[has any Microsoft product ever gotten reviews as bad as Vista has?]
......................
Well, yes, to a point.
Windows ME, to cite a loathed example from the ancient past, was routinely savaged.
However...
What sets Vista griping apart from previous complaint fests is the fact that Vista is the successor to Windows XP, an operating system people have grown to love (or, at least, learn to work with).
I'm a Linux geek but even I must admit that as of service pack 2 - and with some tender loving care - I've been able to get a lot done with my XP Professional loaded Dell laptop, an Inspiron 6000d. This computer has been a solid work and entertainment platform. I prefer my Ubuntu rig -- a Lenovo - but XP Pro is all right.
Now enter Vista.
>From the early adopters in my life, I'm receiving
complaints of peripherals that aren't properly
recognized, of annoying software quirks - even when
MSFT software, such as Office 2003, is being used - of
all sorts of obstacles to simply using the computer as
a tool to get things done.
The CEO of the company I work for recently dropped me an email with the subject line "Damnit Monroe, You Were Right!" in which he described all the things that aren't working - things he needs to do his high tech, CEO gig. He has a lovely new laptop - all loaded up with Vista Ultimate (the premium version of the OS). Camera? Not recognized. Scanner? Not recognized. Security pop ups? Plenty.
And so on.
In response to this justified kvetching, Windows evangelists work themselves into a froth and say: "patience, patience, young ones: these bugs will be worked out, the drivers will come...eventually." Of course they're forgetting that a.) practically everything worked out of the box with XP, even before the first service pack was issued and b.) if the computer isn't helping you get your computer-based work done, it's just an expensive space heater and lamp.
So the 24/7 hate Vista is receiving from some surprising quarters is due, I think, to the fact that people are no longer in a 'gee whiz' mood about computers: it needs to work and it needs to work now. If your alleged new hotness takes me from a working state - in which I can build massive spreadsheets even as I download podcasts - to a hobbled state I'm going to be less than pleased.
This is the situation many Vista users now find themselves in. To put it another way, MSFT is competing against earlier versions of their product - not a good situation for Redmond.
In related news...
Long time Windows enthusiast Chris Pirillo discusses his own Vista drama:
Pirillo writes:
I'm really starting to get pissed off with the distributed lynch mob that's forming around my recent decision to drop VIsta for XP. Now, the saddest part of this is - I'm not pissed off at the people telling me to switch to OS X, I'm really pissed off at the people who are blaming me for Vista's shortcomings. Witness Ed Bott's jabs:
It's vintage agitprop from Chris
Hey, Ed? How much money did you make from your book, "Windows Vista Inside Out?" No, seriously - let's talk about full disclosure here. If you honestly believe that I'm the only Windows enthusiast who thinks the way I do, think again. Moreover, since going public with my decision and reasoning, I've received at least THREE separate emails from WIndows community leaders who have also decided to work regularly inside XP (in some capacity) rather than stick it out with Vista.
[...]
Link
<http://chris.pirillo.com/2007/02/27/where-windows-pundits-went-wrong/>
A fun read.
.d.