I was speaking with a friend who heard Microsoft was working day and night
developing an operating system to replace Vista
Yes. Microsoft is *always* working hard to produce the next version of
all their products, just as is every other software company. If they
don't, they will shortly have no potential customers, have no product
to sell, and will soon go out of business. This is the nature of
selling software: after a while your existing market gets saturated,
and unless you have a new version to sell, you're history.
because of all the
compatibility problems with many programs and I/O drivers.
That is certainly *not* the reason.
First, regarding "compatibility problems with many programs": It is
extremely difficult, if not impossible, to make real improvements in
an operating system, and still keep it compatible with every older
program. Progress always means a certain loss of compatibility.
That said, in my experience, Vista has been very compatible with older
programs that are not too old. I found that there only two older
utilities that I ran under Windows XP that didn't run under Vista, and
they were very minor--I readily did without them. And whenever such
compatibility issue arise, the vendors of the incompatible problems
almost always work very hard to get new compatible versions of the
programs on the market. It's clearly in their interest to do so.
That's not to say that every older program works under Vista, of
course. Clearly some do not. If you want to be sure you won't have to
replace any of your applications, first download and run the free
Microsoft Windows Vista Upgrade Advisor at
http://www.microsoft.com/windows/products/windowsvista/buyorupgrade/upgradeadvisor.mspx
or
http://tinyurl.com/3b27j6
Second, regarding driver issues: I/O drivers are the responsibility of
the I/O device manufacturers. Microsoft doesn't write them.
Exactly the same situation occurs with every new operating system, and
there's absolutely nothing special in this regard about Vista. Each
manufacturer of printers (as well as other devices: scanners, etc.)
decides for itself whether or not to incur the trouble and expense of
developing new drivers for its older products. If the product is in
current production, it probably will develop them. If it's a little
older, it may or not. And if it's old enough, they will probably
decide that's it doesn't make economic sense to develop a driver for
the new operating system.
No printer manufacturer will sell you a printer with a guarantee that
it will work with today's operating system and also with all new
operating systems that may be released in the future.
So whenever you buy a device like a printer or scanner, buy it with
the realization that although it may work with today's operating
system, it may or may not work with tomorrow's. For many people, the
lack of needed drivers for older hardware is a factor that stops them
from upgrading their operating system. And before upgrading,
*everyone* should make sure that they know whether all their hardware
is supported in the new operating system.
Is there any
truth to this, or is it just a rumor by some disgruntled Vista user?
It's entirely rumor. What your friend has heard is FUD.
I was
planning on getting Vista on my next PC, which I will need in the near
future.
Your choice of course. If the question were whether to upgrade your
old computer to Vista, my advice to most people is usually no. But
Vista works just fine, has many advantages over XP, and for a new
computer, to me there's no question that you should get the current
operating system, not yesterday's.
Just make sure that you get adequate hardware (in particular be sure
to get at least 2GB of RAM), not the minimum that Microsoft says Vista
needs, and that you are prepared to spend some time and effort
learning and getting accustomed to the differences between XP and
Vista.
