Windows

Hasta La Vista, Vista

Posted by on Feb 28, 2007 | 13 Comments

Seems I’m not alone in my feelings about Vista! Australian Gnomie David Flynn writes:

Hi Chris…

Mate, you’re NOT Robinson Crusoe here!

I’m a well-established tech writer (albeit for the ‘msm’ rather than the blogging crowd) with 8 years of editing newspaper tech sections and PC magazines under my belt, along with four books on Windows (the successful local imprint “Australian Beginners Guide to Windows” series, starting with 95 and stretching through to XP), Lord knows how many trips to Seattle for XP and Vista “international media reviewer’s workshops,” even launched and edited the Australian “Windows XP Magazine” for one of our local publishers.

And I can tell you that this is the first time since the days of Windows 2.x that I haven’t upgraded to the latest version of Windows (or Office, actually!) on its release, having instead chosen to stick with XP (and Office 2003).

It’s not that my main working machine (an Acer TravelMate 3000 laptop) can’t run Vista – it could, although adequately rather than amazingly. But XP does everything I need, it’s got drivers for all the hardware I use, and it’s long since been set up to work the way I need it to. If anything, I’m likely to go over to a Mac in the near-ish future! But Vista? Nope. It’s not worth the risk, the pain, the time and trouble.

What’s more, there are almost no Aussie tech journalists who’ve made the move to Vista, and many of those who have now regret it! Despite working on Vista for more years than it took to fight and win World War II, Microsoft dropped the ball on this one. If we who are ‘experts’ or at least ‘highly savvy’ users with the geek penchant for all things shiny, with access to decent kit and having been handed the obligatory free review copy of Vista Ultimate – if we are not going to move to Vista en masse, then what’s the chance for the average user?

[tags]Vista, David Flynn, microsoft, xp, Australian Beginners Guide to Windows[/tags]

  • http://jboellcomcast.net Joseph Boell

    Chris….

    You were right… and I too gave Vista a chance… but one frustration after the other… this didn’t work… that wouldn’t work… blah..blah..blah…. I’m PROUD to say as of tonight… I have XP back on my main PC and running well… with everything working like it used too!… I sort of liked Vista and got used to it’s interface but we can’t have software we worked hard for and or paid good money for… not working because of some oversights on Micro$oft’s part!

    Sincere Regards,

    Joseph

  • http://www.mk-net-work.com Christian

    Windows Vista – Good deal for Google!

    Hi Chris,

    Just for fun, I tried Googling:

    Windows 98 problem
    Results 1 – 10 of about 43,600,000 for Windows 98 problem. (0.11 seconds)

    Windows 2000 problem
    Results 1 – 10 of about 128,000,000 for Windows 2000 problem. (0.15 seconds)

    Windows XP problem
    Results 1 – 10 of about 93,000,000 for Windows XP problem. (0.14 seconds)

    Windows Vista problem
    Results 1 – 10 of about 83,700,000 for Windows Vista Problem. (0.15 seconds)
    (your “65 More Windows Vista Mistakes ~ Chris Pirillo” page comes in 4th position!)

    Mac OS problem
    Results 1 – 10 of about 89,600,000 for Mac OS problem. (0.16 seconds)

    Linux problem
    Results 1 – 10 of about 196,000,000 for Linux problem. (0.11 seconds)

    Very nice score for Vista only few weeks after it reached the stores!
    It should outperform MAC OS and Windows XP very soon and Linux (despite Linux covers a lot of different hardware platforms) in a near future in terms of number of problems you can Google!!!

    Thi is certainly an excellent deal for Google since this bunch of pages (that are / will be, no doubt about this, intensively searched by Vista users) will help them selling millions Dollars of Google ads, directly in their result pages as well as indirectly on third party web sites displaying Google ads!!!

  • http://www.rhftech.com Richard

    I agree with Chris.

    Based upon my experience with Vista Ultimate, the product is not ready for general use. The lack of hardware drivers, video, printer, scanner, audio… and the issues of software incompatibility, the overall hardware requirements – more memory, a new GPU, HDCP compatible hardware – mean Vista is a dog of an OS. Yes it does have some nice new features but net-net it is inferior from a user’s standpoint to XP or Mac OS X and therefore Chris made the correct decision to abandon what is essentially still a beta version of Vista for XP.

  • http://www.Hogans-Systems.com Rick Hogan

    This all seems pretty strange to me. I mean, I remember buying Windows 2000 the first day it was available. I remember being all excited about how great it was supposed to be. I remember bringing it home and trying to install it, only to find that my relatively new motherboard could not support W2K. So I went and upgraded my motherboard, only to find that there were no _usable_ drivers available for my video card for W2K. And so on it went until finally I pieced things together and ended up with a system that was a big improvement over Windows 98.

    Then XP came along. I downloaded a beta version early on to start playing with it and eventually got the full version of XP Pro when it was first available. Again, I remember going through some struggles with trying to get XP compatible drivers for my hardware. I remember going through hassles trying to get things working. Little by little, I got things working and eventually ended up with a system that was a big improvement over W2K.

    Now Vista comes along and I’ve been going through the same struggles I went through with every previous upgrade. I’ve learned through the years that if you want to be the first one to jump on board with a new OS, you’re going to have to do this stuff. It’s no surprise to me that hardware vendors aren’t ready with drivers for Vista. It’s no surprise to me that software vendors aren’t ready with software updates for Vista. This is how life has been since I first started working with computers in 1976.

    The only thing that surprises me is hearing people who claim that they “are ‘experts’ or at least ‘highly savvy’ users” act like they are so shocked that being among the first to jump on the Vista bandwagon is presenting them with some challenges.

    I don’t know… maybe it’s because I remember the days of punched cards and keypunches… maybe because I remember things like spending days trying to get a 300 baud modem card to work in my Apple II computer, or messing with those unrelialble 5 1/4″ floppy disks that cost $5 a piece and only held about 100 KB… I guess I’m starting to sound like an old fart, but I can’t help but think that you guys all sound like a bunch of spoiled, whiny babies, crying about how hard it is to get a brand new version of Windows working.

    All I can say is that for me, the transition to Vista has been the easiest OS upgrade I’ve ever done. Almost I everything I use (including Sony Vegas, Sound Forge & ACID; NetObjects Fusion; SwishMax; etc.) works fine under Vista. Sure, I still have to dual-boot between Vista and XP, because I have a few pieces of software (Paint Shop Pro; MS Flight Simulator) that won’t work under Vista. But that’s nothing new. I had to dual-boot between 98 and W2K and between W2K and XP each time I upgraded for exactly the same reasons. I suppose the argument could be made that it shouldn’t be this difficult, but I just don’t see why everyone is so surprised that moving to Vista takes a little effort. I just can’t believe people who dare to call themselves “‘experts’ or at least ‘highly savvy’ users” can’t deal with fixing a few problems.

    Maybe it’s just that everyone has gotten to be so “anti-Microsoft” and everyone is just looking for an excuse to criticize Microsoft and justify not upgrading to Vista?

    Rick

  • DDmak

    I really wish you just move to Mac instead of continue hinting about it for the last few month. Really, if you are not going to talk about Vista, then no point in staying with Windows. And in point continuing in WinXP because it is so old that everything has talked about it. No stone left unturn.

    Some old story as when WinXP released. After a year, everybody uses it. I believe Vista will take a bit longer, because of even more negative comments out there.

    I quite enjoy Vista. Everything that I used to use in WinXP is running. AutoCAD 2005, Bluebeam, SketchUp Pro, Office 2003, scanner (a few years old), printer (more than a few years old), Avast, Live For Speed, rFactor, to name a few.

    One thing didn’t work is my Thrustmaster analog joystick. It is old technology and I should have gotten rid of it during the era of WinXP. If we want to move forward in technology, we can’t expect old hardware to function with current stuff. It’s a fact!

    Cheers,
    DDmak

    PS. I am getting close to buy a MacBook. So you are not the only one. But I am having two platform tho, the best of both world. I am not adopting a Mac because I dislike Vista like a lot of people these days. The Mac in my house is for multimedia and travel uses.

  • Bob

    In fact its the un-savvy users that will migrate to Vista, as they dont know all the shortcomings. They will assume newer is better.

    I personally prefer using the hacked windows 2003 server edition, available for download on bittorrent, the hacked version also comes installed with all the everyday utilities you could ever need!
    This is what vista should have been.

    search for “2007″ at piratebay

  • Franklin Morais

    Hi guys,
    I am an XP user. I hardly know anything about VISTA since I’m not a gnomie or techy for that matter.
    But one thing I do know, VISTA will give a very serious and tough fight before its labelled dead.
    Why?
    Because human beings being human beings, gullibility and the herd mentality are hard to shake off. Not to mention the fact that Vista would be packaged with every new pc and notebook being sold. And with MS’ considerable marketing clout, it will still sell millions.
    So, to use the argument that if you technie and gnomies are so cheezed off by Vista what chance then the average user?
    I say that it is precisely because of that fact that the rest of us would still get on the VISTA bandwagon.

    Just my 2-cents and non-techie’s worth.

  • Pingback: Another Expert Says No To Vista « The Blade by Ron Schenone, MVP

  • Ricky

    as with any new OS it takes time for the hardware and software vendors to catch up. vitsa is new it’s not like any windows I’ve used. the file Dir is different a lot of things are renamed.

    so it’s a learning curve i love it it’s not the same old boring windows before the RTM came out i did not get caught with my tech pants down like i did with XP having a old PC trying to run a new OS the needs a lot more power.

    i built a new computer with the power to run windows vista to me thats part of the fun of computers having a reason to upgrade lol

    i have xp pro on one hdd and vista on another all my software works except ZSS but i downloaded the trail version of onecare and i figure by the time it runs out zonelabs will have caught up my X-FI sound blaster drivers are still in beta but they work and have not given me any problems so i am happy with them till they are out of beta.

    all in all i like vista

    you can not blame Microsoft for hardware and software vendors for not having drivers and software patches for vista they have had more than enough time to get there act together

  • tom

    If Vista doesn’t currently support a critical piece of software or hardware for you, use what does.

    Seems like most of the commenters (Including Chris and the Aussie’s) either have a very short memory or deny the past: Every significant upgrade of an OS initially causes some issues. Vista is no exception.

    Personally I find Vista to be an improvement over XP. Over the coming months, new drivers will be delivered and software updated. A degree of patience will, as in the past, solve any of the current issues. So, as stated earlier, if something you currently use is not supported by Vista, don’t upgrade! If you do, blame yourself not MS or ?

  • Dan Scar

    Vista will be out beat (Once again Windoze fails), when Mac OSX is released (10.5) a month or so from now.

    Ive seen and used vista, ive seen and dumped XP – I think the only decent OS is OS TEN from apple.

    Its funny because Vista has taken apps and whatnot featured 2/3 years ago when apple released Tiger. – It features nothing new, nothing imaginative; Figures show more and more are going/moving to apple. I wonder why… Because they are looking forward, they are the future. Microsoft is the past.

    XP / Vista – its still window’s, it’s still old.

  • http://angrykeyboarder.com Scott

    To each their own. Personally I never met an OS I didn’t dislike (or like).

    I’m a Linux Fanboy (lately it’s Ubuntu) but I’ve also been using Vista since Beta 2. I bought Ultimate off the shelf on Feb 3 and I’ve been very pleased.

    I knew what I was getting into beforehand and considering your access to Vista in advance, I’m surprised you came to this “late” decision.

    The only hardware problem I have is (believe it or not) my keyboard! There are no Vista drivers for it (Cherry Cymotion).

    That’s not a biggie though, I never used them in XP anyway. :-)

    Speaking of XP… if it weren’t for Vista right now, I’d be back to mostly ignoring XP and spending most of my time in Linux.

    I suppose when the Vista novelty wears off I’ll be back to Linux again (mostly) as well.

    But honestly, Vista is great. It’s as stable (or unstable) as XP. I’ve got all the drivers I need. AND I’m (finally!) running a 64-bit Windows OS.

    And speaking of Honestly, I LOVE Aero Glass.

  • Rebel

    First, I am an I.T. professional for the U.S.Army. I’ve been working on and have currently every microsoft/IBM OS. from DOS 2.0 up to Vista, along with four versions of linux. I’ve been working on, with, and repairing computers since 1978.

    I don’t plan on going to Vista anytime soon, Why? Because I don’t want to!
    XP does all I need. If loaded properly, trimmed properly, and tweaked properly, It is more stable than any other OS (except for maybe server 2003) I’ve used (Including Linux).
    It crashes less frequently than the Mac OS. (Sorry, truth hurts), and boots
    more reliably than Linux (Once again, truth hurts). If done right, XP works faster than any of them and is easier (MUCH!) to repair if you do break it.

    Vista is too slow even with good equipment. Uses way too many resources. and acts too much like Linux. I Beta-tested Vista for 6 months. I didn’t like it. Too much fat and crashes frequently, not real tweak friendly. Don’t get me wrong, I like Macs OS and I like Linux, I don’t particularly like Microsoft, but the fact is, I use XP. It’s a superior product. Microsoft screwed themselves with it. I didn’t get XP until after SP1 was released, and even then I poked at it w/a sharp stick for 6 months before I decided it was a winner. Maybe I’ll re-consider vista after a couple of years, maybe not.

    Rebel