The Untold Problems of Vista

Submitted by Corey Smith on Fri, 08/08/2008 - 06:46

So, Microsoft is really working hard to dispel the attitudes that people have about  Windows Vista. It is fascinating to me that they have to work so hard at it. They have sites dedicated to telling people how good they are vista boxlike the Mojave Experiment. They did the same with another site but it wouldn't work because of their stupid Silverlight technology. They have even resorted to spam to accomplish the telling.

If it was half as good as Microsoft claimed, they wouldn't have such a hard time getting people to upgrade. The consumer would spread the word for them.

The fact is, you can do so many things with Vista. You can do all that you did before... you just have to do it differently. In many cases, it is much more difficult.

Here are some observations that I made a year ago that still seem to be an issue... even with the much touted SP1. Some are getting better, but still not there.

  1. The interface is pretty cool; it is better than XP, but you can have the same (or better) interface with Mac OS X in a more stable environment.
  2. My digital camera was very hard to connect. 
  3. My battery life was terrible.
  4. Microsoft claims greater security, but at the cost of convenience and efficiency.
  5. There are plenty printing problems.
  6. Plenty of program / OS compatibility issues… even with Microsoft applications.

Well, let's add another to the list.

I have been going nuts trying to figure out why the new MP3 player in my car won't work. music mp3It is the kind that you have to burn disks for. I have burned a number of disks with my Vista OS and every time I put a disk in to the car, it doesn't work.

Finally, I tried with my Mac... which I should have done from the beginning.

First try... no problems.

Oh, I am sure there is a way to do on Windows Vista, but it shouldn't be that hard. It should work right, out of the box, with standards that have been around for 10 years.

And here is the way I look at it. If I, who have an IT Degree, work on my computer 14 hours per day, build web sites, understand multimedia and love to figure out how to make new things work, can't figure it out, then it probably isn't easy enough.



Corey Smith is the president of Tribute Media a web development firm providing high performing, industry specific websites. He is a businessman, writer, technology fanatic, graphic designer and web developer. His greatest passion is teaching, consulting and speaking.

You can find him on Twitter, FaceBook, FriendFeed, and LinkedIn.

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Submitted by Ken Stewart (not verified) on Thu, 08/21/2008 - 15:19.
I would never dare say Vista is perfect, or the cat's meow. However, you say: "If it was half as good as Microsoft claimed, they wouldn’t have such a hard time getting people to upgrade. The consumer would spread the word for them." This is a double-edged sword I have found. As a student of change, I can tell you early adopters would agree with you 100%. However, the compelling reason most businesses (the mainstay of the marketshare) is XP is good enough, it's stable, and it's proven to work. What does Apple have, a 4% market share or something like that? I haven't looked at the numbers lately, and I do believe the share is increasing as Mac's gain in popularity (part marketing and part function). Microsoft has shot itself in the foot in many offerings and you really get the feeling they are just so big they don't even agree on their message amoungst themselves. All of this being said - end users are their own worst enemy. People decidedly have a hard time with change, and even to their own discredit will avoid change until they are absolutely sure the change is for the better - or are forced to change. You don't know how many times I get, "Well, my HP didn't used to do that." "My old software would do this, why won't my new one?" It kills me because 1) It surely did, someone just figured out how to get around it or you finally gave up and changed your habits, and 2) Maybe your new stuff doesn't have what you call a "feature" because there is actually a more efficient or productive way of doing something. Sure it's not what you are "used" to - but in life there is change. Nothing stands still no matter how much you cling to what you know. PS - Now the music thing would kill me too! That would just infuriate me ;-) Don't mess with my tunes. Hey, I have an iPod Touch and don't have any problems at all - and I use Vista... stick that in your pipe and smoke it - Apple and Vista working together?
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