They Criticized Vista. And They Should Know.

By RANDALL STROSS
Published: March 9, 2008


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”?

Here’s one story of a Vista upgrade early last year that did not go well. Jon, let’s call him, (bear with me — I’ll reveal his full identity later) upgrades two XP machines to Vista. Then he discovers that his printer, regular scanner and film scanner lack Vista drivers. He has to stick with XP on one machine just so he can continue to use the peripherals.

Did Jon simply have bad luck? Apparently not. When another person, Steven, hears about Jon’s woes, he says drivers are missing in every category — “this is the same across the whole ecosystem.”

Then there’s Mike, who buys a laptop that has a reassuring “Windows Vista Capable” logo affixed. He thinks that he will be able to run Vista in all of its glory, as well as favorite Microsoft programs like Movie Maker. His report: “I personally got burned.” His new laptop — logo or no logo — lacks the necessary graphics chip and can run neither his favorite video-editing software nor anything but a hobbled version of Vista. “I now have a $2,100 e-mail machine,” he says.

It turns out that Mike is clearly not a naïf. He’s Mike Nash, a Microsoft vice president who oversees Windows product management. And Jon, who is dismayed to learn that the drivers he needs don’t exist? That’s Jon A. Shirley, a Microsoft board member and former president and chief operating officer. And Steven, who reports that missing drivers are anything but exceptional, is in a good position to know: he’s Steven Sinofsky, the company’s senior vice president responsible for Windows.


More at: The New York Times

Quote:

It turns out that Mike is clearly not a naïf. He’s Mike Nash, a Microsoft vice president who oversees Windows product management. And Jon, who is dismayed to learn that the drivers he needs don’t exist? That’s Jon A. Shirley, a Microsoft board member and former president and chief operating officer. And Steven, who reports that missing drivers are anything but exceptional, is in a good position to know: he’s Steven Sinofsky, the company’s senior vice president responsible for Windows.

There was a similarly sarcastic story late last week when these e-mails first started coming out, and it's just as funny second time 'round

Hahaha. You know, I've found it 10x easier to install and use printers on Vista - My old HP PSC 2100 (and XP printer) had drivers automatically installed the first time and worked great. My new Photosmart C6280 (since it was released after Vista) didn't have drivers, but I was able to use Vista's printer installation walktrhough to just insert my disc, and BAM i had a printer installed and I didn't even have to use the disc's installer which comes with a ton of bloatware. I do think some people just do have a lot of bad luck.

However don't get me started on Vista's gaming performance

Awesome.

It's a bit silly for MS employees to encounter such issues.....but what do you know?

Vista is a decent O/S, but I do wonder why there's a relative performance decrease in games? And Aero can't be the only reason...

r2rX :D

ready2rumbelX wrote:

Vista is a decent O/S, but I do wonder why there's a relative performance decrease in games? And Aero can't be the only reason...

See HERE for one reason, plus the other contents of that entire thread...