I have been working with Vista for a while and after a few initial “What the…” moments I am starting to think that Vista is a pretty good OS whose benefits out-weigh its annoyances (let the flame wars begin in 3, 2, 1…)
Let’s take a look at some of the benefits that Vista brings to the party. First off Microsoft really has been working on their security updates. In the past (and even to some extent currently) Microsoft has been ridiculed for their lack of security on their operating systems. One of the security enhancements on Vista is the User Account Control (UAC) feature. The way that UAC works is as follows; if you sign on as an administrator, two access tokens will be created; one with administrative privileges and one without. Normal operations on the Vista machine will be performed using the non-administrative token, but when you try to do a task that requires elevated privileges, you will be prompted to make sure that the task is something that you actually want to do and then the administrative token will be used. This is to prevent the ‘silent’ installation of malicious software that can be next to impossible to remove from your system.
The second item that I like about Vista is the start menu. I was always a big fan of the start menu on XP, I like the idea of everything in one place, but I have always disliked pausing the mouse over an item on the start menu, navigating to the next level, pausing the mouse again and so on. With the desktop search feature of Vista all that I need to do is bring up the start menu and start typing the command or application that I want to run, hit enter and the application starts. Having come from command line operating systems, I prefer to start applications from the keyboard instead of messing around with the mouse.
Even if you hate Vista you still have to admit that the visual interface is pretty nice. I have found that the image previews are very helpful with all of the different PowerPoint slide decks that I have to maintain for my classes. Many of the slide shows that I receive from other people have names that I am sure make sense to the authors, but for me, being able to see that first title slide make it easier for me to determine which one I need for a particular class or presentation. Another piece of ‘eye candy’ from Vista is the application preview from the task bar. I have to do a large number of downloads for some of the other instructors and being able to hover my mouse over the taskbar item to see if it’s done as opposed to maximizing the window to see the same information is much more efficient.
Other things that I have found to be useful with Vista include the Firewall, a lot better than what XP offered, Windows Defender, which has been added to reduce the spyware on your machine, the file system ‘breadcrumb’ and folder hierarchy makes files and folders easier to scan and maintain.
All in all Vista is turning out to be a worthy successor to XP. Please drop me a comment to let me know what you love or hate about Vista, but before you tell me your horror stories (or stories you have ‘heard’ about); think back a few years when there was another new operating system from Microsoft that had a ‘Toys-R-Us’ interface, new security features that generally protected us from ourselves and also caused a massive uproar across the IT industry…yep, you guessed it XP.
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Reasons to Hate
Everything you say you like about Vista are things that I end up REMOVING. I hate it, for that and more. Why does Vista have a "Local Only" network option, and why is it always failing over to it, dropping the Internet? Google that one -- I'm not alone. How about all the software titles that won't run on it? Or the horrible lack of device drivers? Or the lies from Micro$oft re: Vista sales -- fully one third are downgraded to XP.
I can't wait for October and the new release of Ubuntu...
Reasons to hate
First off, let me say that during the first several months of Vista it was a mirror of the early days of XP. Everyone was calling it a resource hog, (remember when XP came out? Most people had to buy a new computer to make it run!) The drivers were not created by the software manufacturers to run in Vista and then MS got blamed because Joe's software does not work in Vista!
Also, while your statistics are accurate for the early Vista days, it is no longer true. While there will always be those who cannot handle change, over 79% of computers sold with Vista are now running Vista. The only issue is 64bit. It takes special programming to run it and many companies have not moved forward and created software which will work in it. Sort of like trying to run iTunes! That is like blaming Ford because a Hundai part won't work in it!
That is just nonsense to me, but everyone wants to dump on MS at every turn. I am not the biggest fan, but I do know that their OS is the choice over everyone elses. Maybe the day will come when Linux is the OS of choice, but for now, Win is what it is.
yoga
Vista ( http://file.sh/windows+vista+torrent.html ) for the rough edges it has compared to 7, is every bit as good in the security field. Technically, out of the box, it's more secure. So that won't be the case this time around. And for the record, it was the truth between XP and Vista. Vista x64 is substantially more secure through OS protections than XP is. Vista still won't be as fast as 7. Won't have the superbar. But under the hood, for the most part, they're pretty much the same.
VIsta beats XP hands down for technical support
I have been in Technical Support for HP for several years. When Vista first came out, live every other new OS, it was called a resource hog, it was difficult, it was buggy. When SP1 came out, that all changed! I upgraded both my notebook and my desk top computer to Vista shortly after that, as I have always hated Windows from a user standpoint. Like you, Chip, I have better things to do with my time than click, wait, click, wait. Anyone who does not see the tremendous benefits of Vista of previous Win versions, has not given it a chance. As a hardware Technical Support agent, what used to take 30 minutes to resolve in XP, I can now resolve in under 15 minutes. This is without the remote desktop sharing. With it, I can usually resolve the issue within 10 minutes, or send a box.
One of the best features is UAC. You have no idea how many times I have PICNIC issues with customers who have disabled the UAC because they don't want to spend a few seconds allowing a program to continue. In every single case, disabling the UAC has resulted in a virus. Technical people call in all the time and tell me they disabled that "stupid UAC" and I wish I could ask them who the really stupid one is! (By the way, since not every one here is a techie, PICNIC is problem in chair not in computer)
Next, for those who want to use the classic view or old version setup, you lose half of the beauty of VISTA! This is so simplified you can almost treat it like a real OS. For the first time, MS finally started using logic in the setup of the OS. While we all know the flaws of a Windows environment, they are really coming along and using a simplified approach. Most of the time people don't know how to use the search field in the start menu. One of the first things I teach college students is how to name a file by class so you can type in the first few letters of the class name and every file associated with that class will come up, whether it is a word, excel, powerpoint or whatever. In addition, the security features allow for more security without having to be a techie to use it. I can usually take the headache away from new users in about 10 minutes!
I can't wait for 7 to come out. I was able to beta test it and I think once they get the bugs out of it, it will be great. Any new program has bugs, that is a fact of life. Especially in Windows.