@GoatMonkey:

I had a similar problem with my setup. It drove me completely bonkers - what you should do is find the latest NVid drivers (for Vista specifically) and install them. I would do an uninstall of your existing ones if possible beforehand - that should take care of any of your reboot issues.

legacye

@celloids:

The difference this time is that I think Microsoft genuinely learned a lesson from the harsh reception Vista got. Most people don't remember that this version of the OS was completely re-written - a catatonic mistake in my view. Although Vista is the most secure operating system out there (from personal experience) the number of features we had to sacrifice in Windows to get that privilege was questionably worth it.

I personally believe that with Vista, Microsoft tried too hard to do something like OSX - a "pretty" UI on top of something reasonably usable. With looks and style instead of quality and feature rich infrastructure in mind, they screwed themselves over by forgetting what made people love XP so much.

I hope the next version of Windows actually allows me to "do more". There are thousands of hacks, patches and apps out there that can prettify your operating system but if we have something that can genuinely work and work well, I think most of us would be happy with that.

legacye

@kOtic:
1.0 = windows 1
2.x = windows 2
3.1 = windows 3
95/98/ME = windows 4
2000/XP = windows 5
Vista = windows 6

willyolio

I nvr had any problems with Vista. Honestly, if you just buy a new computer, you wouldn't have drivers issues. It's getting the same criticism as XP did when XP dropped. Oh well.

ph15h

My Vista was fine until I got a new Nvidia card...then it reboots itself about every hour.

GoatMonkey

@kOtic: That's a good thing. :P

ViperBorg

@celloids:

We did with XP. Have a nice day!

Sleeper_Service

Gates' statement is very bizarre. It is as if he wanted to hold off XP users from upgrading to Vista. Oh yeah! You xp users should wait for another year because there's something better than Vista coming for you.

Now my question to you guys is:

Would you wait for a year to upgrade to another same old crappy OS? Get real folks!

celloids

@thebear91: There was a GOOD version of Win98???
I still have my Win98 First Edtion install disc someplace. I am saving it for when Antiques Roadshow comes through so the experts can so "This is worthless".

Curves

@dufus: BOB!

now this was an OS

nachobel

This should be good news. Vista is adequate - people who say "omg it sucks LOL!1!" are generally wrong, it's just not great.

Anyway, I'm betting on a 2010 RTM.

Sleeper_Service

this is pretty crazy, companies have even adopted vista yet.

greysky

@kOtic: They're also leaving out BOB. Remember BOB?

What about BOB?

dufus

May be they will fix "SearchIndexer.exe" and sell it as an upgrade.

europria

You mean MS actual has a development cycle?

Geisrud

@tande04: No, 95 and 98 were not based on the NT kernel. Applying a version "number" to any non-business version of Windows before XP doesn't make any sense. Before Windows XP, and home PC version of Windows ran on a completely different foundation than NT/2000.

Sportyboard

Hmm, built a new PC and then bought a copy of Vista. Haven't had a single problem with it. But perhaps if I'd try use it with my old machine....

fed1

@kOtic: '95, '98, and Me were all considered versions of 4.0

Your list would be more like

1.0
2.0
3.0 (which would include 3.1 that you listed)
4.0 ('95, '98, Me)
5.0 (2000 and XP)
6.0 Vista
Which then leads you to
7.0

tande04

@kOtic: I don't think so.
NT (which wasn't on your list) and 2000 were mostly indented for business, not consumers. Remember when they were doing that whole strange market segmentation thing?

XP was supposed to be the "unification" of that split user base.

1. 3.x
2. 95
3. 98
4. ME
5. XP
6. Vista
7. 7

Dunny0

LOL that sucks LMAO, so this means if you just brought a PC with vista next year your goin to need another one

snitch29

Either way, your Creative soundcard will screw you all over again. And this time, no one will help you mod the drivers.

ripfire4

Lets all hope that they are going to treat Vista like ME.

I really don't ever want to have to deploy it at work. I would like it to just go away.

It would be nice if like Intel's Centrino (where they went back to the Pentium III's better design), MS would go back and base the new windows on XP, and ditch all the work on Vista. I'm not even planning on using Server 2008, or Exchange 2007.

NNTPgrip

I'm waiting for Windows 10 (OSX); the one with the Unix-based kernel.

whootowl

Vista has caused me so many problems it really makes my head want to explode. Windows 7 - if I ever work with a Windows machine again - cannot come soon enough.

peteH

ME was kind of a logical extension of 98, sort of a last service release, so I could see it not warranting a full version number.

An Alpha of Windows 7 in 2009 seems right, a full release no way. I definitely think Bill was thinking in terms of testing and not retail.

FightingChance

@kOtic: I thnik they should leave out Vista as well.

The "Or So" could mean 2010, rigth??

arekkusu82

ME was just a bad version of 98.

"Next year or so" is still 2010, 2011, 2020, in M$ years.

thebear91

@kOtic: The numberimg scheme comes from the NT branch of Windows:
> NT3.5 had the Win3.1 UI;
> NT4.0 had the same UI as Win95/98;
> Win2000 was NT5.0;
> WinXP is NT5.1 (Windows 2000 with a new UI and a 'Home' version);
> Vista is NT6.0.

Baladen

I wonder where it'll rate on the ass-blowery scale. I'm betting somewhere between expired burritos and accidentally shredding your W2s 2 weeks before april 15th.

nachobel

@greggantic:
we don't want it upgradable from Vista, if it is, it's probably not worth more than ME or Vista. I would suggest just blasting your whole OS and install 7.0

riqgeez

either way, blah

imTheKing

@munan: you work for microsoft too dont you?

imTheKing

@Spoony Bard: Thank you for that. Now I just got a mental image of Balmer with perky nipples and a giant codpiece.

dry-roasted-peanuts

Vista is actually a fine OS. Providing you have a solid hardware platform with current drivers, you'll be real happy.
I am, but then, I dual boot my MacBook and Vista runs on that hardware like a dream....

munan

@greggantic:
It is.

munan

Vista is the Batman and Robin of the computing world. They'll try to reboot and pretend it never existed.

Spoony Bard

I was wondering if Vista was ME 2...

dry-roasted-peanuts

I think they're leaving out ME.

1 - 3.1
2 - 95'
3 - 98'
4 - 2000
--- ME
5 - XP
6 - Vista
7

kOtic

MS did the same thing with ME. Remeber that OS. I pity the fools who bought that one. Including me :(

Paul

wtf i hope its upgradeable from vista.

greggantic

Wow - they are pretending Vista never happened. Whoops.

bitfactory

Can't they just code name it Windows 6 and pretend like Vista never happened?

Hiphopopotamus

of all the people badmouthing vista, how many of you have actually used it extensively on a proper machine, and how many of you are just jumping on what you heard on the internets from a guy who knows a guy who used it one time? im not saying its perfect, but its not bad.

mwalker05

Maybe this is part of the all goodwill Bill. He's been helping out with a lot of charities lately and now maybe Windows Vista is his current charity case in desperate need of help.

Ballmer thrives on being hated so he tells everyone Vista is great because a lot of copies were sold through forced deals with PC manufacturers. According to Ballmer, everyone who thinks it is slow, unpleasant, dreadful and sluggish must be mistaken. Bill isn't admitting Vista sucks but I don't think he was ever quoted as saying Windows ME sucks either - just we have a better OS coming soon (windows 2000).

boe

@mikecoscia: People complaining about Vista just wanted to stick with exactly what they already had.

Vista has certainly been Microsoft's best OS at launch by a tremendous margin. Even in terms of driver incompatibilities, permissions, performance/hardware requirements, and backwards compatibility, it's much, much less problematic than XP was at launch.

But for many, XP SP2 is "good enough".

emag

@Zahada:

Actually I'd prefer an OS that works with the applications I want to use.

Sleeper_Service

@munan: Vista is a decent OS. But MS needs to deliver the same or better performance without Vista's hardware demands. They need to finally get the world on to a 64-bit platform (It's not solely the responsibility of outside developers).

Zlevee

@munan: Agreeded I am having less issues with Vista than I had with XP, and thats on the same machine with no hardware changes except an extra gig of ram (2gb total now). Vista runs like a dream only gripe I have is slower file transfer then XP.

People complaining about Vista must have crappy hardware or never bothered to look for newer drivers.

mikecoscia

Baladen FTW.
All current versions of Windows are based on the NT kernel. NT kernel runs from 3.1 to 6.0 (Vista)
DOS based versions run from 1.0 to 4.9 (WinME)

Timeline of Windows Releases

Chimaera

I had good experiences with ME, actually. Except that once XP came NOTHING worked for it. At least with ME Microsoft didn't throw shitloads of visual waste into the OS to make it incompatible with every average computer.

NcSchu

so where does "Windows NT" fit in? I had a computer that was running an OS named "Windows NT", that's it.

tucker

So if version 7 is called Windows 7, does that mean that by the time they reach version 10, they'll just say what the hell and name it OSX?

frigg

Vista is okay. I don't run it on my computer (XP Pro) but I've used it here and there with no real problems. To me it's like the DVD to HD comparison. Personally I love XP and it is like stepping from VHS to DVD. Vista is like stepping from dvd to HD. I just don't feel compelled enough to upgrade. My dvds work fine (even on my HDTV) and there's just no reason to spend more for something that's probably gonna run the same things very close to how they are already running. I guess I just want smaller, smoother running XP Pro. Make a better DVD player.

MJDeviant

Microsoft: QUICK! Reskin leopard and call it windows 7!

Zahada

@kOtic: Me was 98 with some extra bugs.

MikeSWelch

Am I the only person on Earth that doesn't have a problem with Vista?

paulnptld

@dea136:

Oh... and I had 'ME' too :( does this start to explain things...

dea136

They really screwed up bad. Vista made me finally switch to an Apple! I'm very glad i did. I see no reason to turn back.

dea136

@FightingChance: a service release that broke everything. That was the most crash-prone OS I've ever used - and thankfully, not on my PC. I actually ultimately "downgraded" my sister's Win Me system to 98SE so that she could use it for more than 10 minutes at a stretch.

Zlevee

Vista doesn't suck.

Subterfuge

I'd say that sticking with XP would be the best decision ever, since development for it will likely stick for a while, especially with SP3 coming, and such poor adoption of Vista.

Kaiser-Machead

I have vista. Whats good about vista is that it combines XP MCE, XP Tablet edition, and XP Pro into one crappy OS. I had to buy a new printer for vista, and MS changed the whole user interface. I installed Alcohol 120 on my just received Vista laptop, and I immediately got BSODs. I had to reformat since I could not even get into safe mode.

rdldr1

I'm writing this on a mac having switched off Vista. As far as comments concerning drivers and hardware I have this to add. I bought a Vista compatible Dell built specifically for the OS and chased problems for a year.

If a new Dell built for Vista can't run reliably I'm not sure what constitutes as "proper" hardware.

Mac, out of the box and running like a dream, sigh, I can breathe again.

k9bits

i used Vista and it was OK. i had to shut off a lot of security pop up windows and figure out its security stuff like virus protection, firewall, etc. i had to wait for drivers, had some crashes, and even locked up my sysem a few times (thank you System Retore!). but sinceim not my mom, i figured it out and had a nice looking, fairly stable, highly business/pleasure compatible OS.

then i switched to mac/OS X. talk about elegance.

kipmartin

@mwalker05: I did. Tried using it for all sorts of stuff... ranging from programming (Vista is a bitch to several compilers and SDKs) to 3D modeling and gaming.

Games were clearly slower. I have a gaming laptop that ceased from being a GAMING laptop because of Vista. And I ain't talking about some beta version... full fledged Vista Ultimate with Aero enabled AND disabled.

Summary, I tried dealing with it for 2 months. Software crashes happened almost twice a day, and everytime I was forced to reboot because Task Manager wouldn't close crashed programs.

I also might add that this was a brand new laptop, with no hardware problems whatsoever, no viruses or spywares, and no excuse to be as shitty as it was other than Vista.

After I installed XP, it became a completely different laptop.

But that's only my experience. I heard some people that had good experiences with it too. And I did like 2 or 3 things better on Vista. But none that justified all the problems I had.

Bokusatsu_Tenshi

@paulnptld: You and Steve Jobs actually.

Darrone

The need to sack Bill Gates. He is a liability.

I don't care if he retired.

They should still sack his ass, just to be sure.

Monty

lol love when the mac fanboism is really full blown

@riqgeez:

ME to xp worked really well. if the same thing happens again, then the next OS will kick all kinds of ass (XP 2.0 FTW!!)

jrghoull

Leisure Suite Larry 4 = Leisure Suit Larry 4

costanza007

Vista = Leisure Suite Larry 4

costanza007

LOL. I was expecting this to happen.
I mean, some few users might have had a good experience with Vista... but most didn't.

Anyways, they are doing the right thing.
Just get over Vista and release something better already.

But I rather have Windows 7 in 2010 with no bugs and no bs than some Vista 2 in 2009.

Bokusatsu_Tenshi

Microsoft shows a lot of imagination with their project codename - not. I mean, there is Ubuntu and Apple who choose codenames that show a human side, instead of pure numerical stuff that would more appeal to an engineer or an accountant.

twilight-arc

@costanza007: Um, Vista isn't mysteriously missing. It just sucks.

Spoony Bard

@kOtic:
Actually people seem to forget that Windows XP was version 5.1 and windows 2000 was version 5. That was one hell of a point release.
So it's Windows 1.0 (ancient)
Windows 2.0 (less ancient)
Windows 3.0/3.1/Windows for Workgroups
Windows NT (4.0)
Windows 2000 (5.0)
Windows XP (5.1)
Windows Vista (6.0)
Windows 7 (v 7)

95/98/ME are their own and now dead branch.

Pedro S

@paulnptld: I don't have a problem with vista. I just prefer other operating systems to using it.

Joseph

@paulnptld:
Nope, you are not alone.
I've never had a problem with Vista either. Even when I had to force Windows 2000 drivers on old hardware that did not have Vista compatible driver support. Vista took them without a glitch just as MS said it would allow you to do.
It just works.
I've never experienced anything everyone is talking about. And my hardware qualifies fro the Vista Dynosaur Award being 7 years old.

In any case my guess is that W7 Release candidate will be ready most likely in Q2-Q2010 or Q1-2011. By then Vista will be 4 to 5 years old. Which makes sense...

aec007

I'm a Vista defender. I've got XP on my desktop, and two Vistas on laptops (one with no bells and whistles because it's an el cheapo laptop, and a new one with all teh bells and whistles running). I haven't had any problems with the OS at all. Is it a gigantic step forward over XP? Not that I see? Is it the steam pile of dog crap that so many people say it is? Not that I see.

It's an okay OS. Good enough for me. I just want a stable platform to run my apps on, and that's what I've got on all my machines.

makanai

@Monty: I don't think Bill gates is the problem - I think it is Ballmer - Bill knew enough to drop Windows ME like that bad habit that it was. Ballmer just goes on about how many copies of Vista they've sold under forced contract with PC manufacturers - he doesn't care about the bad press, the class action suit, the bad IT community reviews, the bad industry acceptance - maybe he's not only deaf but too dumb to read (although he does look snazzy in blue dress shirts).

boe

@mwalker05:

I openly bad mouth vista and have actually run performance benchmarks for several systems on identical hardware from P4 3GHz with 2Gigs of ram all the way to Core 2, 2.6 GHz with 4 GIgs of RAM - all with very fast video cards and fast hard drives - XP frankly is SIGNIFICANTLY FASTER PERIOD. So yes of the dozen or so benchmarks I ran on identical systems - I feel qualified to badmouth Vista.

And of all the clients who purchased Vista and have asked me to upgrade them to XP - all have thanked me for the upgrade and are impressed at how fast their new computers actually are.

boe

Right away people are saying they're trying to pretend Vista never happened? Huh? Wasn't one of the biggest issues with Vista the fact that it was so late? Shouldn't MS be commended for trying to roll out the updates closer together?

(For the record, I'm actually quite fond of Vista in a lot of ways. It doesn't deserve its reputation.)

And also, I wonder what the full original quote was. The Reuters article says:

---
Microsoft Corp.(MSFT.O: Quote, Profile, Research) co-founder Bill Gates said on Friday he expected the new version of Windows operating software, code-named Windows 7, to be released "sometime in the next year or so."
---

The "released" is not part of the quote, so I wonder if he said something more along the lines of "we'll release a preview version" or "we'll unveil it" or something like that.

Anyway, it is an interesting quote.

tophtucker

Granted vista sucks or at least is to big an os for what I use if for (ultra portable laptop). Considering that I learned everything I know from xp vista was fighting and uphill battle. But what I don't get is people who say just switch to mac, that makes sense make me find replace all my software and all the little programs I use that makes my computer work for me. I considered getting a mac when I got my laptop but they don't have a tablet so that was out. But as a main workstation going to mac would cause me many hours of pain to get it to work like windows does now. I know there are ways to use what I do know or the equivalent with a mac but finding that would be a pain.

ridered

@munan: An OS which by default require some heavy specs to run is in my opinion not a good OS.

To me a good OS must be in the following order

1- Stable
2- Intuitive
3- Lightweight
4- Efficient (often goes with number 2)
5- Nice looking

I think Windows 7 is according to these guidelines going to be a better OS than Vista, especially with it's advanced modularity.

m-p{3}

@twilight-arc: Ahh right, every single version of Windows had their own codename. XP was Whistler, Vista was Longhorn. I'm pretty sure there're some thoughtful reasons behind the code name "Windows 7."

EDENe

The "Official" number designation for the new Windows comes from the kernel designation. They are all based in one way or another on the NT kernel. The whole 9x and ME series don't even factor.

Win NT 3.5
Win NT 4.0
Windows 2000 (Win NT 5.0)
Windows XP (Win NT 5.1)
Vista (Win NT 6.0)
Hence "Windows 7"

ryusen

@imTheKing:

No, we've come to the conclusion that you're an Apple fanboy. It wasn't that hard really.

Sleeper_Service

so after all these comments, we've come to the conclusion that windows sucks, XP is the only one thats partially acceptable and everyone should use another OS.

good.

imTheKing

While vista might be fine for some here don't forget that MS originally made alot of promises that they in the end scrapped. What was left in the actual release of vista was nowhere near what MS said it would be. So while you may be fine with the 200+ dollars you spent as an early adopter the people who saw the hollow core of an OS that vista is are asking themselves why the hell did anyone shell out for this crap.

DX10 ; which for all the MS kool-aid being passed around can be run on XP , and Aero A downright ugly and non-intuitive GUI are not reasons to ditch a system (XP) that is not only more stable but supports all the current hardware available. They are also not a good enough reason to shell out up to 400 bucks ( if you want all of the still limited set of features originally promised by MS) for vista.

I sure hope win7 fixes everything that was wrong with wasta(money) so we can all just get back to slamming MS for not being like apple.

slapBOXmaster

For me, there's still no reason to upgrade from XP Pro (SP 2). It just takes Microsoft 3-4 years to make the crappy OS they put out into a workable OS. By that logic, Vista should be salvageable in late 2009. =P

michaelportent

@twilight-arc: Oh god, your argument for why Linux and OS X are better is that they have more humanistic codenames. Seriously? Why even try?

Charles

Good thing I got this laptop right after OEMs were forced off of XP and evidently just a couple years before the hardware requirements are jacked up yet again for Windows 7.

I'm kinda hoping it sucks even more than Vista so I don't have to worry about pirating it.

cyborgtroy

I've used vista for a day or two, seems to run pretty well.

Looks like it's the most secure windows every, I haven't seen any stories about viruses taken it down, so I'm sure MS is on the right track.

can't say the same for Mr. X, hacked in 2 min, shit it was supposed to be solid as rock. :)

wetworker

I have to admit that I had read so many bad things about Vista, read all of these comments, read everything off the web. I use Leopard on my Macbook, and decided to use Bootcamp and install Vista. I didn't make the switch to Macs until early 2007 so until then I had used Windows 98, and XP.

Vista is not that bad on this Macbook. It runs smoothly with 2GB of RAM and 2.0 ghz Intel Core Duo. I kept wondering why people bad talked it so much, but then I realized that the printer we have wouldn't work with it, nor would the scanner. It really does come across as just a filler OS until the next one comes in, but it might annoy people who actually spent the $250 on Vista to upgrade yet again. They should offer some kind of trade in discount or something.

kylo4

Every time I see that picture I pee myself, vomit, and get very frightened. In various orders.

chasema

For all of you glorifying XP, I think have forgotten how much resistance there was to XP in its early days, especially with the problems (rumored and otherwise) with authentication and driver incompatibilities. The advice at the time was to stick with Windows 2000.

The other day, Microsoft promised to support XP until a year after their next version, so the date of the next version needs to be moved up to maintain the revenue stream (Microsoft has dreamed of a subscription model for the OFFICE line for years, but hasn't managed to pull it off).

My bet is that Vista SP2 will be sold as Windows 7.

Skeptical_Geezer

They need some DEVELOPERS, DEVELOPERS, DEVELOPERS, DEVELOPERS

alter

You know why Macs don't have any viruses? Because nobody gives a shit. For me Vista works fine, I don't know why everybody's attacking it for petty things. And I'm excited to see what this new OS7 will be.

redrabbit

I'm hoping Windows 7 will be modular as has been suggested so those who want a stripped down ultra fast OS get what they want whilst others who want the full English can get what they need too.

Now that would be cool.

Sleeper_Service

Interesting.

Personally, I want to see where Linux is in 2010... Look at Ubuntu. From 5 to 7 (18 months), it has come an amazing distance. Imagine in another 2 years. Personally, I think that Windows 7 will again be too little, too late. The 5 years of Vista development trashed any remaining chance they had of having *anything* over another OS.

Hey Apple? OS XI plz? We need more competition.

Daniel

Daniel

@cyborgtroy:
"I'm kinda hoping it sucks even more than Vista so I don't have to worry about pirating it. "

Outstanding comment - I'm having a hard time figuring out if you are glass half full or glass half empty person - as this could be taken positive or negative.

Just remember, you can never have too much water in a nuclear reactor.

boe

Microsoft, please make this a better design? Please...? And add limitations to Windows developers like removing the file and registry virtualization in Vista and just preventing all programs from messing around with the system folder and certain parts of the registry. Come on, I don't want to spend 20 minutes trying to remove all the "29fja0s94j10ai8sujd9" registry keys. Why not have 2 registries... one for Windows, which cannot be modified or touched, and the other one for the garbage? Microsoft, get back your control over the OS, and lock everything that belongs to you, please. I'm really tired of the feeling of clutter in my system32 folder.

Dooga

Come on MS fanbois. Its time to jump ship. Vista's been out for over a year and its still a punching bag. This isn't just MS bashing. That kind of nonsense can't last this long. Vista is a bad product on the surface and inside. It made me switch to Mac after 20 years of Mac hating.

MS has had its day. They've been snowing people about the next best thing for 6 years now. They've got nothing and I doubt another 2 years will fix that. I think Linux will over take the lower end and OS X the high. MS should do their best to keep office at the top of its game.

Mark 2000

@Mark 2000:

I'm sorry but you haven't the slightest idea of what you're talking about. Vista is adequate, not spectacular, not earth shattering and probably not as good as Leopard but still adequate enough. If we were marking it out of 5 it would be a 3.5. Leopard would be a 4 as would XP.

To say that MS has had its day is the height of, well... stupidity. Most people - and especially large corporations - only care if it works well enough and integrates with their systems and apps. XP and Vista do this a lot easier than OSX does so they and the next iteration of Windows are going to be top dog for a very long time to come.

Sleeper_Service

@Mark 2000: Personally, I don't think Linux can really take over in its current model. It's nice that it's free, but so many people still don't know what the hell it is, and you and I both know that lots of people just don't know how the hell to make it work as well as Windows/Mac or better.

Sorry nutbastard, but you know this is true.

I think that if Ubuntu gets a foothold in retail and OEM, sort of like Dell's Ubuntu offerings, then more people may be more willing to jump to it. But right now, it's still really obscure, and it still takes care that a lot of users don't really give a shit about.

Granted, Vista isn't the prize peach of the computing world, but I wouldn't really discount Microsoft's development team altogether either. If they feel enough pressure, I'm sure they can come out with something that even the more determined fanboys, such as you and I, can't deny is a good product.

Kaiser-Machead

Wow way to go photo shopping Balmar to have crazy sweat stains.

ThatsMrOffDutyNinja

Yes I think Vista is like ME. Let's make it die quicker by not buying any laptop or desktop with it.
This is the first time I have seen someone's comment actually like ME and think its stable.
Just like I occasionally sees some people's comment say they have no problem with Vista. They probably don't put a lot of third party software on their machine and only uses IE for browsing the web.

hkicedude

would anyone really be sad if they pretended Vista never happened?

I know alot of you are approaching it from the "they are hiding from their mistakes", but lets approach it from the "remember that one night i was drunk and fell into your sister" kind of way and forget it ever happened (existed)

rainfever

@ThatsMrOffDutyNinja: It isn't Photoshopped.

Kaiser-Machead

is it possible they meant windows MOBILE 7?

jkr

If that date is true, the release is going to be a disaster if Microsoft doesn't put pressure on 3rd party developers. AMD still has yet to release new drivers for the mobility Radeon graphics cards for Vista. Many companies seem to only want to get things compatible for Vista and not optimized. For their past releases, MS was pretty much the only (mainstream) option available. They faced greater critisim with Vista because people feel there's new options (and a higher standard). I think they'll learn from their mistake. With the next release, they'll probably provide a much stronger transition that actually feels ready for the public.

...on that note, Microsoft will DEFINITELY need a new spokesman after Bill fades out of the spotlight. I nominate Towlie from South Park. The kids don't want him around anyway. He could tweak his catch phrase to something like, "...don't forget to bring some Windows! ...oh, wow. I'm so high."

PynkFloydd

@legacye:

To be honest with you, I am using Vista since it was released, and have no problem whatsoever with it. And I even tried both Nvidia's and ATI's graphic boards and have no problem.

I believe Vista's problem lies in high hardware requirement as well as driver issues. This was also the problem encountered with XP's release.

But if Microsoft were to learn a thing or two from XP's release was that many newbies were switching to those colorful and cheap iMacs.

Since Vista was written from the ground up, developers found it harder to rush driver since the rules had changed.

What Microsoft did was basically rename Vista and call it Vista 2 (with minor tweaks of course), hoping that the driver issues would be less prevalent since developers should have learned from Vista on how to code more quickly (now that the rules are more or less the same) in this Second Edition of Vista.

celloids

I chose to actually purchase Vista, a move that has drawn ridicule from my fellow IT workers. Now, I'm never buying another Window again. If they're simply refusing to concentrate on perfecting Vista, as they reasonably did with XP, what's the point?

mattbrown

@mattbrown: Giving up on Vista by MS is a good thing. I'm guessing you haven't been in IT very long so I'll give you a quick refresher course.

Around the year 2000 MS came out with this horrible mutant known as Windows ME. Windows ME wasn't terribly stable (Vista is more stable) with bad performance (Vista is MUCH slower) and pathetic driver support (Vista has better driver support) - pretty much nothing to motivate anyone to switch from Windows 98. Not long afterwards Windows 2000 was released - it was a tad more demanding than Windows 98 but it was VERY Stable, did much better mulitasking was just as fast copy and moving files on the same PC or network(unlike Vista). It had adequate multimedia playing capabilities, and better security and offered a reason (unlike Vista) for companies to invest in upgrades.

MS threw away Windows ME and never looked back - and the world rejoiced accept a few MS fanboys who said - it works fine on my PC, I'm not sure why people are bashing Windows ME - Have you ever tried Windows ME - maybe you just don't have fast enough equipment - I like Windows ME.

Knowledgeable people who actually performed their own benchmarks on both old and new equipment knew they were smoking crack but they insisted on posting anyways. They never bothered to investigate if their own machine could be faster, or even take 2 minutes to google Vista XP and benchmarks - nope they insisted they were right and all the technical community, other users, technical journals and businesses were wrong- they were known as Ballmer Jr's.

boe

@munan: And provided you don't need it to work in a corporate environment or with a large online customer base. Oops that's pretty much windows's bread and butter: providing solutions for the majority of corporate business customers (at least in the US and I would wager a good chunk of the globe).

I consider myself a computer lover, but the bulk of my experience and knowledge is with windows. And you're wrong dude, Vista really is a turd. It's extremely accurate to compare it to Mellinum Edition: they both came with huge fanfare, flopped hard, and were then quickly swept under the rug by the next OS.

Evan394

@boe:

Every time I read a comment of yours a little piece of me dies. Comparing Me to Vista is like comparing an Edsel to a Mondeo.

Sleeper_Service

@Sleeper_Service:
I'd say it is more like comparing edsel to Menudo - two things you don't want to be seen driving with and two things best left in the past.

boe

@boe: "I'd say it is more like comparing edsel to Menudo - two things you don't want to be seen driving with and two things best left in the past."

This comment has win written all over it.

And if anyone else doesn't believe Ballmer's sweatstains are authentic, check it out.

+ Watch video

Kaiser-Machead

@boe:

Sir, you have redeemed yourself.

Sleeper_Service

@Sleeper_Service:
You work for the MS Stasi don't you - you can't stand anyone or anything that put holes is your cosy MS world.

Bill just admitted that Vista is a dead duck, something that sweaty monkey boy Balmer couldn't manage.

They are desperately trying to stem the tide of people switching to OSX - and this is yet another 'we'll fix it soon, honest' statement from MS

Laughable!

MINI Driver

I like Vista. So there!

Neceros

Vista is more but it's not better, and it's not faster. It's just more crap, and most of it you'll never need. The average user only uses six percent of all the features in an Office product. They will keep piling it on, and convincing you that you need it to sell you the same product over and over. It's good for them, but not so good for you.
It's only the people who realize that MS isn't on their side that have a chance. I still use XP on all my systems, and it's still the best mix for today. Of course a lot of people need a new computer, and XP isn't an option. Since most don't know how to install an OS they are screwed into it, and the cycle continues.

Hello_Newman

@MINI Driver:

No, I recognise that Vista has faults but it's adequate for purpose. The UAC is annoying but can be switched off as can its dreadful habit of grinding up one's hard drive constantly. You on the other hand think OSX is faultless when it actually isn't.

As for the 'tide' of people switching to OSX, I think you'll find it's really a dribble.

Was there anything else or are we done here?

Sleeper_Service

@tamoko:

Dunno, not me anyway. Don't recall calling anyone else one either.

As for Windows 7, time will tell.

Sleeper_Service

@Sleeper_Service: Who's a Fanboy?

tamoko

@Sleeper_Service: Modularity would be great. Here's hoping Windows & can just shed the legacy bloat ware, like I expected Vista to do.@

href="#c5038113">redrabbit: Good, the bigger a target Vista and Windows 7 are, the more fun the Unix/Linix?macheads will have laughing at you.

tamoko

@Geisrud: You mean MS actual has a development cycle?

+ Watch video

CaseyG

I dont see wy there is so much hate for Vista. I've been using it since early in beta and got a release copy of it in Nov. 2006 when it was released to corp. customers. I've built over a dozen machines since then and the ones that are running Vista are faster and more stable by a long shot than XP could ever hope to be. Big thing on it is FULL NATIVE multi-core support. Sure you can install the patch for XP to get rudimentary support for multi-core.

You do have to have appropriate hardware. Many OEMs are selling computers with Premium versions of Vista that do not even come close to the MS MINIMUM spec, much less the recommended. HP is a great example. Celeron D CPU, 512MB PC2-4200 no video card and Vista Ultimate!? Of course Vista runs great on the Mac....Its a very well made computer. Its a dual-core, 2 or 4 GB of RAM and a video card. People keep trashing MS for no software and driver support. Thats not an MS issue. They dont write the 3rd party software or the drivers. The said 3rd parties are not writing drivers or patches for their products because they'll just release a "new" product that is identical to the old one but "supports" Vista and force you buy their new product.

As far as ME goes....that truly was Mistake Edition. The OS was hostile to any peripherals and was impossible to work on. It was technically the "Home Edition" of Win 2000 at least that was how it was marketed. The NT cores were very different with ME being 9x and 2000 actually being a "true" NT. OS7 sounds like its going to be a pretty good OS. The only thing that I really hope they change on it is that annoying pop up warning you of impending doom everytime you try to do anything MS doesnt think you should and asking if you trust the software vendor that you are trying to install when that vendor IS Microsoft. NO I DONT TRUST MS! THATS WHY I USE MACOSX AND LINUX ON MY HOME MACHINES.

Im not saying Vista is perfect or that there are NO problems. MS definitely isnt. Cant say Id lse any sleep if they werent around anymore. All Im saying is to place the blame where it belongs. If you software and hardware is not working, that is not MS fault.

hkmp5n

wow for all of you people bashing vista....

"woe is me, it runs slower than xp..."

cry me an f'in river. it is a new OS it is therefore a larger and more demanding program. it will therefore require more hardware requirements. it is an updated platform and therefor have glitches JUST like all the OS's before it.

"but xp is better"

are you kidding me? you want it to be plain? and just run? well kiddies switch to a free linux distro and stop your complaining. this is the future. style and functionality. i can remember looking at XP for the first time and asking myself "woah there is a lot of bubbly and artsy crap on here". well i got use to it and m$ is betting you will with vista.

"i am not upgrading my hardware for this OS"

well your old Win 95 ran on your 200MHZ Proc 64ram, your 98 booted on a 450MHZ Proc 128ram, your 2000 ran a 800Mhz-1Ghz Proc 512ram, your xp runs a 1-3Ghz Proc 1gig ram, well guess boo f'kin hoo what your vista machine will run.

bunch of cry babies. you'll switch over, its only a matter of time. OSX is a novelty platform. nice to play on and draw. i said it, wah! keep paying your 100 bucks for your "new OS's" (OS's with a nice new color and hardly any new functional uses. in the MS word we use 3rd party apps which are inevitably copied by the fruit company)

xb3ngx

To all of those who bash Vista I simply ask. How long (if at all, and i know there is a ton of bandwagon jumpers out there who just hate on vista because others do) have you actually used vista for? I have been using Vista for about a year now and have been running it fine and smoothly. Lastly to all of the comments about printer compatability and all of those who are like "man i had to buy a new printer for vista" i really got to ask how old your printer is. Mine is an Epson Stylus that is about 7 years old, I plugged it in when i bought this computer and have not had a single problem with it.

DozeUser

@hkicedude: I use Firefox on my Vista PC and have no problems IE was the crappier of the 2 in my opinion and that is solely based on my ability to customize it

DozeUser

I have one question and that is, how many of you who bash vista have used it for more than a day? I have been running it now for about a year and it has never caused me a problem and as for your printers not working my Epson Stylus is almost 7 years old and it works fine all i had to do was plug it in

DozeUser

Personally I've been running Server 2008 as a workstation lately (basically a Server 2008 tweaked to run like Vista) and I must say I'm impressed. Coming from XP SP2 and SP3 beta, Server feels more stable and robust. So far I don't see much of a difference in performance such as copy speeds and stuff (I believe this was fixed for Vista in SP1 as well).

Before people start bashing me with "Vista SP1 IS Server 2008, its the same code noobz!!!" comments, its not. While this is true to some point, Server is indeed faster and more responsive than Vista. Many others who have tried both would vouch the same. If you really have problems running stuff in Vista you could always use virtualization software like VMware to run XP inside your Vista.

The only advice I have is to do some research before you make the jump to see what programs work well on Vista. Perhaps my experience with stability is also due to SP1? I guess I was also lucky that my 5 year old Canon printer has a driver thats worked well so far too.

On a sidenote I was still using XP when I got my 8800GTS 320 and it crashed and BSODed my computer like crazy due to crappy drivers (I later installed Quadro drivers for a while which fixed the problems). I'm sure that if Nvidia could cause problems like that on such a "solid" OS, I can only shudder to think what Vista must have been like back then.

kurohio

If Vista wasn't already in trouble, this could be the death knell. Anybody asking themselves, 'What am I going to do?', just got a new option.

Not that I believe for a New York nanosecond that Bill and Steve can deliver Windows in 2009, 2010 or 2011. A new micro kernel is not something you write and distribute. It will take years of real world testing to develop a kernel as robust, secure and efficient as their competition.

I hope that Windows 7 is Microsoft's declaration of a 'do-over'. Apple did that by abandoning OS 9 and getting a fresh start with OS X. It certainly helped them. But they didn't start from scratch. They took a well maintained kernel and added to it. It sounds to me like Microsoft is starting all over with Windows 7. Good luck with that.

What I don't understand is how Vista got out the door. Microsoft certainly has the money to do what ever they want, at what ever level of quality they want. Why would they choose to do this? I believe Microsoft has become too much of a marketing company, and lost touch with technology, and the needs of their users.

Remember the episode of The Simpsons where Homer designed a new car? Lots of chrome, big tail fins and lots of drink holders. Really cool ideas taken individually, but by the time they got done, they had an Edsel.

info-dave

If you use consoles for gaming, or simply don't need the latest directX, windows becomes worthless.

liveinvt

@Sleeper_Service: I agree entirely

DozeUser