C
Clear Windows
Guest
Analyses: Is it game over for Windows Vista?
http://loader.gadgetzone.com.au/Reviews/May-2008/Analyses--Is-it-game-over-for-Windows-Vista-.aspx
By Damian Francis, 5/22/2008 4:14:46 PM
The saviour that was meant to be, Vista Service Pack 1, isn't. In some cases
it's actually a performance decrease for an operating system already
grinding up-to-date PCs to a halt. XP fans (for the most part) are happily
using Service Pack 3, and Windows 7 (formerly known as Blackcomb) is barking
at the gates (or should that be Gates?), ready for an early release in Q3
2009. Windows Vista never stood a chance.
Not much has gone right for Microsoft's fledgling OS. First it was delayed
over three years (initially it was meant to be a stopgap between XP and 7,
but then turned into a fully fledged OS), then stories of incompatible
software and drivers surfaced. Most recently Vista Service Pack 1 was pulled
from Automatic Download. Now that it's back up and running it could very
well be the one and only service pack ever released for the struggling OS.
Microsoft has shot itself in the foot in two ways with regards to Vista.
Firstly, it went ahead with the release of Service Pack 3 for the hugely
popular Windows XP. Secondly, its progress on Windows 7 and its potential
release ahead of schedule has been extensively covered by the media. What
this means is that consumers who were reluctant to switch from a perfectly
reliable XP SP2 to Vista now have no reason to. They have a fresh upgrade in
SP3 that should be able to see them through the roughly 1.5 years until
Windows 7 hits shelves.
No matter what kind of reluctant computer user you are, swapping to Vista
just doesn't make sense anymore. There are a few different perspectives you
can look at it from. It's hard to come up with reasons for broad groups of
computer users, like gamers, business users and home users to migrate to
Vista as well.
Gamers especially should be running for the hills whenever they hear the
word Vista. Yes, it's the only way you can get DirectX 10, but is that
really a big enough carrot to dangle in front of gamers? Not by a long shot.
While DirectX 10 delivers a significant improvement in graphics, Vista
provides a significant drop off in performance, even with SP1. In fact, it's
been proven that installing SP1 could actually make your PC slower. What's
more, over a year after Vista was released, there still isn't a compelling
enough library of games that make good enough use of DirectX 10 to justify
the upgrade (around 20 only if Wikipedia is to be believed). It's no wonder
gaming PC manufacturers like Alienware and NRG by Altech have only just
switched over to supplying their machines with Vista.
Business users are in the same boat. Most important to them is reliability
and security. But Vista isn't any better than XP in either reliability or
security. Most of the security issues with XP were fixed with SP2 and even
more have been fixed with SP3. Any additional problems are more than likely
to have been dealt with by third party tools and applications. Reliability
is a non-contest. XP has a five-year head start. Add to this the fact that
the reason SP1 was pulled from Automatic Download was an issue with
Microsoft's Dynamic RMS software used by small to medium businesses and the
Vista doesn't seem all that welcoming.
Furthermore, business users are well aware of the fact that there are still
plenty of drivers and software that won't play nice with the OS, a
particular problem for small businesses requiring obscure software.
Financially, it wouldn't be a smart idea for them either. The cost of
upgrading an entire company to Windows Vista can't be justified if another
operating system is just around the corner.
Even general home users have no reason to upgrade. This is the group that
doesn't mind using technology that's not at the forefront. They use PCs for
email, music, the Internet and minesweeper. Upgrading from XP to Vista will
likely turn a working PC into a sloth if users have less than 2GB of memory,
and it can become quite costly if they need to upgrade their PC's specs to
handle the transition on top of purchasing the OS.
If they wait a year and a half they'll have a new computer with Windows 7.
And so far the signs are good that Windows 7 will definitely be worth the
wait. Rumours suggest that it will include a completely new user interface,
inbuilt virtualisation to run old software (please let it be true), and an
all-new kernel. The simple fact is Microsoft can't make the same mistakes as
it has with Vista. Those boys and girls at Redmond are smart cookies, even
if they do make the odd slip up (what the hell was Windows Me?), so you can
expect Windows 7 to have learnt from its predecessor's mistakes.
Vista hasn't been a commercial flop though. Since it went on sale in January
2007, Microsoft reports that it has sold over 140 million copies of the
operating system. But as Mark Raby of TG daily pointed out, Vista sales
actually defy consumer demand. If you buy a new computer you get a copy of
Vista, whether you like it or not. The demand for downgrading has been so
strong that HP, Dell, Lenovo, Fujitsu and Gateway, among others, have all
jumped on the downgrade bandwagon. Fujitsu even included an XP disc with
some of the Vista computers. But to downgrade you first need to buy a
computer with a copy of Vista. Game, set, match, Microsoft.
The cat's out of the bag now, you simply don't need Vista. Microsoft could
have kept the gravy train going quite easily by abandoning XP SP3 and/or
concealing its release plans for Windows 7. For some reason Microsoft
decided it would be a good idea to publicise a possible 2009 release for
Windows 7 while giving off mixed signals with XP by halting sales of new
computers with the OS but releasing the SP3 upgrade. Consumers should
probably be thankful for this though. Without SP3 and knowing the release
date for Windows 7 it would have been a safe assumption that Vista would
have a long shelf life, considering the delays and the amount of money that
went into its production. Initially it was earmarked as the next big thing
for Microsoft, indeed the next Windows 95 almost. Instead, Microsoft has
just created Windows Me 2.
Do you think Windows Vista is tops or a flop? Discuss it in our forums.
http://loader.gadgetzone.com.au/Reviews/May-2008/Analyses--Is-it-game-over-for-Windows-Vista-.aspx
By Damian Francis, 5/22/2008 4:14:46 PM
The saviour that was meant to be, Vista Service Pack 1, isn't. In some cases
it's actually a performance decrease for an operating system already
grinding up-to-date PCs to a halt. XP fans (for the most part) are happily
using Service Pack 3, and Windows 7 (formerly known as Blackcomb) is barking
at the gates (or should that be Gates?), ready for an early release in Q3
2009. Windows Vista never stood a chance.
Not much has gone right for Microsoft's fledgling OS. First it was delayed
over three years (initially it was meant to be a stopgap between XP and 7,
but then turned into a fully fledged OS), then stories of incompatible
software and drivers surfaced. Most recently Vista Service Pack 1 was pulled
from Automatic Download. Now that it's back up and running it could very
well be the one and only service pack ever released for the struggling OS.
Microsoft has shot itself in the foot in two ways with regards to Vista.
Firstly, it went ahead with the release of Service Pack 3 for the hugely
popular Windows XP. Secondly, its progress on Windows 7 and its potential
release ahead of schedule has been extensively covered by the media. What
this means is that consumers who were reluctant to switch from a perfectly
reliable XP SP2 to Vista now have no reason to. They have a fresh upgrade in
SP3 that should be able to see them through the roughly 1.5 years until
Windows 7 hits shelves.
No matter what kind of reluctant computer user you are, swapping to Vista
just doesn't make sense anymore. There are a few different perspectives you
can look at it from. It's hard to come up with reasons for broad groups of
computer users, like gamers, business users and home users to migrate to
Vista as well.
Gamers especially should be running for the hills whenever they hear the
word Vista. Yes, it's the only way you can get DirectX 10, but is that
really a big enough carrot to dangle in front of gamers? Not by a long shot.
While DirectX 10 delivers a significant improvement in graphics, Vista
provides a significant drop off in performance, even with SP1. In fact, it's
been proven that installing SP1 could actually make your PC slower. What's
more, over a year after Vista was released, there still isn't a compelling
enough library of games that make good enough use of DirectX 10 to justify
the upgrade (around 20 only if Wikipedia is to be believed). It's no wonder
gaming PC manufacturers like Alienware and NRG by Altech have only just
switched over to supplying their machines with Vista.
Business users are in the same boat. Most important to them is reliability
and security. But Vista isn't any better than XP in either reliability or
security. Most of the security issues with XP were fixed with SP2 and even
more have been fixed with SP3. Any additional problems are more than likely
to have been dealt with by third party tools and applications. Reliability
is a non-contest. XP has a five-year head start. Add to this the fact that
the reason SP1 was pulled from Automatic Download was an issue with
Microsoft's Dynamic RMS software used by small to medium businesses and the
Vista doesn't seem all that welcoming.
Furthermore, business users are well aware of the fact that there are still
plenty of drivers and software that won't play nice with the OS, a
particular problem for small businesses requiring obscure software.
Financially, it wouldn't be a smart idea for them either. The cost of
upgrading an entire company to Windows Vista can't be justified if another
operating system is just around the corner.
Even general home users have no reason to upgrade. This is the group that
doesn't mind using technology that's not at the forefront. They use PCs for
email, music, the Internet and minesweeper. Upgrading from XP to Vista will
likely turn a working PC into a sloth if users have less than 2GB of memory,
and it can become quite costly if they need to upgrade their PC's specs to
handle the transition on top of purchasing the OS.
If they wait a year and a half they'll have a new computer with Windows 7.
And so far the signs are good that Windows 7 will definitely be worth the
wait. Rumours suggest that it will include a completely new user interface,
inbuilt virtualisation to run old software (please let it be true), and an
all-new kernel. The simple fact is Microsoft can't make the same mistakes as
it has with Vista. Those boys and girls at Redmond are smart cookies, even
if they do make the odd slip up (what the hell was Windows Me?), so you can
expect Windows 7 to have learnt from its predecessor's mistakes.
Vista hasn't been a commercial flop though. Since it went on sale in January
2007, Microsoft reports that it has sold over 140 million copies of the
operating system. But as Mark Raby of TG daily pointed out, Vista sales
actually defy consumer demand. If you buy a new computer you get a copy of
Vista, whether you like it or not. The demand for downgrading has been so
strong that HP, Dell, Lenovo, Fujitsu and Gateway, among others, have all
jumped on the downgrade bandwagon. Fujitsu even included an XP disc with
some of the Vista computers. But to downgrade you first need to buy a
computer with a copy of Vista. Game, set, match, Microsoft.
The cat's out of the bag now, you simply don't need Vista. Microsoft could
have kept the gravy train going quite easily by abandoning XP SP3 and/or
concealing its release plans for Windows 7. For some reason Microsoft
decided it would be a good idea to publicise a possible 2009 release for
Windows 7 while giving off mixed signals with XP by halting sales of new
computers with the OS but releasing the SP3 upgrade. Consumers should
probably be thankful for this though. Without SP3 and knowing the release
date for Windows 7 it would have been a safe assumption that Vista would
have a long shelf life, considering the delays and the amount of money that
went into its production. Initially it was earmarked as the next big thing
for Microsoft, indeed the next Windows 95 almost. Instead, Microsoft has
just created Windows Me 2.
Do you think Windows Vista is tops or a flop? Discuss it in our forums.