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General discussion

10 Reasons Why 7 Fails Harder than Vista

Dec 8, 2009 11:50PM PST

1. Because of the media fallout after its release, Microsoft had fixed 99% of Vista drivers, so that means pretty much everything will work with your computer, as long as it isn?t pre-historic. Not with Windows 7. Sometimes, even virus protection software that uses driver interfaces in Vista don?t work in Windows 7.

2. Windows Explorer has changed dramatically in 7. Gone are the days of the native, click-and-sort interface for lists of icons, thumbnails, pretty much anything but ?Details? mode. It takes multiple right and left clicks to make icons sort by Name, Date modified, etc, rather than just one click in Vista. Plus, it?s virtually impossible to sort by anything and look at thumbnails (like for images or videos) at the same time.

3. Because of the new, revamped User Access Control system (that many people complained about AND fixed in Vista), compatibility with programs that worked in XP (or even Vista SP2) is spotty, if not impossible. Because of the new UAC self-elevation system, which allows those annoying Security Warning popups to open in the background, old programs coded for Vista now "freak out" when they try to run in 7. This means that UAC can and will freeze without warning, completely unbeknownst to you.

4. ?Libraries? in Windows 7 don?t actually put your files together in 7. For instance, if you think all your files are in your My Documents library, you might be surprised when you arrive at work only to find that half of your files were actually being stored on your external drive at home.

5. Instead of the XP compatibility option in Vista, which provided a native interface to programs that wouldn?t run, you now have to re-install your programs into Windows XP Mode, which is completely separate of your 7 install. Plus, this won?t fix driver compatibility issues since you still need to install them first in 7 before you can use them in XP Mode. Plus, it?s much slower since it requires emulation software like Windows Virtual PC to run.

6. Google Chrome has major compatibility issues, where all of your tabs will close at once randomly, as do Adobe products. If you like using these products, and I suspect you do, beware.

7. Native home network file and printer sharing between your Vista, XP, and Windows 7 computers disappears with the introduction of the HomeGroup, which requires all computers to be installed with Windows 7 for them to communicate with each other.

8. Windows 7 introduces the Black Screen of Death. Blue screens were relatively easy to fix, since they normally occurred when a specific driver failed, and they provided information about what went wrong. Black screens, however, can be caused by virtually anything, and because everything in your computer freezes, there?s virtually no way of troubleshooting what went wrong other than trial-and-error.

9. From my experience with it as a graphic designer who needs to squeeze every available drop of GPU power out of my laptop, Windows Classic mode now uses additional processor time in 7 rather than saving processor power. Since the Aero interface is now coded into 7 instead of run on top of the operating system like in Vista, disabling it requires some sort of workaround and in turn, more processing power. This means if your computer can?t do Aero mode, it probably can?t do anything else in 7.

10. Internet Explorer is now three times slower in 7 than in Vista (according to CNET). But no one uses it anyways because Vista already gave it the Seal of Fail stamp.

Discussion is locked

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So you bought an Apple?
Dec 9, 2009 12:08AM PST

Nice list but let's hear what you are going with today.

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Mostly flawed reasoning...
Dec 9, 2009 12:53AM PST

1.) Microsoft does NOT fix drivers. That is the responsibility of individual hardware manufacturers. Same with Solaris, Ubuntu, Knoppix, OS X, etc.

2.) See the Arrange By option that requires 2 left clicks. Or the right-click then left-click option. Or the command bar's two-click option.

3.) You can disable UAC, as in Vista, and I have not seen or heard of such widespread issues.

4.) You have the option of using Libraries, and the feature has been well received. If you are confused by them, don't use them.

5.) Windows 7 still has the same old Compatibility option. Microsoft just added XP Mode as an alternative when Compatibility Mode is insufficient.

6.) No such major problems here.

7.) HomeGroup is a new feature for Windows 7 users. Just like Libraries, if you don't like it, don't use it. The old networking methods are still fully available.

8.) Black screens have been an occasional occurrence under all versions of Windows. And Linux, for that matter. They're usually caused by faulty third-party software.

9.) Aero is still completely optional; it can be fully disabled for those who don't like it or cannot run it.

10.) I have not found that to be the case, but I know there have been many complaints about IE's performance.

John

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Not exactly...
Dec 9, 2009 6:52AM PST

So everyone knows, I have never been a Mac user and right now I am using a PC that I built and upgraded myself from Vista to 7, and had ample time with both operating systems.

In reply, I want to make the following case:

1) Microsoft nearly promised software manufacturers that drivers that worked with Vista would work with 7, since they are 'based off of the same driver framework' (I am paraphrasing).

2) Two clicks is not the same as one click, especially when you have to infer whether you are in ascending or descending order. Especially when you work with folders containing over 2000 files, it can be a daunting task to find files (especially by Date Modified, when two copies of a document can be literally minutes or hours apart)

3)I work with a university computer department and I can personally attest to many UAC compatibility issues in 7 that weren't around in Vista. Plus, many people don't want to disable UAC, especially since it eliminates UAC's internet security features

4)Why design something that is inherently confusing?

5)Compatibility mode in Windows 7 continues to have UAC issues (even when you set to Run as administrator and Windows XP) as noted in #3 that weren't present in Vista

6) Adobe Flash and Google Chrome 2.0, as noted on the Adobe website, (http://www.adobe.com/products/flashplayer/systemreqs/#os) are NOT compatible with each other in Windows 7. Hence, I've had problems where I'll be running Pandora or YouTube (sometimes even going to pages with Flash ads) and all my tabs will crash without warning or explanation.

7) Windows 7 makes it inherently hard to enable the Private network option without enabling HomeGroup, because if you don't complete the HomeGroup wizard, it most often goes back to the Public network option

Cool If the number of blue screens of death are indicative of black screens of death, just look at this Google Trends graph showing a huge jump in BSODS after October 22nd, 2009 (the Windows 7 release date) http://www.google.com/trends?q=BSOD+windows&ctab=0&geo=all&date=all&sort=0

9)That's true, but disabling Aero no longer makes a significant change in Windows performance, which used to be the case in Vista. I'll post a better picture when I install better benchmarking software to show this difference: http://www.nefferport.com/public_html/yabbfiles/Attachments/aeronoaero_001.png

10) Compare IE8 in Windows 7 to IE7 in Vista. http://cache-foo.gawkerassets.com/gawker/assets/images/17/2009/07/chart_cold_warm_starts.png