In the News: Chris Pirillo and Vista

What a cry baby. You should have been around when we changed from 98 to XP. Nothing worked, everyone had to buy new printers,, scanners, etc.

The positives of Vista out weigh the negitives 10 fold. Also, most companies have drivers for printer and scanners that are 2 years old or newer.

I recently purchased a new computer and the manufacturer asked me to complete a survey. When I attempted to transmit the completed survey I was told that I had already responded and my comments were appreciated. I tried to learn what I said in the survey I didn’t take and was told not to worry about it. Anyway, if they had let me respond I would have sent the following to them. I send these comments to you as a public service.

When Microsoft Corporation released the monstrosity known as Windows Vista they socked it to computer users big time and totally snookered computer manufacturers like Dell. Being the big kid on the block Microsoft had the muscle to force manufacturers to bundle their computers with an operating system that clearly was not properly tested and ready for release.
I recently purchased a Dell computer equipped with all the latest bells and whistles. Unfortunately, it is also equipped with a very unstable Windows Vista Home Premium operating system that is causing so many problems it is ridiculous.
Perhaps Dell builds a good computer, but being crammed full of crap like Windows Vista it is difficult to tell which one is the bad guy. Dell is likely to learn the truth of the maxim that if you fly with crows you get shot with crows.
It is an understatement to say I was shocked when I couldn’t read many of the files I had saved from my old computer. I was told that in order to read those files I would need to purchase another Microsoft program. No wonder Mr. Gates is rich!
I would later discover that almost nothing pleased Windows Vista and therefore almost nothing I had worked.
Frequent hang-ups and disconnects have made restart my favorite tool.
And did I mention slow? If the Titanic had been my Vista loaded computer it would still be sinking.
I was being routinely bombarded with strange messages that I didn’t even know existed.
I believe Microsoft has imbedded a little inebriated guy with a sadistic sense of humor in my Vista program. I’m convinced the little guy is staggering around inside my computer pushing buttons at random.
How else can you explain it when, for no earthly reason, the computer starts searching for some mysterious webpage of its own choosing. Then again for no earthly reason I am told that navigation to the webpage has been canceled. Only a little bitty drunk computer geek with a sense of humor could dream that up.
Many times when I attempt to access a legitimate webpage the little guy gives me the same message and won’t let me access any webpage until I sign off then sign back on.
The little guy repeatedly reminds me that something or someone is sorry that the content I requested is not available. I don’t know how to tell the little guy that there is no need to be sorry because I didn’t request anything.
And from day one Windows was finding a problem with something called swflash.cab. Whatever the problem is, it is persistent. Microsoft was still finding a problem with it 3 weeks later. Given Mr. Bill Gates considerable resources I have every confidence that he will one day find out what the problem is.
Dell did send me a friendly computer and for that I am thankful.
I appreciate friends like Google and Yahoo. They are always asking me to do something. However, I fear that Google and Yahoo might be up to no good so I do my best to avoid them. Mr. Yahoo has pretty well disappeared but Mr. Google still visits frequently.
Prior to my experience with Windows Vista I heard many stories and nightmares other Vista users were having—well they are not true—they are much worse.
Unless you bought all your peripheral equipment yesterday in all likelihood none of it will work with Vista.
Try to print or scan! It is almost a foregone conclusion that Windows Vista will not support your printer. Transfer photos from your camera! Vista wonders why you would even want to do such a thing in the first place.
I have a small audio recorder I use to record meetings and transfer them to my computer. Of course Vista will have none of that and tells me to contact the manufacturer for program changes that will make the recorder work. The manufacturer informed me that my recorder would not function with Vista. They didn’t mince words! They indicated that since Microsoft caused the problem Microsoft could solve it.
Try to contact Microsoft to solve any of the problems they created? Impossible! Microsoft won’t allow you to bother them with pesky problems.
I again contacted Dell! This time Dell’s solution was simple—get a recorder that would work with Vista. Problem solved!
Those of you who have uninstalled programs on computers know it typically takes from 1 to 5 minutes to uninstall one. Not so with Dell and Vista. I attempted to uninstall a program labeled “RealPlayer Basic.” Vista tells me I don’t have sufficient access to uninstall that sucker and I need to contact my system administrator. Perhaps I am naive to think that maybe, being the owner and sole user of my computer, I am the administrator.
Here we go again! I contacted Dell! After 45 minutes of getting nowhere I decided that RealPlayer Basic could reside in my computer until another day.
You ask if I am having this much trouble with Windows Vista why I don’t simply remove it and install my old Windows XP program. I tried to do that but Vista is wickedly sly and wouldn’t let me do it. Dell has proved to be no help at all.
The first Dell technician I asked about installing Windows XP gave me an incredible solution. He told me I should return the computer to Dell and buy one with XP installed. So there you have it—Dell has sold me a computer that will run only with Vista.
Later another Dell technician told me she could furnish instructions for removing Vista and installing XP. However, this technician now seems to have disappeared and no instructions have been forthcoming. Perhaps she has been kid-napped by the Microsoft Vista Vigilante squad.
I believe the problems I am experiencing are largely caused by Microsoft’s Vista and not by Dell’s computer. But Dell has a few problems of its own that have nothing to do with Vista.
For instance, when I purchased the computer Dell promised me six months free AOL service. Dell however, neglected to tell me how to get the free service. I was soon connected with a Dell technician who is not from around here and doesn’t speak our language too well.
Moreover, the technician had no idea what he was talking about.
He told me if I would click on the AOL icon on my desktop that I would be rewarded with a registration form that when completed would get me my six months of free AOL service. Having clicked on the AOL icon several hundred times to gain access to the Internet I was convinced that another click would not get me a registration form. The technician was convinced that this time I would. He was wrong. He told me I must double-click the icon. Again he was wrong. He then offered this profound advice, “In this case, you need to get in touch with the AOL.”
The bottom line in this entire mess, from this user’s view, is that Microsoft has released an operating system that is unstable and clearly not ready for general use. Microsoft then washes its hands of all the problems caused by their inferior product and leaves it to unsuspecting and trapped users to do the best they can with it.
Users are expected to contact technicians that work for computer manufacturers and who are not computer programmers. Manufacturing technicians are not trained to solve computer program problems. This lack of training and the fact that the technicians are foreigners that cannot speak English is not conducive to solving a computer user’s problems.
I don’t mean to infer that I have not enjoyed my conversations with Jasmeet, Ashutosh, Ruchika, Aman, Sonia, Puneet, Raveendra, Santosh, Paritosh, Gurpreet, Vikram, Chaithanya, Gagandeep and others. Our conversations might have even been a little meaningful if we could have understood each other.
Of course, computer users with problems are caught in the middle. Needless to say it is frustrating, difficult and quite often impossible to get those problems solved.
It is ironic that each time I sign on I see a message asking. “What can I do with my new Dell Computer?”

[…] Perhaps, by 2010, some people might be willing be willing to give Vista a try again. And, by then, I will have upgraded from Windows 2000… […]