships (numbering maybe 200-250), I have not heard one person that complains about Vista (in fact, I’ve heard nothing but good stuff about it from any of them). I don’t know one person who has switched back to XP. I don’t know one person who has left the PC to go to a Mac (though I do know a few original Mac users).
I can’t say that some of the improvements listed by Matt wouldn’t be good ones, but to suggest that Vista is doomed if these changes aren’t made is pure folly. I’m in the investment business, and if I were a betting man, I’d think I’d have to go with the geek from Redmond to win this battle long-term.
Rick Hogan
February 20th, 2008
at 11:56am
Jim in Virginia,
You and I are on the same boat… and it’s not the same boat that Matt and many other tech writers are on!
I’ve been using Vista myself for about a year or so, and I haven’t had any big problems with it. Sure, there were a few minor issues at first, but for the most part, they’ve been fixed through Microsoft Updates. Other people I know who have gotten new computers with Vista all seem quite happy with it. They don’t have any complaints or problems. I know because I’m the guy they would call if they did have problems.
Matt’s comment that “The first year for Vista was nothing short of a failure to be honest” seems absurd to me. How was it a failure? Maybe it was “less than perfect.” Maybe it got a lot of bad press. But a failure? I just don’t see it.
Rick
Matt
February 20th, 2008
at 12:22pm
What I mean by a failure is the whole press coverage and the way Vista has gotten a bad rap, as for me I have updated my laptop from XP to Vista and thats where my problems have come from, I have even used a clean install. I have used a computer that came preinstalled with Vista and it worked way better than my upgraded my machine.
Rick Hogan
February 21st, 2008
at 4:42pm
Matt,
I agree, the press coverage itself is a “failure.” The majority of tech writers have “failed” to deliver accurate information about Vista.
Rick
Ben Throop
February 29th, 2008
at 9:22am
I am not a Mac zealot, I swear… but I think that unless you’ve spent some quality time with OSX, and you’re coming from XP, your expectations for how an operating system should work will be different and I have to say, more lenient.
I just received a Vista machine from Dell and am putting it through its paces today… so far, the experience is pretty standard MS. If you ever have a chance to watch someone run OSX for the first time, you’ll be amazed. It’s actually fun.
However, the fact remains that although I would’ve loved to but a Mac Pro desktop, I got a Quad Core with 4GB of RAM from Dell for $650. You can’t even buy a Mac Mini for that. An equivalent Mac would be well over two grand. That will continue to be a barrier for Apple.