Whats so bad about Vista?

To backtrack a little bit and go back to the original question, I think it's a matter of trying out Windows 7 and then not wanting to go back. I've been using 7 for a week and a half and I already consider the Superbar and Snap features to be nearly indispensable. Aero Peek, Shake, and Flip 3D are also nice, but I don't use them much (and Flip 3D actually existed in Vista). I turned off UAC in Vista because its default settings were too annoying, but I've left it on in 7. I think the desktop right-click menu is slightly better organized in 7. Lastly, the functions Run as Administrator and taking ownership of files appear to behave more predictably in 7.

Even though I still run XP on my desktop now, I never really compared XP and Vista that much. There were a few things I liked better on Vista, but overall, I thought usability was a wash between those two operating systems. Vista didn't feel better than XP; just different.

As for enterprise environments skipping Vista, you can chalk that up to companies that have or had IT people developing custom applications that would only work in XP, as if they expected that it would be around forever. I can't tell you how many times I've heard that some enterprise desktop or Web application was developed to only work in XP or IE6 or something else equally myopic and nobody wants to spend the money to modernize the applications.

 

The only positive thing about Vista was I started to use Linux, Mint 10 rox.

 

a process in the taskmanager is NOT a running process. most of those are IDLING processes, they don't DO anything except be ready the moment you need one of those.

see, thats typical. people get now new systems which would run vista VERY well, and have win7. then they say their old system did not run well vista, the new one does run well win7 => vista was bad.
oh, and about the ssd. get a small ssd + whs. solves your backup issues, and creates huge amounts of cheap storage while providing your pc's with very fast ssds cheaply weeehhh (love it)

superfetch did have quite some issues indeed. i even had a case open with microsoft to try to fix it. esp on slow hdds (4200rpm 1.8"ers) it was needed to be disabled. in one case (the case i had with microsoft), it wanted to cache a hd movie at boottime. imagine loading 8gb of movie into ram while you only have 2gb ram. so it essentially loaded the movie into the page file. talk about disk trashing

doesn't really matter.

yeah, esp. as most ssd toolboxes disable superfetch anyways

actually, the hw detecting is identical to the one in vista. it's more like more manufacturers learned from vista that it was bad that they forgot to bring out vista drivers in time, and supplied them afterwards. now they renamed them win7 drivers, but they're identical. ms learned nothing there. 3rd parties did.

it's a sad world when people think that their move to linux is a positive thing

 

Good point, I mistakenly gave MS credit

 

I found discovering Linux to be a good thing. I'm not an MS shill so I use what I find suits me best. Linux does good things so does MS. But neither are perfect.

 

have fun with your linux, then i don't see a point in it really, but it's a fun mess to play with if you're into that kinda thing

but still, having an os drive someone to another os is sorta, a sad thing.

 

If one is an MS fanboy or shill I can understand how someone might not get it. Like I said I use both and neither are perfect.

 

When I bought my HP DV6500T laptop several years ago, it came pre-installed with Vista. Within a month, I stripped it off my hard drive and put XP on it instead. Vista, when first released, was horrible... data transferring problems, the over-active UAC, driver/compatibility problems, the "gaming platform" that MS envisioned it to be among other things made this OS a loser in my book.

Vista's Service Pack 1 addressed most of these concerns and others, but in the end, it was too little too late. The ship that Vista was released on has sailed, and now we have Windows 7 which is what Vista should have been in the first place.

 

no, i have actual reasons for not touching it. i know it quite a bit from a developers side, and from an admin side, and think it's a horrendeus chaos. the worst enemy of perfect is "good enough". and most stuff in linux is developed with "good enough" in mind.

that + as long as it doesn't provide me one feature that would be better than what i have already, there's zero reason to switch. i still learn it, as knowledge is always good, of course. but all the knowledge gathered from it till today gave me zero reasons to even use it in parallel at home..

but yes, both are nice, and none perfect.

 

i ran vista 64bit from release and it worked great on my HP laptop
a lot of people gave it a bad rap, but i cant, i had no driver problems
yes i had a couple of software problems at the start but thats not vista`s fault and i had similar problems when i first moved to win98 and XP, your always going to get that and there sorted when the software is updated.
i liked it a lot more than XP

 

Well WOW!
I wasn't expecting this response.

It seems that one poster got it right and that is, it seems cool to hate Vista,(well for some earlier users). But if (like me), you were a late comer to Vista it was probably along the lines of what 7 is to Vista now. I came from using XP for around 7-10 years and when Vista came along (after about 2 years) I thought 'wow' how easy is this to use, and tweak to my requirements. I have read all comments and one that sticks out is a comment about the start time of Vista. After I switch on my laptop I get about 10-20 secs before my password screen and then another 5-10 before my desktop and then another 10-15 before I can start running apps normally, thats around 30 secs( lets say 1 min for arguements sake) I find a useful tool to this is the 'Vista tweaks' thread at the beginning of this forum.

Anyway Happy New Year people especially 'Pirx' as your pic seems as if it needs cheering up.

 

Vista was just released on underpowered hardware and hardware makers were too lazy to supply adequate drivers at the start... that's about it.

Vista in itself is great - it's just that the OEMs and hardware manufacturers messed up.

 

whell thats not true i have a lot of hardware windows 7 detects wrong like a bt keybord that works perfect in vista.

i even have a laptop i cant install 7 on as 7 installs a lot of the hardware wrong but vista install perfect.

and it dodsnt work to install the vista driver in 7 as 7 still installs the hardware wrong.

7 is a fine system but i still think vista is better system

 

How old is the hardware you are talking about? I guess what ever works.

 

Laptop 1
20.1" tft (1680x1050)
cpu intel core duo 2 2.33 ghz (T7600)
ram 4 Gb DDr 2
Gfx ati X1800
intel 4965agn Wifi
Dell 350 bluetooth
2x200 Gb 7200 rpm HD 2.5" Sata II
Bluray Burner
BT keybord

laptop 2
7" toutch tft (1024x600)
cpu Intel atom Z530 (1.6 Ghz)
Ram 2 Gb DDr 2
Gfx Intel gma 500 (plays 1080P movies)
wifi some G card
bluetooth module 2.0 edr
60 Gb 4200 rpm HD 1.8" Zip ide

 

It seems to be slower and more demanding. Maybe thats just a feeling that comes from the rumors

 

Where there's smoke, there's fire. Loved Project Mojave.

 

It is basically poor deployment.

Vista doesn't use Xp Drivers as they changed Driver Architecture and they were not ready when Vista was released.

Manufacturers also released laptops with specs barely meeting up with minimum requirements, some Vista Capable laptops were not really capable of running Vista with decent performance.

Lastly Manufacturer bloat of extra software consumers do not need and it is still happening now.

 

Yes, but who is to blame?

Hardware & Driver manufacturers.
The Beta was out for long enough to start working on that.

 

I also never had a single problem with vista and like it, As soon as i herd of it i went right too the beta when it came out and stayed on it till it went out of beta and kept using it till windows 7 came out

I liked it alot better than xp games and everything ran better too, And all of this was on a old dell 9300 1.74ghz single core 2gb of ram and a 7800gtx.

And it even fix couple games that i had sound issues in them on xp but vista the games ran perfect.

It did seem like it was a memory hog at first but never had a problem running out of memory.


i like 7 better tho and i will never go back too xp again on my main systems

 

Exactly. Windows 7 is better.

 

not i my eyes i like vista better then win 7

 

Some of my computers work better with 7, others with Vista. For example, my Acer laptop had minimal issues with Vista yet several problems with 7 - especially with bluetooth.

 

I am sooo glad Vista is now ancient history. I've been told that if you hold the word Vista up to a mirror it'll say crap.

 

When i had vista it was okay but nothing compared to win7, especially since i use 4GB instead of 2 like on vista.I personally prefer the new ui and features of 7.

 

I hate how they dumbed down the windowing system.

In Vista and everything before it (I mean literally back to Win 2.x and even OS/2 times) a folder always had it's own properties. It had a size and a position. In Vista, you open Computer, make it X*Y pixels, and put it in position A*B, and it's always going to be that size, and open in that space. Computer, C:, c:\users\bob\music, etc., these all have their own sizes and spaces, so a folder with say, 5 items could be a size you desire, and a folder with 300 items could be a different size. If you frequently copy files from folder A to folder B you could have them *always* open next to each other.

Win7 undid this. Now every folder has one size, and they open in arbitrary tiled locations. It's totally dumb and even after almost two years it's simply a frustrating and annoying thing.

 

What a coincidence...hours ago I installed Windows Vista as a stopgap until I can get my 7 DVD on my D630.

A year or so after my first Windows 7 installation...I still don't understand the hate...I copied GB's of files from a external drive back onto my pre service pack Vista Business install without a hitch, all my driver's were detected save for my video card...and that was solved once i did connect to the internet and use Windows Update.

The machine's responsive and I see no issues. Vista's biggest issue was perception....once someone perceives a product as crap..pretty much nothing will change their minds, sadly.

 

Just as once media perceives a product as godly..pretty much nothing will change ill-informed-consumers' minds, sadly.

 

I'm sure it wasn't from Microsoft either if it spelt Visa not sure where you get your operating systems from.

On that note - Between XP, Vista and Win7 I would stick with Vista, Win7 only runs on my old laptop, the time I had to spend with it it just drove me up walls (the interface)...

 

Any information that I make publicly available about myself can be found on my website
-> And what's wrong with exploiting a typographical error? For all I know it could have really spelt "Visa" on your version.

-> I can also tell you what exactly drove me up the wall with Win7 on my old laptop - the taskbar, it becomes bearable when you change it to show text next to icons, but I still prefer the old workings - for people who can read it's much more useful.

 

I have windows vista on my dell inspiron latitude 15. It has never worked well. Is there any way to install xp or some other operating system? what do you suggest?

 

I have used Vista for 3+ years and didn't find it to be bad in any specific way. Though Windows 7(now running it) is a more refined one, shall we say Vista 2.0 ?

Just upgrade to W7 and please don't mention XP, it is worse than vista other than resource usage.

 

The upgrade to Win7 is worth it. I had to use Vista for 2 days, while working on my friend's laptop. It drove me crazy with little, tiny gaps in the intuitive aspect of the UI.

7 is a much smoother experience.

 

Lets not insult Windows 7. There is no Vista 2.0. As far as I'm concerned it should have been named crapa. Microsoft did an excelent job with Windows 7,which is and will always be a different operating system. I upgraded to 7 pro last weekend from XP Pro. I initially tried a Vista laptop for a few days over two years ago. I returned it and traded up for what they were calling an XP downgrade. It was no downgrade. I put XP mode on it last night. It is nice to be able to do what I want with my computer.
I would upgrade to the 7 Pro at least so you have more options. You only need an upgrade license not the full. If you are willing to do a clean install a system builders version will work.

 

In short? The marketing.

 

Do you own an XP COA? There are older Dell systems where XP driver are available alongside Vista and 7 drivers. While you're on the Dell support site, you might as well try a bios update or drive updates on your existing Vista OS. Similarly, Linux is an option, and running the latest Ubuntu as a Live CD, either by burning it to a disc from USB, is a good way of testing browser compatibility. Always check for compatibility before even thinking about a persistent install or even a dual boot setup.

Just keep in mind that Windows 8 is coming next spring and Vista support is ending as well, although XP support won't end until 2014 - unless you have an XP disc and a license laying around.

Just remember that hardware issues can't be fixed by an OS upgrade - or downgrade.

Having suffered the brunt of the XP's early woes, I was presently surprised by the relative stability of Vista. Vista wasn't a bad OS. It did have some terrible apps and the file manager was extremely frustrating and quirky. Yes, system requirements increased over XP, yes, drivers were slow to appear, mostly because XP had lived too long and hardware manufacturers had grown complaisant.

Vista wasn't "bad." Blue screens are bad, lockups are bad, malware epidemics are bad. By those criteria, Vista was an outstanding operating system compared to XP, although many people don't remember XP before SP2, when its worst faults were rectified.

As far as an Windows 7 upgrade, we're getting towards the end of the retail lifecycle of the OS. If Windows 8 is arriving next spring, it might not be the best time to jump on the 7 bandwagon.

 

there is no such thing as a dell inspiron latitude 15? is it a latitude or an inspiron

 

Only issues I've ever had with Vista is ones that I created myself by messing with files I shouldn't. I've had to clean install it maybe 6 times in 3 years, but then again, only once was because of the OS and that was on the initial install from Dell when I recieved my computer. However, everytime I reinstall my OS, I somehow figure out a new way to make it even better. However, I can't wait to go from Vista Home Premium 32bit and run Windows 7 Professional 64bit. Darn Dell for not warning me I wouldn't get use of all 4GB of my RAM. However, I guess I'm happy to have 32bit Vista over 64bit due to increased incompatibility. If I could though, I'd dual boot and install Windows XP x64 Professional edition. I used it at my college on the Autodesk computers, that OS is amazing!

 

Hellhog is spot on! I am so glad I kept my Dell Latitude D610 with vista when I got the ASUS- I loaded XP fresh when I got it back on 2006 - upgraded to vista as soon as it was available and am still running fine with 2 gig ram. AT idle I use about 700 Meg ram, and it takes about 3 full minutes to load everything and become useable, but I can live with that. I also used a lot of the tweaks provided here to free up HDD space and run more efficiently.
rflax - this may be of help, If you want to post the exact model I am fairly sure someone has done it How To Install Windows XP on Dell Inspiron 1525 or Downgrading Vista | Laptop - Notebooks Drivers Updates

BUT I agree with Linuxwanabe give a live CD a try first, getting everyting working on the dell under vista may be problematic.

 

The whole experience of Vista gives me headaches:
-BSODs
-buggy OS
-no more backward compatiblity with DOS games

@Linuxwanabe

Why don't you have fun using Minix on you PC? You should try out Debian as a alternative. I'd still use Windows XP over Vista today, Vista is like Windows ME revisited in the 2000s.

 

Since I was assigned with a HP Pavilion desktop (1GB of RAM/ Intel Pentium Dual CPU E2160 1.8GHz) running on Vista Home Basic, I would really say that Vista is a resource hog.

I did some Google search on "how to speed-up Vista" and some links proved to be very useful. Common suggestions like "Turn Off Unnecessary Services", "Get rid of Aero/ turn off the "glass transparency" setting", "turn off the animations and other visual effects", "Disable the Sidebar", "Use ReadyBoost", "upgrade your RAM and video card" etc., I did some tests to check if these tips really work. To my surprise it did gave my Vista a big improvement in speed. I did not however resorted to any hardware upgrades.

I think the Vista ReadyBoost is a big help. I used my old Imation flash drive 8GB and it went smoothly.

How to Use ReadyBoost in Windows Vista - wikiHow

Hope this helps.

 

Vista is so laggy.
Without great ram/ssd,it is useless.
I used Vista netbook once (HTC SHIFT),2 days later i sell it.

 

thats probably because the shift had an anemic 1ghz single core processor. anything other than XP would have been terrible.

 

Yeah, part of the Vista hate came from the fact that is was running on hardware not powerful enough to run it.

Personally, i never had a problem with Vista post SP1 on my N50. Windows 7 feels snappier overall, but Vista despite being a tad slower doesn't deserve the hate now. At launch, that was another story though.

 

I've been running Vista RTM, Vista SP2, and W7 on the same laptop, all clean installs.
The BIG differences in terms of speed were between the two Vista versions.
Not much difference between Vista SP2 and W7.

 

Most of the complaints were pre SP1, I used it starting with RC, it was buggy as heck until SP1 came out and tamed it down, by SP2 it was rock solid.

 

That's because your system probably had a lot more than 1gb of ram. It's just a matter of Vista using the resources available to it. For example, if I run Firefox on my old laptop with a Pentium M and 512mb of ram, at startup it only uses ~70mb. However, on the notebook in my sig Firefox uses around 150mb right off the bat. In short, Vista will use more resources when it's available, all the way up to a point where it's completely satisfied in order to make things as smooth as possible. And when ram is limited, it will scale back a bit. Otherwise weaker systems would get completely overwhelmed before the boot process even completes.

 

I can't say that I had any problems with Vista. But I was very happy to jump onto the Windows 7 Bandwagon back during the beta, I love a lot of the aero features and use them all the time. Mainly snap and peak and some of the others. I also like how the taskbar is organized. Performance was not an issue for me in Vista.

 

several years and major service packs later, it's probably OK.

when it was released, there were major issues, mostly having to do with performance for me. some issues with stability.

 

Sounds like most previous Windows releases.