Another feature of sp3 that I don’t understand is that IE6 is the default. Ms claims that IE7 is the best, is more secure than IE6 and is less troublesome than IE6 too. So tell me, why would ms put IE6 into a new service pack that is supposedly alot worse than IE7?

I tried IE7 but it crashed darned near every time I tried to surf the net. It also left out some important add-ons that I used previously in IE6 that are still not available. I’ve had far fewer problems with IE6 than I had with IE7. I wonder…does ms ever check out their updates before releasing them fully to the public? I think not!

Being in the computer repair business, I have worked on many systems with Vista. Most of my Vista customers constantly complain to me about how much they hate Vista. Some have totally removed Vista and installed XP whereas others want to but cannot afford the price.

Many of my friends and customers have called me to help them buy a new computer. After I show them the differences between XP and Vista, they always opt for XP. Some of my customer’s kids that have told me that Vista is great have never used anything but Vista. Many of them have gotten me to remove Vista and to install XP. Of those that installed XP, they now tell me that Vista was a stick-of-mud plagued with constant problems and they’re far happier with XP than they were with Vista since they have now been able to use them both.

Why does Ms keep creating new operating systems other than the money issues? Perhaps they ought to look at MAC and see why they’ve been able to stay in-the-game for so long. I’m growing tired of learning a new OS every couple of years. Perhaps it is high time that I get a MAC!!!

I read your warnings, Scot, but thought that after about a year and on a new build high spec PC, it couldn’t be that bad. Ohps. I have so many (maybe) minor issues still lurking round your forum looking for answers. Setting up a home network was a horrid experience. Does MS not understand that when it says Vista Home Premium, a dialog box that says “Contact your network administrator” shows a depressing lack of clarity of thought? You are that man! How many places do you need to check to share a folder?

I have a number of outstanding irritations with Vista. Number one right now is that an OS designed not to be turned off, 2 or 3 times a day forgets how to connect to the ISP’s server hence the web or e-mail and needs rebooting. All the rest of the XP PCs on the same network smoothly get on with life.

Fwiw, I’ve been a magazine editor for most of my professional life (except for a short stint in the film/video production industry two decades ago). But my father a was Madison Ave. ad exec who taught me about the reach and power of advertising (TV, radio, and print). In many ways, he instilled in me the bedrock of cynicism required by journalism for success, a way of thinking that boils down to this notion: question everything.

The point of telling you about my father is that the Mac is not all about advertising, while Apple’s advertising is very definitely a reflection of how Mac users view their Mac experience. Apple isn’t so much trying to address its own weaknesses. Many ads do this, they outright lie to you about how the product doesn’t have a weakness, when in fact, it has exactly that weakness. Apple is using another advertising tactic: To convey the word-of-mouth, grass roots, common experience shared by most Mac users. For comparison, look at Toyota ads, which use the same tactic: “Ask someone who drives one.” Although the styles of Toyota and Apple ads are very different, the tactic is the same.

So, based on my experience, I suggest you give the Mac a serious try before you guess at why it’s never died off and why it’s enjoying a renaissance of late. Hardened Windows users (and I did this for years) tend to scoff at the insistence of Mac mavens that the Mac just works, dismissing it as so much eye wash from the cult of the Mac. But the claims of superior reliability are absolutely true. I’m not saying the Mac doesn’t have issues. What I am saying is that it has significantly fewer issues than Windows PCs — even when working in a Windows-oriented business environment. My very conservative estimate is that, for every 10 problems that force Windows users to stop everything else and fix something, the Mac has one such issue. (I’d be willing to bet that many Mac users would disagree with me, saying that the frequency of stop-everything Mac problems is far smaller than that.)

This was the Mac’s primary selling point for me. It’s not that the Mac’s legendary ease of use makes it so special. It’s that the excellent combination of strong reliability and ease of use in one package is absolutely compelling. When you look at the competition, Linux and Windows, each has one of these two attributes; neither one has both. It’s important to note that Apple didn’t have the reliability aspect until the advent of OS X, which incorporates a Unix variant as the core of the operating system.

About your initial Windows Vista experience: Not everyone has these problems with Vista. Many people who buy new Vista machines have very good initial experiences, but unfortunately, it’s not the first time that I’ve heard about a brand new machine booting up with a driver error. I have to agree, that’s pretty pathetic. My initial scorn, though, would be more reserved for Acer in this case than for Vista itself. If an OEM PC maker can’t pick a driver that works, what can it do? That’s really the largest value add an OEM computer delivers to Windows — since it’s integrating the hardware, it should ensure that the hardware is fully supported by the driver hardware installed in the OS.

I wonder whether these machines might not have been donated to the hospice because there was an issue of some sort that Acer or some value-added reseller either couldn’t or wouldn’t resolve.

My first major peek at Vista came yesterday when an elderly resident in my building invited me to see a brand new acer laptop he had been given by a hospice. The first noteable and troubling item was a window that was in the center of the desktop screen that would not terminate, finish, disappear or close. Apparently Vista had never managed to load a driver or something. And this was on a new computer which came pre-installed with Vista. I tried to rectify this for my acquaintance. I am very good with computers… and it wasn’t going to happen. The problem looked errily familiar. I had seen it in every Windows system I had ever worked on. I was suspecting that the driver installation menu could not terminate because Vista was blocking the driver installation. The driver had probably installed at some point in the game but WIndows for some reason had made the driver disappear from it’s own view to ‘protect’ Windows. Catch 22.

I rapidly showed my friend how to log onto the net utilizing wireless, he was delighted at this. Still the driver install hogged our desktop view. Finally, with a sigh, we decided to shutdown the computer for the day. It would not shutdown, with taskbar, or in the conventional sense. The driver install lockup dialogue was somehow preventing WIndows from accomplishing this task. I reluctantly held in the power switch and waited for the inevitable cold shutdown which, thank the Hoove, actually worked. Geez.

My friend is in a hospice because he is dying from cancer. I can probably figure out how to fix his driver problem, but Scott is right… It just shouldn’t be there. Not everyone has forever and a day to work out their Windows bugs, excuse me in including this kind of rude barb at Windows, which I still find easier to use than Linux. If not for that I surely might have migrated at some time in the past to one form or other of that system.

Finally, I think that Apple is doing a great job of using advertising to point out Windows design flaws and wonder how much of these comments might be coming back in response to that. Advertising can be very… persuasive… and effective!

Personally, I had enough of this ’software expiration policy of design’. I sometimes believe that the only reason a basic system hasn’t been installed on an integrated chip, which would probably eliminate a multitude of problems, is that in present terms it would have to at least function with the simular reliability as a vcr…. And under present terms and conditions Microsoft would had been sued, and probably have been out of business, a long time ago if it was hardware and broke down like this. If your vcr played for one hour one day and stopped functioning several times during the day, would you not take it back and ask for your money back? If it’s clock showed the time in one moment and the happy face of a hacker in the next, would you be standing at the refund desk at Walmart asking to trade it for a more reliable product?

Obviously, we like the idea of being shade-tree mechanics, or this little experiment would never have lasted so long.

The recent story was merely the result of my first year of testing with the final version of the code. I believe in long-term testing. But, as you can see, I didn’t bother doing any sort of review of Vista. I went right to the point: Windows XP is better for me, and I’m now uninstalling Vista from some of my machines. I see no reason to test it further.

– Scot

Antipodes

However…

1. It IS slower than XP.
2. It is not as stable as XP.

3. I actually like Linux (Ubuntu 7.10) better than both MS products. No file fragmentation. Better multi-tasking. I still need to use Windows now and then for things like Voice Recognition, etc. Too bad the commercial software community will never support an open-source product like Ubuntu. I think it would really give MS a run for its money if they did.

Right now, I’m triple-booting all 3 OS’s and spend most of my time in Ubuntu. Says something right there…

- Jack

In New Zealand Ultimate retails for about $900. In reality the only way those who are not rich can get fully functional (Pro) versions, or often any version at all of ANY MS program (except consumer programs, eg photo albums) is to get academic versions. Vista academic is home premium for $200, which is OK.

(I bet that coperations are going to tell MS what versions they will take and will not pay any more for it.)

I am one of the lucky few having won a copy of Ultimate (and office 2007 pro) for free in a PC magazine competition. However I belive that I need to choose on computer to test it on, and then am stuck with that computer, with only one? change of computer. So do I choose the laptop or desktop? Both of these will probably be replaced in the next few years anyway.

(PS. the Australians got no free vista DVD’s at all, beacuse the head of MS Australis thinks they will all rush to buy Vista anyway beacuse it is so great.)

As an average user I would use the media features and aero of the home ed. But the really useful stuff I guess is in the business ed. And locking down a laptop Hard drive is only in the ultimate. So If you are going to be asked to upgrade from a perfectly good operating system like XP then you need enough features to merit it, at a upgrade price that merits it. I don’t even think Ultimate is available in upgrade?

However they have widely marketed the idea that you buy one copy of the media, then you just buy more product keys at a much cheaper price. Despite the advertising they only do this in the USA, and not in New Zealand!!!! There is no real reason for this and MS NZ want to offer this!!!!
Way to shoot yourself in the foot for no reason. Hence my problem, what computer do I test it on?

Maybe scott you can see if you can get a sensible answer from MS on why the delay in selling extra product keys outside the US, and when they plan to allow it to happen?

http://shakespearessister.blogspot.com/2007/12/vista-sucks.html

Also:
http://www.usatoday.com/tech/columnist/edwardbaig/2007-12-05-mac_N.htm