A Gloomy Vista for Microsoft

I found it very telling that the first example cited in the article involved a PC exceutive who was forced to remove the battery from his Vista-loaded laptop in order to start it up. Guess what?? The very latest and greatest of the Vista 'system update' patches that Microsoft is constantly forcing down your throat did the same thing to my Lenovo PC last weekend. First, it started to apply the patch, then it shut the laptop down ... then it was completely frozen. Once the panic-frozen blood started returning to my brain, I was forced to remove the battery ... for the first time ever ... in order to re-start my laptop for an operating system that has been in the field for almost two years and constantly patched and updated since it was first installed. If I'm having to remove a battery to start my computer - almost two years into the Vista debacle - what does that say about the underlying stability of this operating system and the obvious increasingly desperate attempts to patch it into viability???

Sometimes you have to use things that don't make sense, just because that's the standard. If something truly does not make sense, then it will fade out on its own. Picking an operating system because of fashion oriented ideas is a little silly. It's an operating system, not a pair of pants. -chalkyantacid@yahoo.com

Had Vista installed on my computer since it became available to consumers. I have to admit there were numerous issues with driver/program compatibilities, just like there would be any new operating system, but after the SP1 update can not think of one issue to complain about. Also, MAC???s are awesome. They have made substantial gains in the market place due to there performance and great looks, however the majority of people own PC???s. So guess what??? Majority Wins. Vista Rocks!!!

Had Vista installed on my computer since it became available to consumers. I have to admit there were numerous issues with driver/program compatibilities, just like there would be any new operating system, but after the SP1 update can not think of one issue to complain about. Also, MAC???s are awesome. They have made substantial gains in the market place due to there performance and of course the looks, however the majority of people own PC???s. So guess what??? Majority Wins. Vista Rocks!!!

what really burns me is not being able to setback to xp

I bought a laptop with Vista in December. I partitioned the hard drive and installed Linux with OpenOffice, just as I have with every computer I have purchased in the past 10 years. I use Vista when I need compatibility with some program at work, and Linux when I want reliability and speed. I understand that Linux is not for everyone, but you would not imagine how much faster your computer can be. Arguing about the merits of XP vs Vista is silly.

Hi, I'm a PC.

I love the Mac ads from a pure advertising standpoint. They work. When it comes to pitching hi-tech, simplicity is king.

These Microsoft ads were just like Microsoft errors, cryptic and unenlightening.

Without getting technical, Microsoft is its own worst enemy. So many advancements have been made to the overall speed of a PC (see Moore's Law), but we PC-PEOPLE would never know it, because Microsoft's own team of engineers who are infamous in finding ways to BLOAT their own software to reduce the overall performance to a crawl.

If the user is the problem, the product is the cause.
I shouldn't have to understand CPU process IDs, RAM leaks, page faults and kernel errors.

has anyone at microsoft read "the Emperors New Clothes"?

poor customer experience and corporate self delusion equates to no return sales and shopping elseware. obviously no one has read the childrens story "The Emperors New Clothes".

After all M$ has to update DAILY just to keep their code semi-working. When SP1 hit, it Blacked my 24" screen.
It does'not work with my $350.00 E-Mu soundcard, with loosing much functionality. Even Gateway resorts to "it is a software problem,you meed to contact M$" when something goes wrong w/ my 9 mo old comp. The learning curve with Wista, will make me think of MAC next time.

As I was commenting on Jabberwolf being full of it, He Apparently has not spent $200.00 on a "Wista Ready" HP All in One Printer Scanner, just to have it NOT RECOGNIZED BY Wista. Or loaded many personal CDs and DVDs, just to have Wista say "You Do Not Have the Rights To Play This Music". I beleive HP wrote the code to Wista Original Standards, Just M$ Fixed something that did not work correctly.
update DAILY just to keep their code functioning.

Vista is running awesome on my box. I was hesitant initially but will give credit to MS to get it fixed in SP1.

I listened to all the hype but have since become a Vista convert. Have four systems running very well (two are upgrades from XP) and they are every bit as reliable as XP systems were. While I have some features that are not real pleasant to deal with, overall Vista is a solid OS.

I am very disappointed with my new Vista laptop. I have had to buy a new camera, scanner, printer/fax to be compatible with my laptop. I have a desktop with Windows 2000/XP and all I did was upgrade which sounds nice when my income is still in my pocket instead of Best Buy. Will I buy my employees Vista laptop not unless it is compatible with whatever they already have.

In response to the poster who commented on some of the images being created on a Mac... seriously... is that all you're coming with? Microsoft hires PR firms (albeit, not so well so far). Those PR firms have graphic designers and graphic designers by in large use Mac's. Is this any surprise and seriously, does it even matter? They'll probably just strip those Adobe Photoshop CS tags out in the future. They're not going to change their infrastructure simply for this reason. I'm sorry, it's hard to take anyone seriously who grasps at straws like this.

I run 64 Bit Vista Ultimate on a Quad Core Computer with 8 Gigs of RAM. It is fast and has no driver problems like people sometimes complain about. It works flawlesly and I'm happy with it.
I also have 32 Bit Vista on another quad core with 4 Gigs of RAM and it's a DOG! It has problems all of the time and it never stops! Both computers are new and have quality parts inside, but the 32 Bit Vista is gonna have to go. So it's either back to XP Pro (I already own a few copies of) or save awhile for the totally too expensive but reliable 64 Bit Vista Ultimate for the second computer.

Vista is both good and bad and the good is barely worth the incredibly high price.

It doesn't matter what Microsoft says publically because they know that vista is a dog.

First off, a thought to chew on: Let us not soon forget the Macintosh is, technically a PC.

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It seems like there was two schools of thought between that is currently being produced and the earlier Gates/Seinfeld Ads. It's almost as if there was duplication of effort. Could the current campaign been thought up by a different team than the Gates/Seinfeld ads? Well, it seems that way.

The underlying message of the 2nd set of ads seems to continue to tow-the-line message of the Mojave Experiment, one of Peer Pressure, and "You judged too soon". Mojave received the negativity because the underlying message in two words was: "You???re dumb". I foresee this backlash to continue throughout the $300MM campaign until Microsoft makes a concentrated effort to own up to their mistakes and invest substantial resources to rectify it. This concept would be bold, but I refuse to hold my breath. Concepts of "Pride" and "Full Speed Ahead" are possibly too deeply engraved in the DNA of Redmond. Such action would run opposite of ANYTHING ever witnessed from the company.

From a user perspective, if people have to go through the motions of re-learning basic OS tasks, and abandon all previously obtained knowledge of approaching and completing tasks, the user might as well try something new, shiny and also offers (at minimum) existing functionality. So it's not surprising that the high end of PC market is eroding to the OSX/Mac platform!

Macintosh allows the user ability to run OSX alongside XP. Running legacy XP/Vista OS and associated applications (Yes, I did tag XP/Vista as Legacy) under Parallels/VMWare provides this.

I don???t know. If this continues, I imagine people would start asking Apple to release an ???Open Version??? that will run on all hardware. Indeed, if things continue as they have, It???s not that difficult to imagine.