HOW DO YOU INSTALL XP IF YOU’VE BOUGHT A COMPUTER WITH VISTA? CAN YOU DO IT AT NO EXTRA CHARGE?

Kenny

I installed XP not too long after it first came out and never had these issues. Hardward drivers were the biggest problems but once everything was set up, it worked perfectly and I never regretted the decision. Vista has been a nightmare. I can see why people are going to Mac and I NEVER thought I’d ever say that.

I haven’t looked back since.

Add to your list :

- Networking issues, many many many network performance issues, as well as intermittent drop outs. Yes we’ve all had the “Calculating time remaining” when copying/moving a file, and even some of us have installed the so called ‘patch’ – yet the problems still persist. This is #1 on my list, totally unusable with a SBS 2003 server in a business environment. I have several cases open with Microsoft who admit problems under certain circumstances and problems can be reproduced on demand. Its not uncommon for a Vista PC in a domain to be unable to access ANY network resource until it is rebooted.

- Convoluted Tasks – when trying to change the background, join a domain, create a VPN connection or connect to a remote terminal server or RDP connection, you can pretty much double the amount of mouse clicks (and time) required to do the same task under XP. I tried this for a typical VPN connection I setup under XP takes 15 clicks (much less if I use the enter/arrow keys)… in Vista, 26! Not to mention the delays in opening the “Connect To” screen when you have more than 5 networks defined, or the lack of ability to use the keyboard to move between fields / screens. This behaviour is exhibited throughout Vista and really pisses me off. Going back to XP I feel like I am at one with the machine, where as with Vista I feel like I’m constantly fighting it. Its more than a familiarity thing. This NEEDS to be fixed.

- There is no working VNC server application that will function as a service based system that I know of as it functions on any other OS (ie, without having to run in User Mode)

- UAC – need I say more

- Security & Services, File Sharing and Network Discovery – all disabled or highly secured out of the box. Yes a good thing, but I find I am having to spend half an hour (remembering) to open the services I need. There must be a quicker better way.

- TELNET client not installed by default – AAAAAAARGH!! Does Microsoft not realise Telnet is nearly as important as PING as a diagnostic tool that almost all techs need on a daily basis? When moving around from machine to machine this is insanely annoying and installing the 76kb file (once you work out how to do it) seems to take a good 5 minutes while it churns away!

- Windows Server Admin Pack does not work with Vista, nor is there any information as to when this might be the case. (As of about a month ago when I gave up waiting)

- Picking and choosing pictures when importing from a camera is all or nothing

- Windows Scan and Fax – someone try and tell me how I can join two scanned pages together, or failing that, tell me how I can actually scan several documents or pages into one file!? It cant be done!!

- Convoluted Shutdown menu – try explaining all 10+options to an end user.

- Default install on Desktop places PC into sleep mode. Forget to change this on a machine that you will be working on remotely and it goes to sleep – oops. And half the time it wont wake up properly with all devices functioning properly (WiFi and Bluetooth in particular)

- Horrendous Explorer Shell, File Common Dialog Boxes etc, awful layout, illogical, and inefficient… yes my opinion but its god awful. Why do I care about Album when there is 1 song in a folder, and why can’t I get the file size of a MP3 in my Music folder without agonisingly customizing the status bar (for EACH folder and subfolder!)… urgh…

I could go on but Im boring myself, fact is XP had most of it right, a highly matured and refined product that everyone is familiar with. After a year of beta use and 10 months of RTM use, I have given up in disgust. The only Vista I run now is inside Virtual PC and there it shall stay.

Chris you’re right on the money.

The date and time I actually vowed to make my next computer a Mac? 10:45 AM 06/27/07, after having to turn off security features of 2003 server just so I could simply unzip a compressed application and install it.

The date and time I actually vowed to never spend another penny of my own on Microsoft software or systems? 1:16 PM 07/10/07, after trying to get a MS product to work after attempts to activate it manually, online, and via phone, then talking to people in the incorrect support departments of Microsoft (the last of which told me to go to read the product page at their website and then call back), before finally hanging up on them and calling through Technet to get someone to actually resolve the problem.

Notice that NONE of these decisions had anything to do with Apple’s marketing or product. All they had to do to win me over as a potential customer was sit around and do nothing, and let Microsoft shove me adrift looking for absolutely ANYTHING less annoying.

so true — I myself found only minor issues on my 4.0 speaker system — 5.1speakers for front channel and 2.1 speakers for rear channel — it sounded killer in XP. (cheap redneck solution for surround sound)

now i am left with a delima, do i dual boot and watch my movies with my sound setup…… or do i just twiddle my thumbs untill new drivers come out for the NEW VISTA sound that dont support the directX functions?

I have been thinking of getting the X-FI soundcard…… but even then— well microsoft does good job…… love the vista except the sound card issues from every maker (cant wait till new sound cards come out— hope they aint too expensive)

I dunno……. its not entirely Microsofts fault — Vista has been in beta for years now — i blame allot on the hardware makers too

I dunno……. running SRS audio SANDBOX now — sorta helps my sound issues on my realtek board ……. but still ……. its may now……… still no good or perm drivers for sound cards

I agree with you Chris, and it appears at least hundreds of other people as well, that the tradeoff to switch from XP to Vista is not worth it. I have not seen anything that would indicate any real performance or stability benefits. New fast hardware runs well, but would probably run faster with XP. I think XP has reached it’s apex of stability, and that to go to Vista with no functional benefits whatsover, giving MS more legal control over your PC, and paying money for it makes no sense.
I think MS just got caught up in a money cycle, so they developed a product consumers do not need or want, prettied it up a bit (with a performance cost), and made a bunch of new friends/contracts in the mass-media business at the same time with their new DMR “innovations”. Now windows needs to be able approve to itself your hardware is “incapable of piracy” or MS has every legal right to cripple your playback.

I saw the benefits of upgrading to XP, although I was a little apprehensiveness of the activation feature and driver issues at the time, but I see no clear benefit to this new system. It seems like MS is trying to force people into a new computing environment where they have more control over the computer and its content after you “buy” it.

PC makers should invest in OS alternatives if they want to save their consumer base from marching headlong into signing away their computing rights and losing old software/hardware investments with no real tradeoffs in benefits. According to the new license, it’s actually illegal to try to work around the limitations of Vista, so all us geeks here could be in violation if we tried to overcome its shortcomings. This also gives MS the right to “cripple” the OS remotely. Too bad Linux lacks the ease of use and Mac lacks the cost practicality for the masses. I think MS has passed the point of PC innovations to where their monopoloy is stifling innovation. If anybody has a good alternative for the masses, now’s the time.

i havent come across anything wrong with it, sure a bump here and there, its a new OS what do you expect. but to blame MS for the lack of compitence in the manufacturers is hilarious :).

But, if you just have patence, and are willing to wait a little longer, than all the problems will be fixed in the next windows. Where have I heard that promise before. Hehe, Vienna 2009.