Vista seems to be all about "can't"

  • Thread starter Thread starter Swanso
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Swanso

I was ready to install Vista on my Home PC's, but I deceided to discuss it
with my co-workers first.

I didn't hear anything nice. The main thing everyone said... there's no
"awesome" moments after installing it, such as "Ooo, awesome, this is so
much better." It's all, "You can't do this anymore, you can't do that
anymore, you can't do that anymore, and if you still want to do this and
this and this, you still can, but it involves extra steps now." And to add,
"If your hardware doesn't work due to no drivers and you need it now, you
have to buy new hardware."

What a mess!
 
I'm usually pro Microsoft (just to separate myself from the Linux "nuts") .
.. . but you're about right when it comes to Vista . . . there are a number
of things you can't do that you should do . . . and while there are a few
nice features, nothing is a "must".

Brandon
 
Brandon said:
I'm usually pro Microsoft (just to separate myself from the Linux "nuts") ..
. . but you're about right when it comes to Vista . . . there are a number
of things you can't do that you should do . . . and while there are a few
nice features, nothing is a "must".

Brandon
Click to expand...

<snip>

I agree and would say that Vista is really for new machines only
 
I'd like to add that these are the same discussions we had when nobody
wanted to switch from Win98 to XP. Hardware drivers, incompatible programs,
security, etc.
 
When I switched from 98 to XP, XP excepted all my hardware and software.

Switching from XP to Vista, Vista would not except the same popular hardware
and software (same company but different version). Vista is not as forgiving
as XP was.
 
I waited about a year to switch to XP, from Win2k and I will probably do the
same with Vista.

Mostly because of driver problems.

Stevek
 
Swanso said:
I was ready to install Vista on my Home PC's, but I deceided to discuss it
with my co-workers first.

I didn't hear anything nice. The main thing everyone said... there's no
"awesome" moments after installing it, such as "Ooo, awesome, this is so
much better." It's all, "You can't do this anymore, you can't do that
anymore, you can't do that anymore, and if you still want to do this and
this and this, you still can, but it involves extra steps now." And to
add, "If your hardware doesn't work due to no drivers and you need it now,
you have to buy new hardware."

What a mess!
Click to expand...

It is indeed. Some perfectly good devices that work quite well under Windows
XP fail to do so under Vista. My biggest gripe are the wireless device
drivers that are not compatible with Vista. The one I use is a Linksys
Wireless B notebook adapter, model WPC11. It works great under Windows XP,
but cannot make a connection under Vista.

Is this the fault of Microsoft? Did the driver developers fail to keep up?
For the user it just doesn't matter. For them, the bottom line is - their
computer is flawed under Vista.
 
But how long after XP was available did you wait? I still have hardware from
major manufacturers sitting on shelves that never got drivers beyond 98
because the change was so radical. Why I haven't thrown them out is issue
for alt.mental.health.pack.rat. : )

Without any specific suggestion on how to measure this, I bet that Vista
support of XP era hardware will be far greater 6mo after release than XP
support of 98 era hardware was after 6mo.
 
Just to mention a few . . .

1. There is no "folders" view in the search pane (that I'm aware of). So if
you're in search, you can't easily switch to see the folders like you could
in XP which is a pain. Overall, the folder navigation is worse than XP (and
I can't find how to manually change file extension associations).

2. I've had a few problems with relatively new (less than 1 year old)
applications and peripherals not working correctly (sometimes not at all) or
not having drivers.

3. My wireless connections have been subpar with Vista. Poor reception and
spotty performance compared with XP.

4. For some reason, I've had trouble with FTP and SMTP (outgoing mail). I
still can't get these to work right. I had to find workarounds.

5. Remote Desktop connections are more of a pain with an extra confirmation
screen every time I use it as well as poor credentials management.

6. DVD problems. I've had problems playing some home spun DVDs that played
just fine in XP.

7. Automatic Updates have been problematic. I have lists of foreign
language updates that I will never install as well as some updates that keep
wanting to install again and again even though I've installed them numerous
times.

8. Also, I haven't tried it yet, but the backup software included with Vista
is supposedly less flexible than in XP. I don't want to just choose certain
file types, I want to be able to choose which files (specifically) I want to
backup.

9. And just a bunch of little tweaks needed to get things functioning ok.
These are some of the things I remember after a couple days using Vista.
Overall, I just feel like I'm always running into roadblocks that need to be
overcome without a lot of benefit. I was planning on upgrading my other
laptop with the discounted second license, but I've decided to wait.

Again, these are just some of the things I've run into. I would imagine
there are other surprises around the corner as well.


Brandon
 
Would you feel the same way if you bought a laptop with Vista pre-loaded and
then picked up your WPC11 at a garage sale?
 
Chuck said:
New machines and new peripherals...
Click to expand...

My 2 year old PC works great with Vista. Only issue was my old scanner
which never had XP drivers for it anyway.

D
 
Maybe you could run Win 3.1 on a virtual machine so the scanner would work? lol.
 
|
| It is indeed. Some perfectly good devices that work quite well under Windows
| XP fail to do so under Vista. My biggest gripe are the wireless device
| drivers that are not compatible with Vista. The one I use is a Linksys
| Wireless B notebook adapter, model WPC11. It works great under Windows XP,
| but cannot make a connection under Vista.
|
| Is this the fault of Microsoft? Did the driver developers fail to keep up?
| For the user it just doesn't matter. For them, the bottom line is - their
| computer is flawed under Vista.
|

The default workgroup name is different in Vista than it was in XP. You have to
match them up manually.
 
Paul Smith said:
Like what?
Click to expand...

Just off the top of my head....

I can't fax anymore - Fax Support came included with XP Home, but is
inexplicably missing from Vista Home, even though MS knew Home Premium was
likely to be their biggest seller.

I lost a lot of user control, ex: Group & Policy Editors - these too were
available in XP Home, not by default I'll admit, but these were easily
enabled via a simple registry edit.

I have issues with MS's Upgrade Advisor - that told me that my hardware was
OK for Vista, only to find out afterwards, not so.
I feel I was misled here, maybe in an actionable way.

My Home Network is hopelessly broken, despite having followed every single
suggestion posted in the networking_sharing group, even following the
TechNet how-to articles to the letter - still no joy. I took this totally
for granted in XP, it just worked.

There's more I'm sure, and I'm equally sure there's plenty of blame to go
around.
I'm merely pointing out, as you asked, some of the things I now -can't- do

A lot of people in this group have argued that "XP was just as bad when IT
came out."
I disagree.
I distinctly remember being "wowed" with how well XP identified and
configured ALL of my hardware on the first try - OK, ALMOST all, I had a USR
PCI modem that I needed a driver for, but that was it - and I got that
driver in a month after release.
But now with Vista, even "mainstream" hardware is turned into doorstops.
ATI video cards, SoundBlasters, HP printers, just about anybody's scanner -
this is disgraceful.
 
This may not apply to your networking situation (without knowing more
details), but I was having some trouble with networking and ended up fixing
it by disabling IP6 (which is turned on by default in Vista). This info
from the article below explains how to disable it (if you want to give it a
try).


.. In the Connections and Adapters folder, obtain properties on all of your
connections and adapters and clear the check box next to the Internet
Protocol version 6 (TCP/IPv6) component in the list under This connection
uses the following items.

This method disables IPv6 on your LAN interfaces and connections, but does
not disable IPv6 on tunnel interfaces or the IPv6 loopback interface.

.. Add the following registry value (DWORD type) set to 0xFF:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\Tcpip6\Parameters\DisabledComponents

This method disables IPv6 on all your LAN interfaces, connections, and
tunnel interfaces but does not disable the IPv6 loopback interface. You must
restart the computer for this registry value to take effect.

http://www.microsoft.com/technet/network/ipv6/ipv6faq.mspx

Brandon
 
I have had to get all new programs. Quick books, Microsoft office and most of
my games Might and Magic, and Morrowind do not work with Vista. I got the new
computer so I would have better and faster performance but I can no longer
use half of the things that I used to. I am going to have to go out and get
all new programs.
 
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