Microsoft: Vista SP1 will break these programs

Microsoft has published a list of programs that will not work or that will suffer from reduced functionality after the installation of Vista Service Pack 1.

The list of programs consists mostly of security applications, such as Trend Micro Internet Security 2008. However, programs such as The New York Times Reader application also feature on the list. Users are advised to install updates from the application vendor to fix the problem.

"Windows Vista Service Pack 1 contains many security, reliability, and feature updates for Windows Vista," the company said. "A program may experience a loss of functionality after you install Windows Vista SP1. However, most programs will continue to work as expected after you install Windows Vista SP1."

The list is not considered to be comprehensive, and Microsoft has asked users who encounter problems with other applications to first restart their PC and, if they still encounter problems, to install a newer version of the program or contact the software vendor.

Without SP1 incompatibilities, Windows Vista is already facing an ingrained perception by enterprise users of incompatibility with old systems, said Joseph Sweeney, an analyst at Intelligent Business Research Services.

Issues of back compatibility require regression testing on old applications, making any deployment very painful to do in one install, he said. "In theory, you only have to fix it once, and you should be able to deploy it across your whole environment, but many organizations do not have a highly automated deployment."

The problems with SP1 will only make backward-compatibility issues worse, he said, especially since many companies have been waiting to deploy the operating system until the release of the service stack.

The positive thing about Vista, he said, has been that organizations are stepping back and looking at their deployment methods. Because the desktop market is maturing, the trend would have happened anyway, he said, but Vista's problems have acted as a catalyst.

Suzanne Tindal of ZDNet Australia reported from Sydney.

[thedreaming]

The more I read about vista....

the more I realize I don't want it on my desktop...

[FalseToU]

Smart guy

Read further down in the forum about what VISTA is REALLY about and you will get the shivers. I won't update my XP, except for 3 selected items, because MS sneaks stuff in with the service packs and updates. Somewhere along the line before XP SP2 (which I use) they snuck in something so you now have to give MS Word unfettered access to the internet (probably for TC)! If XP ever stops working for me then I will have to decide what to do, but whatever it is, it will NOT be VISTA! I actually had to disable autoupdate in Services to get it to stop - after I reinstalled my OS (I bought a retail copy of XP Home SP2 so I would never have an OEM issue if I wanted to change any of my hardware).

[Leria]

Then you don't want XP either

Because when XP first came out it had some of these same problems.... actually, NON-problems because I haven't run into one problem with Vista thus far, except for ones I made myself by corrupting a piece of software or deleting a necessary system file.

[Fil0403]

The more comments I read about Vista...

...the more I realize how people are easily deceived by the media.

[WJeansonne]

Blah, Blah, Blah

I installed it, have dozens of third party apps and absolutely no problem. This is just another Chicken Little story from CNET to make sensational headlines.

[NeverFade]

not from C|net

but from Microsoft... it's their comprehensive list, not C|nets!

[jelloburn]

We're very happy for you

I personally have had several third party applications or add-ons
not work within Windows Vista. It's true the majority of them
work fine (albeit slower), but I know I am not alone when it
comes to application incompatibilities.

Microsoft needs to do what Apple did and build an entirely new
operating system off of a Unix core. Keep XP around for those
who need its legacy functionality, but move the majority over to
the new kernel. At least than they would have an excuse as to
why people's old software isn't working. It would also help solve
a lot of the security issues and would hopefully get rid of a lot of
the bloat that exists because of their extended legacy support.

[niceyuk]

ha, ha, ha

Well, if its working on your PC I guess that makes Microsofts compatibility list null and void then.

You may choose to stick your head in the sand but SP1 was supposed to fix all the niggles and compatibility issues, instead it just makes compatibility even more uncertain and more complicated.

Vista is a disaster!

[SystemsJunky]

Me Too

Loads of Apps, nothing broken yet....

[vistaakah]

Just the truth

I've been using Vista since day one release and not a single problem with software or games that i play. NO windows OS is more stable. I have firefox installed on my system as well as i like to mess around with other apps to see for myself. Is firefox good? Yes! Is it better then IE7? Plain and simple NO!. Its not any faster in fact it offers nothing performance wise over IE7.

Computing will always have its naysayers or those who simply wanna argue the moot point of upgrading in general. It's all about what you want. I built a new system for Vista. I like new things and i love the OS.

I like competition but neither firefox or Linux will ever be the browser or OS of choice for the desktop.

[schmidty1985]

Vista LoL

Microsoft is making a service pack for this product already? How
about making an OS that WORKS. 2 years or so Vista has been
around, yet when i purchased a computer 2 days ago the OS that
came with my computer was said to be, not the Original. WoW This
is only one thing that is wrong with this product. Hey Bill make
something that people like or Apple may start taking your biz.

[catch23]

how many patchs

has Apple released? How many point upgrades and new editions you have to pay for to fix things?

On quality or an OS that 'just works', Bill has little to worry about from Apple.

[garry_k]

Suck it up people!

Gee, Microsoft should just ignore any problems and bring on the Service Pack, that way nobody could complain about them doing their job. It's a new OS, it will prevail, learn to use it, let Microsoft fix the problems and quit complaining. I'd sure like a dollar for every problem I've run into with XP, but now it's the darling of the masses. Everybody wants to go back to XP, blah, blah, blah. Suck it up people, if you can't deal with a new OS, go back to a typewriter, because it's always going to be this way, NEW OS...problems!

[Aeonn]

No thanks...

Your attitude is the exact reason Microsoft remains in business.
Their customers have no issues being permanent beta testers. I
wouldn't settle for that. If I pay for a product, it should be a
finished product. I don't mind a few tweaks or upgrades along the
way, but Service Packs are not upgrades. They fix portions or make
additions that should have been there at the start.

[cbhole7]

XP still better

Your right xp has had problems just like any other software release, but no where near as many problems and incompatibility issues as visa has. When you pay more than $300 on an operating system you expect it to work properly with the occasional issue now and then. There is no reason it should take more than 12 hours to install an OS. Trying to find all the drivers and software updates to make the simple home computer to function properly.

[crash972]

Ditto

I agree Gary people seem to have really short term memory. I rememeber like it was yesterday when people were bashing XP because it was not compatible with other software......AT FIRST! I had many, many people tell me they were not upgrading from Millenium and I bet now they are the same people that are saying no to Vista and running XP on their machines.

[GIRv2.0]

Talk about self-delusion

No OS has come out with the scores of problems that Vista has caused. XP, out of the gate was, far superior and more useable than all the useless crap Microshaft has tried to foist on the public with the release of Vista.

Worse, Microsoft's response to all the legitimate customer gripes has been a resounding "F#$k you"!

Yeah, every new OS has inherent problems. The problem with MS is their whole attitude toward their customer base. they don't respect me? Fine, I don't respect them either.

They are digging their own hole. They assume that they are SO entrenched that nothing they do, no matter how obnoxious or messed up, will dislodge their base. Keep it up Microsoft. I think you are in for an unpleasant surprise.

As for you Garry K... how much does Microsoft pay you to show up in forums and praise the machine? Pathetic.

[frankz00]

My XP WORKS!!!

And when I need to use my computer that's all that counts. The two weeks I spent trying to get Vista up to speed were not worth and I ended up cutting my losses and going back to XP. Not a problem since!

[Vandikar1]

I'd be richer than you

You keep your dollar for every XP problem, I'll keep my dollars
from Vista problems. Let's just see who's retiring to the French
riviera first okay.


You'll have to excuse me. I need to reprogram my registrys, my
lanmanserver is screwed up...again.

At least thanks to vista, ive been trained in a new skill:
Computer Programing.


Anyone know where I can pick up a copy of ME?

[fred dunn]

Why Should We Have To "Suck It Up"???

When it's our money that's buying a new computer but not our decision whether to have Vista on it.

If I ordered (or Installed by choice) a computer with Vista on it then I would say your comments are relevant but since you can hardly get a computer without Vista already on it then your "Suck It Up" comment is totally irrelevant.

All OS's have their good and bad sides but if you look at the number of comments from people that have had bad experiences with Vista and have experience with XP then you will see that although XP has it's quirks they just don't like Vista.

In the end it is their money that Microsoft is looking for so to just say "Suck It Up" to me means that you are telling us we have no choice when in fact we do. Being in IT just one of those choices is not buying, recommending, or supporting Vista.

Your comment about not being able to "deal with a new OS" is not just irrelevant it's just plain dumb. For those of us that have dealt with MS from the DOS days we have dealt with many upgrades and we considered them upgrades but Vista is different and is a resource hog other than those two things I don't see the "upgrade" in it.

[jeolmeun]

"...release of the service sack."

"waiting to deploy the operating system until the release of the service sack."

[Fuze44]

I have to wonder if that was intentional

since 'p' and 's' are on opposite sides of the keyboard.

[iertry]

2 years?

Vistas only been arouns a year. It came out jan 31st 2007. I agree though thats its not good. I use XP after trying to use vista for most of the alst year.

[sliptip1]

What a mistake

I've already had my camcorder's computer interface rendered useless by Vista, and now this. I should have bought a computer with XP. Vista has given me nothing but problems.

[marvswett]

That's the beuty of "Choice"!

You don't get one!

Now that Vista is out, you can't get a preloaded machine with XP. Instead, you must shop the retail market for an XP license. Now the old saw about the cost of the OS being essentially "nothing" because it is included in the price of the machine is busted flat. A retail XP Pro license is approximately $250USD.

Good luck

[meski.oz]

Can't get drivers?

You're in for a round of finger-pointing between camcorder manufacturer and MS. Camcorder will be unwilling to re-write drivers for old (that means what they aren't currently making) equipment, and will blame MS for changing the driver protocols / interfaces. I got bitten (once) buying a printer that had all its GDI rendering inside the computer, and the manufacturer who I wont embarrass by naming, (the first letter of the company is Nippon) only produced 95/98 drivers. Bah.

[martinburger]

Sticking with XP!

I see no reason whatsoever to move from XP. I had high hopes that more things would work with SP1, not less!

[the_piano_man]

ms vista sp1 will break these programs

Fix it then; ms - can't you see your whole process is broken. The practice of one company controlling everything just doesn't work. It takes more people than you can hire and enslave to write good software. Deal with it. And don't ask people to send you bug reports either - or try to make-believe you are some kind of open source advocate all of a sudden now. . . liars.

[Ted Miller]

Stupid and stupider

When will this foolishnes end?

When will Microsoft smarten up?

For crying out load! Whats wrong with all of this.

I am a Vista user at home and I HATE IT PERIOD. Used for over a year. I use XP a lot on several computers at work, and I build many ITX computers using XP for machines. WHAT A DIFFERANCE!!!!

I am sure the Microsoft Boot lickers are going to answer to this, but can't you see I am truly upset with this.

They where supposed to fix it and they only made it worse then ever.

I really wish I could be there to fire some people!

[BLACK HAL0]

Did you read the list?

If you read the list, new versions are available for virtually all of the applications which are affected.

Why do you 'hate' Vista? or do you just hate change?

[danwade]

Vista has made me a believer. OS X for me!

MS Windows Vista is a useless operating system that has made every attempt to function like the MAC OS X. Windows XP is at least functional, supportive for all your applications and relatively reasonable in the way it utilizes resources for both hardware and software solutions. OS X simply works, intuitive (especially when it comes to media related items) and has great support for MAC hardware and software. Apple continues to evolve it's Operating system and thinks outside the box. Pair up their Intel hardware with their Operating System and you can run BOTH Windows and MAC on the same machine....wait, you can even run Linux natively via Terminal Window. When will Microsoft get a clue?

I have gone back and forth about what kind of system I want to buy for my next home computer. And Windows Vista is the primary reason why I'll put up the money and buy a MAC. Why pay for two, when you can run both on one. Now if only Apple will lower it's darn prices so the rest of us can afford their gear.

[rdox]

Vista has meade me a believer of the OS X for me too!!!

I bought a beautiful HP desktop computer that came with Windows Vista OS. It's unfortunate the desktop came with Vista because I wound up taking the computer back to Costco. Within a weeks time, I got the blue screen of death twice, Vista is an absolute joke. With the refund, I put it down on a iMac and have had NO regrets. As you said, simply stated, the Mac OS works. It did take all of about an hour to get used to it, but in the end, best darned computer on the market. As for the price, use your tax refund or economic stimulous check you'll receive in May to help cover the cost, you won't regret going with Apple, I know I didn't.

[BLACK HAL0]

Great you have an OS and no choice in software!

"Vista is useless"? How do you quantify this? You are repeating the same garbage people said about XP when it was released "Oh they are trying to mimic a Mac" ***?! I said the same thing about Mac when I had my Amiga! Sorry, but Apple wasn't the first to market a GUI OS.

Windows in an OS made to run on a PC. You can run another OS on the PC if you choose. You buy Apple, you get locked into its limited software and hardware choices.

[cpmjohn]

Tell Apple they have the best, but you want it cheap?

About your last sentence:
The more you tell Apple how good their product is the more you can expect to pay for it. That's called Marketing and includes "all the market will bear."

[dolynn]

Exactly why I bought a iMac

It just works!

I was a 15-year windows user and switched to an iMac within the past month. No regrets what so ever. I've had a small learning curve but nothing compared to what I would have gone through buying a new Vista machine. I have talked to 8 people who bought a Vista machine and they absolutely hate it. And have found only one person who actually loves it.

[fred dunn]

Vista is Apple's best Selling Point....

I am not a Mac person but I work in a University that supports both. All of our students have to choose between a Mac laptop or a Dell Laptop.
Before Vista the students chose 90% Wintel and 10% Mac. This year it has been 55% Wintel and 45% Mac, that is a big difference.
I am not a big fan of proprietary hardware but with the OS's (not Linux) becoming more and more complex and bloated proprietary hardware is starting to look good especially when it has been shown to run Vista faster than a comparable Wintel laptop.

Our computer store is now even starting to sell more Macs to departments which WERE almost exclusively WinTel.

Vista is the best reason to buy a Mac. I support the desktops ~6000 centrally so besides the PCs I have I am requesting an iMac 20" (24 to big) so that I can get more familiar with applescript and the shell scripting which I do for our PC side.

[hellfang]

I gave Vista many MANY chances

I have given Vista many chances, I've gone through 5 of my friends newly bought - Vista Operated - laptops, and I just gave up!

For the first time ever I find myself forced to either downgrade to XP or leave the windows platform! What the hell were they thinking?? What happened to the control panel? Why is it so disorganized? I can't find anything I'm looking for, the system keeps crashing (4 of the 5 laptops that came factory installed with Vista froze and gave errors at least once in the first week of usage WITHOUT installing ANY third party apps!), the system is INCREDIBLY slow for a brand new dual core, and to top it all off, the wireless connection keeps disconnecting, and I couldn't figure out how to go in an edit the connection settings and passwords!!

Every single owner of these 5 laptops requested the same thing: "Can I get my old version of MS office back? I can't use this version! I can't find anything I want!"

I'm looking at the new Leopard OS. If I like what I see I might switch to Apple for the first time in 20 years!

The other option is Linux, there is quite a lot of user friendly distributions out there nowadays.

[thrca]

Have cake and eat it too

Why does everyone relate Windows automatically to being PC. People don't want windows, so they pony up about double what they should spend on a system and buy a Mac.

If you don't want windows, go have a shop build a decent PC. It will be about the same price, and you can put whatever you want on it. It's really depressing to see people buying Macs because they think its the only way they can get a useful linux OS. Try Ubuntu, Gentoo, or SUSE.

[frankz00]

Fruedian Slip?

"many companies have been waiting to deploy the operating system until the release of the service sack"

Sack is right!

[frankz00]

Are you paying for the upgrade?

It was going to cost me $1000 extra in software upgrades to become Vista compatible with software that already worked. That and lack of support for half of my hardware just wasn't worth it. I'm using XP until it dies.

[rogueDBA]

No New York Times Reader is Good

Disabling the New York Times Reader should be considered a feature not a defect

[Gunady]

My Application Runs as if without SP1

I haven't found single application error since I have installed SP1 about 1 week ago. I have number of applications and games installed on my machine. SP1 works without much different, except for the more stability, but sadly, there're no major improvements, like WinXP SP2.

[terrylparks]

VISTA - ME

The Microsoft Monster continues to consume all in its path. World domination is at hand. What was life like before Bill and his brood?

[chash360]

I remember it, it was nice...

The Internet was secure. There was no such thing as ActiveX, or page scripting to compromise your system. Everything happened in secure, discrete, autonomous post or get transactions and were almost exclusively text markup operations, no invoking other arbitrary code.

Network usage only occured when you actually were using the net.

E-mail was secure using only the free SMTP protocol, even with binary attachments, because you had to manually save them and execute, rather than automatically running that trojan the moment you recieved it, thanks to M$ and OE default settings.

Chat was safe when using the original free IRC protocol, but now everyone wraps a web interface around it so they can track, monitor, send adware, spyware, whatever.

Newsgroups were great free resources, and very secure with anonymous capability, using the free NNTP protocol, again its now wrapped in web intefaces and renamed 'blogs', for the same tracking, monitoring and advertising purposes. (it really is the same basic function).

I was a part of the Internet before the WWW, before M$, when all you had to do was go to your local University and apply for an account, there was a filing fee, but after that usage was free!!!!

Gone are those glorious days....I miss them so....

[holstein9]

Service Sack?

Sounds dirty to me...

[Zoe Slocum]

We've fixed the typo

Should be "stack." Thanks.

[GHammer]

Bogus Report- Misleading

Um, the Microsoft page linked in this article says for each of the affected programs there is an updated version that DOES run with SP1.

Kind of a misleading headline, eh?

Trend Micro Internet Security 2008 Trend Micro http://esupport.trendmicro.com/support/enterprise/search.do?cmd=displayKC&docType=kc&externalId=PUB-en-1036628 (http://esupport.trendmicro.com/support/enterprise/search.do?cmd=displayKC&docType=kc&externalId=PUB-en-1036628) A supported version (16.1 or a later version) is now available.
Zone Alarm Security Suite 7.1 Zone Alarm http://www.zonealarm.com/store/content/catalog/products/vista.jsp?dc=12bms&ctry=US&lang=en (http://www.zonealarm.com/store/content/catalog/products/vista.jsp?dc=12bms&ctry=US&lang=en) A supported version (7.1.218.0 or a later version) is now available.

[suyts]

yes and

it was only 12 apps that were affected.....most of which, I'd never heard of. Just typical MS bashing. Very misleading. I wonder if they get their reporters from the NY times.

[rapier1]

Its 12 applications total

So the number of application that will the upgrade will break is
12. Of these half are security products. What's interesting about
this is that SP1 is designed, in part, to give security product
vendors official hooks into the kernel as opposed to the hacks
they are using now. So it actually makes a certain amount of
sense that these products would no longer function properly.

I'm not sure of the reasons for the other failures but 6 apps isn't
a disaster or a huge issue.

[Andy kaufman]

So just delay deployment of Vista SP1

until those vendors can release updates that fix what breaks their software.

That is basically what happened to security software in Windows XP after SP1 and SP2 were released. You waited until third party security software vendors released updates, and then you applied them and applied SP1 or SP2 after that. History repeats itself!

[RicRoe]

No More Windows

Since Microsoft seems unable to create an operating system that works properly, and since their alleged fixes cause competing programs not to function, I am done with Windows.

I have ordered and will be installing Ubuntu, and converting my computers to Linux.

Open soruce is now the way to go for me, no more dealing with an operating system from the boys at Microsoft that does not work or is incompatible with my hardware.

No more WGA issues. No more unnecessary upgrades that break already installed programs. No more expense of a new operating system every 4 years that works worse than the last.


So long Bill Gates, your company has been pushing us harder and harder to go open source, personally, I am sorry I waited so long.

[marvswett]

No Panacea, but Good Choice

Expect your first couple of years with Linux to be somewhat frustrating, especially with wireless. You will also be spending more than a few hours tweaking the settings of your xorg.conf to get your monitors and graphics cards to reach their full potential. Once you have mastered these skills, however, you will begin to reap the benefits of stepping permanently off the Microsoft product churnmill.

Some products you may want to include in your repertoire of applications that will make your migration a bit easier: Codeweaver's wine and VMware's emulator. For those applications that run in the Windows environment that you absolutely cannot find as an open source equivalent, these two products will keep you rolling until there are workable native Linux solutions.

I've been using Linux since 1994 and been an exclusive Linux user since 1999. I've never looked back, but Mac certainly has gotten a second look.

[mlinder69]

Linux != Rose Garden

I use win2k on a daily basis and have played with many different versions of linux over the past 8 years. For my personal use I will gladly purchase an MS product for my next system over any thing else. I think Linux has more hardware issues than anything else. Lets see you load a system with linux and get a printer up and running. Trying to get simple things setup like printers is not even as good as windows 3.1 or OS/2 was. I just want to print I dont care how it works! If your car was Linux you would need to know how the engine worked and everything else just to get to work!
I am not an MS fan at all, but use what works and gets my work done.