Vista is very annoying / totally rubish, how can a new version be so much worse than the one it replaces. Microsoft should re-boot and replace with XP on all the Vista computers bought or better still just sail off into the sunset and leave it to the professionals i.e. APPLE

In my experience, most people who bash Vista are arrogant n00bs with crap/old hardware. While I have nothing against XP and enjoyed my time using it for many years, I can't for the life of me find any reason to go back to it after having used Vista for about the last year.

Joe, who says they can't find the search bar must be blind or something. The search function in the Vista start menu works as both a search and run command. It's not that hard to rick click on the task bar to get to the menu to customize the start menu anyway. Most people are just too lazy to learn new things, even if they end up being easier and better ways of doing them.

I have found Vista to be more stable and runs smoother with my system configuration than it did with XP. It isn't a huge difference, but it's enough of one for me to be happy with Vista's performance while enjoying it's other advantages.

As for it being plagued with DRM, I'm still yet to really understand what the "Vista is the Broken OS" crowd really mean by that. I have not had a single media file that I wasn't able to play on Vista except for those that came from corrupted sources. Even MP3s ripped from CD in WMP11 play fine on my and anyone elses PC or MP# player. Apple's iTunes on the other hand runs on DRM and is practically broken without it...

The main reason that no cases of Vista were reported in those law suits is because the majority of Vista piracy is done online as there are plenty of versions of it out there that come pre-activated and never run out. Most pirated software also goes to people on budgets, and budget computer systems generally can't run Vista anyway, so pirating XP is the way to go for system builders.

Look Vista lovers, if you don't get it then it only shows how little experience you have, or that you're just a pushover for new technology. Vista sucks because it's a bloated memory hog, a DRM control freak which includes HDCP encryption restrictions, dumbed-down functionality and it's designed to force people to spend more money by including features like DirectX 10 and lie to us saying there's no way it would work in XP.
Sure Vista is plenty fast, but every proper benchmark proves that XP beats it by 10%. And they included a bunch of lame technology like ReadyBoost which they lied it would speed things up, but does the opposite. You don't hear anyone talking about it now do you?
Yah, I've used Vista and they had to dumbdown networking further as well as other components, and they try to impress you with an interface that is just OK. Every usability benchmark proves there's no benefit to upgrading and even the sales pitch was a direct rival to the MacOS, so they were going for the cool-factor rather than improving usability. And what was with the tier levels and pricing models and promises for the $500 ultimate which turned-out to be vaporware. But for me, the number one reason was they were in bed with hardware companies to force people to upgrade their hardware to support this bloated sloth. Who actually believes that people need 2 to 4 GB of RAM and a 15 GB install footprint to run an OS properly? Ridiculous. They never realized that people would actually opt out, so sales plummeted and we now are benefiting from very cheap prices for hardware. The very reason you're getting these great deals is because the Vista-experiment is a failure. All people had to ask was how will upgrading to Vista from XP improve my productivity. When we realized it didn't then what was the point?

I had an evaluation copy of Vista - used it, and uninstalled it. Not for me. At that time the driver availability sucked, and 1GB of memory was just not enough.
Nowadays, the driver availability problem has been solved, although 1GB is still not enough. I went back to XP Pro, because that worked much better for me. It's faster, more reliable, more configurable, and more stable - for me.
Some people like Vista. Me, I'll stay with XP. Choose what you want.

Its because Vista has a lot better anti-piracy mechanics...it can even lock your PC...and that makes it bad?, for me Vista rocks. Just dont use Vista on your old ass pcs...darn it!

I tried out Vista Ultimate x64 quite a while ago now. My verdict: pointless waste of money.

The machine in question was a 2GHz Opteron 146 Skt939 1MB L2, 4 x 512MB DDR400 RAM, 256MB Nvidia 7600GS AGP, 80GB IDE Master and 200GB IDE Slave with a 600W Tagan PSU.

Needless to say, Ubuntu 8.04 LTS AMD64 runs much better on said machine and I'm very happy with it. It feels more like computing should - not least because I now have compatible software!

Everything from the Aero interface (I know it can be switched off) to the way M$ tells me to do things really frustrated me; although things like Compiz are a little gimmicky, it's not obnoxiously in your face like Aero.

Ubuntu doesn't chew up the 600+ MB that Vista did sitting idle and allows me to give that memory over to what I'm trying to do instead. I'm not Vista bashing, I've tried about 10-20 different operating systems and Vista really was the worst.

Ubuntu is computing nirvana.

Someone could offer me a free legal version of windows vista and I would say no thank-you and go home and boot XP with a smile on my face. So if I don't even want a free legal copy of vista why would I even want to steal it?

Bottom line is - Vista is a failure and it is not a matter of if Microsoft will admit it is a matter of when.

I have been using computers professionally since the 1970s. I recently bought a new computer with Vista. My other computers have XP and have used Ubuntu. I am trying to migrate my programs and data from XP. At this point, it will take me weeks. The Vista interface was programmed by a bunch of morons. Downgrading to Vista does not service any business purpose except line the pockets of Gates. Basically, Vista is a total piece of ****.

I built up a $900 PC and installed Vista Premium on it and have had no problems. I do have 4gb of ram however, and it flies. Vista is partitioned with Linux Mint Daryna, and they work together and have had no conflicts. 
My wife has XP with 512mb of ram and it is slower then molasses at -30c.
Ubuntu Feisty is ok but Hardy is still a problem so all is not not rosy on the open market

As somebody pointed out here, this will become a pressing problem. I never seen Vista running (none of my friends or collegues use it), so I can't comment on how it "sucks". But I want to have all computers with same os, aplications, versions. And what if I buy a new computer later this year? I don't want to end up with one computer being configured in a non-standard way. I'm already thinking about buying a few spare copies of XP to remain legit, but what if I need another one and can't "not-steal" it even if I have every desire to pay for it? There won't be many options left..

XP is/was more stable then Vista? Read this forum
http://board.midibuddy.net/showthread.php?t=14189

Vista is to XP like "The Inq" is to ITexaminer

Vista Sucks? I remember when XP came out, the most common response was "XP Sucks" Remember how PC Builders started offering Windows 98 again, because people didn't want XP. Now Vista is out and we have the same scenario. Vista requires more of a computer than XP, just like XP required more than 98. If your machine doesn't run Vista, then you have 2 options; Keep running XP on it, or upgrade/replace your machine and run Vista. Don't bash Microsoft because you don't like Vista, that is your opinion. How many of you so called "Experts" have ever truly used Vista day in and day out for a few weeks? 

ABB is correct Vista is by far the most stable and secure OS on the market. 

Microsoft gives you time to switch OS's, Apple however forces you to switch to the new OS the day it is released. Can you buy a new computer from Apple with 10.4 on it now that 10.5 is out? No you can't.

I recently built a new machine at home, something I do pretty frequently being a PC gamer. I wanted to put Windows Vista on it because several of the newer games required it (Shadowrun, Rainbow 6 Vegas) and/or were greatly benefited by directX 10 (Hellgate London). I already own 2 copies of XP Home and 1 XP Professional, so to buy another XP disk seemed like a waste of money to me. Eventually everyone will move to Vista.

Anyways, I braced myself for the worst. There's a ton of Vista hate on the sites I regularly visit. When I got it installed I immediately saw what most people were complaining about with all the confirmation windows and whatnot. Bummer. Then I Googled it and discovered that all of that could be turned off with TWO checkmark boxes in your system settings. Really people? Is that too much work?

I admit my machine has some heavy hardware in it, but I have to disagree with the people saying Vista runs slow. Vista FLIES on my machine. It's much faster than my Overclocked San Diego XP box sitting right next to it. I know that Vista is RAM intensive, so I have to assume people are trying to run it on their antiquated XP machines with 512 or 1024MB of RAM. If that is the case, yes it will likely be very slow. I would advise those folks to check out the current prices of RAM and then marvel at their own stupidity.

I think Vista is great. It took a bit of time to get used to it but I love how it works. The people who write for this website are extremely biased, it doesn't matter what Microsoft, Nvidia or Intel do, the writers here will bash it and claim it is either a crappy product or something *evil*.... Anyone know of a non-biased replacement for this website?? Maybe somewhere I can get my tech news without all the bullshit?

The reason vista sucks is simply because it's XP + DRM + NEW VISUALS... Microsoft would have had a winner if it was just XP + NEW VISUALS... DRM is the only reason everything is slow and bloated - no one should touch it, it's pure poison.

Well I have nothing against Vista but still like Xp much better. Yes Vista is very pretty and yes I was excited when I managed to buy a copy at a very good price only to discover the problems others mention on here. I switched back to XP simply because my pc only has 1GB of ram and I am too lazy to learn where everything is in the new OS. I know that eventualy I will have no choice and switch but for now why do it? I don't care about the looks since I can make XP look almost as good as Vista.
Why do I have to go out and buy a new pc when there is so much going to land fills or other countries for recycling.
My guess is this article has some good points but needs some refinement.

I was surprised to see all the pro-vista comments...which makes me just assume that MS is paying spooks to convince us that Vista is such a GREAT OS. No matter how much you polish a piece of crap...it will always be a piece of crap. When will MS learn that?

I had to mess with my neighbour's Vista infested Sony lap last night. Struggled to stop it dumping a downloaded document (to wherever it thinks I should be put) instead of where I wanted it -- to the desktop where I could find it immediately. 

This just reminds me too much of using iTunes which seems to break all the rules so that I can never tell what's going to happen next or where any of the music ends up. 

Rightly or wrongly, this is a different kind of computing to what my years of DOS and Win3 and Win95 taught me. I didn't have this problem with XP. 

It's comforting to see that I'm not the only one.

hi, friends, I don't understand why vista is hated. I have vista business 64 BITS ,it is perfect, no crash in two years! most problems with windows comes from the USER. I noticed it while going to private home for fixing what they did wrong. Of course, it is not perfect , but wich system is? bye bye

you simply have to go and look at torrent websites to see that XP is def in more in demand than Vista! you will also find hundreds of XP SP3 cracked copies all having the Vista theme. 

So while people might like some of the visual elements to Vista, they sure as hell dont like the OS. and who blames them, have been working on Vista 64 bit since the gold release came out and i am well aware of how explorer hangs for no apparent reason, how ready boost doesnt boost anything at all, and how it verifies a trillion times while installing something on your pc. 

over all I think Vista is the first release of a new build and new approach to the Windows OS. hopefully Windows 7 will be the better direction for them

I can definitely believe that. As it happens, I was offered me a free copy of Vista and I said "No, thanks." 

Funny story - a PC games magazine here was pushing Vista recently, and they somehow reached the conclusion that everyone should get it - despite the fact that it performed worse than XP in all the benchmarks they printed. A more cynical man might question their integrity.

Dear Sir,

Re: your headline
Bollocks.

regards, Graeme

With *WIndows7* looking to be a repackaged version of the ever-popular VIsta DRM-bloatware, I just wanted to suggest a potentially apt moniker for that product (if and when it is ever shipped):

*Vista7*

Catchy, yes? Figured the Inq might consider this for daily use (as was done previously with the DAMMIT suggestion...).

Vista Ultimate is NO Slouch, yet Server 2008 is better, while Home Server might be answer, ALL Are more Powerful than any other O/S today for Desktop.

People spending even $25 for replacement xp disc are wasting some monies, even with good activation numbers on puter. For almost same buckos' theres version of Vista for You. Just add stuff you need to that.
Drashek

Lets be homest and face the truth.... the reason that Vista is not accepted is that it is far more difficult to crack whereas Windows XP is the most cracked piece of software in existance. In my 9 years of computer engineering, I have only seen about 5-10 % of legit windows XP on systems and they are ones that were pre installed. Soooo.......now people are saying "DAMN, I have to pay for Vista????" and that is why it is not accepted. I have purchased every copy of windows since Win 98, beta tested Vista from day 1 and have been using Vista Home Premium since it was released and Vista is by far the best and most secure and stable operating system that MS has developed. The main focus of difficulties was the hardware requirements that Vista requires. I had one customer that swore up and down that Vista is garbage unstable and slow as molasses. As soon as I put an additional 1GB of DDR2 in his laptop, it runs like snot and he is now a happy user of Vista with no more complaints. I have spent $250 on XP and it lasted me 5 years. I have now spent $299 on vista and it will last me the next 5 years, that is $549 spent on operating systems in 10 years. That is a cheap price to pay for software that lasts that long and not worth the headaches and problems of using cracked versions

I own 3 legit copies of XP-- I went to buy a 4th but found that i was unable to get it anymore. You know what I did? I pirated it because I didn't have a reasonable option. Oh, I also own a legit copy of Vista business (and every windows from 3.0 on and, for some reason, I'm particularly proud of my DOS 4.01 discs)-- I've never pirated an OS before, but what's a boy to do?

Can we please get just one day without the unwarranted Vista bashing? It's tiresome, and it's not clever or funny. Trashing Vista isn't any cooler than referring to Microsoft as M$ or Microshaft, and it doesn't make your site endearing. Stick to provide interesting, timely, informative news and rumors (the reason I still visit your site every day) and drop the "cool kid rebel" attitude.

Your hatred for Vista is really blinding you. nowhere in the article is there any mention of the reason why Vista was not included among the stolen software, by being irrational in your hatred for Vista you might actually push people towards it. Try some objective journalism if this term is not an oxymoron when associated with what you are doing

"None of the resellers were accused of having stolen copies of Windows Vista"

None of them were accused of stealing XP or Office either. I'm actually interested to know if Vista is really not being pirated but that sentence does nothing to clarify.

You might talk of pirating, selling illegitimate copies or copyright violation. Each of those terms would provide information. Unless someone is actually breaking into stores and warehouses and taking the physical media then they are not stealing but you know this already. So your headline and the final sentence say absolutely nothing about illegal copies of Vista. 

My guess is, you probably don't know either and you just included the last bit of yellow journalism to pad out the story.


Vista does suck. I noticed when I install programs it sometimes pauses, then goes, sometimes it goes fast, sometimes it goes smooth but with XP you are confident it always goes fast and smooth. XP seems so fast after using Vista for a day and then going back to XP. One thing I really hate about vista is, you can double click text and highlight a word just like in XP, but then if you double click again you can't highlight the whole sentence like you can in XP and that slows me down. I also noticed there is no convientinet search bar on the start menu like XP has, or a run command. You have to play with it and find where to enable the run command and that should be there by default. Vista really sucks and those are just a couple examples to why I will stay on XP and I think XP could live forever. I remember when XP first came out and I wanted to upgrade from Windows 98 to XP. What was nice about that is I felt I had a choice and wasn't forced to change OS's like MS is trying to do now.

Duh...now there's a no-brainer.