Windows Vista Bugs

i have 3 HP Pavillians and 1 Invent and all work with Vista. I also have a HP Photosmart printer that has no problems with Vista.

This guys remarks are 100% on the money. You can't blame Microsoft for other companies inadequacies.

...then customers would have a choice. When I get a new computer, I don't simultaneously go out and buy all new versions of all my software: I use my old software.

If I was buying a new computer today, it would come with a Vista license.

Am I legally entitled to use XP Home if I want, so my software will run?

I could I suppose buy an off-the-shelf XP license for hundreds of dollars more.

So, Microsoft gets the "virus" that is new versions of software into the market with critical mass, so eventually everybody upgrades.

XP was a significant improvement technically from 98SE, and significant usability improvement from both 98 and Win2K.

Windows Vista doesn't really offer me too much in that regard, but I bought a license anyway for the eventual, inevitabe upgrade: one day, there will be a killer app for Vista that I'll want, but hopefully by then, my favourite apps will have Vista compatible versions.

You are right,it's not Microsoft's job to supply drivers for third party software to make it compatible with Vista. All the software makers and hardware as well should have been doing their homework while Vista was in beta stage. If they want to drag their butts, stop using their software/harware and make purchase's from manufacutres that actually got off their asses and worked with Vista to make their software/hardware compatible. Vista so far is an excellent OS and microsoft has done thier job, dont expect them to do the job of tird party manufacutures.

I agree with the thought that these others vendors have had months to develop suitable drivers and have failed in their "support" of their customers. M/S has given interested parties information on their new system, so these other companies have no excuse for not properly "support"ing their products. HP openly lies o its customers when it states that their products are Vista compatible. What IS happening is that they use work arounds to give a modecum of utility but not totally functionality. I have a 7410 and even until today I cannot get drivers for it.

There are those who would blame Microsoft for everything, including bad weather! Few of us are forced to go with Vista. My scanner manufacturer has refused to release drivers for Vista. Before that, I had a scanner that refused to upgrade to XP. Face it, the hardware manufacturers just want to sell new products. Both the manufacturers and software writers have had plenty of time to write patches.

Microsoft should not act as if it operates in a vacuum. Every vendor cannot play catch up every time Microsoft decides to change or tweak operating systems. There is a large mass of software and devices out there that should not need upgrading if Microsoft focused on making compatibility issues inherent in its design.

u're foolish to say that only microsoft is to blame. What the hell on earth were HP was doing during beta testing of Vista. Having a bug problem would've been an different issue.

I agree. I had the same problem with HP when I switched to Windows XP. I couldn't use printers nor scanners. HP was no help. The drivers I downloaded were no help. I ended up purchasing new hardware to resolve the issues because I couldn't let my business go into the toilet while trying to resolve the issues with HP.

In the long run, it will be a Windows problem because people won't upgrade (I know I won't and I could have upgraded for free) because of the lack of compatibility.

I have stopped purchasing HP products due to their lack of support and because their CS reps neither undersatnd me nor I them.

This driver fiasco is the big reason I'm not switching to Vista anytime soon. How many thousands of people are willing to fight this battle one more time? Remember when Microsoft said Win 2K drivers would make everything compatible from that point forward? Pretty good thru XP releases. But I like millions of others have thousands of dollars in peripherals tied up and no Vista drivers in sight. Further, if you have peripherals 2 or 3 years old, fat chance of seeing drivers for Vista anytime soon. I'm not willing to buy all new fax machines, scanners, etc., to accomodate Vista driver requirments. Cannot see why Microsoft could not have built a "compatability mode" for this slightly older drivers. I'll be with Win2K and XP and enjoy the lower memory requirmenets and faster performance these OS's offer.

If I am not mistaken, Vista is version NT 6, a complete re-write of the op system - even the kernel! Of course drivers are going to be incompatible. Windows XP and 2003 (NT 5.1 and 5.2 respectively) are based on the foundation of Windows 2000 (as MS proudly announces in the tour ) and so obviously Win2k drivers are going to work on XP and 2003, and I can sure as hell verify that!

But yea, I will continue to use XP and 2000 (not to mention my many older Windows in Virtual Machines) for a good while yet.

When you say compatibility mode do you mean a VM Application Layer like the Java VM or that Classic thingy in Mac OS X? Or, hehe, the "supposed" compatibility mode in XP..

It would be handy yea, and Microsoft could steal Apple's idea and have you provide Win2k files to essentially power the virtual machine. I'd like to see that in fact.

When Windows X P replaced Win 98 It was a Vast improvement INCLUDING COMPATIBILITY and software Drivers. MANY times after installing X P You dont even need them motherboard CD for peripherals such as sound and Video!! X P had added tons of DRIVERS which windows would search for and install for you.( for NEW hardware / software) !!!! So What happened with VISTA?? Did M S Get LAZY?? Why release and SELL a product to The Public that is INFERIOR to your previous O S??. Obviously M S wants to Lose customers.. Im Sure MAC and LINUX will be Greatful. I wouldnt have VISTA ona POPSICLE stick If They gave It to me FREE!! Not Only are There TOO MANY Incompatibility issues with software programs. There are BUGS ..And Not The least to mention. VISTA Is a H U G E RESOURCE > H O G...It is Never going to Operate Properly much less PERFORM on anything OTHER than a "State of the ART" (NEW Machine)..It Needs ( to perform at acceptable level) at least 2 gigs of DDR memory >> 4 is BETTER !!! It also needs T H E fastest Processor Your Motherboard can take!! So Keep in Mind IF You are thinking of "UPGRADING" From ANYTHING to VISTA?? You will be UPGRADING W A Y More Than just Your O S !!!And THEN You will stil have the BUGS and Incompatibilities! Y O U Cannot Blame ANYONE B U T Microsoft and Bill Gates for any and all of these issues!! I F Toyota made and sold their cars in such a manner?? Do You think That the Big 3 Auto makers would be worrying about sales?? Is It the 3rd party and hardware manufacturers fault That MICROSOFT Built an
E D S E L ?? I Think N O T.. It will be a "COLD Day In HELL", before VISTA goes On one Of my P C'S !! Or at least a very long time?? Like when Bill and M S pull their heads out of ???? The sand !

The problem for me as a consumer is with Microsoft for one reason; The Vista Advisor gave me flying colors before I plucked down the money and made the purchase. The advisor did not discourage me from upgrading at this time for any reason. No reference to incompatible drivers or software on my system that would make an upgrade during the first few months problematic. So I took the step to upgrade a machine that was working well, to one that is now turned off. The investment of time on the phone with the third-party vendors should have been part of the Microsoft pre-launch process. I did not know that it would be part of the wonderful new Vista experience.

The WUA was designed to give one a fair idea about the hardware and software capatibility with Vista in their computer, whether it met the general requirement for the upgrade. The tool was never created to detect old or out-dated drivers running hardware, which would have been a daunting task!

Many users didn't use WUA or they didn't make certain their hard drives had enough free space, or they didn't make certain they were running the NTFS file format, not FAT32. Nor did they update their copy of WinXP prior to upgrade, or they didn't (and probably most didn't know to do this) update the drivers in their computer - a free scan was possible at www.driveragent.com, which could point out which ones needed updating before they did the upgrade. And there were those who didn't know to disconnect any hardware that might be causing problems. People are people. Some where smart about their upgrade, some where clueless.

Vista is Microsoft's most complicated OS to date. It requires much more knowledge from the end user, which is really necessary just to get the average person to understand how important certain tasks are, such as simply doing backups or using security features. It would be nice I suppose if we could just all get in our cars and let it do everything, but we can't. Such devices still require that we understand how to steer it, how to stop, when it needs oil and maintanence, new tires, etc, etc. The modern computer is the same. When a user doesn't want to make any effort to understand his computer, he is simply asking for trouble, for when it comes he will have no clue how to deal with it.

And to be on topic, third-party vendors are absolutely the problem here - not Microsoft nor the Windows Upgrade Advisor they created. Third-party vendors sat on their butts and now must play catch-up. Some vendors think the least they can is the best they can do - that's no way to keep their business healthy. Seems many of them must of been thinking that Vista would not sell very well. Vista went through several beta versions and was available to vendors for a very long time. Blame the third-party laggards here, NOT Microsoft!

The MAC marketing guys should look at this Forum. Every argument defending MSFT is another argument for switching to MAC. Since when should a PC user have to have CompSci degree just to print a page or view a picture?

I finally got it! Microsoft are expected to be perfect while mistakes made by Apple are looked over. Its not right, and it shows the childish behaviour of many people on this earth.

So when Microsoft are not perfect, which, they usually arent, people just use it as a weapon against them. Think: If Apple were the Microsoft of today, everyone would hate THEM and THEIR OS would be the supposed crashy and cheap that people attribute to Windows. I actually find Windows is fine, to be honest. Sure, Malware cant get into the house if there's no door, but if you dont go looking for the malware, it is unlikely to find you.

PCs have all been at war with each other over low price and higher and higher performance (of course they need higher performance to run all that extra code). I think, as a PC user who was forced to use a corporate system instead of my Mac, that Microsoft could have brought out a system that was ready to go with the major vendors. Please, let's not say Mac and PCs are the same anymore. Apple has not been referred to as predatory in their system upgrades or new OS; pricey, but not predatory. Microsoft charges what they want, does what they want,and the PC users just put up with it because they live in the Microsoft universe and don't realize that with a Mac they don't have to put up with this. Yes, both Mac OS and Windows are now complicated because we expect so much from our computers (mobility, scanning, printing, security, speed, powerful). But when I've called Apple on one of their products, I don't get the "you'll have to call the vendor" crap. They usually stand behind their product and closely control the standards. Not so with PCs-- MS has gotten you to all believe that you can blame the vendors--- while Microsoft collects all the money for products that just are never ready for us to use. Wasting our time while they charge what they want--see why I used the word predatory?

I hate having to reformat once a year due to spyware and other bad things. I have been a Mac user for 8 years, and recently became aquainted with Linux. I see no need ever to have to deal with microsoft again.

As for this whole 3rd party responsibility, why would microsoft care? They dont have to write the drivers, because they are not microsoft products needing the drivers. As for Apple, all updates come in nice little packages that come in the Software Update.

People are just not willing to change. Apple is a bit to get used to if you only have used windows. Linux, well, is only for the dedicated but is great once you know how to use it. take some time and switch people. you will be glad you did

You wouldn't have to reformat your machine every year. Eight years of Mac use, eight years of reformats? That's the worst Mac experience I've ever heard of.

If you switch to Linux, perhaps you will be as successful?

I think he meant that Windows needs to be reformatted every year or so and in eight years he has never done it on a Mac.

I have been using Macs since 1984 and only remember reformatting once and that was because I did something stupid to currupt the drive.

Just so YOU know, I know what he meant, and I see what he wrote.

And I have never had to reformat my own hard drive due to spyware, etc. while running Windows since 2.x.

So skill is skill, and dumb is dumb. Let's just leave it at that. I was "raised Mac", and am glad I left.

I choose to reformat my drive now often for a fresh Windows install, however when I was younger I often used to foul up my computers :$

Neither do I get junk on my machine because I am cautious (its not hard really)

I like Windows, I like using it, and I wont stop. I wont change to Mac, or Linux, or w/e. I might eventually throw a Mac into my equation, but Windows is always gonna be there no matter what. Its cheap, easy and does what I want it to do and more. I feel I am in control of it, whereas with Mac I feel it is just a congregation of snobs who like to tell me my Windows is rubbish. WELL GUESS WHAT PEOPLE! Macintosh is not invincible/crashproof EITHER!

The first computer virus affected the 1984 Macs, so there.

Do you mean the prices charged to OEM installations? Well, when Windows 98 was released Microsoft upped the price charged to vendors doing OEM copies of 95. This was presumably so they would OEM Windows 98 instead and help people move onto the latest, most secure and most versatile of IE, which was feature full and quite rightfully kicked Netscape off the market.

I agree that third party vendors should have gotten up off their butts and updated their software to work with Vista before it came out.

But I cannot remove the fault from Microsoft entirely. With every previous version of Windows, Microsoft would send final release copies of the OS to all of the major third party vendors a full year before the release, and this would give the vendors time to update their software to be compatible. In the case of Vista, a final release copy was not available a year before the release, only buggy beta versions were available. Microsoft, quite simply, rushed this OS out the door because they were already behind their schedule.

Not a full excuse for the third party vendors, they could/should have downloaded the beta releases and developed new software off of them. At the same time, Microsoft should have made final release copies available for a time before actually releasing the OS. It is against Microsoft's prerogative to not have the majority of third party vendors software working on their OS before launch. All it does in the end is hurt Microsoft. And with all of the insane accusations flying right now about Vista, Microsoft should have been a little more wise about releasing their OS.sd

Hello and welcome to the world of Bill Gates.
What better way to get a lot of people back to work than to change a good operating system into a nightmare of issues for the other people that have spent countless hours perfecting their work.
I have been working with computer systems since the old CP/M days and watched what should have been screaming fast machines brought to their knees by MICROSOFT.
Recently I signed up for the VISTA BETA and quickly reformatted my drive in favor of reinstalling my backup of XP that is still running 24/7 without a problem.
The real question is: since MICROSOFT has also known of available drivers for this hardware, why did they intentionally rewrite the system to be incompatible with them again? Does MICROSOFT have something against free enterprise and wish to retain a monopoly?
Sure seems that way, only MICROSOFT approved products will work, only MICROSOFT software is compatible, again,.
Alternatives like UBUNTU and other LINUX systems are looking more attractive everyday.
I build custom machines for clients and would it be right for me to spend days reworking an installation because of updated eye candy in the operating system?
I think NOT!

.....but in the early days of Vista promotion didn't Microsoft boast that this would the most backward compatible of all their Windows versions?

even msn messenger doesnt work properly in vista. which is i believe a microsoft product.

I had purchase an HP laptop with Vista the second week of Feb. Zero compatibility with my Canon scanners and printers despite downloading the latest drivers. It came with IE6 not IE7. Why? The preloaded IE6 crashed within two days causing other problems with the system. I was informed that IE6 and Vista are tightly integrated. Luckily, I had downloaded Firefox the day before so I could still get to the net. I used Firefox to download IE7. I then loaded IE7 but an error message came up stating that IE7 is not compatible with Vista. After logging approximately 4 hours total trying to access tech support, I threw in the towel and took the computer back to the store. I proceeded to purchase a Mac. I plugged the Mac into the wall, plugged in the peripherals and was up and running, full compatibility, in minutes.