Comments on: Running the numbers on Vista

Over its first six months, the latest Windows version can't hold a candle to XP. But, Office sales rock, according to NPD report.

[EugeniaJ]

Stats used

Hi. I've used some stats from this article at numberpedia.org. It's here. Thank You.

[Polymorpher]

New PC's

True, new PC's are shipping with Vista...but personally, I have bought two new machines, and replaced the OS with XP Pro the same day I got them.

The support for XP drivers has been ridiculous on these new machines, especially for my Sony Vaio laptop, though I did finally get it working after two days of searching and hacking at it. It's almost as if Microsoft is abandoning XP and trying to force us to move to Vista, which many company's simply cant do since the software that runs our businesses simply doesnt work on Vista.

[ImRaptor]

Sony's hardware MS's fault

So you're saying that the Sony Viao you bought you had a hard time getting to work under XP because of drivers?
Sounds to me more like Sony giving up on XP more than MS. Particularily considering that MS is still ofering support for XP which includes driver changes updates and patches. However, it is not MS responsibility to make sure that every piece of new laptop hardware works with XP, that would be upto the ones making the hardware. ie Sony

[jhoeforth]

New PC's

"Microsoft is abandoning XP"

Umm.. I don't know where you got that but FYI, there's a Service Pack 3 coming for Windows XP. Some people are just so reckless when their opinions, sigh...

[ethana2]

Can it run Compiz Fusion?

...hmm, yeah--

They're losing market share at wholesale rates. Perhaps if they offered those same rates to individuals, it would help?

I switched, and I've taken like 10 people with me and counting. Money is not an object when it never gets involved in the first place.

[macalterego]

Amen

I've gradually moved all the PCs in the office to Ubuntu; and all
the staff that get to 'pick' their laptop, although they have to
wait for their 'turn' in the budget, have selected Mac laptops. I'm
somewhat surprised, but only somewhat. In the mid-level
laptop market, prices are pretty much the same for a Mac or PC
laptop. Vista is touted as being more secure, but it's not
escaped at least 50% of the potential market that it's only more
secure because it is constantly being exploited and has to come
out with faster security fixes weekly. We fully expect that
somewhere the Mac may be as susceptible, so we preach non-
complacency; but the fact is, for now, they are much easier to
manage from a security aspect. So the statistics of Vista being
so secure is really just an indication that they have a bigger and
more active 'brute squad' whereas the smaller players, Linux
and Mac OS, don't need that big and resource hungry a squad
of brutes to protect them. At least for now.

[fskess]

MS Vista

Six weeks with Vista Ultimate is like 6 months in Philadelphia. I have a dream.........I've got Bill Gates in a headlock!

[guest86]

I see that.

I have idea to upgrade my gaming computer hardware more fastest than my regular hardware in the future. I will test Vista and XP which will win the Microsoft war! If XP will win the war against Vista, I will throw Vista away and keep Windows XP for best operating system in the world! :-)

[twickline]

Office on Mac

MS Office will run on a Mac with any of the many virtualization technologies not to mention Wine.

http://wine-review.blogspot.com/

[Bill_A]

Vista Adoptation

A lot of the problem with Vista is the "partners" deploying it. I have never seen such a messy launch. Dell, for example, for at least two months after it comes out, is delivering corporate products that need patches and updates to the add on software right from the get go. If it doesn't work with vista, don't ship it with vista! Quickbooks...it is beyond me why an ACCOUNTING application needs to be written so that it needs FULL ADMINISTRATOR access, but Intuit doesn't let us down. Quickbooks 2007 with Vista is even more annoying. Looks like in September, which is 8 months or so after the main launch, wireless PC cards for cellular don't even have their software written. I was told I would have to activate the card in XP and then move it to Vista. HP 1020 printer software for Vista doesn't work. They have it still posted, and have a beta behind the scenes that doesn't work. too many loose ends!

[notsotechno]

Should the OS Drive Development or ?

Should the release of a new or new version version of an operating system (OS) drive the development of compatible drivers, software and hardware?

A relative recently bought a Dell Desktop & Laptop with MS Vista. All new software and no loading of the old stuff.

All worked well on the Desktop except the existing cable internet connection. No problem, call the cable company and in about an hour it's decided that they have to address their modem to make it compatable with Vista. So they do, and it works.

Not so easy. Move the cable connection to the laptop and quess what NG. Call the cable company, re-address the modem and it works.

Not so easy. Move the connection back to the desktop and NG. and so forth (etc.).

The question is, should the cable/dsl etc., companies be required to upgrade their modems to be compatable with a new OS (Vista) or visa versa?

[ImRaptor]

OS relation to modem

The OS should be completely irrelevant to a cable modem. If a provider is doing their connection in such a way where the OS matters in terms of being able to get a connection, then they are doing something wrong or they are doing things the wrong way.
With an ISP I should be able to hook up any OS I want and have no connection issues let alone have to call the ISP to get things to work.

[mr. cynical]

Numbers on OS Share as of 8/07

XP: 80.48%
Vista: 6.26%
Mac: 3.33%

http://marketshare.hitslink.com/report.aspx?qprid=5

[Penguinisto]

You missed a spot

...psst! You forgot the category "MacIntel" in your cite, which is also (drum roll, please...) OSX. The combined market share between both forms of OSX (PPC and Intel-based) comes to 6.15%.

Doesn't sound like much, does it? Well, until you realize that combined Windows marketshare has actually dropped in your cite overall.

[The_Raven]

Oh, c'mon...

After 5+ years in development and after so many dropped "new" features, Vista should be pretty damned polished.

[The_Raven]

The problem is this (in part)

MS spent too much time trying to outdo Mac OS X in eye candy, which is akin to challenging Michealangelo to a sculpting duel. Mac OS X has Widgets, so we'll give 'em Gadgets, Mac OS X has transparency, so we'll give 'em transparency, Mac OS X has Expose, so we'll give 'em Flip.

From the looks of Vista, they failed miserably on all counts. What's with the hideous standard blue and yellow-green background? Is there anybody out there that actually thinks that looks appealing? If you're going to outdo the masters, you better to it right. For instance, take a look at the Vista window transparency. It's lame. Looks like something a novice that just discovered alpha channels in photoshop would do. Yuck. Then again, money doesn't buy taste, or good interface designers.

So, you're left with this fluff while all the potentially useful enhancements, like a new filesystem, are tossed out with the wash.

[jhoeforth]

RE: The problem is this (in part)

Oh Please. What is this Highschool?

The new graphics engine in Vista isn't in all about Aero (which I love, by the way). Vista has WPF (Windows Presentation Foundation), it's a runtime environment for graphics that is programmable through .NET.

[i]"It provides a consistent programming model for building applications and provides a clear separation between the UI and the business logic" [/i] - Wikipedia

Imagine doing savvy apps for the operating system without making API calls. Isn't that a breeze? WPF is more than just skin deep, you know.

[Dango517]

Vista hardware, compatibilities, and drivers 9-15-07

Stand alone sales will be pretty tough for Microsoft most pre-Vista Home PCs aren't hardware compatible without some serious system upgrades. Many of the computers sold early in the release had barely the minimum hardware requirements. I'm one of those, a second RAM of memory was needed and a fully functioning graphics card to replace a chip set.

Vista has some compatibility issues with older software but this problem can be overcome if you ID the incompatible software and revert the system to a previous OS to run it. The driver problems seem to have been mostly solved by a number of updates the first few months after the OS was released.

Vista has some advanced features that are well above those available for XP. This does not include the UAC that I have disabled. Vista does have one problem that may not be overcome, navigation. This system is much more difficult to maneuver within and several long standing names have been changed, ("add/remove programs" is now "programs and features",) this adds to the problem. I'm still having one problem with the OS. The toolbar in windows explorer will crash occasional but it can simply be restarted and on your way again. If this and other problems are reported, I'm sure they will be straightened out with the release of Vista SP1.

PC prices have climbed about $75.00 in our area over the last nine months, more then likely because of the extra 1 GB of RAM being added. This is in addition to the 1 GB of RAM that came with PCs sold around New Years 2007. For a total of 2 GBs.

I still think with a little more time this will be a very good OS and a winner for Microsoft. Vista is just a little slow out of the starting gate in a race that is a marathon not a sprint.

[stevetamas]

Vista driver issues

Another reason for frustration with Vista. Vista seems to have dropped support for game ports!!! The Vista install automatically identified the sound card driver, but did not identify and load the game port driver for my audio/game port card. I finally got around to trying to resolve this issue and "manually" added a hardware device so I could look at the entire list of supported multimedia devices (to find a supported game port board), I found that each device that had a game port displayed the message "unsupported game port". A call to the local electronics store resulted in their report that Vista does not support the game port!!!
Way to go, Microsoft,... just another way to tick off your customers. They also just lost my interest in getting an Xbox... any time I sense that someone is trying to force my choice, I usually reflexively dig in my heels... and I am by no means alone in this reaction.
I will just have to add the lack of game port support to my growing list of "why I am becoming disenchanted with Microsoft".

[midfingr]

Not just Vista, but Microsoft in general

Running Windows used to be fun and Microsoft was okay to deal with. However with the advent of Windows XP came product activation. That was an annoyance, but tolerable, then it was introduced in to their other software products. A few years later, Microsoft release SP2 for Windows XP and a lot of angry people over broken applications. Microsoft then introduced Windows Genuine Advantage (WGA) then the added notification. For some, that was the last straw. Not only was this shown as a critical update, but was in beta for most of it's existence; completely inexcusable behavior.

Now at what seems every twist and turn, visiting Microsoft's download center requires WGA, over and over again. Then after downloading, validate Media Player, or validate Internet Explorer. Vista to me is a summation of all the new and very annoying, sometimes suspect, behavior of Microsoft. Product Activation, WGA, WGA-N, UAC popups, Windows Defender's silent driver revocation, and now it seems silent downloads, I think Microsoft has really ticked a lot of people off and if the numbers are correct, we're seeing the reaction.

[starthrower]

Vista

Our office has 15 computers. None of us has Vista. We still use XP Pro. Everyone I talk to, and I have a lot of savvy Tech friends recommend staying away from Vista. Even friends from Intel say the same thing.
We will do everything in our power to avoid that program for as long as possible. And our IT guy will help us do that.
Starthrower PDX

[CC9999]

Vista Doesn't Play Well - Not Recommended

Far too many issues for the typical user. Daily complaints from my kids the past 6 months has made a Dell the worst PC I ever bought. A killer is the inability to share files with the Win98, Win Me, and XP machines on my home network. The Dell now has option to boot to Ubuntu - easier to learn. Thanks for pushing me to Linux Microsoft!

[Fake Donald Trump]

Windows Vista is a dog!

I had to fire my Windows Vista:
http://fakedonaldtrump.blogspot.com/2007/09/windows-vista-youre-fired.html

I predict that Microsoft will lose a lot of money from this dog, with possible lawsuits from Vista owners.