So, why do you hate Windows Vista?

Monday, October 27th, 2008

Windows Vista looks destined to go down in history as the latter-day version of Windows ME – an operating system that added some visual fluff to its predecessor’s solid workings, while somehow mucking up its usability.

But I’m not convinced by this. I’ve been using Vista in anger since the day of its release, and have long since given up Windows XP because I found I got most things done much more quickly with Vista in place.

So it came as a bit of a culture shock when, this weekend, I had brief cause to fire up a netbook. And although there are lots of things that Microsoft royally messed up in Vista, this drummed home to me just how basic XP is in comparison. (more…)

Moving to Windows 7 will be just as bad as moving to Vista, says Microsoft

Thursday, June 5th, 2008

Forgive me if I have misread the ‘Business Value of Windows Vista‘ paper that Microsoft has published in an attempt to convince the corporate user to switch to Vista now instead of waiting for the arrival of Windows 7 instead. However, the way I read it, it seems that Microsoft, when it says users jumping from XP to Windows 7 will have “a similar applications compatibility experience… as exists moving to Windows Vista from Windows XP” are actually saying that both migrations are pretty dire.

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XP or not XP: that is the question

Thursday, April 24th, 2008

I knew it was tempting fate. The other night at a Microsoft shindig (the exact point of which, I’m still unsure), I struck up a conversation with one of the Vista marketing managers. In between discussing the dreadfully dull Champions League semi-final that was unfolding on the Media Center in front of us, I casually asked:

“So, XP – is it really going this time?”

“Yes, definitely,” our Vista man replied. “We’ve extended the deadline once, we can’t keep XP alive for ever.”

Less than 48 hours later, and a journalist in Belgium pops the same question to someone slightly higher up the Microsoft hierachy – Steve Ballmer – who replies:

“If customer feedback varies we can always wake up smarter…”

Someone set the alarm clock.