Vista: Disaster?

Posted on Mon, 05 Mar 2007
 at 21:56:00

     Being a sucker for all things gadgety and new I had to buy Vista and install it right away. Despite being urged to wait until the first server pack, despite scathing reviews all over the internet, I went ahead and got it. It would be fair to see the whole time I have been using it I have had nothing but problems.

     First impressions were pretty good - the interface is elegant, very easy to use and unobtrusive. I especially like Flip 3D - pressing the Windows key + Alt allows you to cycle through tiles of live images of your current open programs. It's Alt + Tab but with a supercharger. Selecting a window causes a animation that makes the selected window grow to fill the screen. Sounds annoying, but it's really not. There are also the little effect when minimizing and maximizing a window. It all adds up to quite a nice, modern effect.

     Then there's the gadgets. These are nothing new to Mac or Linux users, or indeed Windows users as third party software could do it for you, but now it's integrated, and although the gadgets that come with the OS are pretty limited, it's a nice feature. I think, if I were to go back to XP I would miss them - especially the RSS feed one.

     Pretty positive so far. Down we go. After 6 days Vista had a catastrophic failure.

     I'm not really sure what happened. The computer carshed, so I rebooted, then I was asked to enter my product key, which it wouldn't accept. I restarted again, just for the hell of it and boot up completely failed - I just got a blank screen, so I tried safe mode but got the same end result. Booted from the disk and tried the new repair function in there, which was stumped. Through much tinkering I managed to run ChkDsk, and it turned out that somehow my entire C drive had become corrupted. Nice.

     After ChkDsk had run it's course, and booting was again unsuccessful I tried (at least 3 times) the repair utility. Each time it claimed the problem was fixed, but each time the computer failed to load. Safe Mode was now working, so I managed to get copies of some important files, and then for the solution - reinstall Vista form ground up. I saw the blue screen of death twice in one day. I have not seen it EVER while using XP.

     Would I go back to the moment before I installed Vista? Yes, no question, I'd wait like had been suggested to me, but Vista, although not much of an improvement over XP as a whole, is really quite nice - the interface really does grab you, and you really would miss it.

     It's hard to find an honest review of Vista on the web, because most people who review it have a pre-disposition to hate it as they prefer Mac/Linux/BSD/Some bespoke jobby - they claim the interface is stolen, but I can honestly say, hand on heart, I really don't care. I've tried both Linux and Mac and can't stand either - Linux is too complicated and Mac is too...annoying. I can't really think of any other way to put it. Windows is in the middle, and yes, it has major flaws, but so do most things. Windows' are just more spectacular.

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Alexandra said...
Wow, a complete failure after 6 days? (Maybe Windows really is cracked?) I am a Mac user, and definitely pre-disposed in the way you mentioned. But, still -- there seems to be a lot of firepower these days. I mean, I've read one positive review of this Vista so far, and tons of negatives. It's just overwhelming. Hope you get your system back, somehow. - Alexandra
...on Mon, 05 Mar 2007 at 22:37:23.

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Ray said...
I just got off the phone with Dell support. After a week of failed attempts to reactivate the communications software they insisted that I blast the entire drive and start from scratch. I explained that I was forced to use Vista even though I requested XP. If I'm blasting this drive and going through the trouble of installing a week's worth of software that currently work fine I'll install XP and be done with it. Good luck with your fancy desktop. I don't need it. ray.
...on Fri, 27 Apr 2007 at 22:01:41.

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shongohan said...
Mac Annoying? hahahaah Why??? Have a lot of software and the system works always good and without troubles or virus is annoying? :) annoying interface? annoying programs? Please... :P
...on Sat, 05 May 2007 at 14:57:00.

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Timmy said...
Vista runs great on my PC
...on Mon, 12 Nov 2007 at 09:53:12.

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Anthony said...
Microsoft should be held liable for this horse crap they pushed on everyone.  I'm a PC user who just bought my first Mac and WILL NEVER INSTALL VISTA, no need ever. Things just don't work with it.  From here on out I'll be buying new Macs, thats it.
...on Thu, 27 Dec 2007 at 21:13:11.

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Ralph L Webb said...
I agree - VISTA is a total disaster!  If you want to "mess up" your computer and keep your software from working, then you should install it.  No other reason!  Compiled Fortran programs will not run, and Windows XP Developer will not work + lots of other things.  I am a program developer and wanted to see if my programs would run under Vista.  They won't even install.  So, I cannot sell them to Vista users!  Microsoft should "bury" Vista as soon as possible.  Hurray for Windows XP.
...on Fri, 08 Feb 2008 at 21:31:25.

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Richard said...

I wish I had never installed Vista. It has caused me so much wasted time trying to fix all the problems. Biggest problems seem to be with USB drivers - Vista either cannot find them or corrupts them. Even now, USB accessories fail at random, requiring a wasted afternoon trying to locate and reinstall the corrupted or lost USB driver. Microsoft just do not seem to be able to fix these USB problems, judging by others comments on the same problem. The other big problem is lack of backwards compatibility with even recent software, eg Adobe Professional 6, or even Microsoft Office versions earlier than 2003 (unless you want to enter your email password all the time). How can Micorsoft make their OS incompatible with their own software????  There are also loads of annoyances with Vista - especially UAC and DEP, but also it is just a bit annoying like Macs are - eg silly pointless graphics. Also, XP was highly modular so you could uninstall components you don't need - Vista you are stuck with rubbish like WIndows Calendar which you can't remove. All just adds to the general annoyingness.

I want to go back to XP but am dreading having to reinstall and reconfigure everything.

 

...on Wed, 20 Feb 2008 at 08:05:17.

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Henry said...

failure in 6 days thats imperssive sounds like you maneaged to get a seriously bugged driver into the kernal must have ben a major one congrats there.

Should have got x64 kernal is almost impergnable as it only lets in certified WHQL drivers, but it dosent have all the problems that XP x64 had as pretty much all devices that have a driver for vista x86 have an x64 driver.
Business is best version of vista has secpol which you need to tame the rediculous security built in.

...on Thu, 24 Apr 2008 at 17:34:49.

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