Backwards compatible idiots guide?

[jgrabham]

OK, my sisters new Acer laptop came today. After even my Mum knew vista didnt work well, she still insisted on getting it.

so, anyhoo, After much arguing I reluctantly hand over the USB modems driver disk. She installs it and then complains that whatever web page she tries, a webpage from talktalk comes up telling her her username and password are incorrect (which they arent). The problem is she wont listen to me when I tell her that she needs the vista driver, (which I downloaded and now have on a CD). She thinks "Its windows everything has to work. SO, does anyone know where theres a webpage, which will explain to her that XP drivers dont work in Vista (bearing in mind that she doesnt even know what a driver is!!)

She wont listen to me, because she doesnt trust that I actually know what I'm talking about.

(And BTW did you know that "open ofice is that geeky software, which doesnt work, and makes your computer crash" :[)

[DeadSuperHero]

Ouch.
Well, looks like it's time to assert yourself. Tell her you're the computer expert, you know what the hell you're doing, say that you're going to "fix" it, and install Kubuntu with a Vista theme on it. She would never be the wiser...

[ddrichardson]

If she doesn't believe you don't help her!

I can't find a link to anywhere that states XP drivers are incompatable with Vista - however straight from the horses mouth (http://download.microsoft.com/download/9/c/5/9c5b2167-8017-4bae-9fde-d599bac8184a/DrvCompat_Vista.doc), Microsoft states problems with network drivers as a result of the move to NDIS 6.0.

[LaRoza]

Let her use Vista for a while, then silently hand her Ubuntu and let her try it,. it speaks for itself.

[jgrabham]

Let her use Vista for a while, then silently hand her Ubuntu and let her try it,. it speaks for itself.

Shes living in Astria for a year, leaving in a couple of months.

[LaRoza]

Tell her how to get it.

Actually, if she doubts you, there is nothing you can (or should) do.

[popch]

I can't find a link to anywhere that states XP drivers are incompatable with Vista.

You do not need a link for that, that's the default until proved otherwise. You need a link which says they are compatible with Vista.

[starcraft.man]

Some people are simply beyond help in this world, your sister seems to be one. I assume she has been fed lies and misinformation over the years from "tech" people she trusts and now has come to believe delusional things (like everything works in Windows).

Bottom line, here is the simple thing to say to her. "You either let me fix the machine, or you live with it like it is. Pick one option." If she wants to live with it broken, let her.

Oh and as for the Open Office lie, bleh. If she wants to pay 200-500 $ for a copy of Office let her. Make sure to inform your mom that Open Office works for almost everything and is free. If she really wants office, she can pay for it.

Oh and better advice is just to get an ethernet based modem/router, those USB connectors are just trouble that their not even worth.

[ddrichardson]

You do not need a link for that, that's the default until proved otherwise. You need a link which says they are compatible with Vista.

Do you mean like the linked Microsoft document about which drivers from XP do work? ;-)

[popch]

Do you mean like the linked Microsoft document about which drivers from XP do work? ;-)

Yes, if there's such a thing. Or is that /dev/null ?

[%hMa@?b<C]

hand her a gentoo cd and walk away.

[init1]

OK, my sisters new Acer laptop came today. After even my Mum knew vista didnt work well, she still insisted on getting it.

so, anyhoo, After much arguing I reluctantly hand over the USB modems driver disk. She installs it and then complains that whatever web page she tries, a webpage from talktalk comes up telling her her username and password are incorrect (which they arent). The problem is she wont listen to me when I tell her that she needs the vista driver, (which I downloaded and now have on a CD). She thinks "Its windows everything has to work. SO, does anyone know where theres a webpage, which will explain to her that XP drivers dont work in Vista (bearing in mind that she doesnt even know what a driver is!!)

She wont listen to me, because she doesnt trust that I actually know what I'm talking about.

(And BTW did you know that "open ofice is that geeky software, which doesnt work, and makes your computer crash" :[)
Kharma. She'll listen to you when she gets desperate.

[st33med]

When she isn't around, just install it. When she gets it to work, she will be like, "See? I TOLD you things have to work in Windows!" Smirk, and say, "That's right!"

Of course, I wouldn't do that. Depends on what your moral is like.

[beefcurry]

But before you wipe that vista system out of the computer, Get an OEM refund for that Vista as well :)

[Espreon]

hand her a gentoo cd and walk away.

Gentoo?! are you kidding? I don;t think she'll like compiling EVERYTHING from source (plus she'll probably ***** about not being able to play certain vids and use formats that require non-free codecs). If I was gonna recommend a Gentoo-based Distro I recommend Sabayon. Since it can play DVDs and other restrcited formats otb, plus when I installed Sabayon I got my graphics card working otb, everything worked otb (even included Wine-Doors [useful for her if she would use Sabayon in case she needed her loser Internet Explorer) cept my Wireless card, since it requires ndiswrapper. So pretty much Sabayon has lots of propietary as well as lots of opensource stuff, that is why it kicks ***, it even included Google Earth and Google Picasa! So pretty much(I woukd assume fully otb if you don't use a wireless connection) Sabayon works otb.

[igknighted]

Gentoo?! are you kidding? I don;t think she'll like compiling EVERYTHING from source (plus she'll probably ***** about not being able to play certain vids and use formats that require non-free codecs). If I was gonna recommend a Gentoo-based Distro I recommend Sabayon. Since it can play DVDs and other restrcited formats otb, plus when I installed Sabayon I got my graphics card working otb, everything worked otb (even included Wine-Doors [useful for her if she would use Sabayon in case she needed her loser Internet Explorer) cept my Wireless card, since it requires ndiswrapper. So pretty much Sabayon has lots of propietary as well as lots of opensource stuff, that is why it kicks ***, it even included Google Earth and Google Picasa! So pretty much(I woukd assume fully otb if you don't use a wireless connection) Sabayon works otb.

That was the point... make her as hopeless as possible. I think only LFS might be more intimidating (at least Gentoo has a live CD...).