Vista: Not Ready For Prime Time?

[BoulderBum]

Out of curiosity, what is everyone's first impression of the new OS? I installed it around the release date and I have to say I'm rather unimpressed so far with the OS's quirks.

The "Vongo" application promoted as part of the Media Center only works half the time, the game Ghost Recon frequently crashes in Vista, I had to get beta drivers for my sound card because the SoundBlaster folks didn't make a release version yet, my NAS stopped working because of the new NTLMv2 authentication, I get blue screens for the first time since I owned my computer (which may be more to do with hardware upgrades than Vista software) and, this is the part that really burns me, half of the Microsoft software I run is unsupported in the Vista environment by Microsoft! Visual Studio 2005 requires a beta patch to run, SQL Server 2005 requires a CTP patch, my Microsoft fingerprint reader doesn't have software for the x64 edition, etc., etc.

The new features of Vista are cool and all, but I really don't think Vista was ready for an official release!

Has anyone else had similar headaches?

MCP, MCTS - .NET Framework 2.0 Web Applications

 

[linney]

Is that what they mean by the "WOW" effect?

Give it time, I'm sure it's been the same with any new operating system released. As long as your machine and equipment is relatively modern, drivers or software updates will be eventually distributed by the various manufacturers.

Even if Microsoft had waited longer to release Vista, these same type of teething problems would have probably surfaced. Perhaps it's their intention to "get it out there" so that the faults and problems can be fixed ASAP. I hope so anyway.

 

[Sympology]

XP was excatly the same, had problems with soundcard and video card if I remember.
You do have to feel sorry for MS. People blame them for 3rd parties hardware not working. Let's face it, if you had to wait for millions of drivers to be done, as and when the developers decide, it would of never been released.
It should be thorwn around.
Why haven't the manufacturers realised up to date drivers/
Granted when it comes to SQL and Office etc, well, that is MS' fault.

Stu..

Only the truly stupid believe they know everything.
Stu.. 2004

 

[dkediger]

...doesn't have software for the x64 edition...

I would surmise this, in combination with Vista, is likely the issue. You're in a perfect storm of tech upheaval, and yeah, you could say in that respect its not ready for prime time.

But, as Stu says, someone (Microsoft) has to go first and prime the pump. My experience (x32 Vista Business) has been a non-issue, even with a 2 year old Compaq Evo business desktop. I only had to bump the RAM and add a video card to get full Aero.

How thourough was the Vista Upgrade Advisor in identifying potential problems with Ghost Recon, your Sound Blaster, and your NAS? In my experiences so far, its been pretty thourough, even extra conservative, in identifying potential issues to look into.

This is loads better than the move from DOS to Win 3.x/Win '9x. The jump to NT will likely take the Incompatability Sweepstakes for years to come.

 

[wolluf]

My own plans now on back burner (apart from anything else, my free beta tester copy won't activate now - after wipe and reinstall when I ran into various problems - waiting for a replay on that!) as several apps I run need beta/evaluation/new versions for Vista. I'll wait awhile.

Also have had one support call on vista machine so far - old guy whose daughter had bought him new machine. His ADSL modem, printer and scanner wouldn't work. Did some searching - Adsl modem drivers promised for next month - managed to find a workround on another forum using 64 bit XP drivers for that (took a while!). Scanner won't be getting drivers at all (this happened to us with XP too). Printer is HP and they've got instructions as to which alternate driver included in vista to use. So after over three hours, he had internet and printing. Suppose this is good - more business for me! But it doesn't feel like that.

 

[BoulderBum]

You do have to feel sorry for MS. People blame them for 3rd parties hardware not working.

True, though to some degree I think they should be waiting on and actively working with parters for wide driver support before releasing an OS.

What I'm more irritated about is how many bugs there are in the OS (task bar disappearing when a program crashes, etc.) and how little support there is for Microsoft-produced hardware and software, especially Visual Studio and SQL Server.

Don't get me wrong, Vista is pretty amazing in many respects. The Vista installer was amazing, instantly recognizing and installing drivers for my graphics card, SATA drive, TV tuner, etc.

I also like that a search for files now takes a second instead of 10 minutes!

There's a lot of potential and general coolness, but the OS still seems a little rough around the edges.

MCP, MCTS - .NET Framework 2.0 Web Applications

 

[linney]

Wolluf,

Your warning is all the more reason why an Image backup of the fresh install (post Activation) is an extra insurance policy.

Hope you get it fixed.

 

[royalmail]

I have been running it for the last few weeks now.

I can forgive third parties for not being up to speed, and Apple's approach is rather predictable, but the fact that most first party software isn't compatible is pretty inexcusable.

I currently have to chop and change between an XP box and my Vista box in order to do my job.

 

[dilettante]

Microsoft has a pretty long and pretty open beta, RC, and preview program. Yet I still find software developers suggesting that it's too early to worry about Vista issues.

I imagine a lot of hardware makers have taken the same path with drivers and support.

 

[dilettante]

Er... "has had" not "has" above.