On Sat, 11 Aug 2007 14:05:40 -0700, Malke wrote:
> Richard Rasker wrote:
>
> (snippage)
>
>> Is this a known problem? Is there indeed hardware for which there are
>> no XP drivers? If so, then at least I know what to tell my customers,
>> and advise them to steer clear of Vista altogether, preinstalled or
>> not.
>
> As a long-time Linux user (which I am also), you should know that there
> is nothing unusual in drivers not being written for a particular
> operating system.
The trouble is that these people I'm referring to bought their Vista
machines under the presumption (and sometimes even the seller's
guarantee) that they could always switch to XP if Vista didn't work for
them. They heard the bad press about Vista, and actually didn't really
feel like buying a Vista machine, but hey, it was almost the only OS on
offer with new machines a few months ago, and of course salespeople said
that all those tales of woe were mere incidents. So they got a Vista
machine anyway.
And now it turns out that quite a number of people have major trouble
with Vista. From what I see around me, the number could be as high as 50%
of all new Vista users. A significant number of those people could not
get XP installed on their brand new machines.
OK, as a Linux user I know all about drivers being made for one OS only
-- and it's a major nuisance. But at least the OSes for which most
drivers were made (XP, W2k, W98) were relatively mature products; also, I
rarely came across "XP-only" drivers, if ever. Even today, every piece of
hardware I buy comes with drivers for XP, W2k, Me, and more often than
not W98 as well.
But here it seems that lots of people are stuck with hardware they can
only use with this beta-software called Vista, and thus they have no real
choice: use Vista, whether they like it or not, or shell out major cash
for yet another new machine. Great. Each and every one of these people
doesn't want to use Vista any more, simply because it doesn't work for
them -- but they feel they have no choice in the matter.
And oh yes, of course I advised them to go back to the store with their
problems, and most did. But that didn't really bring any solution. Sure,
they could try and consult a more "professional" computer service to sort
out their problems with Vista, but that's of course throwing good money
after bad money. Several people had actually spent hundreds of dollars
already on more RAM (to speed things up), a spiffier video card (for
same), and new, "Vista ready" software. But they were still faced with
showstoppers such as all kinds of favourite software and drivers for very
common devices being incompatible, or causing major trouble (antivirus
products appear notorious).
> As for the rest of your post, I can't really address it because blanket
> advice as to what operating system a client should use rarely works. It
> is far better to explain the pros and cons of using a specific operating
> system to the client and helping them choose the right one based on
> *their* needs.
These people need working computers, with the software they prefer, like,
or are familiar with. And from what I see and hear, "choosing" Vista is
not a good choice at all -- the problem being that in most retail chains,
you get no choice. It's Vista or nothing.
Can you please give *one* reason why someone would be better off buying a
Vista machine than an XP machine? I can't come up with a single reason.
There's nothing you can do with a Vista machine that you can't do equally
well (and in most cases even better and faster) with an XP machine.
I can, however, come up with lots of reasons to stay away from Vista,
this ridiculous driver problem being just one.
OK, I'm not really impartial -- I had a Vista machine at my disposal for
a few weeks (borrowed from someone who already said that buying it "was a
mistake" -- and also one of those people who couldn't get XP running on
it); it's been one of the most horrible computing experiences in my
life, and one that I would not to repeat for even a thousand dollars.
Incompatible this, unavailable that, endless stupid UAC popups, the
machine slowing to a crawl at the dro pof a hat, for no apparent reason
at all, crashes ... the list is endless. Also, there is no-one in my
vicinity who has actually managed to use it trouble-free for more than a
few weeks.
So I wouldn't touch it again with a ten foot pole, and I think that's
what I'll advise anyone who asks me about it. Get Linux if you don't
really need Windows, or demand XP otherwise.
Then again, there might be millions of happy Vista users we never hear
from, but if what I see around me is anything to go by, there may be an
equal number of people who *do* have serious problems, and I don't find
that acceptable. The number of problem reports and complaints alone are
an alarming indication that this OS should never have been shoved out on
the market.
Richard Rasker
--
http://www.linetec.nl/
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