Anything but Speechless: 100 Things People Are Really Saying About Windows Vista

What Vista offers (or: An offal lot)

50: "Vista gives me Internet Explorer 7? No thanks!"

USA Today isn't impressed: "You cannot change IE7's toolbar; you cannot rearrange the icons. If you want the search box on the left instead of the right, that's too bad. The folks in Redmond have decided they know best."
http://www.usatoday.com/tech/columnist/andrewkantor/2006-11-22-ie7-offic...
Nor is IT Wire: "Internet Explorer 7 is every bit as sad as its predecessors... IE7 has tabs - about three years and more after Firefox made them popular - but the furniture has been moved around in a meaningless way. In both IE7 and the entire layout of Vista I was reminded of one thing - the way my wife often re-arranges our old furniture to provide the illusion that something has changed."
http://www.itwire.com/content/view/13114/1090/1/1/
Vista hypes the security of IE 7, but it's already turning up security flaws. "Microsoft is investigating two recently disclosed security vulnerabilities that affect Internet Explorer 7 and Windows Vista... The flaws could let attackers get their hands on sensitive user information..."
http://www.pctipsbox.com/ie-7-vista-bug-reports-have-ms-digging/
Like Vista itself, IE 7 is hounding users with nagging messages. Says Microsoft Watch: "Overnight, I posted about Internet Explorer 7, for which I have seen a large number of unhappy Microsoft Watch comments... Security is part of the problem, whether caused by new security features or IE 7 pop-up noise... When using the Microsoft Watch blogging system's tools to insert a link in a post, IE 7 blocks the process and warns: "The Website is using a scripted window to ask you for information." I can "temporarily allow scripted windows," which is fine, but still annoying. The process is a security speed bump, which is intended to prevent malicious scripting windows but instead is an ongoing annoyance."
http://www.microsoft-watch.com/content/vista/vista_security_a_petulant_c...

51. "Vista's built-in applications are a step down!"

Forbes finds Vista's applications disappointing. "Windows Mail is a mild reworking of Outlook Express whose big new feature is a spam filter that in my tests flagged nonspam as spam and vice versa an unacceptable 10% of the time. The bare-bones word processor WordPad used to be able to open Microsoft Word files. No more. What possible rationale could there be for "fixing" that, except to force users to shell out for the real thing?"
http://www.forbes.com/free_forbes/2007/0226/050.html
"Once you look around the Vista landscape, you realise that for all the sound and bluster, there's precious little available for you, the average PC user, to work with. There's no decent word processor, mail client (unless you are prepared to apply that adjective to Microsoft Mail, the descendant of the illustrious Outlook Express), or browser."
http://www.iTWire.com/content/view/13114/1090/1/1/

52. "Windows Meeting Space is useless!"

"Looking for a good way to hold virtual meetings over a network, so that you can share documents with others, view everyone's markups, and chat and talk while you're all in different locations? Then don't look to Windows Meeting Space. This application is supposed to let people create ad hoc virtual meetings over a network, including those at Wi-Fi hot spots. But it lacks so many basic features that it's hard to imagine anyone using it. There's no common whiteboard, no built-in VoIP feature, and its chat module is pretty much worthless. What's the point, you might ask? We did, too."
http://www.computerworld.com/action/article.do?command=viewArticleBasic&...
So is there something better? "Apple's IM client, iChat, runs rings around what's available for other systems."
http://www.computerworld.com/action/article.do?command=viewArticleBasic&...

53. "Where's Vista's answer to iLife?"

Nobody calls Vista's media programs the match of OS X's acclaimed iLife suite. A typical comment: "...the apps like the DVD making and photo handling programs in Vista look nice but are very immature comparison to OSX’s."
http://chris.pirillo.com/2007/08/30/mac-os-x-leopard-vs-microsoft-window...

54. "Windows Media Center is a loser!"

Says IT Wire: "I had a look at the Windows Media Centre and tried to make a CD but gave up after a while; the interface is clunky, non-intuitive and anything but user-friendly. I needed to make the CD in a hurry so I used my son's MacBook - something I am rarely allowed to touch, as he is highly possessive about it - and figured out how to make the disc in a matter of minutes. It was the first time I had used the MacBook for that purpose."
http://www.itwire.com/content/view/13114/1090/1/2/

55. "Vista's remote desktop access software is inferior!"

Is everything better in Leopard? "I've been using remote desktop-access software for years on Windows machines, but none has been as simple and quick as the one in Leopard."
http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2704,2207556,00.asp?sr=hotnews

56. "Vista still gives me all that crapware!"

It's 2008, and PC buyers still get their machines pre-loaded with ugly, dysfunctional software that slows the computer, clogs the disk, clutters the desktop, and incessantly hawks products. Says the Wall Street Journal: "When you buy a gleaming, new personal computer, the first thing you want to do is to try out its cool new features and make it your own... But as I rediscovered recently, often what you’re forced to do instead is to spend hours as a digital maintenance man wading through annoying and confusing chores... I had been waiting for Microsoft’s new Windows Vista operating system. I was amazed that the initial experience is still a big hassle... The problem is a lack of respect for the consumer. The manufacturers don’t act as if the computer belongs to you. They act as if it is a billboard for restricted trial versions of software and ads for Web sites and services that they can sell to third-party companies who want you to buy these products."
http://ptech.allthingsd.com/20070405/pcs-mired-in-chores/
Adds Computerworld, in one of the web's many tutorials on removing crapware from a Vista PC: "Most major hardware makers clutter their systems with preinstalled applications, browser toolbars, search settings and utilities -- not to mention self-launching advertisements enticing you to try out even more software... In essence, they have sold your PC to the highest bidder long before you take it out of the box."
http://www.computerworld.com/action/article.do?command=viewArticleBasic&...
Meanwhile, users of open source OSes or even Mac OS X remain oblivious to this scourge. (Or they poke fun at it, as Apple does: http://movies.apple.com/movies/us/apple/getamac/apple-getamac-fat_480x37... )

GUI stuff (or: In-your-face interface)

57. "Vista's interface is a step backward!"

It's less consistent than XP, slower, and even makes mousing harder. Says a user interface researcher: "In every benchmark, Windows scored significantly poorer than Mac OS X, which is far more "fluid" than Microsoft's OSes... But this isn't a Windows versus Mac thing. We wanted to see if Vista improved on some of the weak spots of previous releases. Usually, developers iron out user interface issues over time to increase [user] productivity... [But] Vista is a step back."
http://www.pcworld.com/article/129410-1/article.html?tk=nl_dnxnws

58. "Vista changes things for no reason!"

A common refrain: "Why did Microsoft ignore the first rule of usability and ditch all familiar methods of doing stuff that I'd spent 15 years getting used to?"
http://community.zdnet.co.uk/blog/0,1000000567,10006214o-2000331758b,00.htm
Another take: "I know tons of useful short cuts through the XP interface. These don't work any more. Not because there's some fundamental new philosophy at work that I can learn to my advantage, but because things have been moved around... That wouldn't be so frustrating, if Vista wasn't so like XP in so many ways that the changes are so obviously change for change's sake."
http://community.zdnet.co.uk/blog/0,1000000567,10006217o-2000331777b,00.htm
And another: "One can understand change if it is logical but in the case of Vista, there is often change for the sake of change. There is no point in renaming a utility or changing the layout of a certain window if there is no productivity gain. It is just plain silly."
http://www.itwire.com/content/view/13114/1090/1/1/

59. "Vista's Flip 3D is a lame Expose!"

Microsoft says Vista's Flip 3D "allow[s] you to see everything you're working on at a glance". Yet it doesn't – you still need to flip through the windows to see what they are. Mac OS X's Exposé lets you see them all at once. In short: "Expose is a far better task switcher than the laughable Flip 3D"
http://chris.pirillo.com/2007/08/30/mac-os-x-leopard-vs-microsoft-window...
The IT press agrees: "3D Flips is also pleasing to look at, but we're not huge fans of the "stacked" rotating view, which doesn't let you view the full content of a window until your rotate it to the front of the batch; it isn't quite as functional as Tiger's Exposé."
http://www.laptopmag.com/Features/Mac-OS-X-Tiger-vs-Windows-Vista.htm?pa...

60. "Vista messes up file menus!"

Says Computerworld: "Microsoft has also gone halfway toward eliminating file menus throughout Windows Vista, and this inconsistency can be disconcerting. Menus are gone in Windows Explorer, Internet Explorer, and Windows Photo Gallery, for example, but are still there in Windows Mail, Windows Calendar, Notepad, WordPad, and a variety of other applications."
http://www.computerworld.com/action/article.do?command=viewArticleBasic&...

Vista value (or: Up to 399 reasons to reconsider)

61. "Do I need Vista for anything other than games?"

No, and maybe not even then: "About the only thing needed is DirectX10 – which few games require anyway."
http://apcmag.com/5049/10_reasons_not_to_get_vista
You'll be hard pressed to find any enthusiasts urging upgrades to Vista. More typical are comments like this: "Even if Vista were gloriously perfect, I really don't see any good reason for most users to upgrade to it... Now, Microsoft is already telling us that we should upgrade as soon as possible, and, while we're at it, we should also move up to Office 2007. I'm not buying it... If what you have works for you, then you really don't need to upgrade to Vista, or for that matter, anything else."
http://www.eweek.com/article2/0%2C1895%2C2072976%2C00.asp

62. "Some 'Vista advantages' don't even require Vista!"

Says Forbes: "Many touted improvements, like the Web browser and media player, have been available for XP for months. One minor winner is Vista-only: file lists that update their contents automatically. You no longer have to hit View and Refresh to see files added since you last opened the list window. Macs, of course, have done this for years."
http://www.forbes.com/free_forbes/2007/0226/050.html

63. "Vista has the fit and finish of a Yugo!"

Vista problems come both big and small. Forbes again: "The new Mac-like ability to show thumbnails of documents and running programs is cute, but it doesn't always work--typical of a level of fit and finish that would be unacceptable from a cut-rate tailor. Only in Windowsland will you find howlers like a Safely Remove Hardware button for memory card readers that happen to be hardwired into your computer."
http://www.forbes.com/free_forbes/2007/0226/050.html
"The Windows [Vista] Help system, in stark contrast [to OS X], feels like an “RTFM” experience (mildly ironic, though far from suprising)."
http://chris.pirillo.com/2007/08/30/mac-os-x-leopard-vs-microsoft-window...

64. "Even Vista's box is poorly designed!"

A lack of attention to detail extends beyond the digital: even Vista's plastic retail box frustrates buyers! "[The Vista and Office 2007 box is] a hard plastic case, sealed in two different places by plastic stickies. It represents a complete failure of industrial design; an utter F in the school of Donald Norman's Design of Everyday Things. To be technical about it, it has no true affordances and actually has some false affordances: visual clues as to how to open it that turn out to be wrong."
http://www.joelonsoftware.com/items/2007/08/18.html
"I was seriously considering a trip to the garage and to smash the box open with a hammer, when I discovered another transparent sticker that was holding two parts together. With that gone, the box moved a few more millimeters, until I realised the thing opens sideways, and boom: Vista was opened. I’ve installed entire operating systems more quickly and with less stress than opening this box…"
http://www.lockergnome.com/blade/2007/06/25/windows-vista-problem-no-one...
Don't worry, though, MS has your back on this one, with a full how-to on prying open that tricksy oyster of a package. For those who are absolutely sure they want to open it:
http://windowshelp.microsoft.com/Windows/en-US/help/2e680b8d-211e-41c5-a...

65. "My new PC doesn't even come with the Vista disks!"

You'll have to create your own restore disks – which may or may not work. "I recently purchased a Compaq Presario notebook with Vista Home Premium installed. One of the first things I tried to do was create the restore CD/DVD since no one supplies these any more... I was informed on the screen that verification failed. I tried different suppliers of both CD and DVD with same result... When I explained the error, I was then told the problem was due to a copyright conflict in Vista that prevented the copy from being created. Is this freakin’ insane or what?... why did Microsoft allow something like this get out in the first place?"
http://chris.pirillo.com/2007/06/24/copyright-insanity/
Compare that with a Macintosh, which does come with disks – or GNU/Linux, offering you all the disks you want, all the time, for no cost.

66. "Vista licensing restrictions are ridiculous!"

Those who closely read Vista's End-User Licensing Agreement (EULA) have some words in response: "It’s true that Vista Home and Home Premium can not be installed in virtual machines... the crippling doesn’t stop there, even those who go with Vista Ultimate on their virtual machine still can’t play Microsoft DRM content... The last part of the licensing that bears mention is sure to send shivers down the spine..."
http://blog.wired.com/monkeybites/2007/02/windows_vista_e.html
A big-picture view: "Aside from the backward thinking that is licensing, and not actually owning, your software new terms with Vista include being able to transfer the license only once; half the limit compared to XP for Home Basic and Premium on how many machines can connect to yours for sharing, printing and accessing the Internet; limits on the number of devices that can use Vista's Media Center features; activation and validation governing your ability to upgrade hardware and use Windows itself; and outlawing the use of Home Basic and Premium with virtualisation software, and Ultimate only if DRM enabled content and applications aren't used."
http://apcmag.com/5049/10_reasons_not_to_get_vista
And the village wag version: "Any sensible person who reads the end user licence agreement accompanying Vista would, I'm sure, prefer to opt for a cell in Guantanamo; you basically have to spread your legs wide and bend over if you want to use the operating system."
http://www.iTWire.com/content/view/13114/1090/1/1/

67. "Vista server costs are ridiculous!"

"A network running Windows clients and servers requires buying a license for each client... Mac OS X Server costs $499 for a 10-client and $999 for an unlimited client version. Windows has no such unlimited client version."
http://www.eweek.com/article2/0,1759,2184562,00.asp
GNU/Linux users have no such cost concerns. Says an online retailer: "Under a Linux environment our server software licensing costs are a tenth of what it was costing us under Microsoft."
http://www.computerweekly.com/Articles/2007/09/24/226987/e-tailer-cuts-l...

Life with Vista (or: The yoke's on you)

68. "Vista is just more Microsoft lock-in"

The combination of Information Rights Management, Trusted Computing, and Vista serve to lock users into Microsoft's file formats: "The Trusted Computing Module has sat silently on the motherboard for years now. Adding Vista and IRM to it is takes it from egg to larva, and turning on remote attestation in a year or two, once everyone is on next-generation Office, will bring the larva to adulthood, complete with venomous stinger."
http://www.eetimes.com/news/latest/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=196602058

69. "Vista lets Microsoft control my computer!"

Vista not only refuses to work with many hardware drivers, it can even cede control over drivers to Microsoft: "Now, to add to craziness all of this - Microsoft will have the ability disable drivers at will! "Once a weakness is found in a particular driver or device, that driver will have its signature revoked by Microsoft, which means that it will cease to function" - so if you have a piece of hardware that gets its driver DRM cracked, Microsoft can release an update to disable it... All this adds up to make using Vista look much more like a Faustian bargain, giving in your freedom and rights to Microsoft for "premium content" that you probably won't be able to play on your hardware anyway."
http://www.jethrocarr.com/index.php?cms=blog:20070124
Vista's Windows Defender security software also has you over a barrel. "Windows Defender could remove programs you don’t want removed (certain torrent software comes to mind) if the mothership decided to tell it to do so with an update."
http://blog.wired.com/monkeybites/2007/02/windows_vista_e.html

70. "Windows Genuine Advantage - an advantage for who?"

Windows Genuine Advantage can declare your copy of Vista illegitimate – for no valid reason.
A note from ZD Net: "I won't mention the dead laptop at work that's dead because the Windows Genuine Advantage system has decided that its copy of Vista is illegitimate. It came in as a review machine, without the usual documentation, so we don't have the OEM's licence key. We do have the OEM's Vista still installed, but that's Not Good Enough."
http://community.zdnet.co.uk/blog/0,1000000567,10006217o-2000331777b,00.htm
"Genuine Advantage, My Ass" is the earthier verdict of another user, who found Vista a good reason to switch to Linux.
http://scienceblogs.com/aardvarchaeology/2007/03/genuine_advantage_my_as...
Rare cases? No, this issue went global. "Windows Genuine Advantage suffers worldwide outage, problems galore... If you attempt a validation and it fails, your install may be marked as non-genuine, which could lead to several annoyances. First things first, do not reboot a Windows machine that has been marked as non-genuine. Once you do so, you will lose functionality."
http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20070825-windows-genuine-advantage-...

71. "Vista deactivates itself!"

"As if Vista didn’t have enough negative press already, Microsoft has confirmed that updating something as simple as your video card driver could cause the installed copy of Vista to deactivate and require revalidation."
http://vista.blorge.com/2007/10/23/upgrading-drivers-in-vista-can-lead-t...
Says APC Magazine: "...what this essentially means is that keeping your drivers up-to-date is a potentially very risky process... There’s no denying that Windows Activation has a serious image problem. Not only is it inconvenient and cumbersome, but it creates a very strong impression in the user's mind that Microsoft doesn't really want to give you the software you paid for."
http://apcmag.com/vista_activation

72. "Vista's DRM is inexcusable!"

This is one of the biggest concerns over Vista. "To prevent a person from copying (or in most cases, backing up) a movie, the operating system provides process isolation and if an unverified component is in use, the operating system shuts down DRM content. For the first time on any operating system, we're not even allowed to backup our favorite movies?"
http://www.news.com/8301-10784_3-9785337-7.html?tag=nefd.only
"Windows Vista includes an array of "features" that you don't want. These features will make your computer less reliable and less secure. They'll make your computer less stable and run slower. They will cause technical support problems. They may even require you to upgrade some of your peripheral hardware and existing software. And these features won't do anything useful. In fact, they're working against you. They're digital rights management (DRM) features built into Vista at the behest of the entertainment industry. And you don't get to refuse them."
http://badvista.fsf.org/what-s-wrong-with-microsoft-windows-vista
"I asked my wife to watch a DVD which I had got for her, a murder mystery sold by the Agatha Christie estate. If anything is legit, then this DVD is. But midway through the film, Windows Media player stopped with a message that some copyright or the other had been violated!!!"
http://www.itwire.com/content/view/13114/1090/1/3/
And that DRM has real costs: "Windows Vista includes an extensive reworking of core OS elements in order to provide content protection for so-called “premium content”... Providing this protection incurs considerable costs in terms of system performance, system stability, technical support overhead, and hardware and software cost... This document analyses the cost involved in Vista's content protection, and the collateral damage that this incurs throughout the computer industry."
http://www.cs.auckland.ac.nz/~pgut001/pubs/vista_cost.html
Vista's DRM is driving people away. "How many lost sales of Microsoft's Media Center software and Windows Vista has it caused because the DRM subsystem randomly decides that you must be a criminal?"
http://www.news.com/DRM-troubles-drive-ex-Microsoft-employee-to-Linux/21...