A Look Back At How Vista Was

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Could Microsoft be the next IBM?
Back in November, I wrote about how disappointed I was with both Internet Explorer 7 and Office 2007. I wondered if Microsoft was coming to the end of its reign as the 800-pound gorilla of the computing world.

Since then, I've had a chance to put Windows Vista through its paces. If anything would help the kids in Redmond stay on top, it was this.

And I can say confidently that it's not yet ready for primetime.

Yes, it's pretty, and yes it has some nice new features, but they're nothing gotta-have spectacular. Further, Windows XP works very well, but we live in a society that thinks we need to constantly upgrade our stuff.

With Vista, I think the pressure to upgrade overwhelmed the testing process. Too many things are going wrong.

I tend to push an operating system, mostly because I like to customize things and I'm willing to dive into the innards to do that. And sometimes that causes problems if I tweak the wrong thing.

But Vista's problems started almost immediately after I upgraded, before I did any tinkering. What's more, I saw that others were having all the same troubles.

Bumps in the road ahead

First came the little things.

I had been warned ahead of time that some of my software would suddenly report that it needed to be activated, which turned out to be the case. That wasn't too bad; I just dug up my various serial numbers.

And although I have nothing to sync, Vista's Sync Center insists on putting an icon on my Start bar's notification area. Worse, I couldn't even start it; clicking "Open Sync Center" did nothing. The icon just sat there, taking up space.

Then the real problems started. When I opened a folder that contained both pictures and video files, Windows Explorer crashed. I had to wait several seconds for it to reload, at which point all my desktop icons were rearranged. Turns out it's a problem with how Vista tries to create thumbnail of videos.

Then I discovered that Vista would not allow Firefox to be my default browser no matter how hard I insisted. I even turned off Internet Explorer through the Default Programs control. Still, any link I clicked in an e-mail message would open in IE, while Firefox confidently told me it was set as my default browser.

I finally fixed this by not only disabling IE through Default Programs, but by delving into Vista's Registry and manually changing some keys, replacing IE with Firefox. (If you don't know about editing the Registry, don't worry it's not something for the casual user.)

It worked, but there is no way I should have to resort to editing the Registry to use Firefox the way I wanted to.

But that was nothing compared to what happened next.

Loop-d-loops

I was trying to set up a daily backup, simply copying all my stuff from one hard drive to a second one, without any kind of compression.

Vista stores all my documents and settings in a single folder called /users/AK. So all I had to do was back up that entire folder.

I tried Microsoft's own (and excellent) RoboCopy tool. It gave me an error. I tried 2BrightSparks's (also excellent) SyncBack. Another error. I tried a neat one I found called Karen's Replicator. Ditto.

All three had the same problem: A path was too long. I apparently had too many nested folders.

I looked more closely and found the problem. They were all trying to back up C:\users\AK\Application Data \Application Data \Application Data \Application Data and so on, ad infinitum.

Huh?

I Googled and found the answer. Vista stores its application data in a folder called AppData. Previous version of Windows used \Local Settings\Application Data.

To make sure old programs can find the new folder, Microsoft added hidden files called "junctions." If a program tries to access "Application Data" path, the junction sends it to "AppData."

I had run into an infinite loop. The Application Data folder redirected the software to the AppData folder, where somehow there was some reference back to Application Data. It looped forever.

The only way to fix a screwy junction was by using one of a handful of obscure programs some obscure programmers have created, all of which warn you, essentially, not to use them. Ironic, but true. Still, I messed and removed the troublesome hidden file and my backup software started working.

Other problems ranged from the mildly annoying (there's no simple way to remove items from the "New" context menu) to the absolutely frustrating.

In that latter category is the latest bugaboo: Photoshop suddenly decided to stop working. It told me "an error has been detected with a required application library" and refused to run. No amount of coaxing would change things, and neither running the program as Administrator nor reinstalling helped.

Finally, after much searching, I found the only solution that worked: I got Vista to reveal its hidden Administrator account, which I logged into. Now Photoshop works. So I moved all my stuff and now I log in as Administrator. I'm not supposed to it's a security risk but it's that or do without Photoshop.

Even as Administrator, minor problems persist. Shortcuts to search folders cause Windows Explorer to crash. Photo Gallery doesn't rotate images properly. In short, unlike with XP, when I sit down I'm never 100% sure things are going to work properly.

If someone out there feels like spotting me the cash for a 20-inch, 2.33-GHz iMac and Photoshop, I'd be grateful.

Andrew Kantor is a technology writer, pundit, and know-it-all who covers technology for the Roanoke Times. He's also a former editor for PC Magazine and Internet World. Read more of his work at kantor.com. His column appears Fridays on USATODAY.com.

This was an article written quite some time ago but have you noticed that a lot of the problems still persist, much of the crashing seems to of gone but it's really funny to me to see how much of this still rings true even after so many 'fixes' and 'updates' majority of almost all my games, even dx10 ones run slower on vista than they do on xp, despite my vista having a RAID0 and xp just an old IDE. It's probably different for others out there,b ut i sincerely hope this SP1 update REALLY fixes the problem. I'd love to use vista full time, if only it worked as well as my XP.

Forgive me for the self-reply but instead of making a new topic, I figured i'd post this bit, which for me, not a single thing has changed here, there's still a massive problem with support for Vista from pre-existing companies, even big firewall companies STILL don't have support for many.

Partners Report 10 Annoying Vista Problems As Conflicts Dampen Debut
CRN logo By Paula Rooney, CMP Channel
5:44 PM EST Fri. Feb. 16, 2007
Partners are annoyed by the abundance of software and hardware incompatibilities surfacing as Windows Vista is deployed to more early adopters.

The Redmond, Wash., software giant launched Vista and a companion update called Windows Vista Application Compatibility Update to the market on Jan 30.

That update, KB929427, handles some of the more problematic application incompatibilities, but the nightmare is far from over, partners say.

It's typical for these conflicts to appear shortly after an operating system is released. The big problem with Vista is not only the number of incompatibilities with existing applications but also the lack of drivers for critical hardware components and hardware peripherals, partners say.

One partner said he is surprised by the lack of Vista drivers available for basic hardware components that keep a PC running.

"Customers upgrading Vista in place may find getting support for existing hardware very challenging," said Phil Aldrich, North American Microsoft Practice Manager for Dimension Data North America, a $3.1 billion solution provider.

"Tons of vendors haven't done Vista drivers and that's left a big hole in support. I can understand when it comes to printers and scanners, but when we're talking about hard drives, chipset controllers and video cards, things that run the PC, it's surprising," he said. "It's not just peripherals but primary component manufacturers aren't ready, and that unusual compared to the previous releases [of Windows]."

According to various solution providers contacted by CRN, here are the 10 biggest problems faced by early adopters of Vista out of the gate:

1. Lack of available drivers from ISVs causing application conflicts;

2. Lack of available drivers for existing and new peripherals and hardware components;

3. Buggy drivers;

4. New security feature often flags existing applications as suspicious and interrupts service;

5. Few applications aside from Vista and Office 2007 take advantage of user account control;

6. Customers are confused by Office 2007's ribbon-like user interface;

7. The OS automatically recommends which Vista versions is best for each PC's configuration. This will cause small businesses to download different versions of Vista;

8. Benefits of Vista and Office 2007 running together are not obvious. Partners and IT staff need training for maximum ROI;

9. Deployment isn't easy. Partners should use either Business Desktop Deployment tool, "lite" BDD no-charge tool or other tools;

10. Hardware doesn't run Windows Vista well.

Some speculate hardware and software manufacturers have invested little in updating their current products because they expect most customers will buy a new and associated products to run Vista.

Aldrich maintains, however, that many installed PCs are properly equipped to handle Vista and Office 2007 and the idea that customers must buy new PCs is a myth.

Partners and IT pros are also facing problems with peripherals.

"There's not enough drivers out there. Peripherals manufacturers are not all up to speed with Vista, so be careful what you buy," said Anthony Rodio, chief marketing officer at Supportsoft, a Redwood City, Calif., partner that provides helpdesk support for Windows Vista to enterprises and consumers. "People want to use the functionality in Vista and there are some multimedia, video and sound devices that support Vista, but many peripherals have to catch up."

He noted, for example, that Microsoft's own recently released Zune is not Vista compatible. And he added that one of his technicians recently bought an up-to-date webcam for Windows Vista and it didn't work.

The lack of available Vista drivers for existing software applications is a nightmare, partners say. They don't understand why Microsoft and its ISVs have dragged their feet for so long in developing drivers for existing applications.

The Windows Vista Application Compatibility Update is a package of updates released on Jan. 30 that fixes application compatibility issues with applications like Adobe Photoshop, AVG AntiSpyware, Google Desktop 4 and Roxio Easy Media Creator 7.,5.

But that Vista patch introduced problems with another version of Roxio one partner is using. He reported it to Microsoft but it hasn't been resolved yet.

"So many things just don't work and won't ever work and that's the problem," said Brian Bergin, president of Terabyte Computer, Boone, N.C. "Smartphones, fingerprint scanners, video drivers and both ATI and nVidia's [cards] are questionable at best, not to mention [that] many business applications don't work. Microsoft did such a horrible job of working with vendors on legacy XP-Windows 2000 application-hardware compatibility that everything is up in the air."

One of the beauties of Vista is the added security, but in order to use it, you must have updated hardware and drivers for applications," said Aldrich. "And none of the large ISVs have done it."

New security features in Vista are compounding the incompatibility issues, Supportsoft's Rodio said.

"Windows security is nice, but it may interrupt some existing applications you are running, like a travel service or something that Microsoft flags as spyware and interrupts," Rodio added. "It will likely disrupt stuff you've done in the past."

Incompatibilities dominate the list of most common complaints registered against Windows Vista since it shipped on Jan. 30, say several partners who support consumers and SMB and enterprise customers.

Many ISVs have pledged to release Vista drivers in the second half of 2007 but partners should expect a flood of support calls for customers who deploy this year, experts say.

Paul DeGroot, an analyst with Directions on Microsoft, a newsletter in Kirkland, Wash., said it's not surprising to him that hardware manufacturers are not investing in new Vista drivers for older hardware.

Although some maintain that Vista runs happily on a Pentium 4 with at least 512 megabytes of RAM, he and others expect most customers will migrate to Vista through new PC purchases.

"I'm guessing that most of the hardware manufacturers will initially ship drivers for Vista only for new products that they're shipping about now because there wasn't demand in the marketplace for Vista drivers. In addition, Vista will be heavily related to OEM sales, and the OEMs may be selling compatible accessories with new PCs, so the aftermarket business will see less Vista-specific traffic.

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[tricky77puzzle 0]

I haven't heard of the Firefox problem. It's exactly the opposite for me. Whenever Messenger opens a link in IE7, it automatically redirects the request to Firefox.If Vista is this bad, I'd hate to see what Windows 7 is like.

[rayzoredge 2]

Articles like these keep me away from even wasting the time to try out Vista.I just get online and badmouth about it thanks to these articles. It would be smart to have some sort of XP-driver emulation within Vista to get hardware devices working... and of course, it has to be done well to prevent the slow speeds that improper-emulation is infamous for.A lot of the things that Microsoft thought up with Vista are good ideas... but of course, anything good in theory isn't worth salt if it doesn't work in practice.I hate how Office 2007 changes backwards-compatibility with the new .***x extensions. Not to mention that a friend of mine is still confused as to how 2007 is "catered to be easier, convenient, etc." How would it work better with Vista than with XP?I'm wondering why Mac OS X apparently blows away Windows in terms of utilizing hardware and performance. It definitely wins here compared to Vista, which is a resource hog. Someone's going to have to pull their head out of their *bottom* to actually program a kernel that utilizes the power of the PC efficiently... but with yet another article I read on how Microsoft gets things done, I don't even see how anything is possible over at M$.