Is Vista ready for the desktop?

[alan34]

Just had this today from an ISP, make you think!


From: Tiscali Team
To: no-reply@uk.tiscali.com
Sent: Friday, March 30, 2007 3:58 PM
Subject: Windows Vista: Important Information





Dear Customer,

Important: Windows Vista and your Tiscali service

Microsoft have launched a new operating system called Windows Vista. If you are thinking of upgrading your system to Vista, please read the important information below.

The introduction of Windows Vista has caused some problems throughout the industry. These are due due to incompatibility issues with other software. If you are upgrading to Vista there are scenarios where you may experience problems, such as being unable to connect to the Internet. This is due to incompatibility issues with your existing modem software and Vista.

Most other ISPs are experiencing the same difficulties, and Tiscali is working hard (along with our modem supplier) to ensure full compatibility with Vista. We expect to have a complete solution in the next few weeks. We suggest you wait until this is ready before purchasing Vista.

However, if you are still thinking of upgrading your PC to Windows Vista before that time we recommend you click on the link below to install the relevant new drivers for your modem to avoid being disconnected from the Internet.

Please check your modem to see if it is a SpeedTouch or a Sagem modem, and click the link below to download drivers and get advice on how to install them.

Get drivers and installation advice


Kind regards,
The Tiscali Team

We are unable to reply to this email. If you wish to contact us, please click here

[Gargamella]

I knew that and I think MS made big troubles with drivers this time.

[goumples]

The idiots who run out and buy a brand new windows OS ARE the beta testers. They try it and report on all the various problems and incompatibilities so that microsoft can fix these for Service Pack 1.. which IS the finished product for all intents and purposes.

[dbbolton]

additional generic windows-bashing comment.

[jgrabham]

additional generic windows-bashing comment.

ditto, involving a chair joke

[Iceni]

I like your isp. If mine cared that much about me I'd love them.

But uhm .. modems needs windows drivers?

[mech7]

I like your isp. If mine cared that much about me I'd love them.

But uhm .. modems needs windows drivers?

Maybe they give people crappy USB modems.

[Polygon]

for a company that supposedly is very backwards compatible, they sure screwed things up for a lot of programs and drivers

for example, a very popular program (steam) that allows you to play all steam games (which is a LOT)

some guy with vista cant get it to run.

http://www.unknown-files.net/steam.jpg

[KiwiNZ]

I am having Deja Vu

I heard this when XP was released
I heard this when 98 was released
I heard this when 95 was released

And I used to hear I am not channging to XP it sux's , said the XP user who now says I am not changing to Vista cos it sux , XP is just awesome.

Its not fault of MS if third parties are slow

[Quillz]

I knew that and I think MS made big troubles with drivers this time.

for a company that supposedly is very backwards compatible, they sure screwed things up for a lot of programs and drivers

for example, a very popular program (steam) that allows you to play all steam games (which is a LOT)

some guy with vista cant get it to run.

http://www.unknown-files.net/steam.jpg
So, it's Microsoft's responsibility to make sure third-party programs work with Vista? I don't think so. Vista is a very solid OS, it's up to the third parties to make sure their own drivers work with Vista. Don't blame Microsoft if things that worked in XP don't work in Vista, go complain to the vendors who are too lazy to update the drivers.

[init1]

I am having Deja Vu

I heard this when XP was released
I heard this when 98 was released
I heard this when 95 was released

And I used to hear I am not channging to XP it sux's , said the XP user who now says I am not changing to Vista cos it sux , XP is just awesome.

Its not fault of MS if third parties are slow
If you are going to pay for an OS, you better get something REALLY great, or (in my opinion) their is little reason to buy it.
Also, the third parties were their before Vista's release. MS should have seen this coming and given it better support.

[Quillz]

If you are going to pay for an OS, you better get something REALLY great, or (in my opinion) their is little reason to buy it.
Also, the third parties were their before Vista's release. MS should have seen this coming and given it better support.
No, they shouldn't have. Microsoft makes its own products, it doesn't have the responsibility (nor should it have) to make sure the third parties get off their lazy asses and actually update their own products to work with any given OS, in this case, Vista. Apple knew about Vista for a long time, but they dragged their feet and only just recently got out a Vista compatible version of iTunes. So, it would have been acceptable for Microsoft to flat out take over Apple just to ensure iTunes was released on time? (Extreme example, but I think you get the point.)

[kamaboko]

No, they shouldn't have. Microsoft makes its own products, it doesn't have the responsibility (nor should it have) to make sure the third parties get off their lazy asses and actually update their own products to work with any given OS, in this case, Vista. Apple knew about Vista for a long time, but they dragged their feet and only just recently got out a Vista compatible version of iTunes. So, it would have been acceptable for Microsoft to flat out take over Apple just to ensure iTunes was released on time? (Extreme example, but I think you get the point.)

Regardless of how logical you make your argument, there are plenty of people on this BB that will hate anything MS simply out of spite. Most of them being inexperienced pimple faced teenagers. I agree, it's not MS problem if 3rd party vendors didn't step up to the plate. If that's the case, then it's Ubuntu's problem that numerous printers, digital cameras, and other peripherals don't work with it. Funny, you never hear the pimple heads knocking Ubuntu about that.

[hasimir44]

too lazy? I was under the impression that microsoft was reluctant to release api information in order to get drivers to work.. maybe I'm wrong though - does microsoft release enough of their proprietary information in order to create good drivers?

[hasimir44]

Funny, you never hear the pimple heads knocking Ubuntu about that.


flame baiter.
it's not ubuntu's fault that some hardware vendors create a product and refuse to release any information saying how it works or how to interact with it. grow up.

[dbbolton]

Funny, you never hear the pimple heads knocking Ubuntu about that.


flame baiter.
it's not ubuntu's fault that some hardware vendors create a product and refuse to release any information saying how it works or how to interact with it. grow up.
i hear we've got a "quote" feature now, too.

[Quillz]

Funny, you never hear the pimple heads knocking Ubuntu about that.


flame baiter.
it's not ubuntu's fault that some hardware vendors create a product and refuse to release any information saying how it works or how to interact with it. grow up.
I agree with you, and this same argument can also work in Microsoft's favor. All OS would more or less work flawlessly if everything ever needed was built right in, but obviously, this isn't the case. Whether you use Windows, Linux or OS X, there will always be driver issues if the third developers don't care enough to keep on top of the latest OS offerings.

And the issue with Microsoft and not releasing certain APIs had nothing to do with the OS per se, it was due to a lawsuit filed by Symantec, because, oddly enough, they claimed Microsoft had made Vista "too secure," by locking down the kernel, meaning Symantec couldn't market any more of its Norton crap. Yet another bogus suit against Microsoft, it's their product, they should make it as secure as they can.

[kamaboko]

I agree with you, and this same argument can also work in Microsoft's favor. All OS would more or less work flawlessly if everything ever needed was built right in, but obviously, this isn't the case. Whether you use Windows, Linux or OS X, there will always be driver issues if the third developers don't care enough to keep on top of the latest OS offerings.

Exactly

[LaRoza]

As someone who has a computer with Vista (pre-installed), I can say that Vista is not a "solid" OS. Explorer crashes fill my error logs, programs, like MS Office and notepad, crash regularly, and I get a pop up box telling me that an unhandled exception occured. As for drivers, my printer works, sort of.

I also use Ubuntu 7.04, on the same computer, different hard drive. Beryl never crashed, even with a lot of programs open, and no app ever crashed either there is also no driver problems. (My printer works fine)

I don't think OS programmers are responsible for drivers, but if the GUI regularly crashes, something is wrong with OS.

-note This has nothing to do with my feelings for Microsoft, in fact, I would buy their products if they had anything to offer.

[Feba]

Any OS that makes someone who's been working (professionally) with an OS for a decade, and been using an earlier version of that OS for longer than that, proclaim that he hates computers and microsoft (when the day before he was saying how Vista was pretty good and stable) because the installer can't even recognize multiple hard drives correctly still needs work.

[nyvalbanat]

If we're going to move forward, some old features and sometimes habits have to be dropped and replaced with something new. This will inevitably destabilize things for awhile and it's part of the normal software lifecycle. It's true for windows as it is true for Linux and any other piece of software.
The alternative is to test software for several additional years until it's completely stabilized and compatible. Would you prefer that instead? Imagine if windows XP and say RH7.3 just came out last month.
I'd rather deal with minor compatibility annoyances than stay 4 years behind.

[Eddie Wilson]

Another thing that need to be said about third party vendors is that are at the mercy of Microsoft. Some of them have really good products that worked for 2000 and XP. Now out comes Vista and nothing but problems. Does that make the vendors lazy and dragging their feet? NO it does not. They could have thought that their products would be compatible with Vista. Plus you are talking about a lot of money being spent on making a program that works great on XP into being Vista compatible. This is not fair to say it only the fault of third party vendors.
Eddie

[alan34]

Hi all,

Only had Ubuntu on my pc since February really liking the OS the people in this forum etc etc.;);)

The reason I left Windows to Ubuntu is because of Windows Genuine Advantage spywear, then I decided that it is my pc not Microsofts stuff them (in a joking sort of way).;)

Used all sorts of OS from MSDOS ver5.1, Sun workstation, SGI o2 (brilliant) all windows stuff.

I see all sorts of "is Linux ready for the desktop" type articles on the internet so hell I thought
I would get my own back just a bit.

Yes it is a genuine email.

Anyway any OS is just a tool like a screwdriver - with Ubuntu the screw comes out - with Microsoft
who is getting screwed?

[Dr. C]

Hi all,

Only had Ubuntu on my pc since February really liking the OS the people in this forum etc etc.;);)

The reason I left Windows to Ubuntu is because of Windows Genuine Advantage spywear, then I decided that it is my pc not Microsofts stuff them (in a joking sort of way).;)

Used all sorts of OS from MSDOS ver5.1, Sun workstation, SGI o2 (brilliant) all windows stuff.

I see all sorts of "is Linux ready for the desktop" type articles on the internet so hell I thought
I would get my own back just a bit.

Yes it is a genuine email.

Anyway any OS is just a tool like a screwdriver - with Ubuntu the screw comes out - with Microsoft
who is getting screwed?

I do have some questions here. Does the Tiscali service work with Ubuntu? What kind of modem are they talking about here broadband or dial-up? If it is broadband why not simply use a modem that connects to an Ethernet port? I would place the blame squarely on Tiscali for creating a system the depends on a particular OS.

[jgrabham]

No - My friend has a dual core CPU - overclocked to 4ghz per core and 2 gigs of Ram - he wont use vista, because it runs too slowly!

[Noname33]

Didnt even read what anyone said and what you said just form the title I can tell you No, I couldnt install my internet drivers and had to actually use a usb cord to download the drivers.....Yeah even after that the app to install them would crash... Not only that but it takes up alot of processes just to run the OS and I dont think anyone wants to end up spending 700$ on a computer just to be able to have their company or school run vista and a simple process such as word or excell. The only reason to really have it is for the games that can run only on Vista. And heck if your in it for that go buy and Xbox 360 and get the exact same games and save your computer for better use :) considering that I would go 100% with No and thats just the big things that I think are iffy about it. Now dont get me wrong either I dont hate windows or Vista heck I still got Vista and XP on a HD each at home....But if it wasnt for Vista I would of never found Ubuntu and or Mepis heck Linix in all so thats my 2 cents. *thinks* or maby its just cause I always have a funner time installing Vista then using it* *snickers*

[Linux Killer!]

Absolutely it's ready.

Linux has more features, true - but Windows has more SOFTWARE, and that's why we use computers: to run software. No use bothering with Linux if it can't run the commericla software I want, sync my phone, allow me to develop applications for my phone, photoshop (GIMP sucks), run games natively (i.e. no WINE/Cedega), etc.

Stop with the console rubbish either. I built my computer to run everything I wanted, that includes games. I hate console games - do you realise how dumbed-down they are compared to PCs? My god.