Sales of Windows 7, the newest offering in the Microsoft line, are 234% higher in the same period in their release than Windows Vista was. Profitability for the product, however, is only 82 percent higher.
Microsoft has been pushing Windows 7 Home, with its lowest price point, as the successor to Vista, considered by many to be less than successful. Microsoft's goal is to have Windows 7 do what Vista failed to do: replace its aging Windows XP.
I have a copy of Vista Basic that came pre-installed on my Toshiba and I have never had a single issue with it.
The only thing I could possibly b!tch about is not beong able to install Photoshop CS2 or Dreamweaver, but then again they are pirated copies so not really any skin off my back.
I have been using a Vista notebook for 2 years and I have never had a problem. When I read all the bad press about how crappy Vista is, I really wonder. I am no geek and Vista does the job for me. Maybe the tech-geeks might have some arguments on why it is bad but as an average user, I don´t see it.
There are a whole lot of reasons actually. Many of which typical users will never notice, but are affecting them.
1. DRM infested=> DRM in addition to its privacy concerns, and the restrictions it places on you, also takes up computing power, to tell you, what you, can and cannot do.
2. Licensing restrictions. You do not own your copy, even after shelling out a large amount of cash. These licensing restrictions give MS the power to do quite alot of things, and also differ by version. These being spied on through windows genuine advantage, where they attempt to discern whether your copy is legitimate. Whiiiich has only screwed up half a million times or so. Also say it came with the computer (installed), you are never legally allowed to use that copy on any other computer, and if you happen to have purchased a copy, you must purchase a copy for each machine in your home for it to be legal.
3. User account control. Your typical user probably has no idea what the hell it is asking in the first place, and will call the nearest tech-savvy individual they know to ask if they should run this program, to which we sigh and reply yes. It will also ask you once uac is disabled, while you are in admin mode. The only way to make this go away, is through accessing an actual admin mode from the command prompt.
4. Driver signing requirements which stifles innovation and reduces compatibility with legacy programs (i.e. old stuff you love)
5. ZOMGZ security holes (though this is a given with windows)
6. Poor hardware compatibility (slightly improved in sp1). Normally one would expect this. However their claims of any pc built after 2005 being able to run it are hilariously inaccurate, and tend to enrage people who bought the os with these systems with the fury of a thousand balmers.
7. Slower than XP. Seriously, read up on it. It really is. With or without SP1 a) Extremely slow in file ops. Like copying, deleting, etc. While sp1 improved this, still slower than xp.
8. Software bloat (always an issue with MS). Stuff you don´t need, and don´t want, taking up space. Typical users will not remove aforementioned things out of the fear of breaking their OS.
In any case, there are more criticisms, these are just some of the relevant ones.
I don´t know if darkfalcon touched on this, but I´ve installed 7 on a few computers and noticed a lot of resources freed. Give it a shot on any computer with Vista. Check the resources being used at idle in Vista and then after installing 7. You´ll see the difference.
I am sure all your points are valid. But, a typical user, who buys a notebook with Vista preloaded doesn´t face too many of those issues. Your average Joe does not do too much admin-related stuff either. While you are perhaps right about Vista´s shortcomings for the power-user like yourself, guys like me were wondering what the noise was all about. I think, the best OS is the one you don´t notice. After all we use a pc to run our favorite programs and not sit there gawking at the OS.
Most of the crap Vista gets comes from when it was first launched and you were trying to upgrade to Vista yourself on an older box. It was horrible. Drivers were hard to find, especially for the 64-bit variety. Driver Signing made it even worse when some drivers were not updated very recently.
Retail boxes generally do not have those problems since most of the hardware is already Vista compatible. At least from my experience anyways.
Comes from initial issues when starting out, and then people that know nothing about computers just kept spewing the rhetoric that it was terrible.
The only long standing problem with Vista was it was a resource hog. Most of the initial issues were simply it was a complete revamp of the operating system so drivers and the like needed time to catch up.
However, 7 builds on top of what was working in Vista, can use almost all the same drivers and uses less resources...They would have no reason not to drop vista and push on with 7.
They could have just made windows 7 a service pack for vista...but more or less wanted to get away from the name Vista for marketing sake.
I really like 7 so far, I can not complain about anything. When we did the party I couldn´t add a few programs that I use frequently but once it was released for everyone the new versions were ready also.
I personally had very few Vista issues, usually it was if I was running certain games. I am a multi-tasker and alway have 3 or 4 pages pulled up at one time. With 7 I don´t even notice any slowing down.It´s really great and you won´t be sorry when/if you get it.
People are right, a lot of people are very happy with it, when it breaks down Im not though. I dont run Vista, all my machines are xp pro, though its a bitch trying to get 64 bit drivers for it and MS shuns updates for the likes of live messenger. I had to fix one 2 days ago though and I got this strange message. ´You must be logged on as an administrator´. Well, I was logged on as admin and I could see why the user was stuck.
You´re right, of course. For people who are doing the bare minimum on their systems, Windows Vista would, in most cases, be perfectly fine. Then again, if you wanted to soak in a hot tub, I wouldn´t recommend you purchasing an Olympic size pool, either.
vista got a bad wrap from pre-service pack one days but once the bugs were worked out it runs like a dream... i´ve got vista at home and there is not a thing wrong with it, it´s really easy and ive never had a crash. its funny how everyone says MS systems are so horrible and Mac are so great, i used to own a Mac and they periodically release updates just like MS but usually do it with an auto setting of the system most people don´t even know about so it stays in teh background. that way when you get up one morning and poof your comp doesn´t work you can´t blame their update, i know from experience.
Compare how many compatible apps there were when Vista was released compared to Win7. MS tried to keep Vista to itself until release to prevent piracy, but worked hard to make Win7 compatible with software on day one. Remember all the vendor complaints?
MS gloated about their initial investment of 6 billion clams for the development of Vista, i mean really. i could see 6 million perhaps, but 6 billion? seems they are quite good at wasting big $$$, not to mention PC resources ;)
