Windows Vista, One Bad Year Later

Chosun Ilbo ^ | 01/11/08

[TigerLikesRooster]

Windows Vista, One Bad Year Later

A year since the release of Windows Vista, Microsoft is cringing at the poor sales of the new operating system. It was initially touted as a landmark new development to reinvigorate the IT industry, prompting expectations of wide-ranging “Vista effects.” Instead, Apple’s new operating system, which now also works on PCs, is stealing the thunder. Microsoft has hurriedly responded by developing a new version of the old XP.

◆ Windows Vista flops

According to market researcher Net Applications, Apple is enjoying the largest-ever share in the global operating system market with Leopard, the newest version. Since its release in December last year, Apple OS including Leopard have gained a market share of 7.31 percent, a record high. During the same period, Windows OS products including Vista saw a drop in their market share ? although their aggregate market share still stands at 91.79 percent. But Leopard is enjoying critical and consumer acclaim, which Vista has signally failed to win.

Major media outlets like the New York Times and Wall Street Journal have showered compliments on the Apple OS, which they say is easy and fast. Consumer opinions about Vista have not yielded to Microsoft’s efforts. Tech product reviewer CNET’s UK division picked Vista as one of top 10 “terrible technology products” for 2007.

◆ Microsoft in Agony

Vista cost US$6 billion and a workforce of 8,000 to develop before making its debut in January 2007. It shows a handful of good improvements, especially better security features. But the bundling of too many functions into the OS takes up a considerable portion of the computer memory and causes unexpected hitches like a slowdown in processing speed. The IT giant faced a stream of consumer requests to change the operating system of their computers back from Vista to XP. In Korea, Microsoft failed to win a single corporate customer.

Kim Hyun-jung, an analyst with Tongyang Investment and Securities, said the Vista effect did not happen, and memory chip makers are “suffering from their miscalculation.” Memory producers aggressively increased investment in developing facilities in expectations of Vista effects, but they have yet to see a profit from the investment.

A Microsoft spokesman said XP was only in genuine demand one year after its release. His company, he said, has follow-up plans to boost sales of Vista like the release of a service pack in the first half of the year. But he declined to reveal exact sales figures of Vista in Korea. Despite Microsoft’s efforts, many IT insiders worry because there is insufficient supply of programs that run on Vista. One IT industry guru said the operating system market situation shows that “even the mythical Microsoft monopoly could break down if it fails to meet the demand of consumers.”

[ReignOfError]

I’m still on 10.4. I might run up to Fry’s and get 10.5 this weekend. Note the difference; every time M$ “upgrades,” programs fail, data is lost, and old machines become obsolete. Every time Mac OS upgrades, old aps still run and old machines run faster.

I have a standing challenge. Name a job I can’t do on my Mac. Not a game I can’t play or an app I can’t run — I’m talking results. Give me a task to perform or a problem so solve.

Chances are, I can get ‘er done on my nine-year-old blue and white G3. If not, then on my Quicksilver G4, If not there, then on my Dual Core Mini. in the off chance that it can’t be done n Mac OS, I can fire up Parallels and do it in Windows or Linux.

I don’t ditch my old computers. My Alpha Mac, the one I use every day, is on my desk. My beta is in the entertainment center, where it can stream video or music to the TV or stereo. Gamma is in the guest room, so my guests can surf the Web or check their e-mail in private. A new machine come in, the old ones cycle down.

My oldest computer, still functional, is a Mac Plus that’s nearing 20 years old — and I just keep it around for sentimental reasons. If I could find a SCSI-Ethernet adapter, I might put it back on the Internet, just because I can.

[thirst4truth]

I spent 4 hours yesterday working with a system I’m unfamiliar with (Vista), trying to get the laptop and their old desktop (XP) linked through a wireless router, and a new printer installed. I have to go back Monday and finish up. While not all of the problems I encountered stem from Vista, I don’t find it as intuitive as XP.

That is how it has always been with their products, especially new ones, with lots of other companys products inbedded in the OS. Had a computer business since 1983, and we finally wrote a software program called, Bill Bill. It logged how many hours we spent on each of his products with our customers and the frustration level. Then it emailed the invoice to the proper department!!!

All the hours we spent supporting MS products after selling the hardware Nothing wrong with the hardware everything wrong with the software.

[pgobrien]

You can still buy new machines with XP Pro on them. After arguing with the Sales team at Best Buy about getting such a machine, they kept up the party line “They all come with Vista, that’s the only way we sell them”. One young lady pointed out that they have a Best Buy for Business website only that sells new machines with XP instead of Vista. bbfb.com if you want to go that route or Tiger Direct.
Hope this helps.

[NewsJunqui]

FYI, you can order Dell’s Vostro line (small biz models) with XP and doesn’t come with all of the crap “trialware” that’s installed on the consumer models.

[ReignOfError]

Correction: Mac's new OS does NOT work on PC's...but Windoze OSes do work on some Macs. I think the writer got it backwards.

Macs and Windows PCs run on the same hardware, and the stuff that used to be in ROM is now in software. Mac OS can run on any generic PC, but it takes a hack and you have no support. If your sound card, video card, parallel-port printer, and so on do not have Mac support, you're out in the cold.

I agree in general, but I have XP on my Mac via Parallels. I don't sweat viruses or spyware much; Windows is in its own little sandbox, and if it goes Tango uniform I can wipe and restore. I don't keep any meaningful data in the sandbox.

Some day, I might consider running Vista. But not outside the sandbox.

[an amused spectator]

Needless to say, our IT manager is on the phone EVERY day to Microsoft trying to find solutions to annoying "issues" that repeatedly pop up and have the potential to cripple our operations if left unchecked.

Your IT manager made his own bed. The word in the industry was NADA months before Vista's release.

Wonder if Microsoft sales reps cut him a deal and he fell for the bait? He's rueing the day...

[IronJack]

First Law of Business: If you make a product your customers don’t want, they won’t buy it.

[Uncle Meat]

I just bought a Dell Laptop for my wife with Vista and so far haven’t had any problems linking it up with my other computer’s XP network.It isn’t as fast as I’d like it to be,but for my wife,it’ll suit her just fine.I can always add another gig of ram later on,once she learns how to use it for more things.One problem I’ve been having is with the Gears of War for PC[Microsoft product] on my computer.I got a long ways with it only to all of a sudden lose my save games and having to start from the begining.Just trying to install it and get it to work took me all afternoon and most of the night.I checked out the chat rooms and found out everyone else going through the same and other headaches.Microsoft acts like they can put out any crappy product and then have the gall to charge you for assistance with someone with a foreign accent.

[ReignOfError]

Worst tech product of the century.

Only because "Bob" was in the last century.

I take that back. Vista is worse than Bob. The latter was an option no one wanted. The former is an "upgrade" that no one wants but will be forced upon them.

[qam1]

“http://reviews.cnet.com/4520-3672_7-5021075-1.html?tag=bhed
This is a review of XP six months after it came out. Sound familiar? You could substitute “Vista” for “XP” and be right at home for today.

No it doesn't sound familiar.

Right from the 1st line of the article on XP

"Microsoft's latest operating system just turned six months old, and most would say that it's neither a failure nor a raging success."

Right there it differs as pretty much everyone (besides Microsoft salesmen) would say Vista is a huge failure!!! And some of those complaints seem trivial, (i.e. "XP looks too cartoonishly" - I wish that was the only major problem with Vista)

With any new OS there's bound to be bugs and a learning curve. It's a fact of life, OK got that, but when I upgraded to XP way back when it took only about a week to get the bugs out and get the feel of the thing and I was back up and running.

With Vista, 3 months after buying a new computer that came with that lemon I'm still fighting with the thing to get it to work correctly. I feel like I downgraded my computer because EVERYTHING is slower. Not to mention it's going to take me months if not years to reprogram my old software that worked fine on XP but doesn't work at all a Vista.

I've always been a Microsoft guy since the 80's, but after internet Explorer 7, Office 2007 and Vista my next computer will likely be a Mac or I will go LINUX.

[ReignOfError]

Apple is certainly idiot-proof but a lot of people expect more than that and look at their computers as an important tool to get a complex job done.

Name one task that cannot be done on a Mac. One. Hit me with your "complex job."

[thirst4truth]

DOS was plenty good, especially with a few GUI programs. Actually, without all the add-on crap, Windows is just a fancy menuing system

I liked DOS too, but not Bill, oh know he had to put Steve Jobs out of business, so he stole Windows from Apple and the courts let him get away with it.

[LadyPilgrim]

"I run XP, I run Vista....I don’t see what the big problem is."

Same here.

[TheMyth]

Well, did you know that not long after the release of Vista they announced their plans to create the next version of Windows. Formerly codenamed Blackcomb, now internally called Windows 7, it will officially be titled Windows Client OS. It is planned to be released in 2010, maybe sooner (and too soon) if they feel they could stand to swallow up some more of your money before then.

[Incorrigible]

With 4GB of RAM you’ll be fine with Windows Vista.

You will have to get used to finding where things are if you’re used to getting under the covers with Windows XP (ie Control Panel).

I have multiple systems running Windows Vista without a problem. I’m using Windows Vista Home Premium on the system I’m using to type this on and it’s on the low end with a 2GHz Core 2 processor amd only 2GB of RAM. I even do video processing on this machine.

Yes I had printer driver issues early on (more HP’s problem than Microsoft’s) but no more.

[Gorzaloon]

Name one task that cannot be done on a Mac. One. Hit me with your "complex job."

Not challenging, just asking, because I do not know the answer:

"Solidworks"?

"Engineer"?

"Autocad"?

"Benoit" fractal analysis?

[Caipirabob]

FYI, you can order Dell’s Vostro line (small biz models) with XP and doesn’t come with all of the crap “trialware” that’s installed on the consumer models.

Thanks, I've been faring pretty well with their scratch and dent outlet stuff. I've opened up the search filters on their site and rarely do I find anything less expensive, which is pretty much the deciding factor.

[ExTexasRedhead]

I read that Microsoft has Service pack 3 for XP and that it runs faster and better than Vista. I haven’t seen a release date for SP3 yet; has anyone?

[Incorrigible]

Thank you for adding a dose of reasonableness to the discussion.

[TruthWillWin]

Every single person I know and every neighbor who bought or was given a new laptop has either taken it back to the store for a refund, or demanded an XP conversion. There are only a few things to call a Vista Customer, particularly on a laptop:

I have a laptop I purchased in June that has Vista. I like it, have not had any problems at all.