They Criticized Vista. And They Should Know

The New York Times ^ | March 9, 2008 | Randall Stross

[Obi-Wandreas]

"They Criticized Vista. And They Should Know.

By RANDALL STROSS ONE year after the birth of Windows Vista, why do so many Windows XP users still decline to “upgrade”?

Microsoft says high prices have been the deterrent. Last month, the company trimmed prices on retail packages of Vista, trying to entice consumers to overcome their reluctance. In the United States, an XP user can now buy Vista Home Premium for $129.95, instead of $159.95.

An alternative theory, however, is that Vista’s reputation precedes it. XP users have heard too many chilling stories from relatives and friends about Vista upgrades that have gone badly. The graphics chip that couldn’t handle Vista’s whizzy special effects. The long delays as it loaded. The applications that ran at slower speeds. The printers, scanners and other hardware peripherals, which work dandily with XP, that lacked the necessary software, the drivers, to work well with Vista.

Can someone tell me again, why is switching XP for Vista an “upgrade”?"

[tgusa]

Until his upcoming Texas Necktie Party .....

[Myrddin]

Gates is a High School drop out who bought MS DOS from a brilliant programmer in his garage who was too stupid to know what he had for a couple of grand.

There's a nice bit of uniformed slander. Bill Gates was admitted to Harvard. There's a nice write up at this link.

Please feel free to show off your own equivalently brilliant career. I'm betting it doesn't match up.

[Eric Blair 2084]

When you have the connections Gates got, and were in the right business at the right time, then yes. But for those of us who don't have the idea for a killer product, employment is the only answer - and employers these days want to see a degree for jobs that don't involve French Fries.

You're missing the point by such a wide margin, I don't even know where to begin. Gates has connections NOW. He didn't have it back in 1979. He was self made.

I'll ask again...Is this a great country or what?

[CHEE]

In November 2006 I bought a Dell 420 XPS with XP and was sent a VISTA Home Premium in February of 2007. I had a lot of problems with the new Windows, including a 7 hour bout with a Dell tech in India (That I could not understand what was alleged to be the English language). Still had problems like not being able to load Adobe's Elements 5.2 Organizer, Apple's iTunes/QuickTimes, Coral's Snapfire and others. A few months ago MS sent me a free VISTA Ultimate. I did a complete fresh install. My life is now much better. I replaced Snapfire with Rixio's Easy Media 10 Suite (Lots of goodies!). There a few Vista hiccups each week, but all in all I am enjoying the Ultimate Windows. My wife has VISTA Home Basic on her Dell laptop and does not have any problems except for a wireless connection to her Dell 946 printer (My wireless to the same printer functions without any problem).

[Eric Blair 2084]

Mac is much better. Everyone knows it. But you don’t get all the fancy software.

The jackasses at IBM thought the money was in the hardware years ago.

[Bubba_Leroy]

At one point my network included PCs running Windows 95, 98, NT, and 2000.

I was really pleased with 2000. It was stable and ran all of my software and peripherals. I was really reluctant to upgrade to XP, which was basically 2000 with some bloatware added. I finally phased out the last of my 2000 PCs two years ago.

Overall, I have been satisfied with XP and cannot see any rational reason to downgrade to Vista.

[xjcsa]

I’m running Vista on a 1-year-old Dell laptop after upgrading from XP. It bogged things down at first, but I upgraded to 2GB of RAM and now it runs just fine, no problems at all.

[jude24]

Gates has connections NOW. He didn't have it back in 1979. He was self made.

Gates got into Harvard off his dad's contacts. He sure as all get out had a leg up in 1979.

He's not your typical high-school dropout. Most of them end up stuck in dead-end jobs.

[Eric Blair 2084]

Please feel free to show off your own equivalently brilliant career. I'm betting it doesn't match up.

Not only does my career, accomplishments and education match up, it puts Bill Gates to shame.

Dr. Eric A. Blair, MD, PhD, MPH, DDS

After graduating 1st in my Class at the US Naval Academy with a degree in Nuclear Physics, I went on to serve as a Rear Admiral in Vietnam, where I served with many brave men. Then there was this assclown:

The story behind that first Purple Heart that he tells is all nonsense. His injury actually happened at a whorehouse in Saigon, where he was nearly suffocated by a 200 pound Vietnamese prostitute after a night of heavy drinking.

Afterwards me and my partner Al won a Nobel Prize in Science. Our idea was revolutionary at the time. We noticed that people were using their computers for mundane stuff like work and business. We thought, what if these computers can learn to "talk" with each other? Then they can use their computers for important stuff like porn, gambling, and chat rooms. Thus, the internet was born. Al is still pretty bitter that he inadvertantly created sites like Free Republic. I try to remind him that it's for the "greater good":

After graduating from Harvard Medical School, I won another Nobel Prize, in medicine, for my thesis paper analyzing the brain of left wing, Socialist Democrats versus right wing, Capitalist Republicans.

I am currently working on dissecting RINO brains. Any wishy, washy moderate FReeper or member of Congress who would like to participate can send me a private message. You will be eligible for free treatment and free medicine. I've already signed up Chuck Hagel.

[Myrddin]

But for those of us who don't have the idea for a killer product, employment is the only answer - and employers these days want to see a degree for jobs that don't involve French Fries.

A BS or BA with a strong, verifiable record of accomplishment is critical. A master's may be necessary in many fields. It's somewhat dangerous to push all the way to a master's or PhD without some demonstrated ability to successfully apply the skills to real life. Many employers may label a PhD "over qualified" for anything that isn't directly applicable to the topic of the PhD.

[Nashvegas]

Vista is the biggest load of garbage I’ve ever seen. My wifes PC came preloaded with it. I love how the printer driver will work one day, then the next day the computer says there is not printer. I would love to back rev her PC to XP, but I can’t find the drivers I need.

Vista Another reason to move to Linux.

[Myrddin]

I'll ask again...Is this a great country or what?

It is. A meritocracy until you are successful enough for the class envy warriors to begin attacking you political, judicially and economically.

[Doohickey]

No OpenGL support...because Microsoft abandoned OpenGL without warning, notice or a disclaimer of any type.

What on earth are you talking about? OpenGL is right there on the box. The screensavers use OpenGL for Pete's sake.

[rlmorel]

(FULL DISCLOSURE NOTE: I have not yet had a chance to use Vista...I use a Mac at home and WIN2000/XP at work...I just made this screen up...I thought it was funny.)

[PapaBear3625]

There's also this: The Vista Content Protection specification could very well constitute the longest suicide note in history

[Doohickey]

Vista didn’t ship with Word...so yes, it’s normal for trial software to expire. He can get the a full version cheap from his college book store.

[Doohickey]

Did you try ReadyBoost?

[Doohickey]

Vista came out because I'd heard the DRM was brutal.

That's called FUD. There are plenty of good reasons to prefer XP, but that's not one of them.

[Minnesoootan]

Not supported with SolidWorks and Pro-E CAD Software....industry Bill,industry!

[Republic of Texas]

Didn’t they steal that slogan from the McCain campaign?