P
Papa
I think Vista is, as they say, "not ready for prime time". I've tried it out
for 2 weeks now, and have encountered way too many problems.
Earlier this month I purchased a new Gateway Notebook with Vista Home
Premium pre-installed. This notebook is for my grandson who is a college
student.
So many functions have been changed. Even the most experienced computer user
is going to be very low (for a long time) on the learning curve. For
example, the Vista Control Panel no longer contains a DISPLAY icon. Instead,
there is another much more vague icon (I can't remember the name) to gain
access to the display properties.
Another familiar Windows XP function that is now much harder to find is the
FILE EDIT function. I still haven't found out how to do a file SELECT
ALL/COPY on Vista. Oh, I'm sure it's there, and I would eventually find it,
but why has Microsoft made general usage so much different? There are
numerous similar sources of unnecessary confusion.
I expected Vista to provide better performance, improved video editing
functions, and the like - BUT I was dismayed to discover that Vista has
accomplished this while also putting every user back to square one
knowledgewise. I hate to think what this will do to office efficiency for
those companies who rush out and buy Vista too soon, and I definitely would
not want to be in charge of their Information Systems departments right now.
What a nightmare that must be!
The worst problem I encountered was trying to get the new laptop to connect
to my home network. There are many technical forums - where multitudes of
users are complaining about Vista wireless connectivity not working. One of
these forums, for example, is at
microsoft.public.windows.vista.networking_sharing. Take a look.
It took an entire day to get the wireless connectivity problem resolved, and
that was on a brand new machine. I hope my grandson will be able to connect
wirelessly at school. If he runs into too many glitches I will probably have
to get rid of Vista, reformat his drive and install Windows XP.
I also purchased an upgrade version of Vista for my own laptop. It installed
OK, but several device drivers were not recognized, and wireless
connectivity was just impossible to achieve. I had Windows XP running on
that machine, and it was connected wirelessly to my home network during the
beginning of the Vista upgrade. The wireless icon on the lower right-hand
edge of my laptop screen showed that it was connected. Unfortunately, after
Vista took over, wireless connectivity was gone, and I have spent days
talking to Vista MVPs about the problem. Their answers, though well
intended, accomplished nothing except to add to my confusion.
When I originally set up my home network, it was a little difficult, but not
like this. I was able to create the network without any help at all, and all
of my computers connected wirelessly or via CAT5 cable without any undue
delays. With Vista, users need help, and lots of it.
From my experience during the last 2 weeks, I have come to the conclusion
that users should avoid buying Vista (or new computers with Vista
pre-installed) for a year or so - until it is more reliable and enough time
has passed so that compatible device drivers are more widely available.
If you are thinking of upgrading your old computer to Vista, it may be too
demanding of your existing hardware. Looks like a minimum of 1GB of memory,
2GHZ of speed, and 100 GB of hard drive space are needed for decent
performance. The display adapter should be much more capable too, if you
wish to take advantage of the Vista video capabilities. With new machines,
hardware limitations should be less of a problem, but I still suggest
waiting for a year or two.
My 50 cents worth.
for 2 weeks now, and have encountered way too many problems.
Earlier this month I purchased a new Gateway Notebook with Vista Home
Premium pre-installed. This notebook is for my grandson who is a college
student.
So many functions have been changed. Even the most experienced computer user
is going to be very low (for a long time) on the learning curve. For
example, the Vista Control Panel no longer contains a DISPLAY icon. Instead,
there is another much more vague icon (I can't remember the name) to gain
access to the display properties.
Another familiar Windows XP function that is now much harder to find is the
FILE EDIT function. I still haven't found out how to do a file SELECT
ALL/COPY on Vista. Oh, I'm sure it's there, and I would eventually find it,
but why has Microsoft made general usage so much different? There are
numerous similar sources of unnecessary confusion.
I expected Vista to provide better performance, improved video editing
functions, and the like - BUT I was dismayed to discover that Vista has
accomplished this while also putting every user back to square one
knowledgewise. I hate to think what this will do to office efficiency for
those companies who rush out and buy Vista too soon, and I definitely would
not want to be in charge of their Information Systems departments right now.
What a nightmare that must be!
The worst problem I encountered was trying to get the new laptop to connect
to my home network. There are many technical forums - where multitudes of
users are complaining about Vista wireless connectivity not working. One of
these forums, for example, is at
microsoft.public.windows.vista.networking_sharing. Take a look.
It took an entire day to get the wireless connectivity problem resolved, and
that was on a brand new machine. I hope my grandson will be able to connect
wirelessly at school. If he runs into too many glitches I will probably have
to get rid of Vista, reformat his drive and install Windows XP.
I also purchased an upgrade version of Vista for my own laptop. It installed
OK, but several device drivers were not recognized, and wireless
connectivity was just impossible to achieve. I had Windows XP running on
that machine, and it was connected wirelessly to my home network during the
beginning of the Vista upgrade. The wireless icon on the lower right-hand
edge of my laptop screen showed that it was connected. Unfortunately, after
Vista took over, wireless connectivity was gone, and I have spent days
talking to Vista MVPs about the problem. Their answers, though well
intended, accomplished nothing except to add to my confusion.
When I originally set up my home network, it was a little difficult, but not
like this. I was able to create the network without any help at all, and all
of my computers connected wirelessly or via CAT5 cable without any undue
delays. With Vista, users need help, and lots of it.
From my experience during the last 2 weeks, I have come to the conclusion
that users should avoid buying Vista (or new computers with Vista
pre-installed) for a year or so - until it is more reliable and enough time
has passed so that compatible device drivers are more widely available.
If you are thinking of upgrading your old computer to Vista, it may be too
demanding of your existing hardware. Looks like a minimum of 1GB of memory,
2GHZ of speed, and 100 GB of hard drive space are needed for decent
performance. The display adapter should be much more capable too, if you
wish to take advantage of the Vista video capabilities. With new machines,
hardware limitations should be less of a problem, but I still suggest
waiting for a year or two.
My 50 cents worth.
