And lo on Tue, 01 Apr 2008 13:15:17 +0100, scott <sco### [at] laptopcom> did  
spake, saying:

>>> I would far rather trust MS with that than a group of voluntary   
>>> workers. MS has a brand name to protect and shareholders to please,   
>>> they are not going to do anything stupid.
>>
>> Vista? Sorry cheap shot ;-)
>
> Hehe, but would have been stupider not to release Vista (what would  
> happen to MS once everyone owned a copy of WinXP?).

They'd have to produce a new OS that was better then XP? Alright being  
serious everyone compares Vista to the early days of XP, except then we  
were talking about switching home users from an unstable 95/98/ME OS to a  
more stable XP that didn't require too stupid a hardware jump and seemed  
to feature much more obvious benefits.

Now we've got a base using the stable XP, which just works (most of the  
time) with anything you throw at it and trying to get them to invest in  
this new Vista system by the same old tactic of 'convincing' the hardware  
distributors to only use it. Then the home users find that half  
(exaggeration) the stuff they want to do they can't run, that it's slower  
on boot, slower to load; but hey at least it's pretty, assuming you've not  
got suckered into that whole "Vista capable" scam

Microsoft can whine all they like about the fact its more secure etc. the  
fact is as it stands it's worse then XP from a user perspective. The best  
comparison may be getting the 2k user base upgrading to XP or hell even  
the 2k crowd to Vista, why should I bother?

Anyway here's some silly examples of fun with Vista -

Windows Defender has blocked some startup programs. Hmm well these  
programs are fine, a part of the sound/video software please run them and  
stop bothering me. No can do; I'll run them, but I'll bug you about it  
next time you reboot and next time and next time...

"I don't like this [news widget] how do I get rid of it?" Easy I clicked  
on the widget then the X button that appeared, oh no wait as soon as my  
cursor passes off the main body of the item the X and properties buttons  
vanish. I'll use the main bar properties to remove it, nope you can  
install but can't seem to remove. I ended up dragging it off the side bar  
at which point it retained the close button for me to select.

On occasion decides to downgrade the wireless connection from Local and  
Internet to just Local needs disconnecting and reconnecting or diagnose  
fault'ing before it returns.

Still can't get it to sync with a Nokia phone by cable without core  
dumping, still can't get it to sync with a Sony Ericsson phone full stop.

Still wondering why after logging in it displays the normal screen then  
goes black and refreshes itself

Still wondering why the boot process to log-in is slower the XP and why it  
takes longer to allow you do something past that point despite the fact  
it's running on much better hardware.

Still amused that as part of the Ultimate package and running the MCE  
section setup it asks what cables I'm using to connect the computer to the  
screen - it's a laptop and Vista knows it's a laptop.

Still refuses to create or open an Access 2k database in Access 2k, Word  
and Excel work fine though it wouldn't save passwords in Outlook.

Still curious as to why on boot it just displays a moving 'scroll bar'  
line with no logo - oo a black screen with a moving bar to watch; how dull.

Still annoyed that to shut it down you have to pick the arrow next to the  
lock button which then displays a sad 98 style menu bar as if it was some  
sort of afterthought (reading some articles it may well have been).


Before anyone points out that there are/may be ways around these or that  
these problems are/may be caused by third-party drivers - I know, but from  
the point of view of the users I'm with it don't work.

-- 
Phil Cook

--
I once tried to be apathetic, but I just couldn't be bothered
http://flipc.blogspot.com

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