Is Vista just a cheap, mediocre middle OS like Me was?

Question

Personally, I am going to stick with my XP and hold out until Vienna comes out because I am not very impressed with Vista. It is starting to look more like "Vienna Beta" if you will. Windows Me was a total flop too. What will you do?

Answer 1

Unfortunately, you are closer to being right than Microsoft would like you to admit. Vista's original intention was just to be a temporary next os just like ME was (actually ME was the last in the "personal os" line following W 95 & W98 and XP and beyond were follow ups of the NT > 2000 line). Microsoft had planned on having it out much earlier and then to have Vienna out around now. However, they ran into a lot of glitches with the new code (the pre Vienna direction they wanted to go in) and decided they'd hold off on its orignal release until they can expand it into something more than just an intermediary.

This would have been fine if they had continued pursuing this path, however, they realized they had bitten off more than they could chew, and they had started marketing Vista too early (and too "convincingly") and so they cut off development of anything really remarkable, added a little extra flair and released it as if it were by itself a new breakthrough in OS architecture. I remember the original MS propaganda about Vista a couple years ago and they said that Vista would be so revolutionary that it would be like the change from DOS to Windows in the first place.

That has not come anywhere near happening. Alot of the really revolutionary ideas they considered putting into Vista couldn't be worked out in time, and a year or so before its release they decided just to try and clean it up enough to get it out and make some money and then start focusing on their supposed late 2009 release date for Vienna.

Vista does have some improvements over XP including a nicer look, better searching capabilities, and better security. If I was going to buy a new computer now, even despite some potential "new program" glitches I might encounter, I'd still go ahead and buy Vista instead of XP. But I wouldn't recommend upgrading XP to Vista unless there was a specific and credible need for it (just wanting the latest thing certainly wouldn't be a good enough reason). My current computer is 8 years old and has some problems, and I decided to hold off a couple years ago on replacing it to see if Vista would live anywhere near up to the MS propaganda, and unfortunately I don't think it has.

I heard Bill Gates speak several years ago, and someone there asked him what makes Microsoft so successful (in staying ahead of their competition) and he said they make their products obsolete before their competitors can. Unfortunately, I think their drive to do this sometimes means that they will try to make their own products obsolete, and if they can't, then they will at least try to make it look like they can by talking a big game.

Personally, I’d really rather they waited another year, got Vista to do what they said it was going to be able to do, and then released it, as opposed to pulling a lot of their best ideas just to get it out and make more money, and then make us have to wait possibly several more years to really get the next massive overhaul in OS technology.

I'll make a prediction here that if Vienna ends up being a big disappointment, Microsoft's days of being the outright market leader will be over. It will end up being like IBM, which at one point in history WAS the comptuer industry, and since has allowed dozens of competitors to spring up, take IBM's market share, and force IBM into having to find other business models to pursue just to stay in business.

Answer 2

yea i am going to do the same thing u are. Vista looks like it has to many problems n i think its going to be like ME. some ppl are dragged in by the cool graphics effects but i dont really care about them. i might try vista just to play around with it but im going to stick with xp till Vienna comes out.

Answer 3

Hmmm, you may be right. I like xp.
I hate the whole Ipod craze, so I was going to hold out for a zune, but I'll wait until the reviews come out first, instead of diving head first. Same with Vista.

Answer 4

Simple put try "Ubuntu". It's a Linux OS but they developed it for people coming from Windows and they made it quite easy. It's 100% free to download and if you sign up they will even mail you the install disk free. The coolest part is the disk can run the OS right off the disk so you can try it without installing. It comes with everything the average user will need.

Answer 5

vista is a great OS.........there are difference from xp besides visual effects..........if you have a good computer, vista would run faster that xp on the same machine.........file transfering, unzipping files, searches, and general overall performance......but if you don't have a good computer ur vista experience will not be good

Answer 6

I've heard Vista really slows down your computer with all those graphics. But if you turn them off, the windows are this really ugly purple color.

I wouldn't upgrade, it's not worth it. Plus it's way too expensive.

Answer 7

Me was pretty ok if you did a clean install, so is Vista.
Vista is not however, worth buying.
wait until you buy a new computer to get it pre-installed.

Answer 8

ME was a better operating system than VISTA. For one thing VISTA is so easily hacked that even the average middle school geek could do it.

Answer 9

I've had it for about 5 months, never had an issue with it and haven't had a reason to consider going back to XP.

Answer 10

Microsoft has to spend millions to get you to understand that YOUR WRONG.