I really cannot understand all this negativity about Vista. My system is fast, stable and I love the coherence of the GUI …. and yes, I love the eye candy as well. I really do not have any problems with this OS. In comparison I find XP clunky and, frankly, boring. But hey! All you gals and gals going on and on and on about this will soon be speaking to yourselves. With 99% of new systems now coming out with this system you will have to buy a MAC or migrate to Linux if you want to avoid it.

I suspect though that something else is going on here. We could call it “demand weariness - supply hype.” It manifested itself way before Vista was released. Companies (hardware and software) that had plenty of notice to get their act together in upgrading for the new release just prevaricated and dragged their feet. Months after the release the response was still glacial. This is the issue here. Few that had got used to XP wanted to tool up for something else. Domestic purchasers of new systems (such as myself) mostly just took it on board.

Looks like Vista and iPhone are going hand in hand as useless appendages. The Kludgevac Komputer Korporation (remember it?) is alive and well in Redmond.

I have seen a number of surveys that show user satisfaction with Vista is much higher among consumers than it is with business users.
For those of us who use the computer as a tool to accomplish tasks - not especially for entertainment or audio/video pursuits or as a means for self-expression or fulfilment, Vista lacks stability, performance and other critical functionality that may not be of import to the comusmer.
Hree’s an example, Mark Russinovitch, in his blog, confirms and explains the devastating effect that streaming media has on network speeds under Vista. The average consumer will not be using a network server while listening (or watching) streaming content. The business user, however, who tries to download files and work while listening to streamed music experiences dramatic slowdowns. The former is content with Vista, the latter is not.
For those of my staff that connect with VPN’s to client locations, it’s a crap shoot. Again, the typical consumer doesn’t see this….
For most business users that I know, the computer represents earning power. When an operating system fails to reliably deliver access to that power, it’s not welcome: not because it’s new, not because it’s a change, it gets in the way of putting bread on the table.
The hope is that by the time we have no choice but to use it, it will be fixed….

SWAT,

I understand your frustration with Vista. However, you should have done your homework better before you dumped all those BIG bucks to purchase the WOW of Vista. Microsoft is much better at advertising and pumping up it’s products than developing them. You had to buy a new laptop, and could ONLY get Vista on it… this is know as the “Microsoft Tax”!!

If you just want a stable operating system that will work, look no further than Ubuntu Linux. The only thing that may surprise you is the cost…. There is no cost, absolutely FREE. No strings attached!