Who prefers Vista over XP for business use?

For serious computer users only. No gaming, just people that actually WORK on their computers. And rely on the OS to keep tabs on all aspects of their business. Reliably.

 

XP anyday for now. Vista is too damn buggy & resource hungry. (I have a thinkpad at work)

 

I use Vista on my work laptop (specs in my signature).

 

Thats a good question. When it come to work related stuff, I Rely on XP.

I really don't need Quickbooks and a couple of other apps I use crash/stall on me in the middle on inputing info. So I stick with XP until I know for sure Vista is reliable all-round.

 

XP all the way, I've tried Vista (briefly) and found it to be cumbersome, annoying, and quirky.

It asks me every time I want to do something whether I really wanted to do that, bleh... far too much "interference" for day to day use (at least for the work I do)

Additional: Also, I just don't have time to learn where Microsoft has "hidden" all the things I use into the new OS, far too many things have been moved or renamed for what (as far as I can tell) is the sake of making it look new... oh, and quite a lot of my "day to day" software either doesn't work in Vista, or doesn't work very well because Vista is not backwards compatible.

 

Things are different in Vista...you need to get used to where everything is but my machines are primarily work computers and I don't regret for a second that I have completely shifted to Vista...of course it helps that I can get my Media Center features without having to have a special version of XP only available on new computers as well

 

What is it about Vista that makes you not regret it, I've still not really heard anyone say what they LOVE about Vista that they find much better than XP.

 

How is Media Center used for work?

 

Playing HD content on Vista is pretty hard work. Maybe that's what he meant.

 

it's worth noting that Media Center is not in Vista Business.....Media Player is, but not media center

As for why it could be loved, your asking the wrong audience. People here are in the higher end of the tech pool. They have been using computers for a while, and frankly, some are just more comfortable with XP.

For them, Vista is new, it hides things, it renames things...etc.

But for a new computer user, they don't care about the hidden things because they never knew them.

Intuitively, the VISTA start menu is easy(-er?) for a new user to pickup. Microsoft didn't just pull that out of their hat--they invested millions in UI research.

It has an awesome mahjong game on it.

It is new. It is prettier (who would you rather take to the prom, Elisa Cuthbert or the girl down the street).

From a systems management perspective, it is not a whole lot better than XP Pro, but you want to make an employee happy and look like a god? Give him a new machine with Vista on it and they will love you for it.

 

I LOVE the "breadcrumb" style of address-bar navigation. I also like the folder tree on the left of Explorer windows. Though it's very cosmetic, I love that the start button is centered between two rows if you make the taskbar larger. The XP version leaves a blank, unusable, spot under the start button.

Since I'm at work (work computer running XP) I can't think of any more.

 

Yea, I was very happy about that. Anyone know if there is a Program that can do this on XP?

I'll choose the girl down the street. Elisa Cuthbert might look better but might also think shes to good to "gimme sum" after the prom. Girl down the street is a sure thing

 

you must know a different girl than me

 

No, I'm asking the person who said they loved it... that's exactly the right person to be asking.

Are there really many "new" computer users anymore, most people either have/use computers pretty much daily, or don't and won't just because of Vista

Really? I thought it seemed very similar to the XP start menu, but then again 90% of the time I run things from the desktop, or from the quickstart bar, rarely open the start menu.

Erm... Woooo.... any business worth 50c will delete that straight away from every computer... so yeah, if you work for the state government you get a bonus Mahjong game to play

New isn't necessarily better, I didn't find it much prettier, has more gimicks but from a business perspective, who cares, I want it to work.

LOL the few users at my organization that have used it have repeatedly asked for XP back, and wonder why every thing they do they have to approve, and why when they have to approve the screen goes black, asks to approve, screen goes black (again) and finally attempts to do what was asked (and in a number of cases still fails to do what was asked).

 

XP, hands down. Vista right now is a complicated toy that takes too long to set up. I don't have time to be a beta-tester while Microsoft and the fanboys work out the kinks. If and when it becomes a viable operating system, I'll use it. Until then, I'll stick with one that already works.

 

with minute by minute update checking maybe

 

Arla- you can get rid of that feature

 

it's just for safety purposes

 

you would be suprised.

yes, but when you do want to use that program that you haven't made a short cut for.

well good thing i work for the state goverment then.

you just haven't got to know it then. i find the networking system to be about 50 times better than the xp one.

quite a few where i work have asked for it back as well, but that is only because tey aren't used to it and are too lazy to try.

 

lordgoof responded for me, but I want to add a bit

Yes, there are MANY new users and people who who are just so uncomfortable with PCs that they turn them on, do one thing and turn them off. Yes, they can open Word and type a letter, but they are not the power users you will find frequenting computer forums, which lead me to

No, I said you are asking the wrong "audience"--my point was that the person you are asking is not in the audience you will find in this forum. That is more my fault that yours as I was not clear.

 

^ Um, the majority of power-users in the real world (IE, IT professionals and people who make sure the computers in corporate networks stay up and secure) prefer XP to Vista. Ditto for the power users on this site.

 

Personally the only great really fantastic new feature of vista is the start menu search. It lets me explore my hard drives, programs, games, etc. Other than that, I think vista is a complete waste of money for corporations right now because a lot of software just won't work with the operating system. And good third party firewalls don't really like to work with vista either, and I find it too bothersome to configure the vista firewall by hand for each internet application or service.

I really enjoy having full control of my computer. Sorry vista, but it just wasn't meant to be.

Having said all that, my mom loves vista. So you see, microsoft has changed its target from people who work/use computers to people who just checks email and aren't really tech/computer savvy.

 

have you used the network control in vista. its heaps better. i don't think your mum would be worried about networking. that in itself is worth the upgrade to me.

 

Is there any way to get the Media Center into Vista Business Version? Because my laptop only comes with Business, without getting Ultimate separately.

 

Oh my@this thread....I should have checked it sooner.

From a purely corporate standpoint, I wouldn't really see a reason to switch from XP Pro yet. I love Vista but from the standpoint of running a business or office type setting I don't think I'd switch over yet. For my personal business and in the context of my home office though? That's where I love it.

Things like the UAC can be frustrating...annoying...and I certainly wouldn't want employees or subordinates to have to deal with that, but for myself? Eh, I just disable it if it bothers me. As far as media center goes...umm no...that's not exactly a business application is it? I think I was just looking at it as part of the whole package since my notebook can handle all of the business stuff I need it for and then when I'm off the clock I've got that too.

In my experiences using Vista, I've had far less system errors and crashes. Perhaps that's not a product of the OS but the fact that I'm using more stable productivity software now? Can't say there, I'm still using Office. Stability is my number one concern when it comes to doing work...XP was a HUGE step in the right direction and a big reason why I started thinking of Windows as being halfway decent as a work computer over Macintosh (BSOD in Win9x was just a joke...a joke I say!)

I feel like Defender/Firewall have been improved too and I approve of that.

 

Arla wrote:
> Additional: Also, I just don't have time to learn where Microsoft has "hidden"
> all the things I use into the new OS, far too many things have been moved or
> renamed for what (as far as I can tell) is the sake of making it look new...

Amen! Vista-Biz(64bit) has been frustrating so far, primarily because they just moved stuff around and renamed it.

I've been pleasantly surprised however, that almost all of the software I use regularly has been fine. The main exception has been PuTTY, which I use for ssh-encrypted tunnels to get at my email and browse the web, when away from home: it works, but it seems to just lose it's connection sporadically.

 

Unless I misread what you are asking, we are not talking about those people--we are talking about the typical end user. The day to day front line worker.

If that is wrong, then I apologize...I am off base

Here's my point: Yin's mom loves Vista and all of Yin's mom's friends who work in offices love Vista. There are more of Yin's moms out there that you are willing to admit. Those are the people who prefer Vista over XP for business use.

As much as computers are a part of everyone's life the VAST majority of people turn them on, do a task, and turn them off. For them Vista is grand.

The people who support those users are not who you were asking your original question. Of course they don't like Vista. Vista is new. Vista requires learning. THOSE people want nothing to do with Vista until SP1, not just because that is a good idea, but also because they have had it drummed into their head for years and years and years. WAIT FOR SP1, WAIT FOR SP1--it's like the zombies from Dawn of the Dead

That does not mean Vista Business does not have an audience that prefers Vista over XP. It just means you are hanging with the zombies. Shoot walk into an IT department and most of those people got Vista installed on their work computers and are playing with it and using it every day.

The arrogance of IT and the "wait until we say it is OK" but we're gonna have the latest and greatest--astounds me.

Then you've got a bunch of tech wannabes who read somewhere that Vista is BAD, Vista has drive problems, Vista is unstable. Truth is Vista is very stable, Vista has outstanding driver support (more drivers by far than XP when XP came out) and if you put it on a relatively new machine (but not brand new, which is where the driver problems really are) it works wonderfully.

Of course its stable--its XP with a new face. All of the really cool crap got removed because MS could not get it to work. The problems with Vista are so vastly overstated as to be bordering on ridiculous and most of that comes from people who have a notion in their head and cannot let it go.

A lot of people would love to have Vista on their desktops at work, and they would be at least as productive and maybe even more so. You just don't want to hear from those people because they do not confirm your preconceived notions.

 

Sure you would, you would rather have them dealing with that than installing a crap load of malware on their machine, which means you then have to devote time to fixing the machine.

UAC is not the boogie man people have made it out to be. How come we never hear Linux users complaining about "require root authority to perform this action", which is the same thing?

Because Linux users are not whiners.

 

UAC on Linux (or OSX, for that matter) doesn't come on nearly as often as that in Vista does. And for that matter, UAC in the other two systems doesn't repeatedly ask you (within the same *session*) for confirmation of certain commands. Vista? Yes. Try entering advanced system properties in Visa with UAC on. Got permission? Okay, then try it again 1 minute later. Got permission? Okay, then try it again 1...

That's not whining; it's simply being realistic. UAC is implemented horribly on Vista, which is why it's such a pain to use. It never learns, so you're constantly confirming things you just did whenever you try to do them again. I really won't be surprised if SP1 includes a fix for this, because it's why a lot of people end up turning the whole thing off.

 

Gotta disagree with basically everything about this post. Would go into detail but I'm typing from phone.

 

I am using Vista Business on all my computers right now. Works perfectly fine. I switched right away when Vista Business came out and I havent had many problems. UAC took like 10 seconds to disable. More annoying was the driver signing but I got over that.

p.s. Saying that only power users use XP is absurd. By making other people seem less knowledgeable than you in order to strengthen your argument is rather sad.

 

All I'm giving is my opinion and personal experience. And I think the way I phased my post it wasn't meant to be taken too seriously.

 

Can I ask what your mum loves about vista? I've been told I can't ask questions about what's good about vista because this is the wrong audience, seems to me that that drives me further away from Vista, I've been told it has a lovely Mahjong game... sure I can download one of those from um... any download site...

What (if you know) does she love about Vista over XP?

 

And that's where I won't go fowards, because UAC HAS to be disabled (or clicked every 5 seconds to allow things to happen).

That's what bugs me, they took what is a good idea, that's well implemented in many other things, and they shredded it to a point where the first thing you do is disable it and install something else that does it, but better... I'm paying for things that I will intentionally disable IMMEDIATELY.

That's not what I'm interested in.

 

Not something I do, I'm organized, I have either desktop shortcuts... or start bar menu icons (links, whatever they are called) to run everything I use.

You're right, having not been able to run about 50% of the software I needed to run I gave up on Vista. When you say networking, do you mean accessing LAN drives or wireless networking or... just curious

Mine is because I really don't have time to spend hours learning how to get around all the annoying quirks and new "features" that cause me to lose time, I have 60 hours of work to try to cram into a 40 hour work week already, spending hours clicking on "yes I approve this" buttons, or playing "search for the icon" isn't something I'm going to bother spending my time to do.

When I get a new computer I'm sure it will come with Vista, at that point I might spend the time to get used to it, or just switch totally over to Ubuntu.

 

So far Vista 34% of voters and XP 65%.

 

sigh.

You just don't get it.

Here's a poll for you. Put up a poll asking the people of this forum which version of Vista they have on their machine.

I am betting the majority will be Vista Home Premium or Vista Ultimate (and of course a whopping number of Windows XP).

I didn't say you cannot ask a question, I tried to say that in order to get an answer to your question, you need to ask the right group of people.

 

Surely that's the developer's fault and not Microsofts? They need their software to run on Vista and they just sit back until people start complaining.

The problem is, Microsoft need to wipe the slate clean, forget backwards compatibility and focus on making a completely new and streamlined OS but they can't because of the users who demand backwards compatibility with every program. How can they improve when they are stuck with old ways of doing things?

As for me, I'm on the fence. I use XP at home and work until I get my laptop. I was planning on downgrading to XP Pro but I think I'm going to see how well it runs with the recent performance and compatibility patches.

 

Once people find programs that work, they're hesitant to change them...and why not? Why upgrade when everything works? Why put that shiny new OS on your computer when the old OS works perfectly and lets you run your favorite applications?

Sure, dumping compatibility for some legacy programs made it easier to streamline Vista but now M$ is going to have to deal with the fact that they've made a product that plenty of people don't see any reason for having.

 

*sigh* and you just don't get it... I was asking ONE specific person what it was they loved about Vista and why they didn't regret it.

So um... yeah...

 

Yes, no, maybe.

Microsoft HAVE their dominance because of the backwards compatibility, if they hadn't maintained backwards compatibility they wouldn't be in the position they are in.

I guess the other issue is that I am really not going to spend $200 on Vista (or whatever it would cost me to buy it as a non-student and as someone not buying a new PC) then have to spend goodness knows how many thousands of dollars to buy the newest version of every single piece of software that I own and use on a semi-regular basis.

 

Well, then. I apologize. I guess I was unclear that you started an entire thread to find one person to ask about this topic and have finally settled on that one person

By all means, have at it.

Really, maybe you should get Yin's mom's email and ask her directly. Since that is all you want.

 

Um, I didn't start the thread, I was just asking since someone posted that they didn't regret going to vista what they loved about it. Oh... and I did ask what Yin's mum loved about it, and whether she loved it more than XP (not sure if Yin's mum ever used XP)

 

Its OK Arla. Dont fight buddy.

Regards,
Theo

 

What started as friendly banter has degraded and I share no small part in this. I apologize. I hope you find what ever info you are looking for. Good luck to all who are seeking an answer to this question

 

Really... I'm not mad, I just didn't understand what you were getting at...

I'm still just (desparately) seeking some big "thing" reason why Vista is so much better than XP and I should be using it...

I've seen microsofts commercials... all make me wonder what's the point, oh and obviously if I get a new PC it would be Vista simply because...

I guess I'm just feeling disillusioned, I was one of the first people get XP, and it worked really well straight out of the box (I may of course have just been lucky), with Vista it just all seems very "meh", I'd love to hear why people like it, but all I hear the negative far outweighs any tangible "benefits", other than perhaps the search feature, but I'm relatively organized so never have really thought "damn, wish I could search my entire drive"

 

I don't think there is one big reason why you should switch over. Vista is hardly as revolutionary as Win95 was to Windows 3.1 and while it does feel more stable (sans legacy program issues) it's hardly as big a step up as XP was from Win98/ME

Start Key + Tab IS cool though >.> If Vista Ultimate was the only version (and it wasn't priced as highly) then I would rate the OS higher then it is. (Although...I could see why businesses wouldn't want their workers to have access to the media features on office desktops...)

 

Arla,

My mom likes vista over XP because 1) it was on a clean system so it was fast and responsive, and 2) because it looked good. When she still used XP she saw a link that said "Click Here" and then the system wasn't so friendly anymore. When we got vista, I told her not to randomly click links on the internet because they're most likely not something she'd want.

I did set up vista on her computer, and since it comes with pretty much everything she needs, she hasn't been annoyed by the UAC yet. However I still eventually turned it off because it was popping up quite frequently.

To each his own. I don't like vista personally, so on my laptop I run ubuntu. Windows XP is there just in case I get the urge to play some games.

One more thing... Can we drop the topic about why my mom likes vista? People like things for various reasons, and some of them might be totally irrational. Thanks

 

Hehehe thanks... hey irrational or not I just am interested in why people like Vista but yeah... useful to know.

 

Hey yin

Thanks for your input. We are not going to fight on this thread because I would really like it to continue for a long time with folks expressing their opinions about these real issues.

We can all learn here......