Version: 2008

Comments on: Vista's biggest problem is Windows XP

Pointless upgrades bum people out.

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Upgrading from 2K to XP
by CBWolf November 15, 2007 6:13 AM PST
Windows XP was little more than a facelift to Windows 2000. Of course there
isn't any real reason not to upgrade from 2k to XP, I'm just saying it
isn't a hugely compelling upgrade. Vista meanwhile is downright frightening
with all the things it breaks along with all the useless new features.
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XP to OS X Leopard was sure a convincing upgrade
by MyRightEye November 15, 2007 7:12 AM PST
I LOVE it!!
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Vista's biggest problem
by Carion November 15, 2007 7:57 AM PST
is of course, Vista !
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Poor Vista
by close5828 November 15, 2007 8:08 AM PST
I have Vista on one of my notebooks and can unapologetically say that this is the new Windows Me. It's all looks, slow, and downright murder on your hard drive (it caches everything!)

Microsoft has some of the most talented programmers in the world, no doubt, but this is probably the worst performing OS I've seen to come out of Redmond. I've run XP since '01 and had little complaints about it, or Windows 2000, or Windows 98SE.

Boot times of 2-6 minutes are NOT acceptable!
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Compelling Reasons - WIIFM
by taphilo November 15, 2007 8:48 AM PST
NT to XP was easy - the DRIVERS that would work on XP but would NOT work on NT - all that equipment lying around - or what you WANTED / NEEDED just would not work on NT - but WOULD on XP - get rid of NT and go with XP - and with the same networking features / abilities of NT. And, as a business, when you go with a consumer oriented version you have WAY more options and features that you can use in your business than if you used the business - NT - version. MS designed to what IT thought a business needed and thus limited all choices. Developing for a consumer market it had to cover a LOT more areas and allow a lot more items to work in / with XP (hence more programming / conflicts, but the broader market is the trade-off and more money) - so business went also with XP since it allowed them to purchase commodity items too - and get their work done at a lower cost.
VISTA seems to be more of a 'computer support' feature update to help IT people - it does NOTHING to help the end user do their work faster and better (faster does not always equal better!) A person is still only going to use 15% of what MS Word has in it on any regular basis. The rest is useless to them.
Search? If people could think and organize they would never HAVE to search to find what they created. By abstracting the file system and saying it does not matter where people throw stuff it FORCES people to search to find what they created - and actually wastes more time (money) in the long run.
I've been through all the upgrades since DOS 2.0 - and VISTA is the first one I never even bothered to beta-test at work or at home. Look at MS 100 best things about Vista on their web site - 80 of them are security related. Anyone who has old hardware, old games are automatically blocked from upgrading EVER - the security blocks people from installing the device drivers and most games completely.
Business is in the same boat for devices - 5 year old scanners, printers, ZIP drives that are working fine now have to be THROWN AWAY and new ones purchased - just to get the AERO visuals look and feel? That does NOT help get the job done. Add that 1/3 to 2/3 of the existing systems have to be scrapped also (cannot handle the REAL effective operating minimums) - and VISTA becomes very expensive.

Tom Philo
http://www.taphilo.com
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Vista's biggest problem is piracy
by dlandry November 15, 2007 8:54 AM PST
Of all the home users out there, how many do you think have pirated versions of XP? Why don't they upgrade? Probably fear or simply the difficulty of running a bogus version of Vista.

Typically, most users won't waste their time paying for an OS. They don't see it as paying for a OS when they buy a new computer, they feel it's "free" with the computer.

I feel the adoption rate will likely only take off after approx 3 years, when old computers burn out, and new ones are required.

That's why "free" Linux also has the same struggles - it's free - but technically in the view of many users, so is XP.
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Vista vs Leopard
by bandgeek87 November 15, 2007 9:05 AM PST
It is kinda funny, ya know... I remember reading about how Vista had a big
release party at midnight at a few stores and barely anyone showed up.
Granted, there were a few lines at a few stores in big cities, but considering
their market share, the turnout should have been much more impressive.

Leopard, on the other hand... Something like 8% of the computer using
population uses Macs. A pretty miniscule amount, all things considering.
Despite that, there was still a fairly strong turnout at the larger Apple stores
when Leopard was released. I can't remember the numbers, but more than
the people who showed up for Vista.

In short... Nobody was excited about Vista. And unlike most products, it's
actually became less attractive in the year since it's release. Leopard, on the
other hand, has been a dream right out of the box. The new features actually
add a great deal of functionality to the operating system. It's not just a pretty
little bit of window dressing.
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If they're going to wait till 2010
by gsmiller88 November 15, 2007 9:34 AM PST
They might as well just skip Vista and install Windows 7.
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keep waiting
by The_happy_switcher November 15, 2007 10:54 AM PST
Maybe by 2013 they will 'fix' windows.
(Hasta la) Vista !!!
by whois101 November 15, 2007 10:25 AM PST
While attending the presentation of Vista, it looked nice, but was not impressed. The unlogical redesign of Office, with the 'carpal tunnel' ribbons and other unpractical things didn't encourage me to upgrade any systems at home and definitely not at work.

By the time the reports of incompatibility started to poor in, one of the laptops broke and had to be replaced... and you only can get that with Vista (yes, I asked for XP). Since our equipment is pretty modern, I didn't really think the compatibility was going to be a huge issue, as that would only apply to people with very old stuff, right? Wrong! What a pain. The security, that doesn't let you do the regular stuff, even if you are an administrator, the new HP laserprinter we bought a week later (about 11 months after Vista's release), that needed another yet another driver, and now requires fixed IP settings on all other PCs as well, due to that one Vista machine. Or the preloaded software that takes over settings, and cannot be changed due to inappropriate security settings.

The old XP laptop got repaired, and the new Vista machine is standing in a corner. Hasta la Vista !!! This is not a product that is ready for the public. It requires the average user to become more system aware all in the name of making things 'easier'. The fact that you have to work around issues is kinda like Linux users, who have to know more about their systems in order to work. Like others said: there is a similarity in pain with Windows Misserable Edition from a few years back.
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The problem with Vista
by thedreaming November 15, 2007 11:28 AM PST
The problem with vista is simple. Other than some eye candy, it really doesn't bring anything new to the table. An xp machine, with some 3rd party software, can do what vista does plus it's stable, runs all hardware and software so from the point of view of the consumer, why should they upgrade at all?
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by bbossin January 22, 2009 5:49 PM PST
Vista glitches standard audio playback. period. It stutters all the time. XP doen't, MAc doesn't. They had a technology that worked and they screwed it up. Now XP is no longer supported I guess I will have to buy a mac if the fix does not come in Win 7. Vista has set back audio production on the PC by years. The mac crowd is just laughing at us. Microsoft acting like its not true is stupid.
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