The Windows Vista downgrade
The New York Times yesterday published a damning column on the experience of some key Windows Vista users:
Here’s one story of a Vista upgrade early last year that did not go well. Jon, let’s call him, (bear with me — I’ll reveal his full identity later) upgrades two XP machines to Vista. Then he discovers that his printer, regular scanner and film scanner lack Vista drivers. He has to stick with XP on one machine just so he can continue to use the peripherals.
Did Jon simply have bad luck? Apparently not. When another person, Steven, hears about Jon’s woes, he says drivers are missing in every category — “this is the same across the whole ecosystem.”
Then there’s Mike, who buys a laptop that has a reassuring “Windows Vista Capable” logo affixed. He thinks that he will be able to run Vista in all of its glory, as well as favorite Microsoft programs like Movie Maker. His report: “I personally got burned.” His new laptop — logo or no logo — lacks the necessary graphics chip and can run neither his favorite video-editing software nor anything but a hobbled version of Vista. “I now have a $2,100 e-mail machine,” he says.
It turns out that Mike is clearly not a naïf. He’s Mike Nash, a Microsoft vice president who oversees Windows product management. And Jon, who is dismayed to learn that the drivers he needs don’t exist? That’s Jon A. Shirley, a Microsoft board member and former president and chief operating officer. And Steven, who reports that missing drivers are anything but exceptional, is in a good position to know: he’s Steven Sinofsky, the company’s senior vice president responsible for Windows.
Ouch. That must sting. Especially when it constitutes evidence in a class-action lawsuit on behalf of plaintiffs who bought PCs labelled as “Windows Vista Capable”, which turned out not to be Windows Vista capable.
Do check it out. It’s complete with PDF copies of the internal e-mails that say things like, “we set ourselves up”.
In the few hours I’ve used Vista, it ran a game slower than XP on a much less powerful machine, and it failed to run or install one retail-purchased game and one retail-purchased application.
Oh, and I crashed it twice - once it just froze, and the other time it was limping along. And I was just exploring with the built-in file explorer.
I think I’ll stick to consoles for gaming from now on…
Jon should upgrade to Apple. Mac OS X 10.5 is the best operating system ever according to PCWorld. http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2207556,00.asp
Yes! Shocking to hear how many US companies have to double up on setup time for new pc installtions, where they have to downgradeback to XP from VISTA. Please could someone help me find out how to go about downgrading to XP. I too have trouble wth XP, especially Remote Assistance. I certainly not keen to buy the XP OEM CD either.
Have we got to the end of the road and have to turn back now? Haha.
I hate vista ! its times licke this when people should not buy a new computer . this is the beuty of a vintage system . the digital age dose not care about the user who pays good money four software , or services . we need to show companys that if you cant stand behind it it must be bad , so we will not perches it . i am not a fan of linux or apple , but we should not stay in a bad marige . bill gates is not a family member . i switched from cable to fios four hi speed internet , and i am not sorry , but i may go back in the future . it seems obvius to me that in the corparite world money is a mans weekness .