Topic: Vista NOT getting rave reviews?

[Dash Jones]

It seems that for every person rating it 10 stars, there is another rating it at 1 or 0 for an average of 6 stars.  In the computer world, six stars means a bad program typically.  After reading many of the bugs, it seems that Linux is looking more and more tempting for a long term OS investment.  I was surprised when looking up to see how Vista was working out, at how many people were upset about compatibilities, system hog, and myriads of other complaints about Vista.  It looks like I'll put off getting a new computer unless I can verify that it has a different OS than Vista.

[Mr_Tricorder]

I know several people who just bought new laptops with Vista, and that's pretty much what they're saying about it. "It works great except for ...".  There's always some program or game that they always used on XP that just won't work on Vista.  One of my friends just bought a Sony Vaio with Vista and then bought a Zune.  He soon found out that his Zune was not compatible with Vista (even though they are both made by Microsoft).

[Nemesis]

My Vista poll didn't exactly get overwhelming numbers of voters but it didn't show any huge inclination of our members to rush out and get Vista.

• Yes I plan to buy a Vista upgrade for my current system.     - 2 (6.5%)
• When it comes with my new machine no problem    - 4 (12.9%)
• Perhaps someday    - 9 (29%)
• Not unless they remove the onerous license terms and features    - 9 (29%)
• No - I'm moving to a different OS    - 7 (22.6%)
• Total Votes: 31

20% pro 30% on the fence and the remaining 50% against. 

Not enough voters to make any serious claims about it but it doesn't look good for Vista among our members.  If those numbers even approximate the real world feelings towards Vista Microsoft is in trouble. 

[GE-Raven]

Change = Bad.

Always have... people don't like change... until of course they get used to it... then they love it.  Human Nature... I fondly remember the HUGE stink about XP and how this and that no longer worked, and how it annoyed you with this warning or feature, etc.

Here are the facts:
90%+ of new machines WILL have vista on it.
Within the next 2-3 years most average consumers will buy one.
Vista (like XP, 2000, 98, and 95 before it) will gain acceptance and even fans.

I predict that in the next 5 years:
Mac will gain no more than 2-5% of the PC HOME computing market
Linux variants will gain 1-2% of PC HOME computing market as there will be more attempts to make it "easy" for them.
Windows will still enjoy a virtual lock on the Home computing market, especially when the next gen Xbox becomes even more compatible with their new OS.

Just my $.02.

I remember when OSX came out a little while back, and the Mac community "hated it" before they loved it.

GE-Raven

[jualdeaux]

I personally wanted to get XP and give it a go. I'm not so sure about Vista. I still have a question that hasn't been answered.

[Dracho]

Different prediction:

Democrat wins the White House and resumes her husband's prosecution of Microsoft.  Company is broken up and there are 2 Windows variants.

[Nemesis]

Different prediction:

Democrat wins the White House and resumes her husband's prosecution of Microsoft.  Company is broken up and there are 2 Windows variants.

I still (since early in the DOJ vs Microsoft case) would prefer to see the U.S. government and all its agencies merely require that all software they use allow them to default to saving in an open public file format - no variances from the standard allowed.  The same for computer connectivity open standards for all protocols.

That would allow you to use Microsoft software if you wish, others could use the software they wish whether commercial or free wouldn't matter.  Right now with the Microsoft DOC format being the dominant standard and Microsoft being able to vary it at will (my Wordpad doesn't open new doc files for example) it is very difficult to use any other office software when dealling with the government or large businesses.

Of course a close look would still be needed at some of Microsofts exclusionary business practices.  As an example why is it that Dells Linux and no OS computers have always seemed more expensive than their Windows computers?  Is Microsoft using their market dominance to prevent Dell from marketting those machines at a lower price or is it just Dells choice?

I'd also like to see the EULA being used to remove peoples legal rights removed.  To me the EULA always seems to be the proprietary manufacturer trying to use it to write laws on the fly.  The same with revising the EULA everytime a patch is issued.  Why should a bug fix change the terms under which I can use the software that I bought?

[jualdeaux]

I believe OpenOffice open DOC files just fine. Although, if you have some advanced formatting, you might lose some of that.

[Nemesis]

I believe OpenOffice open DOC files just fine. Although, if you have some advanced formatting, you might lose some of that.

It does and I use it.  The most recent file that Wordpad failed on was just one image pasted into the document with no text.  I would have thought that something like that would have been stable and unchanging for years but apparently not.  I had to update OpenOffice to open the same file.  Both had previously been able to open DOC files containing images so there must have been some change to the format.

[Clark Kent]

Change = Bad.

Always have... people don't like change... until of course they get used to it... then they love it.  Human Nature... I fondly remember the HUGE stink about XP and how this and that no longer worked, and how it annoyed you with this warning or feature, etc.

Here are the facts:
90%+ of new machines WILL have vista on it.
Within the next 2-3 years most average consumers will buy one.
Vista (like XP, 2000, 98, and 95 before it) will gain acceptance and even fans.

I predict that in the next 5 years:
Mac will gain no more than 2-5% of the PC HOME computing market
Linux variants will gain 1-2% of PC HOME computing market as there will be more attempts to make it "easy" for them.
Windows will still enjoy a virtual lock on the Home computing market, especially when the next gen Xbox becomes even more compatible with their new OS.

Just my $.02.

I remember when OSX came out a little while back, and the Mac community "hated it" before they loved it.

GE-Raven

OH, i doubt that 5% market share gain for Apple is highly unlikely over the next 5 years.  I would like to see otherwise, but I don't expect to see it.  TO be honest, I know XP has become the standard over time, and if you are a M$ customer, you will have no choice but to move up to Vista, much sooner than you are ready.  XP is already not being shipped on new computers at all from what I've heard, so unless people want to go unsupported by M$ and not be able to access future M$ programs, they will upgrade.
What I find interesting is that there were some reservations about XP, as I recall, but generally the consesus seemed to be that it would be an improvement.  This time around, though, I can't tell you how many IT people I've talked to that are not looking forward to Vista.