"David Dickinson" <eveningstar@die-spammer-die.mvps.org> wrote in message
news:%23DbJ0DGrHHA.3284@TK2MSFTNGP03.phx.gbl...[color=blue]
> <BEGIN OPINION>
> I gotta tell ya', I've made a lot of money from using and supporting
> Microsoft products over the last 28 years. But now, I'm afraid.
>
> The Vista user interface has many, many counter-intuitive features,
> including some that through creating confusion will cause disasters,
> including loss of data. In fact, Explorer windows may show inaccurate
> information. Vista doesn't play well with other machines on a network.
> Administering it can be tedious and time-consuming when compared to
> previous OS's. A lot of stuff either doesn't work the way you expect or
> just doesn't work at all. It's been dumbed down in some areas so much
> that administrators can't do some things they need to do (such as
> customized backups), while some other "features" have been made so
> complicated that the average user is going to have to ask for help where
> none was needed before. And while it certainly does have a pretty
> interface, it's a hardware hog with lousy performance even in the most
> stripped-down configuration. People can buy tremendous hardware thinking
> that they're going to get the machine of their dreams, only to find out
> that it's slower than molasses in January (for instance, will DX10 destroy
> DirectX's place in the market?).
>
> And it's buggy, and has been hacked on live TV (with promises from eEye of
> more to come).
>
> Nevertheless, I'm going to have to support Vista. But my clients will be
> calling more about computer problems than about finding solutions for
> their business operations. And they'll be unhappy about it.
>
> I realize that hardware vendors eventually will come up with truly
> Vista-compatible drivers, third-parties will offer software to overcome
> many of Vista's user-interface and configurability weaknesses, and
> eventually Microsoft will issue hotfixes and service packs to fix the bugs
> and security holes. And I have no doubt that near-future hardware
> advances eventually will make up for some of Vista's performance problems.
>
> But I'm convinced that the next couple of years are not going to be fun,
> and I even wonder if we'll be using Vista's Explorer UI at all by then.
>
> I just hope I never resort to saying "Look, don't blame me. I didn't
> write this thing." I'll probably be better off if I recommend to my
> clients that they avoid getting Vista for a couple of years.
> <END OPINION>
> --
> David Dickinson
> eveningstar at die-spammer-die dash mvps dot org
> Please reply only to the newsgroup, not by email.
>[/color]


David,

What follows is not an effort to discredit your observations. For real.

There are folks that have had "good" Vista experiences and folks that have
had "bad" Vista experiences. I happen to fall into the former group. That
I've had "good" Vista experiences on mulitple PC's does not discount those
that have had "bad" experiences.

Why do some folks have "bad" Vista experiences? My opinion (and it's just
that, I don't claim, as others do, to have an all encompassing experience
with everything under the sun when it comes to Vista or XP or Linux) is
that, yes, Vista has bugs, yes, 3rd party drivers can contribute to poor
performance, and yes, the UI is majorly different than XP.

The bugs, one hopes, will be addressed sooner than later. The 3rd party
drivers will become better. As to the UI... well... my personal opinion is
that one must get acclimated to it. Yes, it's way different than XP... if
one is comfortable with XP's UI, then Vista's can be a challenge, no doubt.
There is a lot to learn in the new UI. And... if one takes the time to delve
into the new UI, one can find things that actually make life easier than XP,
e.g., the new search text box right off the Start Orb. Much better than the
Run box. IMHO. Control Panel has the same search functionality. They put the
thing you're looking for in a different place? Use the search text box in
the upper right hand corner of Control Panel to find what you're looking
for -in- Control Panel. Pretty cool, I think.

That all said... I don't disagree with the gist of your post. I guess if
you're going to have to support your customers then you might consider,
especially when it comes to the UI, learning how to get around in Vista so
you can help your customers. Best of luck!

Lang