Tuesday, February 12, 2008
Why Do Some People Hate Windows Vista?
Posted by Jason Dunn in "Digital Home Talk" @ 03:00 PM
"You rarely hear about a new OS causing people to panic. But IT consultant Scott Pam says that's exactly what his small-business clients are doing when they install Windows Vista on new PCs and run smack into compatibility or usability roadblocks. Pam's clients are not alone: Since InfoWorld launched its petition drive on Jan. 14 to ask Microsoft to continue selling new XP licenses indefinitely alongside its Vista licenses, more than 75,000 people have signed on. And hundreds of people have commented — many with ferocious, sometimes unprintable passion. "Right now I have a laptop with crap Vista and I'm going to downgrade to XP because Vista sucks," reads one such comment. Where does all the vitriol come from?"
This article discusses one of the major problems that Microsoft has with Windows Vista: the negative public perception of it. Sure, Microsoft has sold 100 million licenses, but I can't recall any version of Windows in the past that has generated so much angst. Why do some people have such strong reactions to Vista? Do they simply not like change? Or do they have genuine concerns about ways in which the new OS is actually worse? Or have expectations of an operating system simply changed and Vista isn't meeting those expectations?
Myself, I think Vista's a huge leap beyond Windows XP - it's hard to put my finger on any one feature as being "the" reason to upgrade; it's more like my overall perception of my computing experience is better. My Vista systems don't seem to bog down like my XP systems did, especially after applications have been left idle and minimized for a while. That's not to say that I don't mutter a curse prior to uttering the word Vista now and then, especially when things like file copy are involved. And there are dozens of minor user interface irritations that need fixing, such as the password field not having keyboard focus when a system comes out of screen saver or monitor suspend.
This article discusses one of the major problems that Microsoft has with Windows Vista: the negative public perception of it. Sure, Microsoft has sold 100 million licenses, but I can't recall any version of Windows in the past that has generated so much angst. Why do some people have such strong reactions to Vista? Do they simply not like change? Or do they have genuine concerns about ways in which the new OS is actually worse? Or have expectations of an operating system simply changed and Vista isn't meeting those expectations?
Myself, I think Vista's a huge leap beyond Windows XP - it's hard to put my finger on any one feature as being "the" reason to upgrade; it's more like my overall perception of my computing experience is better. My Vista systems don't seem to bog down like my XP systems did, especially after applications have been left idle and minimized for a while. That's not to say that I don't mutter a curse prior to uttering the word Vista now and then, especially when things like file copy are involved. And there are dozens of minor user interface irritations that need fixing, such as the password field not having keyboard focus when a system comes out of screen saver or monitor suspend.
