Vista passes the 'Mom' test
Note: This is one of a series of blogs being published Wednesday, the first anniversary of Windows Vista's consumer launch.
Perhaps the best indicator I have on Windows Vista is what I scientifically call "the Mom test."
Last spring, my mom got a new computer. She really, really wanted an XP machine because that's what she knew and loved. Well, that's what she knew anyway.
But my mom also decided she wanted to buy it at retail on the weekend I was home visiting. I think it had something to do with having her own personal "geek squad" to set it up. I tried to assure her that only a few XP models were around, meaning, to get the other things she wanted, she really needed to go with Vista.
She was initially skeptical. She was worried it wouldn't work with her Palm handheld and also that it wouldn't work with a specific program she needed for her job as a geriatric case manager. After doing some research and assuring her that both would work with Vista, she grudgingly agreed to get a Vista machine.
After I set the machine up, she got to working on her new Toshiba laptop. Most of the things she liked had nothing to do with Vista and everything to do with the fairly standard keyboard I got her. I programmed a few function keys to open each of the handful of programs she actually uses--a big hit.
As for Vista, she was a bit taken aback by its new interface, but seemed reasonably able to navigate through things.
The real test, I knew, would come in the ensuing days and months. I waited for the phone to ring with news of a problem. It didn't. In fact, I've had zero support calls so far.
To make sure I had the right impression, I gave my top-secret source a call on Tuesday.
"Hello."
"Hi Mom."
"I was calling because I'm writing a blog on the one year anniversary of Windows Vista."
"Of what?"
"The operating system on your computer."
"Oh."
"So I wanted to see how it's going."
"I'm actually doing well," she said.
There were a couple things she explained. Sometimes she gets a message from Windows Live OneCare. "I don't get what they want me to do."
And there's this other message, she explained, that keeps asking her if she is at home or work. (That's actually Vista trying to automatically apply security policy based on the type of network). "I don't see why they need to know, so I just close the window."
But, overall, she said, she's been pleasantly surprised. "The things I've wanted to do on the computer, I really haven't had a problem with," she said. "I don't think I've had any true glitches or problems that I didn't have on the old computer."
So that's the "mom" test. I'll be posting a few other looks Wednesday at how Vista is shaping up, a year after its consumer launch. Feel free to drop me an e-mail with your experiences at ina dot fried at cnet.com, or sound off below.
During her years at CNET News, Ina Fried has changed beats several times, changed genders once, and covered both of the Pirates of Silicon Valley. These days, most of her attention is focused on Microsoft. E-mail Ina. 
switched to a Mac.
He loves Leopard!
me", it eventually had a big influence in which laptop I purchased
for work at the end of that month. I bought a MacBook Pro. I run
XP in VMware for the few Windows apps that I need.
Just a suggestion
1) performance. system is a ram hog, but despite having plenty of headroom and ram left, system ran apps slower than XP. This is a huge issue. 3D Mark achieved a whopping 1000+ points more in XP than Vista with a base operating system install on the exact same hardware. Overall the system seemed slower to respond to commands. I want to get stuff done, not sure what my OS is doing.
2) Audio support for gaming. Not sure what DX 10 gets you, but ill have to pass since having EAX support is more important right now, I understand the desire to have DRM, and improve system stability, but do we have to sacrifice this key accelerated audio benefit?
3) Re-arranged things with no apparent benefit. Why did they move things around, it seems like it was done without any particular purpose. Certainly, to get the system to a baseline of the way i wanted it took far longer with Vista, having to disable UAC, and many other things that are on by default. Folder views and the icons are cluttered eye candy, the preview bar can't be closed?! what's going on here with gui design? Where are "spaces for windows?" They spent that much time on it and this is what you get, aero is a huge a disappointment, steal stuff from compiz and apple, and make the eye candy modular.
4) lack of 64 bit drivers in the community. Still, even 1 year after launch and many more years of time that vendors could have developed 64bit drivers on readily available hardware and pre-release software, there's still a lot missing, so forget about having an argument to go 64bit and any advantages that would bring
5) a lot of apps just didn't work correctly on Vista, which is unfortunate. Quicktime stuttered and puked. That was the last straw really.
These are the big ones, though there were others. Hope MS doesn't drop XP support any time soon
Which compared to the writer of the piece has nothing to do with Vista. I have no doubt your 3dmark score was lower, but MS dont care. PC gaming which took and major negative down turn in 2007 according to the market numbers released week, is so low on the list of MS/Vista problems.
MS would rather you get a 360, since they get money from each console, a small chunk of each game and then live. Vista helped kill and already dieing PC game industry.
2)The issue with EAX support I find was a huge mistake that will keep XP on a lot of gamers machines for a while.
3)Re-arranging things isn't unusual for new OSs albeit Vista went a little overboard with arbitrary changes. One that really annoys me is that Microsoft let too many average joes into the internal beta tests under the auspices that Vista was supposed to be more friendly to the masses, but they actually listened to one stupid noob who whined about the word properties, so now when you right click the desktop you see the word Personalize. It is fortunately in the same place, but it seems that nobody except for this noob lady that I saw in this one pre-launch video about the UI change that anybody saw changing the text on the contextual menus a good idea. "Properties" still appears on other menus creating an inconsistent UI. As for having to turn off things you don't like, that isn't really anything new. The default UI settings have annoyed me going back to Windows 98! At least Vista didn't come up with stupid ideas like Active Desktop or web view in Windows Explorer.
4)Lack of 64 bit drivers doesn't seem to be as big of a problem as you present. I have a friend who has installed Vista x64 on 50+ machines for his various clients and has had very few problems. I am writing this on Enterprise x64 right now and all of my hardware works. Unlike XP 64 most companies are writing drivers for Vista 64. They might not be the best, but at least Vista 64 is usable. I would agree though that there is no compelling argument for Vista 64 yet.
5)Software support at this point is pretty good. I remember when XP first came out that software incompatibilities was no better and yet now everyone acts like XP never had issues. Virtually anything that is still supported by the vendor who made it should work for Vista at this point. If it doesn't the vendor has obviously abandoned the product. Bottom line a lot people have selective memories. Every few years M$ releases a new OS which breaks hundreds of apps and people buy new versions and then they forget that this has ever happened before. I am willing to put a few bucks that 5-7 years from now people will be wondering why anyone would want Windows 7, when Vista is just perfect. It will be ironic, but I would be shocked if it didn't happen.
BTW Microsoft isn't scheduled to completely drop XP support to 2014(I just noticed they added 2 more years which seems silly since I doubt many people will be clinging to XP by even 2012).
Source:
http://support.microsoft.com/lifecycle/search/?sort=PN&alpha=windows+xp
That being said if you notice XP goes into the dreaded extended support phase next year, which M$ says they will only continue to provide security patches. Everything else wrong with XP will never be fixed by M$. Just because something is still "supported" by M$ doesn't mean the rest of the industry still supports it. Until 2 years ago 98 was still supported, but I don't see almost anyone still using it anymore. Furthermore, Office 2000 is still in extended support, but M$ has refused to fix several known security issues for it. If history is our guide I would expect the same for XP come 2009 once it enters extended support.
I'm running Vista now on this comp, but wonder how much more performance I would get with XP on it, but I haven't had the time to find out.
As for my moms. Well they have way more peripherals than I do. I don't hook too much stuff to my comp. When all of their stuff didn't work something just had to be done. I'm fairly confident I could have gotten everything to work with Vista, but they wanted their good old XP back. Who's gonna argue with that?
While I can see some legitimate reasons to stick with XP, most new machines run Vista fine. I ran Vista on an E6600 for going back to RC2 IIRC and it ran just fine. Most new machines that run Vista slow either were far slower than an E6600(which is now discontinued) or were preloaded with too many bloated apps that don't come with Vista(Norton is the most common culprit). M$ isn't to blame for the crap that OEM put on top of Vista. Vista is still more memory intensive than XP, but it is nowhere near as bad as a lot of the prefab computers make it out to appear.
Actually I am fairly confident that you could have gotten everything to work. I have seen a Laserjet 5si work on Vista x64! If that ancient hardware works with Vista x64 I would be baffled what your mom would own that didn't work with Vista. The real reason you put XP on their machines is because they don't want to learn anything new not because there were probably any incompatibility issues.
I am a little skeptical that it took less time to install XP and download all the drivers(most new hardware won't have drivers on the SP2 discs unless you already have slipstreamed all the relevant drivers onto the disc) than to turn off unneeded services and UI eyecandy that wastes clock cycles and memory.
I really don't know what is wrong with your mom, but it is good to see someone who acknowledges that a lot of people cling to XP out of familiarity and refusal to even give Vista or ANYTHING else that isn't XP a chance. XP isn't perfect and Vista isn't complete garbage like some critics claim.
mother's not at all a "computer person". I'm not even sure that
she is cognizant of what an operating system is.
She's used KDE under Linux, Windows XP, and a Mac -- mostly
just the web browser -- and never really registered that they are
different. They all show her web pages, videos, send messages,
and lets her save pictures and print them out. There might be
some variation in the presentation, but she attributes it to the
computer (after all, different cars have different arrangements of
the dashboard).
From the standpoint of a completely inexperienced user (and
possibly a moderately experienced one), the top 3 are equivalent
and differences merely cosmetic. My mom, for one, could care
less. She's still fearful of the computer, in general, but can't
draw a meaningful distinction between the platforms. Of course,
she's never had to configure/install it.
Your Mom's opinion on Vista has much more to do with the
hardware it runs on, the drivers used, and how it was configured
more than anything else. Stick her in front of a similarly
configured Linux or Mac system, and she'd come out with a very
similar opinion.
An ever dwindling number of gamers, and an ever increasing munber of music listeners and video editors for family dvds is what is driving home pc use.
vista does that stuff really well, the reason it does them well is the fact that they are memory and graphic intensive and any half way decent vista built machine has enough resources to run these well.
So Mom and Dad as the o/s barometer is probably a good choice, not only for vista but for all o/s`s .
Meet the new stuff... same as the old stuff!
don't agree, but many do!
after running the widows, will vista work on my computer program, i wos given the ok to upgrade so i went out and got it all happy to use all the new : features. but after installing it i was ready to shot myself!!! soundblaster didnt work and no drivers for that, sony handy cam didnt work, laxmark printer dead! most my old games died!! called micro soft and all they could say was go but a new version of xp and have a nice day sucker!!! so switch over to 2 new 17 macbook pros and life is good again !!! and wow it all works even my wifes sims games work better on mac's life is good again!!!
after running the widows, will vista work on my computer program, i was given the ok to upgrade so i went out and got it all happy to use all the new : features. but after installing it i was ready to shot myself!!! soundblaster didnt work and no drivers for that, sony handy cam didnt work, laxmark printer dead! most my old games died!! called micro soft and all they could say was go but a new version of xp and have a nice day sucker!!! so switch over to 2 new 17 macbook pros and life is good again !!! and wow it all works even my wifes sims games work better on mac's life is good again!!!
Wow, so when you replace your stereo and your Toyota still has problems you'll go out and spend 15x the amount on a new car instead?
I'm a little lost at the hate being spewed on this, save for it's a "maybe pro microsoft" post about vista. Is it that amazing that people actually use this OS and enjoy it, and like the new features? Ina's Mom got all new hardware, a laptop with the features she wanted that only came with Vista. By getting hardware designed for the OS and a clean install of the software she hasn't had major issues.
Just like your Macbooks.
Wow the "laxmark" printer didn't work! The costs per page in those things you should thank microsoft. Did you try plugging in all your out of date hardware into the macs?!! Especially you should plug in the soundblaster!!! Just use a hammer to remove the keyboard and you can put the soundblaster there!!! It'll work peeerfecct!!!
Toshiba laptop. Most of the things she liked had nothing to do
with Vista and everything to do with the fairly standard keyboard
I got her. I programmed a few function keys to open each of the
handful of programs she actually uses--a big hit.
"Most of the things she liked had nothing to do with Vista." So
why make her go over to Vista, then?
Also, the real test would have been if your Mom had been able
to set up her machine without your "tech support". Not exactly
the same as small children and chimps being able to install
Macs.
PROBLEM IS ADOBE FLASH DOES NOT SUPPORT 64 BIT BROWSER!!!!
YOU PAY FOR A PROGRAM TO RUN AND IT DOES NOT WORK.
WHAT ARE YOU GOING TO DO ABOUT IT?????
THIS ONE APPEARS TO BE ADOBE SHOW STOPPER!
I UNDERSTAND 90% OF WEB PAGES USE ABOBE FLASH.
MSNBC, CNN DEAD IN THE WATER!! ARE YOU GOING TO BASH ADOBE??? NEED SOME HELP!!! MAKE NOISE??????
5
(That is not a joke. Think about it.)
They're just on the opposite side of the "Does it work" spectrum.
..and we're down to one .dll needed to import to run Halo in WINE, and three for WMP9. In two months, we may not even need those.
At that point, not only will Ubuntu be a better operating system, it will be a better windows operating system. Add this to that Dell is rolling it out beside windows over the next year, and Redmond, you have a problem.
I bash Vista 'cause it's the easiest target. Nobody uses ME anymore.
Are you pressured to post something daily?
Btw, did you have her try Ubuntu?
and Mac OS X wouldn't pass the "mom" test if the user wasn't
SOMEWHAT assisted (either by a person, tutorial or a book) or if
the user wasn't familiar with the product.
Most average moms probably don't install tons of software on
their computers after the purchase - they buy the computer with
what they need installed already. That even applies to myself -
and I'm pretty computer-savvy.
Win XP is great, but I don't wish to cripple Vista by replacing it with XP.
Seriously, I've been a software engineer for 25 years. Windows XP was peak for Windows, and now Microsoft has headed back down the hill. Apple will be the initial beneficiary, but in the long run, it will be Linux.....it's not there yet, but distributions like Ubuntu are getting closer and closer. If you don't agree, you are wrong. ;-)
But if you want to give windows vista a good test go for something simple, go and buy a new laptop, with 1gb of memory (that shares memory with the video card), without the world's best processor, one of the new ones, that even if you donīt want to come with Windows Vista and you will be begin after a month to remove that bad operating system for your computer.
Sorry, but Vista is better. Get over it.
It had serious stability issues when he had windows xp on it (I would consider a bsod without even text a serious issue, not to mention that it crashed every other day.
And yet, since I installed Vista on it last week, he hasn't had a single issue. His computer hasn't even lost any performance compared to XP
- Warning! - Vista actually works
- by baggyguy1218 January 30, 2008 7:32 AM PST
- I sell vista everyday to people who seem more interested in "how much speed" the PC has. Vista works and thats what people need to know. If you have a printer that is 12 years old, obviously its going to need a special driver, but it will work. Too many people complain about the issues, please get over it! XP has issues too and I remember when XP was released it was almost exactly like when Vista was release not to long ago. The incompatability, the interface, the non-working drivers and don't forget the need to upgrade memory! Its all the same, move on and upgrade or don't! You will eventually. Good Day.
- Like this Reply to this comment
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- warning
- by ousmokeit2 January 30, 2008 9:05 AM PST
- dont be mad you cant get a job at the apple store! keep a stiff upper lip i think you got a chance at landing a job at mcdonalds!
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- Vista Doesn't Work
- by Renegade Knight January 30, 2008 9:38 AM PST
- While I'm sure it works for some or even most. Vista is the first O/S that flat out doens't do the job. I could never get it to sync with my PDA beyond the first time. With Xp never a problem. Media Center, never could download a program guide. Tech support at MS finally gave up on solving the problem. Another item that doens't work. Now I have two programs that update can't install. 25 tries later it still can't install them. It's looking like there is now a third. XP's update worked great. I've hit problems with Vista "validation", copying files and chaning directories and some other small annoynaces that didn't exist under XP.
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- "Speed" is relative
- by The_Decider January 30, 2008 12:33 PM PST
- That people only care about "speed" shows how dumb they are.
- Like this View reply
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Showing 1 of 3 pages (133 Comments)Windows 3, 95, 98, XP all actually did the job. Vista...Nope. First one that has failed and worse still doesn't work after a year. The sole reason I'm still working with Vista is Bitlocker. That works. (But not until after I found a work around for not having a TPM).
A fast computer running Vista will be significantly slower then the same computer running Linux or XP.
What do they gain with the bloat? Nothing useful.